OC possible? (noobie here)

[shebalord]

Hi ppl,

OC noob here.
I'm thinking about overclocking my Intel chip. Is it possible (and to what limits) and how should I go about doing it? Please tell me what kind of info do I need to give to you guys

Current setup:

Intel P4 3.0 HT
Asus P4P800
Thermalright XP-90
Artic Silver 5

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kromis]

What core is your P4?

Cores are very important!

 

[acegazda]

I believe the cedar mill core is the best overclocker... but if you have prescott that would work too. You should be able to get it to ~3.5 on air with the xp-90.

 

[996GT2]

His board is a socket 478 board, so the core has to be Northwood or Prescott. Northwoods are about 20%? cooler than Prescotts of the same speed, and also a bit more efficient. However they usually do not OC as well.

Download CPU-Z and check what core your CPU is.

Look around in your board for CPU frequency and voltage options and also memory divider/memory speed options. If you have a Northwood chip 3.4 GHz can probably be expected, and 3.6 or higher if you are lucky. Prescotts should be able to do a bit better.

As a rule of thumb increase the FSB value (its default is 200) in increments of 5 or 10 until you reach a point where your system is no longer stable. Then back off from that about 10% or increase voltage until the system is stable. Max safe voltage for a Northwood on an XP90 is about 1.55-1.6??V, and for a Prescott it is a bit less since it is 90nm.

 

[shebalord]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have downloaded CPU-Z and found my cpu to be Prescott. With the Prescott, how high can I safely 'up' the voltage? (right now is 1.440v)
When I go about OC'ing, do I touch the DDR memory settings at all? Should I just 'up' the FSB and voltage?

Thanks in adance.

 

[996GT2]

Hmmm, you have a Socket 478 Prescott, but 1.44V on a 90nm processor seems a bit high. My friend's 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 (Prescott LGA775) has a stock voltage in the 1.3V -1.4V range. To OC, first you should set the RAM divider. Google this to look up the hows and whys of this. Then I would up the FSB in increments of 10 until you reach a point where the system is unstable. If you are happy with the speed at this point, back off the OC 5-10% and try booting again. If you are not happy with the OC, increase voltage a bit and increase FSB a bit more. Highest voltage I would go on a Prescott 90nm on air cooling is 1.55V, but your temps will be quite high at that voltage.