Safely Overclocking p4 1.8ghz on a 8IRXP

[bigstar]

I'm 100% foreign to overclocking. I dont know a thing about it. I've been told by several people that my mobo supports overclocking in the bios. I run this system 24/7, and the case has standard cooling ie. cpu fan and case circulation fan. Is it at all possible for me to get more out of this processor, with little to no risk. If so, I'd like to hear the details on what I need to do. I'm not to interested in adding any more cooling if possible. Specs below, thanks.

P4 1.8ghz
gigabyte 8IRXP
1gig DDR ram
geforce 4 mx460
2x ATA133 60gb, RAID Stripe

 

[Barrei]

Is it a 1.8a processor {northwood}? What make and rating pc2100 or pc2700 is your ddr ? if it is a northwood processor you should be able to O/C to 2.4 gig no problem. go into bios and set fsb to 133 , set host/dram clock ratio to 2.0 then go to cpu voltage and set it to 1.55Volts , in pci/agp set to pll16 , this will keep your pci/agp locked to 33/66 { default settings}as long as your at fsb of 133. thats it save when you exit bios .

 

[bigstar]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not sure how to find out if its northwood or not, but it is a 1.80A for sure. As far as make and rating for the memory, I don't know what that is either, I assume I have to look inside to find out? One thing I noticed while looking around in the bios is my current CPU temp sits at 42c, without overclocking. That seems high. I'll try and figure out what kind of memory I have and get back to you. So you dont think that any additional cooling is necesary?

 

[Rkonster]

If it's a 1.8A, it is a northwood.

 

[Barrei]

that temp is a little high for stock voltage and no overclocking, I just put in a case fan yesterday and my idle temps dropped from 38-40c to 33-35c and thats o/c to 136fsb and cpu core at 1.575v, so I then upped fsb to 140 x 18 = 2.52ghz and cpu voltage to 1.60v and my idle temps went up to 37-39c, I only have the one case fan , my psu {power supply unit} has 2 fans on it , so I would say you should get a case fan , also when your inside your tower you should bundle excess psu wires and excess ribbons to allow a clean airflow to cpu and motherboard in general it makes quite a difference on case temp which has a direct affect on cpu temp.

 

[bigstar]

thanks for all the input. I just installed some more case fans, and setup MBM. I'm running between 34-35 degrees idle, without overclocking. What would you say is a safe 24/7 temperature after I overclock it? I obviously dont want to put my system in jeopardy.

 

[Barrei]

Idle temps can be as high as 43-45c if your o/c quite high and under intensive gaming {which is the hardest thing on your cpu } can spike as high as 60c, Intel p4 cpu's have a built in temp control that kicks in at 66c and will throttle back the cpu {underclock it automatically} until cpu reaches safe temp again.

 

[bigstar]

Ok, I just tried the settings that were suggested to me, and now the computer wont boot, or even return to the bios. When I turn it on, it flashes my video card specs, as usual, then goes to a blinking cursor, does that for about 15 seconds, then reboots, and flashes the video card info again, then goes to the award bios screen, but you can only see the small blue award logo, and the energy symbol on the right, but its all messed up. It just repeats this process, I've tried holding delete to get the bios, but nothing happens. Any info on how to get my computer back to normal?

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: bigstar
Ok, I just tried the settings that were suggested to me, and now the computer wont boot, or even return to the bios. When I turn it on, it flashes my video card specs, as usual, then goes to a blinking cursor, does that for about 15 seconds, then reboots, and flashes the video card info again, then goes to the award bios screen, but you can only see the small blue award logo, and the energy symbol on the right, but its all messed up. It just repeats this process, I've tried holding delete to get the bios, but nothing happens. Any info on how to get my computer back to normal?

Completly unplug the system from any power sources and pop the battery of the motherboard...wait like 5-10 minutes put it back in and start your comp back up.

 

[Barrei]

Pop out your battery on mobo to reset cmos then leave ram timings to spd and set host/dram clock ratio to 2.0.

 

[bigstar]

Thanks for the prompt reply guys, I appreciate it. My system is back up and running, at the original clock speed of course. Barrei, I noticed you suggested leaving my ram timings to spd, and setting dram clock ratio to 2.0. Are those modified settings to be used in addition to what you mentioned before? If so, i found the 'dram clock ratio' field, but i'm not quit sure where you set ram timings to spd. Thanks.

 

[gsethi]

heres what i would suggest you do......

Step #1:
go to your BIOS......change the RAM multiplier to 2.0..........then change your FSB to 133.........then change the PCI/AGP divider to P//16.
That should give you 133 FSB with PCI/AGP at 33/66 and the lowest memory frequency you could get (just to be safe).
Dont change the voltage for the CPU yet. first see if your CPU can take it.
If it boots to windows.....voila.......do some testing to see if it is stable....Like Prime95 etc....

if it doesnt boots with the default voltage, then increase the CPU voltage to ~1.6v and try again with the above settings. dont go anything higher yet.

Always try to keep your PCI/AGP greater than 33/66 but less than 37/xx to be on the safe side. Keep the memory multiplier to 2.0 as indicated above if you are overclocking (2.66 at default speeds). Go up slow and steady on the FSB and the CPU voltage. once you make sure that you are stable at that FSB...only then go to the next higher level.

oh yeah....whenever your system hangs....you will need to unplug everything and take out the CMOS batter to clear it. no need to wait 5-10 min like someone said.....1 min is more than enough.


hope that helps
Thanks

 

[bigstar]

Thanks for the info, i'll give that a shot and let you know how it works out. I read in another thread about an issue using the built in RAID controller on the 8irxp, as opposed to the standard ide causing problems with overclocking. Do you think this could be affecting me?

 

[bigstar]

ok, the 1.6 volts made the difference. It booted up this time and gave me a read out 2.36 ghz i think, but once it got the part where it detects the raid config, it froze. So apperently that poses an issue, as I mentioned before. Has anyone successfully overclocked the 8irxp board with RAID as opposed to standard IDE?

 

[Barrei]

The SPD timing is by Configure Dram Timing under Advanced Chipset Features, I have my 60 gig set to ATA133 and its plugged into IDE #3 but I only have one hdd so no raid setup only ATA133.