p4 1.6a overclocking problems... ok, what did I do now!?

[Falcon1972]

Here's the problem... I've tried to increase the FSB to 115 (incremental steps towards 130) and when it boots, I get BSOD's like crazy!

Here's the rig

P4 1.6a Northwood
Epox 4bda2+ mobo
512mb Crucial
350W PS
40gb Maxtor Diamondmax 7200 ata100
Liteon 16x10x40
Delta 12x DVD
Visiontek GeForce3
SBLive 5.1 x-Gamer
DLink 530TX 10/100 NIC
19" ProView

Do I need to step up the voltage? Also, I wonder if this chip is really running as cool as it says it is in the BIOS (30C), that doesn't seem right with the stock HSF @ 1.72ghz..

I got this chip and mobo to get to the well talked-about 2.2ghz range, and I'm a little upset that it's only going to 1.72

Any help is appreciated

 

[PlatinumGold]

Let's start with the obvious questions. which PS are you using.

Have you tried any of the asynchrounous RAM speeds?

 

[Falcon1972]

Here's a link to the PS, it's the one without the adjustable speed.

And no, I haven't tried any..

Guess I'm kinda new at all this, and thought I had read enough about it all to do it alone.

 

[PlatinumGold]

OK, the enermax powersupplies have a good reputation. so we'll move on.

i'm currently at 135 FSB w/ my 1.6a. I can get to 150 fsb but i have to change the memory:fsb ratio to 3:4.

to be honest. i don't know anything about your motherboard, so maybe someone that knows that motherboard will chip in soon.

 

[Athlon4all]

Hmmm. Enermax PS's aren't the best for overclocking, but I doubt the memory is limiting you. Brand new Crucial is good for DDR333 and you're barely scratching it. I doubt its the vcore also, but try increasing it to 1.65(do not go any higher or your CPU could die in weeks!). Do try the async mem speeds, but I seriously can't believe that your RAM is limiting you. Did you use AS2?

 

[Jen]

also what are your temps like?


if your useing the stock thermal pad ........remove that and apply artic silver.......this will help greatly




Jen

 

[Trader05]

I'm running a 1.6a@2ghz now, my temps are 42 after playing an intense game of Quake 3 and 40 at idle. it will boot at 133x16 but the usb will flash and flash. I just took apart my system and just found out i didn't clamp the second clip on heatsink! oops! Took that thermal pad off and put some silicon heatsink paste on, that's all i have! It may be from my ram why it doesn't like 133, i have Kingston Value 2100.

 

[John]

My 1.6a does 2.4 @ 1.65 1:1 and DDR @ 2.7v. You might try bumping your voltages.

 

[ahsia]

<< if your useing the stock thermal pad ........remove that and apply artic silver.......this will help greatly >>



Is it okay to leave the thermal pad on and apply arctic silver?

 

[John]

NO!

 

[DavemanUT]

Around 115 fsb, your pci devices are running about 50% out of spec. I'd say that some of them can't handle any higher since they are at 39 mhz then. However, you shouldn't have any problem @ 133 fsb since the PCI (fsb/4) divider kicks in.

D.C.

 

[zzzz]

<< Is it okay to leave the thermal pad on and apply arctic silver? >>


no..remove it completely.. USe isopropanol to clean both the surfaces..The arctic silver website has good instructions.

 

[EdipisReks]

<< I doubt its the vcore also, but try increasing it to 1.65(do not go any higher or your CPU could die in weeks!) >>

*cough*BS*cough*. if you check out the hardforum, lots of people have been running a lot higher than 1.65 for a lot longer than a week with no problems. as long as you have decent cooling, you'll be fine. this is just like when the t-bird came out and people warned not to run above 1.85. my t-bird hasn't exploded at 1.89, and your northwood wouldn't at that v-core either, as long as you had good cooling.

[edit: i didn't notice the "s" in weeks in that quote, but it is still bs]

--jacob

 

[nortexoid]

kingston value ram pc2100 is rated to run at 133mhz....at cas 2.5 anyway...if u're running your memory too agressively it might not.
fi it doesn't run at 133mhz the stuff is crap and should be returned.

falcon, bump yoru voltages a little to eek out some extra juice..if that doesn't work, something else is wishy-washy

 

[dbwillis]

I would try the cpu at 133mhz, with the drr at 1:1 ratio..all stock voltages, it should boot up at that at least.
maybe try the ddr at a higher voltage if possible (im not familiar with your board~sorry) and the cpu at a bit higher voltage.

Im running my 1.6a at 141fsb at 1.55v and the ddr at 4:5 ratio at 2.7v (DDR352mhz), the ram is Crucial CL2.5, (2) 256 mb sticks
I was running the cpu at 147fsb with the ddr at 1:1 ratio but the ram couldnt go any higher

 

[human2k]

I think it could be your board, not too many people have that model. Most of the peeps at overclockers.com are running abit/asus boards.

 

[PlatinumGold]

human

not true actually if you check out overclockers.com's cpu database you'll see quite a few people oc their northwoods w/ the MSI ultra board.

 

[pm]

<< cough*BS*cough*. if you check out the hardforum, lots of people have been running a lot higher than 1.65 for a lot longer than a week with no problems. as long as you have decent cooling, you'll be fine. this is just like when the t-bird came out and people warned not to run above 1.85. my t-bird hasn't exploded at 1.89, and your northwood wouldn't at that v-core either, as long as you had good cooling. >>

Weeks is a bit of an exaggeration (no offence, A4a), but it's certainly a valid warning that bumping the voltage significantly reduces operational lifetime. Just because you haven't had problems, Eric, (on your CPU from a different manufacturer that was developed on a different process) doesn't mean that voltage bumping is safe and will work in all cases without any problems. And temperature is merely one part of the problem. Most of the failure mechanisms for silicon have a direct dependence on temperature but are a squared factor to voltage. Tiny increases in core voltage can result in large reductions in operating life.

 

[Trader05]

Ahh, just did 133x6 @ default 1.5v and Turbo 1 for the ram nice! i just waited to the flashing stopped! and everything booted correctly!