So I Built My Northwood + i845D System Last Night

[BFG10K]

And I love it.

Intel Pentium Northwood 2.0A GHz (currently at 2.3 GHz (20 x 115) and 1.525 VCORE) on a Soltek SL85DR-C motherboard and using 512 MB DDR266 memory.

I couldn't believe how big that fan/heatsink was for it. I thought my TBird heatsink was big but this thing is about 30% bigger! :Q Installation was a breeze compared to some Athlon heatsinks and it definitely has more room to cool better than they do. Like I said in another thread, I think that Intel is definitely encouraging overclocking by including such a hardcore fan/heatsink with their processors. A 0.13 um processor just doesn't need that kind of cooling solution at stock speeds.

At 2.3 GHz the whole system is much quieter and cooler than my TBird @ 1.333 GHz was and if I remove the leftover system fan it'll be even quieter but I think I'll leave it there because as I say, the whole system is very quiet. If I put my hand by the fan outlet it's only barely warm even after extended 3D gaming.

Even at 2.0A GHz it was significantly faster than my TBird 1.333 GHz but after I've bumped it up to 2.3 GHz the gap has grown even more. I'm currently rock solid at 2.3A GHz (115 MHz FSB) but I'll probably try going higher later. I did have to bump up the VCORE by 0.25 to get it stable at 2.3 GHz and I'm just a little wary about pushing the PCI bus too high, although higher AGP speeds don't seem to be a problem on either my Ti500 or my Radeon.

The motherboard is excellent for overclocking because it allows FSB adjustments of 1 MHz between 100 MHz and 255 MHz, it allows VCORE adjustments in 0.25V increments, it automatically resets any overclocks if it can't POST and it's a cool pink colour. Also it allows 2/3, 2/4, 2/5, 2/6, 2/7 and 2/8 AGP ratio adjustements and there are lots of options for tweaking the PCI bus.

This is a really sweet system and I'm very pleased with it.

 

[oldfart]

Congrats on the new system!! Looks like a nice one. Many here have commented on how nice and quiet retail Intel HS/Fans are. I wouldn't worry too much about the AGP speed with your GF3. I'm running a 79 Mhz AGP speed and my GF3 hasn't complained.

Tell us more about that Soltek board. You are the first I've seen with it. What is the max Vcore? How about PCI and mem ratios?

 

[bbarnes]

Sounds like a killer system you got there.

Hope you enjoy, and I will have to remember that motherboard, sounds like its really good.

 

[Challenger]

Overclocking is so cool,I try to overclock everything including my cars!

 

[PlatinumGold]

gl on ur oc.

i got a 1.6a and i'm extremely happy with it.

it feels a lot faster to me than my 1700+.

 

[KenAF]

<< The motherboard is excellent for overclocking because it allows FSB adjustments of 1 MHz between 100 MHz and 255 MHz, it allows VCORE adjustments in 0.25V increments, it automatically resets any overclocks if it can't POST and it's a cool pink colour. Also it allows 2/3, 2/4, 2/5, 2/6, 2/7 and 2/8 AGP ratio adjustements and there are lots of options for tweaking the PCI bus >>

A number of mainboards, like the Asus P4B266, will keep the PCI and AGP speeds at ~33Mhz and ~66MHz, respectively, regardless of your FSB ("Turbo1" option on Asus). I wonder if the Soltek has a similar option? If not, I guess you should be able to do the same thing manually with all those divider options.

 

[Jen]

sounds like a very fast system

 

[sash1]

I think the title should be:

"So I Built My Northwood + i845D System Last Night.... and I want to give it to Aunix"

 

[Dre]

<< A number of mainboards, like the Asus P4B266, will keep the PCI and AGP speeds at ~33Mhz and ~66MHz, respectively, regardless of your FSB ("Turbo1" option on Asus). I wonder if the Soltek has a similar option? If not, I guess you should be able to do the same thing manually with all those divider options. >>



Where did you find this information at? Because in the manual for my Asus P4B266-C, all it says about the turbo 1 and 2 options is this:



<< This parameter allows you to enhance system performance and overclocking capability >>



It never actually tells you what it does. I've been wondering what it does.

 

[BFG10K]

What is the max Vcore? How about PCI and mem ratios?

The VCORE is adjustable between 1.1V to 1.85V in 0.25V increments. I can't see anything with the PCI and mem ratios but there is a VCORE setting for the memory and there are three different skew adjusts for the PCI bus. In reality I doubt the memory speed will increase unless I go above 133 MHz FSB anyway.

will keep the PCI and AGP speeds at ~33Mhz and ~66MHz, respectively, regardless of your FSB ("Turbo1" option on Asus). I wonder if the Soltek has a similar option?

I'm not sure about that one.

I tried 2.4 GHz last night but I didn't have much luck and I might need to raise the voltage a bit higher. Still, I think I might just back down to 2.2 GHz and use the default voltage because I'm happy with just a 10% overclock. Part of the reason I went with Intel was to get a stable system and the last thing I want to do is whittle that away with bleeding edge overclocks. I've never been much of an overclocker anyway and I'm still not 100% comfortable with running the CPU at a higher than rated voltage.

 

[elekid]

with the hsf they provide you should be able to run 1 .7 voltage..msot people i know have done that with the retail hsf...and also stable as a rock. when i get mie im plannig mine to be 1.65 at first then if stable....1.7..

 

[BFG10K]

You have to careful when bumping up the voltage on 0.13 um processors. If you push it too hard you can damage it.

 

[SnowPunk98]

You only got a 300Mhz overclock out of a Northwood? Most of them can do a lot more than that

 

[Jgtdragon]

Format my hard drive today and very happy with my Northwood! Check out the temps!

 

[KenAF]

> You have to careful when bumping up the voltage on 0.13 um processors. If you push it too hard you can damage it.

I wouldn't go so far as saying one needs to be careful. Increasing the voltage to 1.8 volts on a P4 is still a lot less dangerous than overclocking a 1600MHz Athlon to 1700MHz.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

<< I wouldn't go so far as saying one needs to be careful. Increasing the voltage to 1.8 volts on a P4 is still a lot less dangerous than overclocking a 1600MHz Athlon to 1700MHz. >>



Huh?

You should always be careful when messing with overclocking.. carelessness usually doesn't result in success. And I'm interested in hearing how overclocking an Athlon by 100mhz is apparantly a lot more dangerous than bumping the voltage on a P4 pretty far out of spec.

 

[BFG10K]

You only got a 300Mhz overclock out of a Northwood? Most of them can do a lot more than that

I could probably go higher if I pushed it but I don't want to. In fact, I've bumped it down to 2.2 GHz and I'm running completely stable at the default voltage. I'm happy with a 10% overclock, a default voltage and 100% stability.

I wouldn't go so far as saying one needs to be careful. Increasing the voltage to 1.8 volts on a P4 is still a lot less dangerous than overclocking a 1600MHz Athlon to 1700MHz

This is what Ace's Hardware had to say about the issue:

----------------------------------------
In fact, did you know that these kinds of overclocks (voltage >110%, clockspeed >115%) are used to evaluate the durability of a CPU? CPUs that can last 10 years or more at their normal voltage, should be able to live a few weeks at these kinds of voltages. Don't use such high voltages (>1.65v) when overclocking because the finer the process, the fewer the number of atoms are used to make a transistor and the more likely it becomes that electromigration damages your chip.
----------------------------------------

I don't know about you, but that's enough for me to go right back to default voltages. I'm sorry, but I expect my processor to last longer than a few weeks. Like I said before, I'm more than happy at 2.2 GHz with the default voltage.

 

[Daovonnaex]

That sounds like an outstanding mainboard. Are you planning on overclocking farther?

Anyhow, why did you choose a DDR SDRAM chipset instead of an RDRAM chipset?

 

[BFG10K]

Are you planning on overclocking farther?

No. I do not want to touch that voltage.

Anyhow, why did you choose a DDR SDRAM chipset instead of an RDRAM chipset?

Because it keeps my upgrade path open in the future. DDR RAM is universally accepted on all platforms while RDRAM is Intel-only.

 

[dowxp]

http://www.ghg.net/shukuo/p4/

hope you enjoy it as much as i did with mine =)

 

[JellyBaby]

<< No. I do not want to touch that voltage. >>

At this point, as a fellow overclocker, I must yell, "Go for it, dude!". You're not done until you can smell a hint of smoke.

 

[titanone31]

i got mine up and running about a week ago
and love it, cool quiet and fast and it increased my 3d mark 2k1 score
from 9100 to 9400