Northwood max temp?

[BoomerD]

Anyone know what the max temp should be for a P4 3.06 Northwood processor? I'm dabbling with overclocking for the first time, and don't want to fry the thing. Using the ASUS AI auto-overclocking utility in the bios. Any tips or things to watch besides heat?
Thanks.

 

[stevty2889]

I wouldn't use the AI utility, I would do it manualy instead. The AI utility doesn't take the ram in to consideration and what not. I wouldn't let it get higher than 65c in temp, but shouldn't be a problem with a northwood. I had a 3.06 and it ran at 3.43ghz with no trouble. I wouldn't go higher that 1.575v max. What speed is your ram, and what exact motherboard do you have?

 

[BoomerD]

Sorry. forgot to add specs
ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe
P4 Northwood 3.06 with Zalman 7000Cu cooler and AS5
3 X 512 PC3200

I've read a bit about not using the auto software, so I've gone in and made some changes in the overclocking.
Locked the AGP/PCI to 33..33/66.66
increased the bus speed to 150 (600)
increased the core voltage to 1.66 ( cheapo PSU allows it to fluxuate to about 1.55)
Currently showing an overclock of 3,44/3.45
Ran Prime95 for about 4 hrs, OCCT basic test, (30 minutes) and their stress test for an hour. NO errors or warnings.
Here are some screenshots from CPU-Z, OCCT (beginning of test) and some graphs from OCCT. You'll see what I mean about the PSU. It's getting replaced, most likely with a PCP&C 510 series.
Thanks.
D'oh, forgot the link
http://www.whodah.com/modules/Gallery/album11

 

[stevty2889]

Just one sugestion, you are taking a pretty decent performance hit by not running dual channel, it can make up to around a 20% differance in performance for P4's. So I would add a 4th stick, and run 2gb of ram. I'd still be a little worried running at 1.66v. Also, make sure you run dual prime95 if you have hyperthreading enabled, otherwise it's not fully testing your CPU.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Just one sugestion, you are taking a pretty decent performance hit by not running dual channel, it can make up to around a 20% differance in performance for P4's. So I would add a 4th stick, and run 2gb of ram. I'd still be a little worried running at 1.66v. Also, make sure you run dual prime95 if you have hyperthreading enabled, otherwise it's not fully testing your CPU.

I agree the 3.06ghz (last of the 533fsb but first with HT) was not of the same stepping as the great northwood overclocking northwood C chips....1.66v while only about a 12% overclock in vcore is a bit high....I never went over 1.6v with my chips...they lasted and I believe still are being oc'd today...

The big flux in vcore could be from the POS mobo not the PSU...Asus mobos had tremendous vcore "droop"....many did vmods to their boards to alleviate this...I think Abit was a better northwood overclocker...

Also Stevty is right on the dual channel....Huge benefit from single channel to dual....not like AMD...INtels are starved for the bandwidth...

 

[BoomerD]

Thanks for the info. I'll drop the core voltage down below 1.5. DON'T want to fry this thing. Tried several times to get Prime95 running twice, with no success. Just click on "RUN", get one going on processor 0, then gain for processor 2? (or do I need to make it p1 and p2?) anyway, wouldn't start a 2nd time. Kept opening the same window I already had open. (sorry, as my IT friend tells me, "I don't speak geek" too well) I use the dammed thngs all the time, but tweaking a PC just never interested me...until now.
Yes, I know the memory thing isn't ideal. My last mobo only had 3 slots, so my wife threw a fit fot the unused DIMM I had laying around. Made her POS Dell perform much better...
I still suspect this "wonderful" Aspire 500 watt PSU. Came with the case, and I know they're not high quality units. Barely enough juice for things as it is, (12v=25a/34a peak) and with the X850XT/PE slightly overclocked, and now the processor too, I should have a more reliable PSU. It COULD be the mobo, but if so, it's only making a questionable situation worse.

 

[BoomerD]

huh...well. the lowest voltage option was 1.525, so I chose 1.55v. since things seem to be working fine at that. I notice in CPU-Z, that the voltage bounces from 1.535 to 1.552. Is that an indication of a PSU problem, or motherboard "v-core droop"?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
huh...well. the lowest voltage option was 1.525, so I chose 1.55v. since things seem to be working fine at that. I notice in CPU-Z, that the voltage bounces from 1.535 to 1.552. Is that an indication of a PSU problem, or motherboard "v-core droop"?

It's just a voltage droop, it's pretty normal, and not really anything to worry about as long as everything is stable.

 

[BoomerD]

OK. Thanks. I've been kicking around the idea of making the jump to one of the PCP&C 510 series PSU's, but the cost has held me back. HOWEVER, I know that the other choices for QUALITY units are going to be very close in price, but most of the others don't have nearly as good of reviews, nor the 5 yr warranty that PCP&C offers.