WIP: Karaktu's (and Zap's!) Unofficial Guide to mobile Celeron overclocking success!

[Inappropriate4AT]

Internet Explorer and AIM.

 

[Zap]

Try running Prime and Memtest to rule out instability in CPU and RAM. If those test out okay, then maybe a reinstall of Windows. Stuff shouldn't lock like that. As for the CPU usage, don't know how much AIM uses, but some web pages cause IE to use a lot of CPU. Also, viewing Acrobat Reader files in IE can use a lot of CPU (or cause IE to die using 99% CPU).

 

[Karaktu]

If someone gets a chance, can you PM me an update of all of the boards that have been tried/results so I can update the OP? My lack of free time has left me neglecting this thread.

 

[sandrogalli]

any reason why this board wouldn't work. Its a P4S8X-mx, and has a 661GX chipset.

It also has SATA which is why I need it.

Anyone tried it?

Thanks.

 

[Zap]

Being an Asus, will probably work, though nothing is guaranteed. I was looking at that as well since it seems almost $10 cheaper than the P4S800-MX and has some updated features. Note one thing, the "GX" version of the chipset does not officially support 800MHz FSB though Asus says that their board supports overclocking to that speed. Should be fine FSB-wise because though Kelerons have been known to hit 800MHz FSB, that speed is not guaranteed. However, if you want to use a mobile P4, then perhaps look elsewhere because to get to any decent MHz you'll need a minimum of 800MHz FSB.

 

[CrazyHorse]

To give my 2 cents to it ones again. I tried so far a mobile P4 1.5ghz (ratio only 12x) at 200mhz FSB = 2.4ghz prime stable

2x mobile Celerons 2ghz 1x at 166mhz stable 3.33ghz, the other one only at 145ghz stable 2.93ghz.

Celeron 1.5ghz at 166mhz stable, 2x 1.6ghz only at 133mhz stable. Now evtl. i buy a 1.8ghz P4 M but looking into this i have the feeling it will only be at 12x ratio as well.

Any thoughts on Boards or anything where you can the normal 15x / 18x ect... ratio ?

 

[Karaktu]

OP to be updated some time this week. Thanks to Zap for sending me all of the updated info.

Just a passing curiosity...

I have a P4 socket 775 setup for sale on my 4Sale Thread. Just to power up the MB/CPU/memory and an x300 PCI-E graphics card measured 200 watts!

However, my FULLY configured HTPC is drawing only 125-150 watts (dropping to 105-110 watts when the hard drives go to sleep and video card powers off).

Here's the config:

Thermaltake Tenor HTPC case (silver)
CoolerMaster 450-watt ATX12v 2.0 PSU (120mm blue LED fan)
2 x 250 gig Maxtor SATA Maxline III HDDs (RAID0 for 500 gigs of video storage)
1 x 300 gig Seagate 7200.7 IDE HDD (boot, MP3s, pictures)
1 x 1.44 floppy drive
1 x ASUS 16x DVD-ROM drive
1 x 80mm intake, 2 x 60mm exhausts
2 x blue leds (built into case) on front
MSI 6730 (655 Max) motherboard
Mobile Celeron 2.0GHz CPU at 3.2GHz, 1.6v
Thermalright SLK-947U with Panaflo 92mm fan
2 x 512 Kingston HyperX PC2700 at DDR320, 2.5v
Leadtek Nvidia 6200 AGP 8x video card with Vantec Iceberq5 cooler
Sigma Designs X-Card and remote

My point is, a fully configured PC (HTPC) with a mobile Celeron consumes very little power compared to today's high-end machines. I'm basically leaving the equivalent of a light or two on at my house to when my HTPC is running 24/7.

I'm going to pop in a pin modded 1.8GHz CPU at 2.4GHz (133FSB) and 1.2 (1.15v) tomorrow and see if I can get the power draw under 100 watts!

 

[rogue1979]

Here is another cheap micro-atx motherboard to add to the list.

ECS PM800-M2

Put a mobile Celeron 2.4 with the 133MHz fsb pin mod on it.

Defaults to 1.55 volts, recognized as a 3.2GHz mobile Celeron.
The bios gives you +6% on the cpu and DDR voltages, up to a 165MHz fsb
in 1MHz increments. Memory ratios too, not a bad motherboard but I haven't been
able to get PC3200 memtest stable at 400MHz. But at DDR 333MHz I can really tighten
the memory timings and still get close to an identical P4S800-MX gaming benchmarks with memory set to DDR 400MHz. Via chipset, so I don't think there is a pci/agp lock.

$43 shipped at newegg. Sweet deal for a 3.2GHz machine, just the fsb pin mod and let her rip.

 

[sandrogalli]

I don't know if anyones else has tried the P4S800-mx SE, but mine has been really disappointing. I bought one of these for the SATA capability, but I can't get my 1.6ghz chip to post at anything higher than 133fsb. For some reason, it doesn't like my PC3200 ram set to 400mhz either (wont post).

The AMI bios is a real drag when it comes to oc'ing.

I certainly wouldn't recommend it but has anyone else had any luck with this board?

 

[CrazyHorse]

Originally posted by: sandrogalli
I don't know if anyones else has tried the P4S800-mx SE, but mine has been really disappointing. I bought one of these for the SATA capability, but I can't get my 1.6ghz chip to post at anything higher than 133fsb. For some reason, it doesn't like my PC3200 ram set to 400mhz either (wont post).

The AMI bios is a real drag when it comes to oc'ing.

I certainly wouldn't recommend it but has anyone else had any luck with this board?

Its not the board in this case, i have the 2x 1.6ghz they wont do that either but i have a 1.5ghz who does 166mhz and a 2ghz who does the same aka 3.33ghz.

Its 100% the chip not the board.

 

[sandrogalli]

But the same chip does a 200fsb in a P4S800-mx board I have.

How are you running your memory? And is there anything else you did to keep it stable (disable raid etc.)?

Maybe it's my ram, cos it won't run at 400mhz like it's supposed to...

 

[rogue1979]

Originally posted by: sandrogalli
But the same chip does a 200fsb in a P4S800-mx board I have.

How are you running your memory? And is there anything else you did to keep it stable (disable raid etc.)?

Maybe it's my ram, cos it won't run at 400mhz like it's supposed to...

I have 2 x 512MB of ram that runs 213MHz default voltage on a P4S800-MX.
But on the ECS PM800-M2 it won't do 200 even at cas3 and dog slow timings with extra voltage.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: rogue1979
Via chipset, so I don't think there is a pci/agp lock.

There are VIA chipset with AGP/PCI lock, but this isn't one of them. IIRC, the VIA chipsets with lock are:

PT880 and higher
KT880
K8T800 Pro and higher

I could be wrong on some of these, but I'm positive of the PT880 and KT880.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

Broke off the pin for 133mhz fsb, but for some reason it didn't detect the change. In my IS7 the only divider available by default was 3:4, changing the N/B strap to 667/800 allows 5:4 3:2 and 1:1 for anyone else that might pick up this board. Wish I knew that to begin with, could've saved myself a lot of headache.

 

[Jon187]

Originally posted by: Inappropriate4AT
Broke off the pin for 133mhz fsb, but for some reason it didn't detect the change. In my IS7 the only divider available by default was 3:4, changing the N/B strap to 667/800 allows 5:4 3:2 and 1:1 for anyone else that might pick up this board. Wish I knew that to begin with, could've saved myself a lot of headache.

I was about to tell you that. I ran an IC7 with a Mobicel and dicovered that I had to mess with the bootstrap to get the more usefull mem deviders.

Did you have to bend the pin away to get the CPU to post? They woudn't work in mine unless I bent the pin.

Also, for those using the P4P800 DLX with the Mobicels, what BIOS are you running? I have 1019 (newest non-beta bios) and I seem to have to bend the pin to get it to boot reliably. With the pin not bent it refuses to do a soft-post after changing the bios settings. Needs to have the PSU shut off to get it to boot. It works fine with the pin bent but the overclock is weak. I expenreinced this same 'issue' with a p4p8x flashed to p4p800.

Great work Joe and Zap, keep it up.

Thanks, jon...

BTW, the Asus P4VP-MX works great with these CPU's. They default to 1.6v but have no FSB adjustments in the bios. I have two different setups with Mobicel 2.4 (d1 stepping) that have both been pin modded to 133 fsb and they each run 3200mhz in the Asus board (micro atx full onboard video, sound, land, and has prescott support).

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

Yeah the AE1 pin needs to be bent/broken for it to post in the IS7. Defaults to about 1.25V, with 1.2 - 1.6V available via BIOS afterwards.

Tried an SP94 and the results weren't all that great. If you use the washers you can look under the heatsink and see a gap btwn the core and the base. Even without the washers the temps weren't much better than an all aluminum Intel retail HSF, so I assume it still wasnt seated very well.

Temps seem rather high, on my ECS PT800CE-A the system temps read out 25-28C or so, and the CPU wouldn't get much higher than 35C. On the IS7 the temps are reading 35+ system (in the same case) and the CPU gets as high as 56C.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Jon187
Also, for those using the P4P800 DLX with the Mobicels, what BIOS are you running? I have 1019 (newest non-beta bios) and I seem to have to bend the pin to get it to boot reliably. With the pin not bent it refuses to do a soft-post after changing the bios settings. Needs to have the PSU shut off to get it to boot. It works fine with the pin bent but the overclock is weak. I expenreinced this same 'issue' with a p4p8x flashed to p4p800.

Same "issue" I had with the Asus P4S800 (SiS 648 chipset). Have to either unplug the power cord or flip the PSU switch to "off" and wait about 3-5 seconds before it would turn on again. Also had weak overclocks.

Temps seem rather high, on my ECS PT800CE-A the system temps read out 25-28C or so, and the CPU wouldn't get much higher than 35C. On the IS7 the temps are reading 35+ system (in the same case) and the CPU gets as high as 56C.

The IS7 "reads" temps higher than other boards. It used to be really really high, but then enough people complained to Abit so they release a BIOS that lowered reported temperatures to between original and other boards. Still, they insisted that they were calculating the correct figures from the CPU.

 

[CrazyHorse]

I got another question. I won an auction on eBay for a mobile Celeron 1.5ghz

478pin / 1.5ghz / 512kb L2 Cache / SL7ME / PB1 Stepping

I haven't recieved it yet but does anybody tried one of those yet ? I won it for like $2.25 + S/H which made a total of $14.25

I would appreciate some feedback on that CPU. I have the weird feeling its not the CPU it thought it would be.

http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reselle..._inst_info/proc_comp_charts/182404.htm

On intels Website its listed with the newer Celeron M's. I hope its not an LGA 755. I m so confused now....

 

[Zap]

That is a totally killer deal... but it isn't the CPU we've been talking about. It is a Celeron M with 478 pins, but not quite "socket 478." It is AKA socket 479. That 512k cache and .13 micron makes it a Banias core. It will not work directly in a typical socket 478 desktop board.

Processor Spec Finder

The CPUs that we are talking about will be a "Mobile Celeron," not a "Celeron M." It will have a default 1.3v instead of the lower range and have 256k cache. It will be a Northwood core (if mentioned).

 

[CrazyHorse]

Yeah i kinda found the specs on Intels website to late lol.

Its the Celeron M 340, and I can't use it for nothing lol. I guess I put it back up on ebay since i dont even have a chance to test that baby.

I appreciate your answer.

And Zap, yes i know what CPU's we are talking about here, I tried so far 6 different CPU's and had really good results and 2 lame 1.6ghz which dont go higher then 133mhz. But i got 2 x 2ghz Celerons for less then $30 Dollar who both went up all the way to 3.33ghz prime stable. I think that is indeed a good deal.

If anybody is in the need of a Celeron M 340 lol let me know before the CPU gets here and i put it back up on ebay.

 

[imported_Goo]

Lets bring this up once again.

I know that alot of people suggest P4S800-MX, how about P4S8X? P4S8X have more feature like SATA at a lower price, anyone have exp with it? Does it o'c well?

 

[ghost recon88]

So, I just bought a 1.6GHz P4-M and an Asus P4S800 and I have a few quick questions. Is it true this board does not have the AGP/PCI lock? If doesn't, does that mean I need to run my FSB at ether 100/133/200? Is there any way to fix it via a BIOS update possibly? Also, I've heard the P4-M doesn't quite reach the heatsink however, the CPU I have has a normal integerated P4 heatsink. Do I still need to do the penny trick to make it reach?

 

[CrazyHorse]

P4 Heatsink will fit just fine. I hope you have a mobile Pentium 4 1.6ghz instead of a 1.6ghz Pentium M (Centrino) cause the Centrino is 479 pin and will not fit.

133, 166, 200 are all locked. Just the PCi / AGP Lock is not there if you go higher then the stock FSB's. Don't be suprised when the multi is only 12x i got a 1.5ghz mobile P4 with a multi of 12 x (Speedstep). But i can run it 200mhz fsb without any problems.

 

[ghost recon88]

Yeah, it's a Pentium 4-M, not a Pentium-M. So, if I run the FSB at 100MHz, 133MHz, or 200MHz, my AGP card should be fine? I'd heard the multi dropped to 12x which kinda stinks since it doesn't have an AGP lock. If it did have a lock, I would want it at 16x so I could crank the FSB to 200MHz and have 3.2GHz instead of 2.4. I can't really go above 2.4 without the AGP going screwy.

 

[jjmIII]

Real happy with my 1.6 Mobile Celeron Rig.

I need to get another stick of pc3500 to get dual-channel going.

CPU defaulted to 1.65 as stated in the OP, but 1.625 was available in the BIOS. The board is a P4P800 with latest BIOS.

If I do the 1.25V pin trick, are you stuck with 1.25V in the BIOS, or can you adjust up from there??