Underclocking-will this work?

[JohnI]

I have a P4 3.0/800 and don't currently have a motherboard and system to run. It will be a few months before I order a complete new motherboard, memory and am ready to transfer my old system across. So in the meantime is it possible to put this processor in an machine currently running a P4 2G/400 winXP 845 Brookdale chipset and clock it if necessary slower and with exisitng slower DDR RAM and 400 FSB? Board is an ABIT BD-7 in fact. I'm not worried about reduced performance (hopefully better than the 2GHz) but I am worried about damaging the CPU!! If if will work it will be a 10 minute job whereas building a new machine will take a few months. Thanks John I

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: JohnI
I have a P4 3.0/800 and don't currently have a motherboard and system to run. It will be a few months before I order a complete new motherboard, memory and am ready to transfer my old system across. So in the meantime is it possible to put this processor in an machine currently running a P4 2G/400 winXP 845 Brookdale chipset and clock it if necessary slower and with exisitng slower DDR RAM and 400 FSB? Board is an ABIT BD-7 in fact. I'm not worried about reduced performance (hopefully better than the 2GHz) but I am worried about damaging the CPU!! If if will work it will be a 10 minute job whereas building a new machine will take a few months. Thanks John I

i think it should work...

because the mult is locked at 15, it'll default at 15 x 100 i believe.... then you should be able to overclock it to 15 x 133 (assuming your board and ram can handle it)

15 x 133 will put you right at the 2.0 ghz mark...

but i've never had a 845 chipset before so maybe someone else that knows can help...

btw...

WELCOME TO ANANDTECH

 

[Egrimm]

Should work, but it partly depends on the bios of the board, make sure it's the newest. It cannot hurt the cpu or mobo though, the only think you risk is it not working.
What Shimmishim said is correct, that's what you should do.

 

[danbfree]

Yes, your multiplier will be locked... you will simply be limited to the FSB of your mobo. So if you mobo "overclocks" above 133 FSB you can try to push that. Trust me, I work at Intel (network group) and we use 3.0 C procs on "Brownsville" 845 boards since we keep the procs in stock but don't always have a Springdale board laying around to put them in. In any case it won't damage the chip itself, you'll just be underclocking like you said. a board that does 133 FSB will give you 2.0G.

 

[JohnI]

Thanks guys I'll give it a go and report bake in a few days. Regrads JohnI