Overclocking P3 450

[skisteven1]

We've got an old P3 450 here at work used for taking data from some equipment. The software min. specs says it needs 500Mhz minimum.... so clearly it's not running all that well. Since we only have this computer as a temporary solution until the new one comes in, I thought we might be able to overclock it in order to hit 500 or 525 Mhz or something. I couldn't find anything in the BIOS (Gateway), nor did I see any obvious jumpers on the mobo. Does anyone know if this is possible?

The Intel Spec Number is: SL35D

Thanks.

 

[freethrowtommy]

If it is a Gateway... I don't think it is possible. I MIGHT be if you can flash the bios to an Intel BIOS, but i am not even sure that would support overclocking, or if it would kill your board. so basically, here is a free bump to the top for ya, cause I really don't know, but I bet someone does.

 

[Vegitto]

Could be done. Find a proper Intel BIOS for you board and flash it. Perhaps you get overclocking functions, perhaps not. I'm not sure if these even had overclocking functions. Remember, I am not responsible if anything goes wrong.

 

[Leper Messiah]

depends really what chipset. If its 440BX, then you have good chance of getting an OC bios. I think mine all did 112MHz with PC100 which would give you a 504MHz proc. the FSB boost will help too.

 

[meson2000]

Did you ever consider maybe getting a new computer? See if you can get the extra funds. You wouldn't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse. Even the most bare minimum components of today will offer a lot more performance than the old P3 450. You could probably build a system for $200 or less that would blow that one away. My 2 cents.

 

[skisteven1]

Originally posted by: meson2000
Did you ever consider maybe getting a new computer? See if you can get the extra funds. You wouldn't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse. Even the most bare minimum components of today will offer a lot more performance than the old P3 450. You could probably build a system for $200 or less that would blow that one away. My 2 cents.

I'd love to, but IT around here requires us to use new, dell optiplex machines. Which we can get away with for a low low price of like $800 *gag*. So in the mean time, I'm stuck with this POS. I'll look into finding out what intel BIOS it takes.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Tostada]

Most of the original Slot 1 Katmai P3's (pre-Coppermine) with external half-speed cache didn't overclock worth crap. The SL35D you have was actually the best of them. It was the newest P3-450 and was essentially an underclocked P3-600B (Katmai 600B = 4.5 * 133, Katmai 450 = 4.5 * 100). It's very easy to run at 600+ MHz on good BX boards, although sometimes you need to bump up the voltage a little (even stock 600's were pushing the limit of the Katmai core and needed the voltage bumped up to 2.05V).

The real problem is your motherboard. I've never heard of anybody being able to flash a Gateway motherboard to something that lets you overclock, and 440BX boards were never intended to run at 133 MHz. It's really only the later generation overclocker BX boards that were perfectly stable at 133+. Even my Abit BH-6 had some trouble above 124 MHz.

 

[Fardringle]

I have an old Micron PC in the same situation. There is no budget to replace the machine (and likely won't be any time in the forseeable future) but it's performing a needed business function that could certainly benefit from some extra CPU muscle. It's an Intel BX440 motherboard with a P3-450 on it. Even though the board is branded as Intel, it will not take an Intel BIOS (it's stuck with the 'stock' Micron BIOS) so there's no chance of overclocking for me. I hope that your experience with the Gateway is better than mine with the Micron!

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: meson2000
Did you ever consider maybe getting a new computer? See if you can get the extra funds. You wouldn't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse. Even the most bare minimum components of today will offer a lot more performance than the old P3 450. You could probably build a system for $200 or less that would blow that one away. My 2 cents.

Since we only have this computer as a temporary solution until the new one comes in

From the OP.