P4 1.5 OC to ?

[fsstrike]

My p4 1.5 is beginning to show its time, and im waiting for the r423 before getting a new system. I would like to OC my 1.5 just to hold me over for a few months, how far do you guys think i could push it safely WITHOUT adding any extra cooling? And how would I go about doing it?

 

[myocardia]

Buy some faster ram, and raise the fsb (front-side bus). That's the only way to overclock any P4.

 

[fsstrike]

I have RDRAM pc-800

 

[myocardia]

Okay, the 800mhz RD-RAM actually overclocked alright, so just start raising the fsb by about 5mhz at a time. Of course, you never said what motherboard you are using, or whether or not it has pci or agp locks. If it doesn't, you'll have to stop at around 8-10mhz fsb overclock, because your pci bus will be out of spec, and all your ide drives run off of it.

 

[fsstrike]

Okay these are the exact specs:

p4 1.5 Willamette
FSB: 99.7Mhz
Bus Speed: 398.8
Motherboard: Intel i850
Ram: 512mb RDRAM pc-800
AGP 4x GeForce3

Dont know if that makes any dif :\

 

[myocardia]

Okay, Intel doesn't want you to overclock, and it's completely, utterly impossible to OC them. Period. I suggest you don't buy an Intel motherboard in the future, if you even think you may want to overclock.

 

[CrazySaint]

Just for clarification, is that a motherboard based on the Intel i850 chipset, or did Intel build the actual motherboard? If Intel built the MB, then myocardia is absolutely correct, no way to OC it.

Unfortunately, Willamettes don't OC very well, anyway. They run hot and use the old 0.18 process.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yeah besides if you feel your 1.5ghz p4 is too slow right now, chances are even 2.0 will be slow. For general tasks like surfing the internet and doing the usual user tasks 1.5 should be very fast. If you feel like it is slow for games or whatnot, that means your whole system has become too slow and overclocking that cpu wont solve your problem.

In what tasks specifically do you feel that it is slow? once you identify those areas, then you will know if it is even worth it to try to overclock a 3 year old cpu.

 

[Soulkeeper]

you'll probably be lucky if you get over 2ghz
so be thankfull for any oc you get with that willy

good luck

 

[fsstrike]

Its made by Intel :'(

And im starting to see its slow mainly only in games, ah well

Ill just wait for the r423 or nv40 and just get a whole new system

 

[SneakyStuff]

I'm in the same boat you're in, except I don't have the luxury of RDram, I'm just gonna wait til the Athlon 64 prices go below 200 bucks, then get a new system. I can't OC either, try DL'n the Intel Application Accelerator, I did, and I actually noted a difference in overall performance, not a huge gain, but better than it was. Try it out HERE I hope this helps ya a bit. Oh yea, there are SOOOOOO many utilities available at www.pcworld.com under downloads that can help you regain performance little by little, we're talking registry cleaners, spybot removers, ram governers, fan/heat monitoring programs, they're all worth a looksie.

 

[EarthwormJim]

If I were you and didn't really want to spend any money, I'd check ebay and find a dirt cheap i850 board with overclocking options. Newegg refurbs might be a good place to check or www.dumpinggoods.com sells refurbished stuff too.

 

[Showtime]

Unless you have a lot of time and energy to burn, dont waste your time/energy. Those chips sucked when it came to oc'ing. If you had the 1.6/1.8a chips it would be worth it, but not with your chip. Seeking out a mobo and spending $50 on it for 100 -200 mhz isnt worth it. Put that money toward an A, B or better yet C p4 or an AMD.

Good luck,

-show
btw, I had a 1.7 willy and got it to just under 2ghz but it ran hot and unstable...