How to OC PII 350 (newbie)

[sloride]

I've got a Sony PC that has been very good to me over the years but is having trouble keeping up with some of the video apps I've been throwing at it. It has a BX chipset and 4 multiplier jumpers documented from 3 - 5x, bus speed is locked at 100mhz. I changed the jumpers to the 4.5 setting but the bios still reports 350mhz while booting. What else do I need to do to make this PII 350 run as fast as it can? If I can't get this chip running faster, what is the fastest chip that its slot 1 will handle. I've got a P3 800eb sitting here, think it would work with a slocket?
slo ride

 

[sparrow18]

Your Intel Chip is multiplier Locked, which means u can't change the multiplier setting, the only thing that u could change is the FSB setting but in your case, u stated that it's locked!! If so then I don't think there's anyway you could overclock your chip. No matter how you change your multiplier it's useless. I'm currently using P3-450@600 on an Abit Bx6-rev2 and I think your board only supports until P2/3-500. It's not worth the new chip, trust me, get a new board or something if u really want more speed.

 

[sloride]

I really only need a little more speed. I think even 450 might be enough. And this computer has alot of features built into the board and case that would be expensive to duplicate on a generic machine i.e. A/V input, firewire, and USB on the front. optical audio and S video out, and something I have never seen on another machine Control A1 output that will control all my Sony AV equipment. Is there really no hope of unlocking the chip or going to a P3? I am not afraid of opening up the SEC and poking around since if I break it I have an excuse to upgrade.
slo ride

 

[Wik]

If you are locked at 100mhz then you will not be able to OC it. Unless your P2 was made before Aug 98. I used to have a PII350 OC to 490(3.5 x 140)

 

[sloride]

I'm not sure when it was made. These are the numbers on the edge of the processor:
80523py350512pe sl2u4
98431241-0383 malay
I had just assumed the FSB was locked since it was a Sony board and the setting wasn't mentioned anywhere. I threw in some PC133 ram just to eliminate that as a possibility and discovered a 2 pin header I had never seen before. So I threw a jumper on it and booted just to see what would happen. Everything works normally except that the BIOS reports processor speed as 240mhz! The good news: the speed is adjustable. The bad news: it went the wrong way. The weird news: what kind of combination gives you 240mhz? Whats the deal?
slo ride

 

[bacillus]

hmm, don't know if he can get a more recent bios to support a fc-ppga celeron. all he'll need then, is a slocket in addition to cpu(with good hsf). the celeron will of course be o/clocked from it's normal 66fsb to 100fsb!

 

[AndyHui]

sloride: you are out of luck with the lock on the CPU. According to the details you have posted, your processor was manufactured in week 43. You need a week 30 or earlier processor for it to be unlocked.

 

[baldy]

slowride,

you set the FSB to 66 with that jumper change (act. 231MHZ). look around some more on the motherboard, maybe there are other options, but I doubt it.

this goes to show you how laggard the factory built setups are, they really put the cr.p in the box. they (pc manufacturers) have been licking intels butt for a long time.

that is changing now with the emergence of the newest AMD offerings.

that board probably can run just about any PIII that is available now in the 100FSB venue. the motherboard doesn't care about the multiplier, that is an imbedded instruction inside your cpu registers, so if your board does the 100FSB, then slapping a slocket and a flip chip of any speed (100FSB only chips) in will give you some extra mileage.

go for it.

I am afraid your PIII800eb (133FSB) will default to 600 (6x100), so get a slocket (about $20) and go for it. later on, when you decide to upgrade the motherboard, you can then use the 800eb at it rated speed or maybe even a bit higher (900=150FSB, been there, done that).

the BX chipset may be old, but still very viable. many BX, if not all, motherboards that aren't rated for PIII use will still function with any PIII of the 100FSB.

the only caveat to all this is the ability of your motherboard to supply the correct default voltage, some of the earlier issues did not go very low. this is not always the case and you can check it in the softmenu options, or maybe via another pinout on your motherboard. of course, in some cases the slocket may have a voltage adjustment onboard, thus allowing you to do it anyway.

certainly not a for sure dead end, plenty of options to check out first.

baldy out

 

[cmaMath13]

I really think you should be happy with anything close to 400MHz (3.5 x 112 - 120MHz). If you want to get it to 450 or higher, then you better do some special work (water cooling, etc). 450MHz is about the upper limit for the P2 350 with air cooling.

 

[Wik]

My old PII350 ran just fine at 490 with a cheap HSF and stock voltage. Ran that way for about a year before I upgraded. I gave it to my dad and he was running it for about a year then he upgraded and it is now in his office computer back a default speed now.

 

[cmaMath13]

WIK,
I just check Overclocker's.com and there database convirms your 490MHz with retail heatsink and fan!

Overclockers.com

sloride,

You will have to fill us in on how high you can get it run stable.

 

[sloride]

Well, I made my first succesful attempt at overclocking. Without a jumper or a BIOS option for changing the FSB I tried SoftFSB. I am now running 112*3.5 for 392MHz. The next step that program offers is 133 which works for about 4 seconds before locking up. This is without ANY fan on the processor except the power supply fan. All PCI cards and the onboard AGP video seem to work fine. So far it doesn't seem to be running any hotter than usual. Is anyone aware of a similar program to SoftFSB that offers smaller steps? As soon as I get a chance I'll pick up a HSF and slocket and see if I can get it to run at 466. After that I'll see what I can get the P3 800EB to do in this board. Thanks for all of your help. I'm glad I didn't accept it when folks said it cant be done.
slo ride

 

[Wik]

Well when I tryed Soft FSB it did not give me any different FSB settings then what the jumpers on my motherboard did.