OCed my 1.8a; does everything look ok?

[nikko]

Hello. I've got an P-4 1.8a that I have overclocked to 2.4 ghz. It seems stable, but I just want to get some feedback from you guys to make sure everything looks normal. I have PC2700 RAM which the bios is now recognizing as 354 mhz. I originally set the voltage to 1.525 and had a couple of lock-ups in Windows XP. Dunno if that was the reason or not, but I bumped it up to 1.550 and it seems fine now. Does all of this sound OK? Just wanna make sure my system is safe.

 

[dbwillis]

1.55 @ 2400 mhz seems to be decent....I would guess around 2600mhz youd be at 1.625v maybe....

 

[BigJ]

all seems well, try stressing it with the most intensive applications you have, or use Prime95/HotCPU Tester

 

[nikko]

Cool. Thanks for the feedback guys. What about the RAM? Is it ok that it's posting at 354 MHz?

 

[jhites]

Your memory speed is set to a 3:4 ratio in the BIOS, which is quite common to run this ratio on a 133Mhz bus.

Just run a few stress tests as mentioned to verify stability. You may want to check the voltage to the ram also. You could run it at 2.6-2.7v without any worry, if you need it for stability.

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

it should be ok (its brand name stuff from waht i see in your system profile thing)

something you can do is run memtest86 and see if it reports any ram errors...but it should i dont think

also, remember to relax the timings first when you are still testing and looking for max overclock

also make sure [when and if you go to higher voltages] that the ACTUAL voltage for core is less than 1.7v.....otherwise cpu wont last too long heh

 

[nikko]

Originally posted by: ChampionAtTufshop
remember to relax the timings first when you are still testing and looking for max overclock also make sure [when and if you go to higher voltages] that the ACTUAL voltage for core is less than 1.7v.....otherwise cpu wont last too long heh

Ok, I'm kind of a newbie. What does relaxing the timings mean and how do I do it? Also, what's the "actual voltage for the core"? Sorry, like I said, I'm new to overclocking.

 

[jhites]

Ok, I'm kind of a newbie. What does relaxing the timings mean and how do I do it? Also, what's the "actual voltage for the core"? Sorry, like I said, I'm new to overclocking.

The default voltage for a BO stepping is 1.50 and 1.525v for a C1 stepping. You can find your exact chip in the sSpec List. You should be safe running the P4 at any voltage of 1.7 or less. I have been running mine at 1.66v ever since I installed it in July. There have been many P4 CPU's damaged running them at 1.8v so don't even go there.

Relaxed timing is for the memory. Your crucial PC2700 probably has a default by spd of CL2.5-3-6-3 and this can be changed in the BIOS. Look to set the memory timing to the highest numbers CL2.5-3-7-3 or something like that. Then change the cpu to memory ratio to 1:1 and start increasing the FSB. This will give you the limit for your chip. You may need to increase the voltage as you get into the 140-150Mhz range.