OC virgin wants to honeymoon

soonerfan1

Member
May 3, 2005
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I have an old dinosaur that I want to experiment with overclocking and anything else I can do to upgrade, mainly for a learning experience for myself.

Board: Compaq 046Ch Bus clock: 66 mhz

PII 333mhz 32k primary cache, 512 secondary

2-128mb sticks of ram

What more can I get out of this thing?

Please help me get started, instruction, resources available etc.

Thanks
 

clarkey01

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2004
3,419
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I had an old 266 celeron which my dad got to hit 350+. Im not sure if they use the same core ( Katermina ? or something like that). You maybe be able to get it to 400 Mhz .
 

Chode Messiah

Golden Member
Apr 25, 2005
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My uncle has an old compaq, and I oc'd the hell out of it. Make sure ur PSU can handle, because those old comps' psus suck. I got 96mhz to 344mhz. Also, u should throw in a ghetto pci graphics card for the hell of it if u've got it. You shouldn't run into many problems. If it is to hot/unstable, mod an old heatsink to the mobo, or make a blowhole in ur case. If I added more cooling fans or used new heatsink, I could've got more out of it if I ran a better cooling system.
 

soonerfan1

Member
May 3, 2005
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Sounds good, now how do I get started?

Inexperienced newbie here.

Also, how can I find out the fastest cpu I could put in this thing, or maybe o.c.ing this one will suffice?

Just want any ideas or different options before I start
 

cheetoden

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I don't know anything about that motherboard, but you need to get into the bios and see if the cpu multipliers and Front Side Bus are adjustable. Hell, I can't remember if that cpu is multiplier locked. But it probably is because the cel 300 was.

edit:Maybe that board has jumpers for FSB and multipliers
 

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
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The first step is to find out what kind of adjustments that you have in bios.

FSB?
CPU multi?
CPU volts
Ram settings?

Most of the older boards are not as overclock friendly as newer ones. Many times the FSB is the only thing you can change. On my old Tbird 1.4ghz the multi is locked, I can change the FSB and the CPU volts, in this case all you can do is bump the volts and increase the FSB. Some of the older boards have memory dividers some don't. And the older boards don't have "locks" on the system busses like current boards, so when you overclock FSB your also overclocking your HD and any PCI cards that are installed limiting your overclock.

Once you find out what adjustments that you can make, check out ZEBO's overclocking guide in this forum, and have fun.
 

Chode Messiah

Golden Member
Apr 25, 2005
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First, I'd find out the exact type of proc u have.(core,socket,memory cache). Then find if ur mobo's bios lets you change ur multiplier settings. If ur bios allows overclocking, then increase ur speed in small increments (4-10mhz) keep going until it becomes unstable. Then go to ur last or second to last stable speed. Also, keep in mind the fact that the bettter ur cooling is, the more juice u can squeeze out of ur cpu. If your mobo's bios doesn't like to be overclocked, look for a revised version of ur Bios, or get an overclocking prog.

This shortens the life span of ur cpu unless u bump up the cooling which I strongly recommend
 

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
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Originally posted by: cheetoden

edit:Maybe that board has jumpers for FSB and multipliers

Good point!, many of the boards from this era had these type adjustments, if you don't have a copy of the motherboard manual you may be able to find it online with the model and revision number off the motherboard.
 

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
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:laugh:Ah, the good ole days of overclocking:D warm up your soldering iron.

*edit*
Overclocking has come from soldering a vmod to get an extra 100mhz, to triple stage cascade cooling to get an extra 1000mhz:roll: I can't wait to for my first nuclear overclock to get an extra 10,000mhz
 

soonerfan1

Member
May 3, 2005
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Sorry, you guys are giving me too much credit for my tech experienc; how can I tell if mobo's bios is adustable or not-----just try changing settings and see?

I do have a tech manual I downloaded but I'm not sure what I need to look for

Could you explain more about the determining if it has jumpers for FSB and multipliers?
 

Vegitto

Diamond Member
May 3, 2005
5,234
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You can see your bios by pressing (repeatevily) either DEL (delete key) F6 or F8. After that, it's just plain old searching. Oh, and remember, don't change ANYTHING if you're not sure what's it for.
 

soonerfan1

Member
May 3, 2005
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I do know how to get in bios, just not sure what to do when I'm there

There doesn't seem to be any way to adjust speeds or anything
maybe that means it's locked?
 

Kaiser__Sose

Golden Member
Oct 14, 1999
1,660
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read the manual.. and look for FSB clock speed. This is what you will be increasing to overclock.. many boards of that era only allowed fsb of 66, 75, 83 or 100.. something like that. And i'm pretty sure you will have to adjust a jumper to overclock it. There probably won't be a bios setting.
 

soonerfan1

Member
May 3, 2005
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The manual calls it "host bus" instead of "fsb" which threw me off; but its 66.

I don't see any way of adjusting anything in the bios, so apparently I will have to go the jumper route.

Could you explain where to look for the jumper?
 

soonerfan1

Member
May 3, 2005
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OK, I read in my manual about changing bus speed to match different processor speed and it talked about a 6 position dip switch, from 233 to 400 MHz.
I found the switch on the mobo, now do I just shut the machine off, change switch settings, reboot and see what happens?
Or should I change them while its running, (I'm guessing not)
 

geno

Lifer
Dec 26, 1999
25,074
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ahh, that brings back memories of the old Celeron 300...that's when OCing hit the big times :)