P4 2.8C Overclocking Advice

[Trigger Aurelius]

My Rig

MSI 865PE NEO2 PLS
P4 2.8C w/XP 90
4x512 DDR400 Corsair Value
BFG 6800GT
Antec SmartPower 400

Well, I'm trying to get a little more life out of this girl before I start over and go PCI-E. I have an AC NV 5 for the gfx card on the way, and will OC past Ultra speeds when I get that in -- I'm pretty good with the vid cards.

I'm a noob at CPU oc'ing, but I've done some reading and I think I understand the basics. Right now, I'm running at 210 FSB so 2.94 Ghz at 1:1. Prime95 says she's okay as well as MemTest. Stock voltages. Idle in the low 20's and load in the mid 30's.

From what I've gathered, my RAM will be my limiting factor as it's Value line and I'm running 4 dimms. I've read that I can run a memory divider to push the CPU further.

My Question -- Is the benefit from a higher clock speed greater than the hit taken from running a mem divider? I'm a gamer who currently plays a lot of BF2, thus the 2 gig's of memory. Or do I just push as far as I can go at 1:1?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[ew915]

its better to push in sync 1:1, but if your ram is limiting you, then by all means use the mem divider unless you can get new better ram and sell your existing one. that might be worth it to invest a little more to get better ram. but then again use the mem divider to see whats the max oc you can get with your cpu first. dont be afraid to loosen the timings, but your value ram is most likely loose already with timings. if you use 4 dimms you can only run your mem at 2t instead of 1t with 2 dimms.

but that is just my opinion.

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: ew915
if you use 4 dimms you can only run your mem at 2t instead of 1t with 2 dimms.

Intel not Amd

 

[addinator]

basically, as i have a p4 660, with corsair value ram, i run it at a divider. i leave the ram stock, and crank up the processor. granted, i was forced to do this as the ram was totally unstable at ANY overclock. i would push the cpu as far as it will go, and you will see greater performance than limiting yourself to lower overclock running the ram at 1:1

 

[ew915]

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch

Originally posted by: ew915
if you use 4 dimms you can only run your mem at 2t instead of 1t with 2 dimms.

Intel not Amd

he's running an intel rig.

 

[Trigger Aurelius]

Ok, so divide the mem down -- my only choice is pretty much 333 -- and then keep taking the cpu up correct? How much voltage can I safely add, or what is the limit? My CPU loads at 34 C during Prime95 torture testing, so I think my temps are just fine.

If I divide the mem, I have to hit a FSB of 250 to get back up to the ram's rated speed. That will put me at 3.5 ghz, which I know is possible with a 2.8C but isn't that rather lofty?

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Trigger Aurelius
Ok, so divide the mem down -- my only choice is pretty much 333 -- and then keep taking the cpu up correct? How much voltage can I safely add, or what is the limit? My CPU loads at 34 C during Prime95 torture testing, so I think my temps are just fine.

If I divide the mem, I have to hit a FSB of 250 to get back up to the ram's rated speed. That will put me at 3.5 ghz, which I know is possible with a 2.8C but isn't that rather lofty?

Hopefully you'd have good airflow and the XP-90 should be able to handle it. Hope that motherboard is also good at higher clock speeds (the i865pe chipset should be fine). If you do 333fsb isn't the ratio 5:6? Wouldn't that mean that in order to do 200fsb w/ the ram, then you'd have to do 240 w/ the cpu? Cuz that's what I did; I got a 2.8C (purchased w/ the IHS removed), and clocked it up to 14 x 240 = 3360mhz. Using Corsair VS, SLK-900U, IS-7, and 92mm (side) case fan blowing directly on to it.

 

[Trigger Aurelius]

Well, the bios doesn't have mem dividers per se -- it simply lists speeds that I can select. The options look like this -- 266, 333, 400, Auto, 466, 533, etc. There were also options for 4:5 and 3:4, but it was going the wrong way so my mem would be running faster than FSB.

So, the only way I can underclock the ram is to select 333 or 266. I selected 333, and then FSB is applied to that clock. So, to get back up to 400 RAM I would need a FSB of 250 to do it unless I'm missing something.

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. I'm learning every step of the way here.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: ew915

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch

Originally posted by: ew915
if you use 4 dimms you can only run your mem at 2t instead of 1t with 2 dimms.

Intel not Amd

he's running an intel rig.

That was his point..Intel doesn't take a hit from running 4 sticks..

In any case, it's always best to run the mem at 1:1 if you can with a P4 since they are bandwidth hungry, but you'll probably see a decent boost from the CPU overclock. With a 2.8c, 250mhz FSB would put you at 3.5ghz, so it's a possibility, just take small steps to get there.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Trigger Aurelius
Well, the bios doesn't have mem dividers per se -- it simply lists speeds that I can select. The options look like this -- 266, 333, 400, Auto, 466, 533, etc. There were also options for 4:5 and 3:4, but it was going the wrong way so my mem would be running faster than FSB.

So, the only way I can underclock the ram is to select 333 or 266. I selected 333, and then FSB is applied to that clock. So, to get back up to 400 RAM I would need a FSB of 250 to do it unless I'm missing something.

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. I'm learning every step of the way here.

Well the listed speeds are just like memory dividers, you just have to figure it out for yourself. If it goes CPU/Mem then it would be like 400/266 = 6:4==3:2, 400/333 = 6:5, 400/400 = 1:1, 400/466 = 6:7, 400/533 = 6:8 = 3:4, etc...

So if you chose your 333 divider, and it's 6:5, and if you want your memory to be 400, then it should be like 400/333 = 6:5 -> 240/200 = 6:5, unless I am missing something HUGE. The divider for 250/200 is 5:4, which doesn't exist since it only shows Mem speeds, and for something like that it would have to be 400/320 = 5:4. Am I missing anything?

 

[Trigger Aurelius]

I think you're right Akuma -- I must have messed up my math.

So, set the mem to 333, and then try to oc the cpu to 240 FSB if possible. I do this by small increments and running Prime95 to ensure stability. If I run into a problem, I can increase vcore by small amounts. I've seen various vcore suggestions, what do you guys suggest as a max?

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Trigger Aurelius
I think you're right Akuma -- I must have messed up my math.

So, set the mem to 333, and then try to oc the cpu to 240 FSB if possible. I do this by small increments and running Prime95 to ensure stability. If I run into a problem, I can increase vcore by small amounts. I've seen various vcore suggestions, what do you guys suggest as a max?

i wouldn't go anywhere above 1.6v (some say 1.65v, but are people still getting SNDS?). the 2.8c @ 3.36ghz is at 1.55v i believe.

 

[GreatPiggo]

Hello, I don't know if creating a new thread would be prefered, but since this is so recent and my question/predicament is so strikingly similar, I'll post here.

MSI 865PE Neo2-P
P4 2.8C
Radeon X850XT AGP
Amp-X PC3500 DDR433 (2 x 512)

I even have the same reasons for overclocking

Originally posted by: Trigger Aurelius
Well, I'm trying to get a little more life out of this girl before I start over and go PCI-E

I'm new at overclocking though extremely well read.

I bought this new board specifically to overclock since my old board was an Intel D865PERL. The Intel board obviously didn't allow much overclocking except in form of "Burn-in mode" which allowed me to increase my clock 4%, 200 -> 208, and I had to use the program CPUFSB to then do anything extra through Windows. I noticed that much past 217Mhz started acting wonky and I'd even get artifacts in Black and White 2, at 230 it would straight up crash, which later I discovered was due to my DDR433, (217 x 2 = 434).

An Asetek Vapochill Micro and new mobo later, I started to save up for some nice OCZ Platinum EL PC4200 DDR533 RAM, but then learned about lowering your memory speeds to OC more. So, according to what's been said here, when I set my RAM at 333Mhz, I should be able to push my FSB to 240 accordingly. However, I do so in the Bios, but it STILL exhibits the same issues as before, and continues to crash at around 230Mhz when torture tested. I know temperature is not the issue, running cool low 40's at load, and I have raised my Vcore as high as 1.675v, but the crashing continues.

Have I hit my CPU's ceiling? Will PC4200 be the cure-all? Or perhaps there's something I don't know about the whole RAM clock thing?

 

[rstrohkirch]

Run memtest at your highest stable OC just to make sure your memory is fine

 

[GreatPiggo]

Well, my memory's fine, and even clocked down to 333Mhz, I can only push my FSB to 225 which yields me 3150Mhz. THe memory's still only at 180, far below it's 216 rating, and my temps even at 1.65v stay around 50 full load. I can't see anything else that would be holding me back?

From what I've seen, a 350Mhz increase isn't that good on a Northwood with no cooling issues. You think I should sell this one, (which I know I can for a solid 130) and turn around and get a 3.4C for 250 bucks, hopefully launching it close to 4.0GHz, or should I just hold out until I make a full system swap around May '07?

If no one can think of any other solutions to get this baby closer to 3.4, I think I may do it, more so for the e-penis factor than practicality.

(And the fact I already went in for this 60 dollar cooler and 80 Mobo)

 

[SolMiester]

Have you locked down the agp speed?

 

[GreatPiggo]

I was assuming they were already locked, since I have these three options for the AGP/PCI Clock: 66.66/33.33, 72.73/36.36, and 80.00/40.00. I was assuming these should be left at 66/33, thus locking them, but am I supposed to increase this?

 

[GreatPiggo]

Hate to beat this horse and bump, but no other suggestions?