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P4 2.0 @ 2.3 Can't Go Any Higher... At Chip Limit?

S

Schnieds

Senior member
Hey All,

I have been trying to get my P4 2.0A to overclock as high as possible, but so far I can only get it to 2.3 with full stability. Here are the components I am working with:

P4 2.0A
Alpha PAL8492 Heatsink with Panaflo fan
Epox 4G4A+ Motherboard
2x256 PC2100 DDR Crucial Memory
GF3 Ti200 @ 200 x 450 (I think)
2x60 GB IBM 60GXP HDD (RAID 0)
Soundblaster 5.1
Asst. CD-RW, DVD, Floppy
Enermax Whisper 430watt Power Supply
Windows XP

I can successfully get a FSB of 115 (2.3GHz) at 1.7v with complete stability. I can run anything in in Windows without a problem. My temps are in the mid 30'sC at idle and top out at 50C under full load for a long period of time. My memory settings are at the slowest possible, I have given the DIMM voltage a .10 boost, and I am running at a 3:4 ratio.

If I raise the FSB to 120 (2.4GHz, where I would like to get this machine to) the machine will not boot. If I raise the VCore Voltage to 1.725 I can get into Windows, but crash in an application. I have tried upping the voltage all the way to 1.775 (not for very long because I didn't want to toast my CPU) however even though I could get into Windows, my machine was never stable and would crash shortly thereafter. Even at 1.775 volts, my load temps never got above 55C. I tried both the 1:1 CPU / memory ratio as well as the 3:4 without success.

Because raising the VCore all the way to 1.775 didn't help me get that last 100MHz I have a feeling that my bottleneck is not the processor, but a setting that I haven't considered in the BIOS or possibly my PC2100 DDR memory. Can anyone give me any suggestions of what to try to get this chip higher? Could my memory be the bottleneck? Is there a BIOS setting(s) that I need to address? Or is my chip at its limits...

Thanks for your time and help!
 
Can I make a couple suggestions? Keep your PCI bus close to spec (33MHz). With a RAID0, you can't afford to have your HDD getting corrupted. If this is a stupid suggestion due to a PCI-bus lock or something, feel free to smack me 😉 And don't be raising your CPU voltage past 1.70 unless you have lots of money... knowledgeable folks have been finding that it degenerates the CPU.

If you think it's the memory, start by trying just one stick at a time, or pick up some faster memory. My Crucial PC2100 runs PC2700 speeds, but that may be a "lucky" stick and I doubt that the system could do it with two sticks of PC2100 instead of one.
 
Thanks for the suggestions mechBgon. I have the PCI / AGP lock set on the 4G4A+, so it should be at 33/66 no matter my FSB. 😉

Yeah, I don't really want to go over 1.7v, although I would raise it a little to get to 2.4... I don't think that 1.725 would be bad.

I will try the one stick of memory test... I tried this a while ago, but I can't remeber what my other settings were, so I guess it's worth another shot... If other people reply and seem to think that memory is my bottleneck, I might head over to Fry's and pick up a stick of PC2700 Corsair and test the theory...

Thanks for the suggestions 🙂
 
Try 1:1 ratio. 120 FSB 3:4 ratio = DDR320. PC2100 is DDR266. 2 sticks makes it worse.

Ooops. You did try 1:1. Maybe you are at the chip limit. Try one stick and see how it goes.
 
Schnieds
I had the same type of problem. I started a thread search using ny uesr name HWF and look at the boot puzzle thread. It took the pin trick to get me past the problem. I think it will help you good luck.
 
i got my 2.0 to 2.66, but its unstable. i cant really try anything in between, because i dont know at what point the pci/agp goes from 3/4 to 1/1 i know at 133 the pci/agp is 33/66, but at 132 it doesnt say. ??? (no pci/agp lock)
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions...

I will definately try one stick of memory again and see how it goes, but I have a feeling that I am chip limited. 🙁

HWF, thank you for your suggestion. However, I don't think that the pin trick would be the solution for me. I have no problem booting at 2.4GHz, it's just running bechmarks, Prime95, etc. that kills my box at that speed. It seems that your thread was addressing booting at a certain voltage before the motherboard applied the correct voltage. Because I can boot alright, I don't think that the pin trick would help me... Did I understand your thread correctly?
 
Sorry man, the As only OC to about 2.4-2.6 if you're very very lucky, It's the chiplimit, with extreme cooling you could reach 2.4-2.6. I would reccomend RMAing or Ebaying and get a 'B' revision, some people have been picking up C1s (lucky punks) at Newegg, mine came in and it was a B0 but it still OCs awesome...
 
Did I miss something??? Waht is the packing date of your 2.0a???

If it is at all june or newer of a chip I would be surprised if it can't do 2.4ghz at default vcore...

Also remember that the epox board may slightly underrvolt so you really need to be using a good program like MBM5.1.9.1 to determine the actual vcore at idle and load....IE so when you set it to 1.7v you may be actually only running at 1.67v idle and under load may draw down to 1.63-4....

couple of things that come into mind....

1) Disable all onboard devices temporarily...

2) make sure you are running the april bios as I hear the june bios made ocing a bit more difficult for some

3) set timings to cas 2.5,3,3,6.....basically the lowest to test....

4) And I sure hope you didn't test this thing with all the devices in!!! If so you should take them all out and start with the basics only.

The memory at 1:1 should not be a bottleneck and after further review of systems it defnitely looks like the signs of the limit of the chip...at that final level even .05v could only mean getting 2-3 more fsb to be stable...
 
Duvie,

Thanks for the information. I purchased my CPU in late July. I have not tested the o'cing with the onboard devices off (I am assuming you are speaking of the Audio and LAN because I need the RAID controller.) I have also not tested without any other components in my system. I will make sure to do both... I will also make sure that I am running the April BIOS... althought I think I have the June one now...

So would the following be the best configuration to test for o'cing?

P4 2.0 and Epox with April BIOS
Onboard video or my GF3 Ti200?
1 stick of 256MG PC2100 DDR Crucial
2x60GB HDD in RAID 0
Onboard Audio and LAN off
Anything else?
 
how new is the ram? crucial pc2100 from a year and a half ago would run at pc2700 speeds, but the newere stuff tends to be pretty lack luster. my bet would be that your problem is all in the ram. have you increased your ram's voltage (if that is possible on your board)? i have to run my samsung pc2700 at .4 volts over stock to hit 400 mHz at 2, 7, 3, 3.
 
I would use GF3 card....Some think that even though you are using a pci/agp lock the onboard video is not on that bus and therefore the chipset ocing could cause some issues....

I would also not oc right at this moment with the raid setup, but that is me and others could disagree...


I don't think it is the ram as you have tried even running it underclocked with 1:1 ratio and raised vdimm...Unless you have cas settings and others set way too aggressive that shouldn't be a problem.


Looking at your description it just sounds like a cpu at its end of ocing ability...if I didn't know the packing date I could maybe accept that more easily. I am surprised a june chip can't do at least 2.4ghz at default when so many of the chips (1.6's,1.8's, etc) hit that mark with good frequency at default vcore.

Try those things and then chalk it up to bad luck..sell it at ebay to someone who doesn't oc, and get yourself a new 1.8-2.4ghz chip...the c1 stepping chips are surfacing I guess and 2.8ghz should be a must and 3ghz on the horizon...
 
the RAID array could also NOT be on the agp/pci lock ....
rolleye.gif
 
Originally posted by: Duvie
I would use GF3 card....Some think that even though you are using a pci/agp lock the onboard video is not on that bus and therefore the chipset ocing could cause some issues....

I would also not oc right at this moment with the raid setup, but that is me and others could disagree...


I don't think it is the ram as you have tried even running it underclocked with 1:1 ratio and raised vdimm...Unless you have cas settings and others set way too aggressive that shouldn't be a problem.


Looking at your description it just sounds like a cpu at its end of ocing ability...if I didn't know the packing date I could maybe accept that more easily. I am surprised a june chip can't do at least 2.4ghz at default when so many of the chips (1.6's,1.8's, etc) hit that mark with good frequency at default vcore.

Try those things and then chalk it up to bad luck..sell it at ebay to someone who doesn't oc, and get yourself a new 1.8-2.4ghz chip...the c1 stepping chips are surfacing I guess and 2.8ghz should be a must and 3ghz on the horizon...
Click to expand...


Thanks for all of the information and suggests Duvie (and everyone else!) I have a spare 30GB drive, so if I a lot of spare time I might through that on one of the standard IDE channels and test it out. I have a feeling that this isn't the problem however, becuase I have a friend with the same motherboard, using the same RAID controller, and running at a FSB of 155 with a 1.6a.

I think that I will definately try removing the other components and one of my sticks of memory first....

thanks again...
 
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