Yet Another 1.6A Overclock

[THUGSROOK]

R08 ~ great work so far!
your vcore is fine @ 1.72v.

when using the DS6 3:4 trick you might wanna preset your bios for a 133fsb cas 2.5/3/3/7 before setting the switch. then benchmark it and work your way up the fsb.

 

[zzzz]

OK..Tried the 1.6A. Something weird with the CPU. Even though it was in retail box, it had finger prints all over it. Have you guys seen something like that before? I was pissed and was going to RMA right away but decided to try it first.
Its not too bad so far. 160fsb at 1.6V on a BD7-raid.
Also I have to note that my shiny new Epox 4GA was a big disappointment. It didnt go to the same speed as the Abit board. It also failed to make 2.4ghz on a consistent basis.( 4 out of 5 times it would not boot back).

 

[SupermanCK]

zzzz what vcore are you running your cpu at 2.4 on epox? seems like you didn't give it enough juice
btw...160fsb with 1.6v...that's a great chip you got there

 

[zzzz]

I gave it 1.70 and it was still unstable (with the booting problem) at 2.4. Didnt want to go above that with the retail HSF. At the same time abit board did 160fsb at 1.6V..
I dont know whether to ask for a refund or just replacement for the EPOX. I don't really need the usb 2 at this point but the 4:5 ratio would be nice...

 

[dayg]

damn,

Mine is maxed at 2.4Ghz....it won't post 153Mhz+
oh well....

 

[dbwillis]

Well Im up and running at 166fsb, 4:3 (really 1:1), 1.675v, DDR@ 2-2-2-6
It was stable last night at this speed..today I reinstalled (damn USB 2 drivers) and everything installed at 166fsb, 1.675v without any hiccups.
Ill run all the benches tonight or tomorrow AM.
Max temp was 54'c with the Alpha 8942..but it was about 75 or 80'F in the room..10x12 room..with 3 monitors, 2 PC's @idle, 2 OC'd P4's running Prime95 all night....feels like a sauna!

 

[SupermanCK]

Originally posted by: dbwillis
Max temp was 54'c with the Alpha 8942..but it was about 75 or 80'F in the room..10x12 room..with 3 monitors, 2 PC's @idle, 2 OC'd P4's running Prime95 all night....feels like a sauna!

I know what you mean...
btw...what fan are you using with your alpha? panoflow? you temps seems a little high for an alpha

 

[Bullhonkie]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
Bullhonkie ~ you need a better PSU - no doubt about it.

I'd probably be ok with my current PSU if I didn't plan on pushing it so much, since everything still seems to fall within the safety margins. But I'm going to go pick up a 400W Sparkle FSP400-60GN in a little bit just for the peace of mind. Probably going to get an AX-478 and YSTech adjustable fan next week also to replace the stock cooling.

And then if I feel that all-too-familiar craving for speed again, maybe I'll see how much higher mine wants to go.

 

[Racer7201]

Well, I just got my 1.6a from newegg yesterday. I forgot to check the date. But its running 2.1 right now with only 1.525 vcore. The wife wants a fairly stable system, so I can't push it like I do my XP1600+. Its humming along a XP2100 speed (1.76). I didn't know if it would be worth replacing my 1.7 with the 1.6a but I think it was. I may try raising the vcore a little more and bump the fsb up a little more to see what happens. Right now the temp is 34c.
JF

ASUS P4B266
1.6a @ 2.1
Maxtor 45g ata100
Matrox G400 Max d/h (yeah I know, slow by todays standard)
256m Crucial pc2100
Soundblaster pci128
TDK 16x cdrw
300 w p/s (may replace with 350w antec)

 

[dbwillis]

Im using an Enermax 80mm fan with adj speed on it..Ive got the speed turned down to about 1/2 way

LINKY but thats not the place I got mine from, just a pic

I also only have 1 exhaust fan (80mm also) , Im gonna hook up the front fan when I put the blue LED's in

 

[wizz0bang]

You guys are sure lucky... my 1.6a dated 6/4/2002 Costa Rica won't even load windows at 2ghz. I've tried 1:1 memory (two sticks Crucial PC2100 256mb) and vcore up to 1.65... no luck. It won't even POST at 133fsb (2.128ghz)... My 4G4A+ gives me the C3 error code every time (can't uncompress DRAM to Ram...).

I can get it to load windows at 115fsb = 1840mhz, but it will lock up eventually. Temps never get higher than 62C.

This sucks I got the overclocking dud with my Duron system too.

I'm going to work on it some more... maybe I'll sell this one (course, who will buy it!?) and get a 1.8a.

 

[dbwillis]

62 is pretty high...

 

[wizz0bang]

I have ASII on it.... perhaps I put too much (followed the directions to the letter). The HS doesn't feel very warm when the system runs at 54C under full load (at stock 1.6ghz). But I've always had high CPU temps at my place, my ambient is usually around 80F in the house. I'm running a Zalman rated to 3ghz (solid copper), have good air flow in my Elan Vital T10 case (great case).

My old Duron 600@800 ran 60-62C under full load with a high end (best made at the time) TaiSol HS/LOUD fan combo with ASII. It was at 1.625vcore (not nearly as high as others vcore)

The only other facor lending to my poor overclocking could be my power supply... but it's a good Antec 300watter.

Hmmm........ any other thoughts?

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: wizz0bang
I have ASII on it.... perhaps I put too much (followed the directions to the letter). The HS doesn't feel very warm when the system runs at 54C under full load (at stock 1.6ghz).

that is outragous!
@ stock 1.6ghz my max temp is only 31*C !!!!!
i dont think your HSF is touching the cpu enough or maybe at all - better recheck.

 

[terminalmind]

wizz0bang

Your temps do seem a little high. My room temp is currently
about 80(29C) I'm running Prime 95 and my temps are hovering
between 52C-54C.

THUGSROOK What kind of fan do you have on your heatsink?
How many RPM is running? My fan is running around 3300RPM even
though its rated up to 4000. I think I need a fan that I can manually
set the speed.

 

[Duvie]

dbwillis....

FYI...You areruunning an asus mobo beware the 1.675v you set in bios is likely not what is being delivered...I had similar board and it overvolted at least .03v...so you could be doing 1.705-1.71v now....

No danger...but beware of it....get a good program like mbm5.1.9.1 monitor and check it out...

 

[jhites]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
yea the 5/20/02 is definatly a date to look for if you have a choice.

05/20 pack date is also on my 1.8A

R08 - Outstanding OC

 

[wizz0bang]

Thanks for the info guys. I checked my HS, it wasn't making full contact, slightly more than half of the CPU's imprint was on the bottom of the HS in ArctiSilverII. I took the CPU out and scraped it off with a clean credit card, then wiped the HS clean with a lens cloth. My HS is lapped and VERY smooth on the bottom (like a mirror). I had far less ASII on the CPU core than the ASII instructions showed. On their website you can't read the Intel numbers on the core, but with my original spread you could read through the ASII... now it is just a haze of ASII (barely). I can't see my CPU mating to the HS due to the retention bracket. But now I'm sure I have better contact as my temps dropped 5+ degrees C. At 1.6ghz I now get mid 40s (after only a few minutes of Prime95). Now I can boot at 133x16, but it won't load windows... though them temps never go over 52 now. I upped the voltage to 1.725 (as high as I will risk gents) and it still won't load Windows, I saw the deskto once I'm now at 1.92ghz (1:1 ratio, AGP/PCI locked) and 1.650 volts core. It gives me error messages upon windows bootup... but Prine95 went 10 minutes without errors. I'm torture testing for an hour or so now. We'll see.

I still think I got the dud... but perhaps some of it is my fault (hard to make certain that HS is not tilted!). I hate taking the HS on and of and on and off... but I want to get it right!

I may try getting a better Enermax powersuppy too... perhaps my Antec 300 is the weak link (but voltages appear stable!)

 

[THUGSROOK]

check again for contact.

 

[dbwillis]

Yes Duvie..Im usin a P4B533..Ive set the vcore at 1.675 in BIOS..at load (Prime95) its at 1.648..Illhave to check idle later!

 

[Mikki]

R08 and dbwillis, outstanding!! Very impressive!

 

[THUGSROOK]

dbwillis ~ Asus P4B533 voltages

1.625v = 1.69v idle
1.650v = 1.72v idle
1.675v = 1.75v idle
1.700v = 1.77v idle

(so ya dont have to wait for prime95 to finish to find out)
usually Asus "voltage settings" mean minimum voltage not maximum.

im set @ 1.625v getting 1.69v and it drops to 1.63v during prime95.

HTH

 

[dbwillis]

Yep, idel = 1.712v

 

[wizz0bang]

You da man Thugs!

Ok. I now have better contact. She's runing 120x16 = 1.92Ghz at 50C and 1.65v-core. Prime 95 ran torture test all night (9hours 36 minutes) no errors or warnings. I've booted XP 5 times without problems. Ram is at 1:1 (240mhz DDR) and PCI/AGP is locked.

But... I can't get 2.0ghz. If I try 125x16 it won't even load Windows. I tried upping v-core to 1.70 with no effect.

I wonder if my Antec 300watt is the weak link. When I go 1.7vcore the voltage appears stable (in bios), but it crashes and restarts while loading windows. Perhaps the current draw gets to high? Or i just have the overclocking dud... or I'm doing something else stupidly. I really want to get at least 16x133 = 2.12 with DDR 266

This was the easiet MB/CPU install I've ever had since my 8086 (about a dozen in between). Built most of them myself too. Yet this was the most difficult overclock of them all (overclocked most of them since my P133)! hehe

Thanks for the help and support... you guys are great.

 

[rsrvoir]

Anyone know about the 5/15 pack date? Waiting on new memory to try mine out, but was looking for a heads up.