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

[Gorrillasnot]

Hello all..I bought a AOpen MX46/mobile celery 1.7/256 PC3200 combo here on the f/s forum. Anyways the chip runs fine at stock speed but has issues when trying to OC. For example I bump the FSB to 133 and mem 1:1 and run prime 95 for an hour or so and all seems well. Temps reported in everest around 46c. The porblems start when turning the PC back on after shutting down or if I simply reboot, windows finds errors and runs its scandisk or whatever its called and suposedly fixes a bunch of errors. next rebbot same thing all over again, but this time windows finds new hardware something (parallel something), zonealarm finds a new network(no clue), etc. Luckily I ghosted before trying to OC and was able to restore it after I set the cpu back to 1.7....I'm getting a lil ahaed of myself here..I should back up and say I couldn't get this thing to even format my original 160GB hard drive, so I ordered a new 80GB HD and it formated and worked ok..maybe my 160 was going bad or something to do with the 137GB thing..I dunno...Also when I put the 80GB in itt was doing so good for a while at 133FSB(before I rebooted) that I went ahead and set the fsb to 150FSB..BIG mistake..it booted on into windows then froze..when I tried to reboot it would freeze after the POST screen and the HD lite would be lit solid. I tried to ghost but it wouldn't write over the drive..Also tried reinstalling from my XP Pro CD but it would hang after the "Setup is inspecting you current configuration" message.. I eneded up pulling the drive and formatting it in windows in another PC(after a half hour scandisk that found 1000s of errors)..then I put it back in and was able to ghost it..
Sorry for the long post, but was wondering if I'm dong something wrong that I cant even get it to do 133FSB and why would it corrupt windows? Should I try another board? BTW at stock speeds 100% stable prime95 over 4 hours..same for memtest86 no errors..

puzzled..thanks for any info

 

[Karaktu]

I briefly had one of those Aopen boards, and didn't like it all...fine stock, but extrememly flaky otherwise.

If you haven't broken the 133FSB pin, you can try that and see if it stablizes. I think the problem is in the overclocking from default on this board.

Originally posted by: phatTweaker
Hello all..I bought a AOpen MX46/mobile celery 1.7/256 PC3200 combo here on the f/s forum. Anyways the chip runs fine at stock speed but has issues when trying to OC. For example I bump the FSB to 133 and mem 1:1 and run prime 95 for an hour or so and all seems well. Temps reported in everest around 46c. The porblems start when turning the PC back on after shutting down or if I simply reboot, windows finds errors and runs its scandisk or whatever its called and suposedly fixes a bunch of errors. next rebbot same thing all over again, but this time windows finds new hardware something (parallel something), zonealarm finds a new network(no clue), etc. Luckily I ghosted before trying to OC and was able to restore it after I set the cpu back to 1.7....I'm getting a lil ahaed of myself here..I should back up and say I couldn't get this thing to even format my original 160GB hard drive, so I ordered a new 80GB HD and it formated and worked ok..maybe my 160 was going bad or something to do with the 137GB thing..I dunno...Also when I put the 80GB in itt was doing so good for a while at 133FSB(before I rebooted) that I went ahead and set the fsb to 150FSB..BIG mistake..it booted on into windows then froze..when I tried to reboot it would freeze after the POST screen and the HD lite would be lit solid. I tried to ghost but it wouldn't write over the drive..Also tried reinstalling from my XP Pro CD but it would hang after the "Setup is inspecting you current configuration" message.. I eneded up pulling the drive and formatting it in windows in another PC(after a half hour scandisk that found 1000s of errors)..then I put it back in and was able to ghost it..
Sorry for the long post, but was wondering if I'm dong something wrong that I cant even get it to do 133FSB and why would it corrupt windows? Should I try another board? BTW at stock speeds 100% stable prime95 over 4 hours..same for memtest86 no errors..

puzzled..thanks for any info

 

[Zap]

I'm not interested in overclocking, merely getting stock speed so I have a second computer until I graduate; I figure 133FSBx12locked multiplier ought to get me close enough to 1.6GHz. I'm also somewhat concerned about the extra voltage being pumped through it - it's rated at 1.3V, and most of the motherboards seem to default to 1.5-1.6V. What effect might this have on the longevity of the processor? Alternatively, can you recommend a reasonably good, but inexpensive motherboard that you have had success with in bringing the voltage down to 1.3V? I understand that the Asus P4S800-MX seems to be a popular choice, but have you had any success with either of the Shuttle systems?

I dislike breaking off parts unless absolutely necessary.

Don't be too concerned about voltage. Your CPU core is a Northwood and some of those are rated to that high a voltage and theoretically they all come off the same process, just that your chip is capable of running at 1.3v, thus making it ideal for a mobile setup. The voltage mod (bringing it down to 1.2v) is just bending a pin, not breaking it off. FYI I recently encountered a P4 3.4E chip (Prescott) that was installed wrong (rotated 90º) in a board that didn't support it (845GL chipset). The guy tried to run it that way, accidentally breaking off two pins and who knows what voltage/grounds were mixed up. The CPU still worked fine (even passed Prime95). The two broken pins were VCC and ground, and there are plenty extra of those.

I've tried two Shuttle systems. The SS51G works fine with a mobile Celeron. The SS61Gv2 works fine with a mobile P4 with the volt mod (no POST without it). My Shuttle AB60R worked fine with the mobile P4, but would not work with a mobile Celeron with or without the volt mod. My Albatron PX845PEV Pro would not overclock much without the BSEL mod. The Asus P4S800-MX is popular because it just plain works. In fact, I'd dare say that you can just pop your CPU into one and set FSB to 200, then you'd have a 2.4C without Hyperthreading. I don't think I've come across any mobile P4 that could not do that (how many have I had... maybe 3 or 4 total including one 1.4GHz mobile P4). The Asus board runs about $60 new and is good quality and just plain WORKS. You can't go wrong. Just don't worry about the FSB and voltage. If you do end up frying your CPU, you can pick up another one on Eb@y easily for under $50.

Hello all..I bought a AOpen MX46/mobile celery 1.7/256 PC3200 combo here on the f/s forum. Anyways the chip runs fine at stock speed but has issues when trying to OC. For example I bump the FSB to 133 and mem 1:1 and run prime 95 for an hour or so and all seems well. Temps reported in everest around 46c. The porblems start when turning the PC back on after shutting down or if I simply reboot, windows finds errors and runs its scandisk or whatever its called and suposedly fixes a bunch of errors. I should back up and say I couldn't get this thing to even format my original 160GB hard drive, so I ordered a new 80GB HD and it formated and worked ok..maybe my 160 was going bad or something to do with the 137GB thing..I dunno...Also when I put the 80GB in itt was doing so good for a while at 133FSB(before I rebooted) that I went ahead and set the fsb to 150FSB..BIG mistake..

First thing is to run the drive manufacturer's test on the 160GB hard drive to determine if it is indeed failing. The 137GB problem would probably be from your Windows XP disc not having Service Pack 1 or 2 integrated (slipstreamed) into it. Windows XP without Service Pack 1 or 2 did not natively work with "48 bit LBA" mode drives - drives over 137GB. To get it to work without integrated service packs, you'll need a PCI hard drive controller and hit F6 when booting from Windows XP disc to install drivers.

With the 150MHz FSB problem, perhaps that board doesn't lock the AGP/PCI bus to the proper values. If so, then you are stuck with 100/133/200 or speeds near those. The other problem might be the BSEL pin. My Albatron PX845PEV Pro board wouldn't overclock past around 120MHz FSB or so and wouldn't even POST at 133MHz FSB and above until I broke off the BSEL pin (forgot BSEL1 or BSEL0) for the board to autodetect at 133MHz FSB. After that mod, suddenly not only would the CPU now POST at 133MHz FSB, but it would POST at all the way until 200MHz FSB (on an 845PE chipset board!!!). I had my mobile Celeron 1.6 running more or less stable at 180MHz FSB (some overheating issues from my NMB fan running probably under 1000RPM).

If using the 80GB drive was fine at 133MHz FSB, then you probably don't need the BSEL mod. My guess is that 150MHz bumped the HDD controller out of whack. Just my guess at this time. I don't have any hardware to fiddle with at the moment because I'm in the middle of moving to the Chicago area (from SoCal). The movers picked up my stuff 7/14. We'll get to the Great Lakes Navy base on 7/27 and have about 2 weeks after checkin for house hunting. Then, I'll get all my stuff in boxes... fun.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

thanks for the info Karaktu and Zap....Zap with the 80GB drive it ran ok at 133FSB, but started acting up when I rebooted..the more times I rebooted the worse it got 'till finally i'd have to set it back at stock speeds and restore the hard drive with my ghosted image..What puzzles me is it ran prime95 stable at 133FSB but the minute I roboot problems start..Why wouldn't errors show up before a reboot?

thanks

 

[Zap]

Perhaps the board wouldn't adjust multipliers to keep the IDE ports running at proper speeds. Look at all the threads about problems with SATA and overclocking, for instance most Nforce4 boards have only 2 out of the 4 SATA ports "locked" meaning if you use SATA and overclock then you HAVE to use the "locked" ports, otherwise you get data corruption and instability issues. This leads to you trying the BSEL mod. Your board is capable of officially running 133MHz FSB, but if it is too dumb to do it properly if it thinks it has a 100MHz FSB CPU in there, make the CPU tell the mobo that it is a 133MHz FSB CPU. Again, I had to do that on my Albatron board. It wouldn't even POST at higher speeds without the mod, and with it I could get incredible overclocks.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

I got the online manual for this board and on page 25 it has a warning "SIS 650/961 chipset supports maximum 400MHz system bus and 66MHz AGP; higher clock setting may cause serious system damage"
Page 73, the overclocking section, it says again designed for a maximum 400MHz FSB, but lab tests showed 133MHz was achieveable with qualified components..by reading that it seems it only officially supports 400MHz and unoficially 133MHz....should I try the pin mod anyway?

thanks

 

[blckgrffn]

Yeah, I would try the pin mod, helped me out. So mobile P4's work in the shuttle, Zap? Well, then, that changes some things Did you move to the midwest already? How did it go?

Nat

 

[Gorrillasnot]

Tried the 133FSB pin mod, but CPU is still running at 17x100..I manually set it to 133FSB and it corrupted the hard drive. Reading through the manual it says it auto detects Vcore, but I see nothing in it or in the CMOS setup to have it auto detect the CPU FSB.. Is there any programs that will tell me what the pci/agp is running at?

thanks

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: phatTweaker
Tried the 133FSB pin mod, but CPU is still running at 17x100..I manually set it to 133FSB and it corrupted the hard drive. Reading through the manual it says it auto detects Vcore, but I see nothing in it or in the CMOS setup to have it auto detect the CPU FSB.. Is there any programs that will tell me what the pci/agp is running at?

thanks

The SIS650 chipset doesn't recognize a 133FSB CPU, which is why the pin mod doesn't work. Get a SIS651, 655 or 661 chipset and you'll be a happier camper.

BTW, I have a stash of 1.8, 2.0 and 2.4 GHz mobile Celerons for sale at the moment..

 

[rogue1979]

Just popped a P4M on a Foxconn 651M02-GL (SiS651 $42 shipped at newegg) and it defaulted to 1.5v and ran without mods. So the Celeron 1.8 and 2.0 would work great on the 133MHz fsb option.

And you can set the fsb manually without breaking off any pins. Only 4X agp slot though, which isn't much difference in terms of performance from 8X, just compatibility with newer video cards.
It has onboard video anyway, as well as sound and lan.

 

[CrazyHorse]

Hey Guys,

I currently own an ASUS Vintage Barebone System with P4S800-MX Board. Now i m looking for one of these reasonable eBay mobile Celeron Processors. Now i was wondering how low or high can i go with these processors. I have seen really cheap ones like 1.2ghz and wonder if they would run.

I asked the Seller he said no they are notebook processors, I would really appreciate if you guys could tell me which ones may run without bending a pin. I have read one post where the 2.0ghz Celeron ran without pin bending is that the size of processor where I should start looking for.

I m very unexperienced with Intel Processors and even more with their mobile series. I would appreciate any advise you can give me to this Vintage Barebone System.

Thanks

 

[blckgrffn]

Hey Karaktu!

Just wanted to let you know that I hit 3.4ghz with that 1.8 that you sold me Right now it is running 1.63V, FSB 189 and 1 gig (4*256) Ballistix DDR500 @ DDR378 2-2-2-8. It is over two hours prime stable, so I just have to tweak it a little bit and maybe pair it with a stronger PS. This all on an AOpen 875P motherboard.

The biggest change was adding a good cooler. My temps are way down, 10C easy load and idle even though I sqeezed abouther 340mhz out of it. Remember the Zalman 5700? Well, SVC has it as the PCToys Maxx 5700+ So if anyone is looking for a nice heatsink for about $20 shipped that works great with the mobiles, you can't go wrong with that, it even includes a fan mate!

Just wanted to share my success story

 

[blckgrffn]

And choo choo, go to FS/FT forums, Karaktu is selling 1.8 ghz mobiles (and more) there. Check it out!

 

[CrazyHorse]

Thanks, I will check it out i just bought from Newegg some 256mb PQI PC4000 TCCD sticks for $29 each.

 

[Karaktu]

I thought I had added the Vintage to the OP, but apparently not...

The Vintage has a P4S800-MX motherboard in it, but it comes with an AMI, not AWARD BIOS, for some reason. This BIOS isn't as overclocking friendly and usually needs the pin bent in order for the mobile Celeron to be recognized.

I would imagine that it is possible to flash the board with the retail board's AWARD BIOS, but it might require a hot flash to do it. I have not tried this myself.

Originally posted by: ChooChoo
Hey Guys,

I currently own an ASUS Vintage Barebone System with P4S800-MX Board. Now i m looking for one of these reasonable eBay mobile Celeron Processors. Now i was wondering how low or high can i go with these processors. I have seen really cheap ones like 1.2ghz and wonder if they would run.

I asked the Seller he said no they are notebook processors, I would really appreciate if you guys could tell me which ones may run without bending a pin. I have read one post where the 2.0ghz Celeron ran without pin bending is that the size of processor where I should start looking for.

I m very unexperienced with Intel Processors and even more with their mobile series. I would appreciate any advise you can give me to this Vintage Barebone System.

Thanks

 

[Karaktu]

Very nice, and at very reasonable voltage/temps for that speed.

Also note that the 5700+ can be run with or without the fan shroud. Without the shroud, it fits very nicely into small spaces.

You can also get the 5700+ at Coolerguys.com ... they often have 10/11% off coupons if you sign up for their specials.

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Hey Karaktu!

Just wanted to let you know that I hit 3.4ghz with that 1.8 that you sold me Right now it is running 1.63V, FSB 189 and 1 gig (4*256) Ballistix DDR500 @ DDR378 2-2-2-8. It is over two hours prime stable, so I just have to tweak it a little bit and maybe pair it with a stronger PS. This all on an AOpen 875P motherboard.

The biggest change was adding a good cooler. My temps are way down, 10C easy load and idle even though I sqeezed abouther 340mhz out of it. Remember the Zalman 5700? Well, SVC has it as the PCToys Maxx 5700+ So if anyone is looking for a nice heatsink for about $20 shipped that works great with the mobiles, you can't go wrong with that, it even includes a fan mate!

Just wanted to share my success story

 

[CrazyHorse]

Hey guys, any suggestions for a heatsink ? Or can a normal P4 still reach the mobile celeron without heatspreader ? I would appreciate advice on a heatsink with good power and cost effective. Thanks

 

[jchanbr]

Hi Guys!

Nice topic! I'try to want to mod my celeron mobile.

The link of cpu mod pic is out, somebody could send the pic to me (email)? Please!

This link: http://www.bloodyfist.net/computer/478cpu.jpg

Tks!

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: ChooChoo
Hey guys, any suggestions for a heatsink ? Or can a normal P4 still reach the mobile celeron without heatspreader ? I would appreciate advice on a heatsink with good power and cost effective. Thanks

By chance, have you read the first post of this guide?

Heatsinks that I have tested and verified to work:

Thermalright SLK 900/947/948U
Zalman CNPS7000/A/B AlCU/CU
Zalman CNPS5700D-Cu (with and without shroud)
Spire CopperStream II (my personal favorite)
Spire Easystream
Any Intel socket 478 retail HSF

Heatsinks I have tested and verified need the "penny trick":

Vantec CCK 7025

 

[CrazyHorse]

Yeah i have read it and asked for a suggestion price peformance which are not mentioned in your first post. But posted also on your sales post for a mobile celeron but I guess that you dont read that no more since there is one crap post after another. Anyways thanks, i will get the cpu(s) of ebay.

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: ChooChoo
Yeah i have read it and asked for a suggestion price peformance which are not mentioned in your first post. But posted also on your sales post for a mobile celeron but I guess that you dont read that no more since there is one crap post after another. Anyways thanks, i will get the cpu(s) of ebay.

You have several PMs.

Also note above your original post:

Very nice, and at very reasonable voltage/temps for that speed.

Also note that the 5700+ can be run with or without the fan shroud. Without the shroud, it fits very nicely into small spaces.

You can also get the 5700+ at Coolerguys.com ... they often have 10/11% off coupons if you sign up for their specials.

And regarding this...

The link of cpu mod pic is out, somebody could send the pic to me (email)? Please!

This link: http://www.bloodyfist.net/computer/478cpu.jpg

Zap was in the process of moving last time he posted, so I imagine he took his server down. The mobile Celeron pin picture was hosted there. Hopefully, he'll get settled soon and have it back up.

 

[jchanbr]

Somebody here have tried the Asus P4S800-MX SE mobo?

The differences with the standard P4P800-MX are the southbrigde 964 instead 963L and SATA (raid) ports.

So I guess it has the same overclocking hability like the standard version????

Or is better go to standard version?

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: jchanbr
Somebody here have tried the Asus P4S800-MX SE mobo?

The differences with the standard P4P800-MX are the southbrigde 964 instead 963L and SATA (raid) ports.

So I guess it has the same overclocking hability like the standard version????

Or is better go to standard version?

I haven't tried it yet, but I would think your expectations are correct in that it would work the same but has SATA.

I'm glad ASUS released this board. I've only see it available in socket 775 previously.

 

[jchanbr]

Originally posted by: Karaktu
I haven't tried it yet, but I would think your expectations are correct in that it would work the same but has SATA.
I'm glad ASUS released this board. I've only see it available in socket 775 previously.

I discovered that the SE version use AMI bios instead Awards bios.

So I think will lack some features to help in the overclock?

 

[CrazyHorse]

Ok i got it now . Now all i need is one successful build and i m going from there. Have to wait for the CPU's of course.