questions about cpu's

LegionX

Senior member
Jul 10, 2000
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Hi ;) , i am about to buy a new cpu and am looking at either a 700 or 800 coppermine fpga or whatever 100 speed . now i plan on over clocking whatever i buy and right now i can over clock my mem to 146 on my p3v4x board so what can i expect from these chips? also am i supposed to be looking for certain steppings or whatever you call them?
i am terrible at math so cant figure out the deviders and clockings otherwise i could figure out myself what they would oc too.
Right now there is a 25 dollar canadian price difference between the 700 and 800 so i am thinking of getting the 800 but if it oc's crappy then whats the use ?
any help would be appreciated.
 

spamboy

Banned
Aug 28, 2000
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You answered your own question! :) If the 800 overclocks crappy, what's the use? Get a 700, the general agreement around here is that they are a better bet both for overclocking and for price.
 

CHiMPBizKiT

Senior member
Nov 4, 2000
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It's just harder to get results with an 800 than it is with a 700. There have been several discussions about this, but I haven't been able to find them. Good Luck to ya laddie!
 

Tsaico

Platinum Member
Oct 21, 2000
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OK, here goes. The general math behind overclocking is like this:
1) First you need to identify the bus and multiplier on your core. (the default settings) FYI a PIII 700 is on a 100 MHz Bus with a multiplier of 7 (7X100=700)
2) With overclocking AMD you fiddle with the multipliers, with Intels, you fiddle with the bus speed
3) Since you are considering an intel chip, start the 700 at 112MHz, Cc0 is supposed to be the best, though I don't know why or really how to secure one, and then boot to windows. Run something that will put full load on your cpu to test. I run benchmarks myself, this way I can put a full load on CPU and simulate usage as well as get values on my performance gains.
4) Every successful boot and test, move the bar a little higher, until the CPU won't post (tell you what the MHz rating is), windows won't boot, or you can't run a full load program without freezing.

I got my PIII 700 to 900 Mhz using 129 as my bus speed (7x129=903)and could probobly get a little higher if I had some better cooling. While I have never compared an700 to an 800 myself, I have heard many times that the 700's are better at OC. Not to mention, they are gettign cheaper and cheaper so now would be a good time to try. Also be sure you have a good passive cooling system (good Heatsink and Fan (HSF) combined with thermal compound for now. When you get better at OC and more confident at your ability, you can try using the more risky peltiers and water coolers. If you are still unsure of what to do, try going to http://www.overclockers.com, register and check out the forums... Good luck...
 

LegionX

Senior member
Jul 10, 2000
274
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ok, well i have been using a 550 @ 800 , so am i just wasting money buying a 700 to oc to 900? or is there a chancxe to get 1000? is there much of a performance gain between 800 and 900 or even 1000?
 

Fardringle

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2000
9,200
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There will always be a performance gain when you computer gets faster. The real question is whether or not you'll notice that difference, and even if you DO notice it, do you NEED that extra performance, and is the cost worth the amount of improvement you are getting?

What exactly are you using this computer for, and what other components are in it? Depending on your system, a faster processor may or may not be worthwhile... :)
 

LegionX

Senior member
Jul 10, 2000
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i have a p3v4x MB with 256 ram, 27 gig mator hard drive, Matrox G400 32meg card and i play alot of EQ and UO and games like diablo2 . waitingf for the next generation of video cards and going to wait abit til the ddr ram MB's come out and stablelize.
 

Dark4ng3l

Diamond Member
Sep 17, 2000
5,061
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Dont get a new cpu it's a waste of money. You would probably loose performance a bit too since your bus speed would be lower.
 

LegionX

Senior member
Jul 10, 2000
274
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ok not sure if i understood that . becuase i have my bus speed running at 146 thus making my 550 oc to 800 it is actually running faster than if i had a 800 running at either 100 or 133 fsb?
i do know that on cpu tests such as mad onion i do run slightly higher than the average. never understood that.
even my G400 runs higher than a average G400
maybe i am just delusional though :)
 

Tsaico

Platinum Member
Oct 21, 2000
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Well, if you get an even better chip, you can push that one to its limits too. I have not myself gotten my 700 to over 1000 MHz, but I have heard than its been done. And as for it being slower, not sure I would understand that one. If the core is higher up on the cpu food chain it will still outperform your older chip, specially since you might be able to oc that one beyond its normal perameters. There are other changes made in the higher speeds different stepping and that sort that will also factor into the speed of the CPU. I beleive that a 800 core will outperform a 550 OC to 800. And as for your g400 working faster, the reason for that is that when you adjust the bus, all the busses are stepped up to keep things in sync with the internal clock. Kinda like when you step on the gas, all the parts in the motor speed up to keep pace, not just the pistons.