Overclocking a P4 2.8E

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:21 pm

Hii guys. I am not new to computers but i am new to this forum, and also to overclocking. for some reason, i bought an Asus P4S800 motherboard along with a 2.8e CPU and the motherboard sucks. i have no idea what i was thinking and it's too late to return it now. oh well. $40 down the drain.

i also got generic 512mb PC400 ram which was probably a big mistake. in fact i can't even load windows xp pro on this machine, it's so unstable. i'm on win98 right now. feels like the old days.

so anyway, i'm going to get rid of the MB and memory and get a little more serious about my system without spending tons of money.

so i am going to buy a new MB and RAM and see what i can do with my 2.8e. I have read a few articles and comments by people who have this CPU and i see that most people are getting good results from the Asus PC4800 E deluxe board, which has the i875P chipset. This seems to be the standard issue board for O/Cing the Prescott right now.

I have read a couple places that the i865PE chipset works just as well, and sometimes better than the 875, and i was thinking of getting an MSI 865PE Neo2-PFISR board which is less expensive and has recieved some good reviews, although isn't as popular as the PC4800E. Would the MSI be ok, or should i just stick with the PC4800E?

Also, i'm looking for good recommendations for RAM and a good aftermarket fan for the CPU. thanks for your help. I don't want to spend a lot of money on some new parts and then have to spend more money later because i bought the wrong memory or something.

thanks for your help. i look forward to getting more involved with the enthusiast community. looks like a lot of fun.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:29 pm

The only thing that would make me beware of the MSI is i belive that was one of the mobos that was prescott ready and then MSI updated the bios and removed all the overclocking features for the prescott because it was burning the boards up. I would just look into that before buying. As for ram as long as you go with decent value brand like kingstion, crucial, corsair... you should be fine if you realy want top notch performance then your going to have to spend a lot more on some good low latency memory. BTW welcome to the forums we hope you stick around.

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:49 pm

p4p800 is a great board for someone on a budget should be able to get it for $97 or less, nice overclocker too

Post by **Apoptosis** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 9:48 pm

Welcome to the forums Eric! Glad to have you around in our small community. Hope we can help you out and that you will be willing to help others here!

If you have noticed all of our memory and cooling articles are benchmarked on the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe. This is because we found it to be the best overclocker and have the least amount of problems out of all the i875P boards we have used.

We have been able to overclock our P4C800-E well beyond 300FSB with the help of water cooling. It's a great board. If you are looking for something a little easier on the pocket book and don't overclock then I suggest the i865 chipset board.

As for memory... Stick with a major brand name. Kingston and Corsair are among the best US brand lines you can go with. If you look at the Kingston advertisment on our site you will notice that Kingston has a $25 rebate on select HyperX modules from Zipzoomfly right now too.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:34 pm

I don't recommend MSI motherboards (video cards are great! :D). I've used two MSI boards with AMD processors and the overclocking features weren't anything great. No experience with the Asus but it seems like the way to go. Just thought I'd drop in my 2 cents.

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:40 pm

thanks for all the advice you guys. i think i will go with the P4C800-E since it is such a highly recommended board and there are so many people getting great results with it.

as for cooling, i know the prescotts run very hot so i should probably get some kind of liquid cooling system, unless you guys think air is ok for now. i have seen a few water cooling options, but any advice on what the best one would be as far as cost and effectiveness with my 2.8e would be much appreciated.

also, i was going to go with the standard kingston PC400 dual RAM, since the hyperx is so expensive, but if the standard RAM isn't good enough, i guess i can go for the better RAM.

thanks again for your help. i am still learning a lot about computers, but i might be able to help with questions about electronics or cars, which are some other hobbies of mine. i am planning on doing a nice cabling job on this computer i'm building, but i want to get it working before i make it look nice. is there a place where everyone posts pictures of their systems here? it would be cool to see what everyone is doing these days.

also, sorry i type so much. i guess i just have a lot to ask and say right now.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:54 pm

hehe you have not seen my 806 word post on raid 0 vs single hd.

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:08 am

infinitevalence wrote:hehe you have not seen my 806 word post on raid 0 vs single hd.

i might have to check that out. i have been thinking about raid lately and if it is worth doing on a home computer. i need to do more research though.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:15 am

Well here is what i had to say on the subject just scroll down you cant miss it.

http://www.legitreviews.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=748

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 6:57 am

You can't go wrong with the P4C800-e Dlx or the P$C800 Dlx (notice the difference). both boards O/C fairly well, are very stable, and have alot of features. ABITs O/C better, but havve voltage issues without volt mods, I tried MSI and it is basically crap, like Apop says, they disabled all the O/C features in later BIOS because of issues with the Prescott. i have also heard great things about the DFI LanParty.
I have had n ASUS P$C800-E Deluxe that has run a 2.8 and 3.2 at between 232-250 FSB for more than 6 months without any serious issues.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:01 am

I picked up this MSI board because the guy at Fry's swore it was a great board, well, IT SUX. On my ASUS board I was rock solid at 3.5GHz (on a 2.Cool, my corsair mem hit 6100 on Sandra.
With the MSI board, it won't go past 3.2 without rebooting (mainly because it won't let you adjust the vcore) and the memory tops out at 4800 on Sandra.This board is compatible with Prescott CPUs, but you can't adjust the voltage on anything but a Northwood. I would not recommend this board to anyone, especially anyone who wants to OC.

nuff said

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:59 pm

thanks you guys. i'm for sure going to get the P4C-800e deluxe now. thanks for telling me that info about the MSI board.

i guess i'll try the hyperx ram and once i get everything going, decide on a cooling method. i've seen some pretty good numbers with the stock cpu fan, but i know that lower heat is always better, especially with the prescotts.

i wish i had something to offer you guys for your help. i do have 6 more gmail invites i can give out. PM me or post here on the off chance one of you doesn't have gmail yet and want an account. thanks again. you guys are legit.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 6:43 pm

if you would offer them on the gmail thread

http://www.legitreviews.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=791

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:58 pm

Eric, once you get that ASUS, check out the threads here.
I spent two solid days messing with the BIOS and optimizing it. ilisted the best BIOS settings for that board here. If I find it I'll edit this post and provide a link

Legit Reviews :: View topic - overclocking problem with Prescott 2.8E
http://www.legitreviews.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=536

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 1:45 pm

ok. using the excellent guy that capper provided on the above link, i was able to get my system running stable at 250 FSB with 1.5v vcore. i played with the settings and got it to 3.6ghz but i turned it back down to 3.54 for now since i'm leaving it on all day to kind of "burn it in" while i am at work. i still have it in "turbo" mode though.

i am running 2 instances of folding@home right now, which has the CPU working at 100% 24/7 and the temp is staying right at 43 degrees c. not bad for a 2.8e prescott overclocked that high. or at least, i think it's pretty good for my first overclocking attempt. i still want to see if i can squeeze a little more reliable speed out of this CPU. right now the system is super fast and hasn't crashed or locked up once.

thanks to rich (capper5016) for helping me out. he sold me some parts for a great deal and helped me set up my watercooling stuff. it's running really well and rich definitely knows what he's talking about. i trust anything he tells me about computers. it's a little crazy with the huge danger den radiator core and the 1/2" tubing, but it works awesome. he also helped me choose the best components to overclock my system and i believe that is why it's running so stable when others have had their systems lock at similar settings. the pc power and cooling 510 deluxe power supply is awesome. i never really paid much attention to PSUs before, but it really does make a difference.

anyway, i just wanted to thank everyone here for helping me out, especially rich, and i'm going to keep fine tuning my system, and work on the cabling to get it looking as good as it runs. then maybe i'll post some pics or something.

i know there are way better systems out there, but i'm pretty excited with what i put together. now i just need to find some good games. it's been a while. the last game a played was starcraft i think. haha.

thanks everyone.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 2:07 pm

Thats why we stick around, is to help and to learn, i know that both capper and i have learned from eachother and from other people. if i say so my self you came to the right place.

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 2:59 pm

infinitevalence wrote: if i say so my self you came to the right place.

i totally agree. this is the only computer forum i am signed up on and i think it's going to stay that way. quality is much more important than quantity to me. why get on a board that has 500 people who each have a different opinion when you can have a small number of people who know what they are talking about?

so anyway, my next goal is going to be to get a bigger processor and seeing how high i can take it. at least 4ghz, but i am not sure how well the 3.4 prescott overclocks. if it does as well as the 2.8, it should be able to get into the 4.2ghz range easily. or is that not possible?

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:32 pm

if you want to go that extreme start thinking about a water chiller. becaue the only way to get that high is to drop the cpu below ambiant.

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:20 pm

infinitevalence wrote:if you want to go that extreme start thinking about a water chiller. becaue the only way to get that high is to drop the cpu below ambiant.

good idea. but i am not using a reservior. i guess i will need to use one if i'm going to chill the water, right? everything is running so (relatively) cold right now it's not really an issue. i think i am a way off from needed an electric cooling device for the water.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 5:05 pm

so anyway, my next goal is going to be to get a bigger processor and seeing how high i can take it. at least 4ghz, but i am not sure how well the 3.4 prescott overclocks. if it does as well as the 2.8, it should be able to get into the 4.2ghz range easily. or is that not possible?

what i have heard about those Pressies is that they are all basically the same except for the mulitpliers, not sure if that true or not.
i have a 3.2 E and it hits 4.0, but not terribly stable up there.
I have also heard that windows XP doesn't like 4+GHz, I've seen alot of people get there, and their system turns into a snail.
With the system you have, which seems to working real well, you might just want to upgrade the CPU down the road.
another thing too, with W/C you want to keep your temps at idle under 40C, under 55C with load....I say that because while you are W/C the key elements, they still produce heat, and still affect other parts of your mobo and system that aren't cooled, at least actively