PIII 800 to 1.13 - Worth it?

[Nimrod]

I'm thinking of upgrading my processor from a PIII 800 to a PIII 1.13 GH (highest MH I can get for my current mobo - Intel 815e 133MH FSB). Is it worth it? Would the performance boost be worth the price?I've seen the processor at Pricewatch for about 120 bucks.

I do lots of high end 3D gaming and my current processor and GeForce2GTS 64 MB card handle everything pretty well. I'm thinking of upgrading the processor as mentioned above and possibly getting a GeForce 4 Ti4200 to replace the GeForce 2. This is in anticipation of upcoming tech used in newer games. Would the performance increase be worth it?

Also, at what point does the CPU processing speed become negligible? It seems that GPUs handle more and more of the details concerning graphic capability. Is it necessary to have the latest and greatest processor as well? I'd like to avoid creating an entirely new machine from scratch. I guess the FSB of th e mobo will be a bottleneck that will eventually choke on future games - but how long do you think we can all get by on upgrades to our older tech, rather than purchasing all new tech?

Anyway - thanks for feedback!

 

[Thor86]

With your current video card, you should see a little improvement, but not much.

 

[littlezipp]

Overclock your 800! I had an 800eb that would do 1000 no problem.
Buy if you are not in to overclocking, and want a new proc, don't waste your money on a 1.13. Save up for a little longer and get a cheap Athlon system, or a few months more and get a P4 system with perhaps a new P4 Celeron (what are they calling those things now?).

 

[Nimrod]

Is there a resource you could direct me to for overclocking my processor?

 

[littlezipp]

I'm more than glad to help. First off, what is your heatsink/fan combination, and what type/brand/speed rating is that ram?
And, what motherboard are you running?

 

[Nimrod]

The processor has a rather large heatsink over which the fan blows (but it isn't directly on top/attached to the processor). I know overclocking can increase the heat of the processor - do I need a high quality heatsink/fan?

The RAM is PC133 SD RAM (I think CAS 2) - 128 of which came stock with my Gateway system and 128 of which I bought from Crucial

What are the dangers of overclocking? And do you recommend a certain safe limit as far as MH to try for the 800?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Nimrod]

oops! the mobo is an Intel 815e (133 FSB)

 

[Nimrod]

Oh yah! I have installed 2 additional fans that didn't come stock with my machine. One "intake" fan just below the DvD-Rom drive that sucks air into the box, and one fan in the bottom of the box (kind of where the PCI slots are) to blow air out of the box. That's in addition to the processor's fan and the normal exhaust fan. I tried to basically create an airflow from one end of the box, through the machine and out the other end. Hopefully that'll be enough.

 

[littlezipp]

OK, first off download a program that will allow you to see the temps you are currently at, you need to find out how much you can oc.
You say gateway ram, is this a Gateway motherboard?
The biggest danger is overheating.
When I oc'ed an 800, I didn't go over 1000, but I had state of the art cooling too.
Crucial ram is great and can do 166fsb, but I don't know about the other stick you have.

 

[Nimrod]

Yep, Gateway mobo. I'm not sure about its precise specs, but I've got a utlility that can give me more info once I get home from work. I didn't know there were any utilities that estimated temperatures. Do you recommend any particular one?

 

[littlezipp]

I don't have a specific program that I recommend, the one I use is motherboard specific, but just go to download.com and find one there.
Next step would be tweaking in the bios, or messing with the jumpers on the board. Do you have the manual that came with your motherboard?
I know that the 815e chipset can overclock like there is no tomorrow, but I do not know how well you can overclock a Gateway motherboard.
You need to get specific details about your motherboard, and familiarize yourself with your bios.

Since you have a P3, there is no way to manipulate the multiplier, so to overclock, you are going to have to play around with the FSB (front side bus).
The multiplier you are currently at is 6, so you need to do the math from there.
A FSB of 133 will give you 800 (6*133). If you up the FSB to 140, you will get 840.
145FSB=870 and so on. To get 1ghz, you need to go to 166mhz fsb.

Start with little steps. go for 140, then 145, 150, 155, 160, then finally 166. If you notice any instability at one of those lower frequencies, then you need to stop. You can change the voltage, but that I would not recommend for beginner overclockers.

Let me know what happens, and make sure to ask us before you do anything major. Feel free to PM me.
Good luck!

 

[techwanabe]

It looks to me like you have really a Pentium IIIEB which has a native FSB of 133. If that is the case, you are already running at a CPU speed of 800 mhz with the bus set at 133. With that scenario you will have to up the FSB from 133 to something higher. The problem is, there isn't nearly as much "headroom" above 133 as there is above 100 mhz FSB. For folks intending on overclocking, it is always better to start with a 100 mhz FSB native CPU.

The temperature monitoring program you can try is Victor Kamm's Mother Board Monitor. I don't have a link, but if you do a search- you'll probably turn it up quickly.

 

[pandaflux]

can you run a celeron fcpga2 1.3ghz 256kb cache chip? if so that might be the best deal

same features as the PIII except 100fsb instead of 133... but with the extra headroom you may be able to overclock more...

on pricewatch.com the difference between the two is about 50$, so you'd be saving money too

 

[littlezipp]

<< can you run a celeron fcpga2 1.3ghz 256kb cache chip? if so that might be the best deal

same features as the PIII except 100fsb instead of 133... but with the extra headroom you may be able to overclock more...

on pricewatch.com the difference between the two is about 50$, so you'd be saving money too >>

No, that proc will not fit into his mobo.
Read the post fellas, he is not buying a new proc, but rather getting more out of what he has.

 

[pandaflux]

No, that proc will not fit into his mobo.
Read the post fellas, he is not buying a new proc, but rather getting more out of what he has.

HUH?!

"I'm thinking of upgrading my processor from a PIII 800 to a PIII 1.13 GH (highest MH I can get for my current mobo - Intel 815e 133MH FSB). Is it worth it? Would the performance boost be worth the price?I've seen the processor at Pricewatch for about 120 bucks."

sounds like he's considering buying a new proc to me.

ALSO i did a little research on my own and the 1.3ghz fcpga2 .13 micron celeron WILL indeed work just peachy on the Intel 815E chipset, i got my information right from the source - Intel 815E spec sheet

NIMROD: if you are still considering purchasing a new cpu the the 1.3ghz fcpga2 celeron retails for around $75/$80, IMO you'd be much better off both performance wise and cost wise if you went with that cpu instead of a classic P III 1.13ghz fcpga chip.

matthew

 

[Steppy76]

Originally posted by: pandaflux
No, that proc will not fit into his mobo.
Read the post fellas, he is not buying a new proc, but rather getting more out of what he has.

HUH?!

"I'm thinking of upgrading my processor from a PIII 800 to a PIII 1.13 GH (highest MH I can get for my current mobo - Intel 815e 133MH FSB). Is it worth it? Would the performance boost be worth the price?I've seen the processor at Pricewatch for about 120 bucks."

sounds like he's considering buying a new proc to me.

ALSO i did a little research on my own and the 1.3ghz fcpga2 .13 micron celeron WILL indeed work just peachy on the Intel 815E chipset, i got my information right from the source - Intel 815E spec sheet

NIMROD: if you are still considering purchasing a new cpu the the 1.3ghz fcpga2 celeron retails for around $75/$80, IMO you'd be much better off both performance wise and cost wise if you went with that cpu instead of a classic P III 1.13ghz fcpga chip.

matthew

It will...provided it's the 815-e b stepping(it the same as the old 815e, but with tualatin support. His mobo will NOT take an FCPGA2 chip(ie tualatin). You most likely have a disguised INTEL mobo that doesn't have FSB over 133 so OC'ing is out of the question. The upgrade won't be worth it...save a little bit longer and take the plunge with a bigger upgrade.

 

[pandaflux]

from what i gather from intel the board should support the chip. both .18 micron and .13 micron (AKA (Tualatin) chips are supported by the intel 815E chipset according to the following linkIntel 815E. the first paragraph under product overview states that.

matthew

 

[PC166]

for me it more then enough power, i am a junkie and I demand very little even Celeron 366 is more then good enough for me lol.

 

[Steppy76]

Originally posted by: pandaflux
from what i gather from intel the board should support the chip. both .18 micron and .13 micron (AKA (Tualatin) chips are supported by the intel 815E chipset according to the following linkIntel 815E. the first paragraph under product overview states that.

matthew

Only later 815's support tualatin. The 815 has been out for well over a year, and the first ones(the "A" stepping) did NOT support tualatins(I have an 815E board that WON'T take a Tua). Intel revised the chipset when they released the Tua's(the "B" stepping)but did NOT change the name. So the link you are looking at is the specs of current 815E motherboards with Tua support, but the chipset was produced without that support longer than it has been produced with it. Unless that guy got his mobo within about the last 7-8 months it WON'T take a Tua(ie a FCPGA2 processor).

 

[Nimrod]

Nuts. I bought my mobo almost 2 years ago so it sounds like I'm out of luck for that particular processor. I have an Intel 815 EB mobo btw. But it sounds like that dosen't really make a difference.

 

[Nimrod]

I also had another overclocking question. When I enter my system's bios I don't seem to have the ability to modify the FSB. I can see it, but its grayed out and I can't seem to change it. Is OCing done solely through the bios or are there other ways to modify the FSB? Does this mean overclocking is out of the question?

Thanks

 

[Steppy76]

It depends on the mobo...usually you'll have to change the CPU speed setting from AUTO to manual...this then allows selecting different multipliers(which has no effect)and FSB speeds. Some mobo's just simply have no options but "stock" options(intel mobo's let you have a FSB of 66,100, or 133...nothing inbetween).