can anyone help me with my OC?

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sbohdan
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can anyone help me with my OC?

Post by sbohdan »

Hi everybody, this is my very first post and would like to ask anyone who could help me with my problem: Im trying to OC my prescott 3.2E socket 478 and the only way Im able to post @ 3.7GHZ is changing the ratio of CPU/RAM to 5:4 (is there a way to keep the 1:1 ratio?). when Im running pcmark05 Im getting an error after several tests in test 8 or my pc simly restarts (so its not stable). I also heard that its possible to OC the prescott to around 4GHZ with air cooling (I have a asus starice blue which keeps my CPU pretty cool). Im suspecting that its my Ram that couses the problem becouse its a PC3200 (runs in double at 800) so as my FSB is increased because of the overclock it seems it cannot handle it. I read at this forum and other reviews that I dont have to raise voltage till 3.7GHZ (1.385v default). could anyone help me with suggestions what should I do in the bios or what is the problem- should I get faster ram PC3700 or PC4200 or is there a way to use my 400MHZ ram? my problem is also that no matter how many reviews I read about OC of my prescott they never mention on how exactly should this be done (I guess assuming whoever reads it knows anyway) well would be nice to get a guide or link to one. I know most of you just smile at my problem but Im a beginner (you have to start somewhere). also the multiplier of my CPU is 16 in the bios instead of 14 that I saw in reviews.

my rig is: pentium prescott 3.2E socket 478 + asus star ice blue cooler
Abit IC7-G MB.
samsung 2x512MB PC3200 RAM in dual channel+ heatspreaders
samsung 80GB SATA HDD
Chieftec 420W PSU
Inno3D 5700U VGA + Zalmann ZM80D-HP with fan
Chieftec BA-02B-B-SL house
NEC dvd-rw
fans on HDD, side, back
Last edited by sbohdan on Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by sbohdan »

hey, I was able to solve the problem after reading couple of Sticky's posts on memory in the memo section. I had to fix my timings @ default 3-3-3-8 by changing it to manual. on the other hand I've read a review that said that you don't have to change voltage on this cpu till above 3.7ghz. well I had to go up to 1.44V to have it stable. weird. but its working finally!!
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Post by sbohdan »

and got even higher. :) 3.8ghz @ 1.536V

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=28522

I did, I think, reach the limits of my cooling because its 43C idle -but reaching 62C on heavy load. I guess I could get higher but I read that I should try to keep the temp. within 60C. maybe later- just to try the limit.:snakeman: maybe reaching 4ghz? or frying the cpu... :rolleyes: well its more than I hoped for for now- considering that a day ago couldnt have it stable at 3.7ghz....its thanks to this forum and "sticky":finga: . now I have a basic understanding of OC. :) does anybody have a suggestion how else coul d I improve the sys. performance without actually OC-ing the cpu- with my setup?
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Post by Apoptosis »

i totally missed this thread till today... First time I got a chance to read it...

When I overclock I set everything default and set the memory to the lowest frequency I can. (this takes the memory of of the equation) I then raise the FSB up at the default multi till it maxes out. Once it maxes out this is the max OC at DEFAULT voltage. I then raise the voltage to the CPU till the system fails to post anymore. (I usually do 5MHz bumps in FSB till the system wont boot or load windows and then raise up the voltage more) Eventually you will reach a point where the voltage doesn't have an impact on the overclocking and this would be the max frequency of your processor with whatever cooling you are running. As you noted you don't want to go much over 70C when overclocking on air.

Once you get your MAX you can then try lowering the multi (most ASUS boards are able to unlock Intel CPU's down from their original setting) and raising the FSB higher for better performance. Many benchmarks like Super Pi and FutureMark love bandwidth. On the ABIT IC7-G BIOS 27 & 28 will allow you to change the multi on retail Intel Pentium 4 processors. So if you are running a BIOS that is dated older than 2004-11-01 you need to update your BIOS ASAP as it is holding back performance. Running a 300MHz FSB with a 12 or 13 Multi would be a big performance jump over the 235 x 16 that you are running now.

Getting 3.8GHz from a 3.2E (Prescott) is not bad at all. From the looks of it you are running Samsung memory with most likely Samsung TCCD memory IC's. Try running 3-4-4-8 timings as with 2.8-3.0Vdimm you should get to 510MHz with stability. Anything over 510MHz ALL TCCD memory starts to throw errors. On the ABIT IC7-G try to run the memory 1:1 also because that board loves not having a memory divider to mess with. Lock down the northbridge bus and set the AGP bus to 33/66MHz and you will be good to go.

As far as improving system performance disable everything you don't need. I don't use firewire, the front USB, or the RAID controller so i turn all those off. Lower memory timings improve performance, but with Samsung TCCD 2-2-2 performance doesn't go much above 433MHz. Make sure you have the most recent drivers and try a mild OC on the video card.

Good luck overclocking and sorry I didn't see your post sooner.
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Post by sbohdan »

thanks apoptosis. wow this answered my few remaining questions. I have a weird problem though: you said to set back the multiplier and even though the official web site (abit) talks about this option in the bios- its simply not there. should be in the soft menu right under the fsb/frequency but its missing. Im using the latest bios for IC7-G (12/28/2004). weird. therefore I can't change the multiplier. other thing is that max adjustment for vdimm is 2.8V in the bios. this is another weird thing. I will try the timings you suggested though. I had to change the multiplier before becouse it wasnt even posting befor in 1:1 but since then I locked the timings and raised voltage considerably so I will try again the way you said. my agp card (5700Ultra) is already maxed out at 545/757 (defoult 475/700). I didnt know that disableing firewire, USB frees up resources. thanks for the info. I will try the timings and 1:1 multi now. will report on it.
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Post by sbohdan »

well I tried to go higher. It took my whole day.I was able to get into windows seamingly stable till 3.9ghz (1.58V) the heat wasn't an issue yet (44C idle/61C full load Pcmark05) yet at test nb.9 it would always shut off, beep, freez or mostly reboot. this was happening with anything above 3.8ghz which is stable. I tried raising cpu and/or ddr voltage but made no difference. I tried different timings. I tried, checked, checked again and so on-spent the whole day. as I said temp. is ok because @ 3.9ghz when it was the highest didn't go above 61C @ full load (using motherboard monitor5). the divider is 5:4, the agp/pci ratio is fixed @ 33/66 (I couldnt get the devider 1:1 no mather what I tried above 3.44ghz). my multiplier is fixed and there is no option to change it in my IC7-G bios (nbr 28. latest bios) so i have to work with x16. anybody recognizes the symptom of reboot that Im getting? @ 3.9ghz tried higher then 1.63V but it made a really scary noise and I didnt dare to go higher especially since it didnt reboot at this voltage at all. at 3.8ghz its @ 1.536V stable.
beetween this and 3.9ghz nothing changes exept rebooting at that particular test nbr.9.
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Post by Apoptosis »

To be 100% honest with you running 3.9GHz on a 3.2E is a pretty damn good overclock. Keep in mind that Intel never could get 4GHz on that core, so you are honestly reaching the max on that processor without having massive leakage from the core. A 700MHz overclock is better than what most people even dare to attempt. Congrats on your overclocking and I have a feeling it won't be your last. Now you need to go pick up an Intel 660 like this one and overclock it from 3.6GHz to 4.51GHz like I did ;)
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Post by sbohdan »

thanks a lot for the encouragement. I didnt know you cannot reach 4ghz on this core. wow. this was my first time ever because I didnt know anything about OC cpus or ddr before 3 days ago. the only thing I did was OC my vid card but this is so much more complex. Ive been reading all over the web for the last 3 days and I just learned how much patients and determination one needs to go through with it. I guess couse Im an artist (painter) I have the patients http://www.geocities.com/sbohdan2000/ but I also needed you guys to help me learn so that I actually know what Im doing. thanks again. thanks a lot.
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Post by Apoptosis »

you can get over 4GHz on the core, but volts mods need to be done on the board to get higher memory voltage options and a VapoChill or LN2 cooling is needed to keep the flame (The Prescott CPU) under control. IMHO you are overclocked to around the max that you can expect before going Xtreme on the overclocking.
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Post by sbohdan »

here is the cpu-z of 3.9ghz. its too bad it failed the cpumark05 test. Im gonna just go back to 3.8ghz steady.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=28632

any idea why my IC7-G doesnt have a multiplier option in the bios? maybe wrong version of motherboard?
I really appreciate the help and encouragement Apoptosis- especially from you -the site admin.
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Post by sbohdan »

could the restarting (instability) be caused by overheating northbridge? (changed to a passive cooler from the original noisy IC7-G cooler). any suggestions? :?
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Post by gvblake22 »

sbohdan wrote:could the restarting (instability) be caused by overheating northbridge? (changed to a passive cooler from the original noisy IC7-G cooler). any suggestions? :?
Very possibly. What passive heatsink did you put on there. Lightly touch the fins and the base of the heatsink to see if it feels extremely hot or not. if you have a spare 60mm fan or smaller you could try temorarily affixing it to the passive heatsink somehow and see if that helps at all (or even try putting the stock heatsink back on there).

I know on my Socket A setup, my South Bridge was getting REALLY hot (like too hot to keep my finger on there for more than 5-10 seconds) and my audio would crackle and do wierd stuff. So I blamed the problem on an overheating SB and cut up a little heatsink and thermal taped it on there and magically, the problem was solved!
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Post by sbohdan »

well yeah, it kind of feels hot. I will reinstall the original to see what happens. if this is the problem then I will put back the zalman passive and install an extra fan on top of it. the original cooler was just way too laud. actually it was the laudest fan in my PC. thanks.
Main rig: NZXT Phantom modded case with Danger Den WC, Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite, Ryzen 5800X @ stock, 32GB Patriot Viper DDR4 3200Mhz 16-18-18-36-1T, AMD RX 5700XT + AlphaCool WC, ACER Nitro XV2 27", SP 1TB nvme PCiE GEN3, Samsung 2TB; Cooler Master MW Gold 650W, Win10 Pro 64
my complete GFX tuneup & cooling mod: http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopi ... highlight=
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Post by sbohdan »

I have found the reason of the lockups and rebooting! it was the chips (8x) lining up above the CPU socket. they were so hot I did burn my fingertip touching any of them. I thought of puting little chipset cooling fins on them but the space is really limited there so it wasnt easy. finally used ram VGA chipset coolers from zalman on the 4 bigger ones and 4 smaller fins on the 4 little ones (even like this it was a totally tight fit because of the little condensators about the chips). now if I touch the fins they are still pretty hot but arent burning anymore and the ocasional reboots and lockups when running pcmark05 stopped :)
I also am considering cutting out a hole on the back of the plate supporting the motherboard and placing there a fan that would cool the back of the motherboard because I find the top edge of the board very hot too.
Main rig: NZXT Phantom modded case with Danger Den WC, Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite, Ryzen 5800X @ stock, 32GB Patriot Viper DDR4 3200Mhz 16-18-18-36-1T, AMD RX 5700XT + AlphaCool WC, ACER Nitro XV2 27", SP 1TB nvme PCiE GEN3, Samsung 2TB; Cooler Master MW Gold 650W, Win10 Pro 64
my complete GFX tuneup & cooling mod: http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopi ... highlight=
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Post by kenc51 »

sbohdan wrote:any idea why my IC7-G doesnt have a multiplier option in the bios? maybe wrong version of motherboard?
I really appreciate the help and encouragement Apoptosis- especially from you -the site admin.
only C0 stepping P4 3.0E cpus have the option to drop their multi
spec numbers are: SL7B8 / SL79M (there are only 2 3.0e cpu's)
All other 3.0E cpu's work within the sockett 478 guidlines for power (VMR)

They can drop their multi because they draw more power than socket 478 can supply (103Watts) . If you drop 1 into your mobo, it's supposed to drop speed so you don't kill your board! Asus were first to release a beta bios which allowed this option to be manually changed (on some cpu's), now most boards can do it

You can check the spec number of you cpu, you'll have to take off the HSF first, then goto [url]ttp://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/default.asp[/url]

also how much did you pay for your RAM ?
Is it generic Samsung ram?
If you can run cl2,2,2,5 @ stock speed (200mhz) - then your ram should be good till @ least ddr500 (250mhz) - its TCCD etc. :)
Your temps look a little high, you should try to keep your cpu below 60 when overclocking

As mentioned earlier, your on or about the max for that cpu
I have the same proc. the best i can do is 3.8Ghz - the average for 3.0e is about 3.6Ghz
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