Help on information regarding P3 866 and fsb speeds with cas2 memory

[divinemartyr]

I just recently got my computer up and running. Purchased a PIII/866EB on an Asus CUSL2-C motherboard. Only got the retail heatsink/fan combo as I bought the retail version of the CPU. When I overclock my ram, will this also increase the speed of the fsb and the processor? Or can ram be overclocked independently of the fsb/cpu speed? Also are there any cooling issues when overclocking ram?

Oh one last question, does PC Probe give fairly accurate cpu temperature speeds? What's normal/threshold for p3? PC Probe keeps resetting the threshold to like 80 degrees Celcius and I think that's way high isn't it? Any help would be great! Thanks

divinemartyr

 

[Hawkeye_(BEL)]

Basicly, you have two options to overclock your ram. You can run it either at FSB speed + 33Mhz, or you can overclock your ram through your FSB speed.

You're already running at a FSB of 133Mhz, so the first option will probably be a no go (166Mhz is EXTREMELY difficult to achieve these days).

The only other way to overclock you ram is through upping the FSB speed, wich means that you'll also overclock your CPU and PCI/IDE interfaces.

So, 866/133=6.5. Your multiplyer is fixed at 6.5. Depending on your motherboad, you can probably get to 140 or so. Your CPU isn't the limiting factor, since @140FSB, you'll only be running it at 910Mhz, but your ram must be of good quality to get to those speeds. You'll probably have to set the CAS latency to 3 to get there.

As an example : I have a PIII800E@880 (110Mhz FSB). I also run my ram at FSB + 33 = 110 + 33 = 143Mhz. I have pretty decent ram (Infinion chips), but I have to leave CAS2 latencies behind and go to the slower CAS3 to reach that speed.

As for your temperature readings : that's WAY off. Your PC wouldn't even get into windows at those temperatures. Asus is known to have crappy temp readings, so I would definately reseat your thermal probe. At default speed and with retail HSF, you should be hovering in the 35-40°C range.

 

[divinemartyr]

Thermal probe? I don't recall installing a thermal probe, I thought there were sensors on the motherboard to determine this. What does a thermal probe look like?

divinemartyr

 

[Hawkeye_(BEL)]

You are correct, there are thermal sensors on the board. They're inside the rectangle of the 370-pin socket. Most of the time, it's an orange looking piece of hardware that's peeking out just above the surface. You can put in on another location to get better results.

That's what's normally the case with Asus mobo's, but I don't have any concrete experience with your CUSL2-C.

 

[Hawkeye_(BEL)]

Oh, and about cooling issues for your ram sticks. There are no solutions, because SDRAM doesn't require any cooling. The chips will either run, or fail.

Ram chips don't have to make any calculations, they only have to staticly refresh the memory in the cells, and that doesn't produce any heat.

 

[harpomx]

I have the same board as you, the CUSL2. My ram is Micron PC133, set at CAS3. I set the ratio to 150:150:47 (or 37, it's the only one you can pick in the bios). Anyway, I have a P3 800EB, so the multiplier is set at 6, giving me a 900mhz cpu and 150mhz RAM. Everyone else I talk to says I'm lucky to be pushing my RAM that high. As for your temps - download the asus PC Probe 2.12.05, and update your bios to 1003Final, if you haven't done so already. Use the DOS flash aflash.exe (I think they are up to version 1.30 now - I used 1.29) to update your BIOS. That should fix your temps. My readings for the 800@900 are:
Idle - CPU - 29, MOBO - 22
Load - CPU - 35, MOBO - 25
I'm not using the retail fan, but a golden orb. I doubt there's much difference in temps, maybe a couple of degrees, as long as you're under 50, you should be fine (Temps are in Celcius)