Please give your opinion on 440BX and 133 FSB CPU

[Guest]

Hi, I use the BX6 rev 2 motherboard from Abit with a Celeron 400 overclocked at 500. I want to upgrade my CPU to Pentium III 1GHz (of course I will use a Slot 1 to FPGA adapter). This CPU operates directly at 133MHz. I can set up this higher bus speed (as well as make the required changes in multiplier and voltage settings) through Abit's CPU Soft Menu II bios utility. Some computer part vendors have told me, that this CPU won't work with this motherboard. They think, that I will have problems using a CPU with a default setting at 133MHz with this motherboard because its Intel 440BX chipset specs supports only up to 100MHz bus-speed (of course my RAM has 133MHz bus). They recommend buying a CPU with 100MHz FSB, and trying to overclock it as high as I can.
My question is: has anyone had this particular motherboard working steadily at 133MHz-bus speed? Any comments or web-site addresses with relevant information are very welcome. Thanks.

 

[Olfin_Bedwere]

I had the BH6, which is pretty much the same as the BX6. The main problem with running at 133MHZ bus is the AGP bus. A 2/3 divider will mean the bus runs at about 90MHZ, way out of the AGP specs.

 

[pike]

If you do a search on this subjet "440 bx" in this section you will come up with good info i'm quite sure. Also try CPU section.
First opinion, but not a real techkie here, just a freakie, is that yes the BX is usually stable at 133.
OH! :redface: THG has a article about 440 BX upgrading, do check that out please.

Very good pike, bravo !

Danny

Electric coolaid for everyone, except me, never touch the stuff !

 

[ronco05]

i have QDI 440bx board.133 would not work.with the agp at 89mhz the system froze.at 124 it worked fine.i have a tnt2 video card and they are known to not work at 89mhz.i heard that most geforce cards will work at 89mhz.

 

[Flyboy]

I'm faced with a similar problem. Bronco wrote that it will likely run at 133. My mobo is a P2B-F. I guess I should just try it and see. I don't know if my GeForce will make it to 90Mhz.

BTW, I upgraded from the Celeraon 300A (OC to 450) to a PIII 750 on a 100Mhz FSB. I'd LOVE to hit 900MHz.

hmm...

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[mbetea]

Very good pike, bravo !

lol, those self help classes paying off? :tongue:

[insert philosophical statement here]

 

[Flyboy]

I just tried bumping up the FSB on my 440BX. Here's the results (750Mhz PIII):

OC to 786Mhz (105Mhz FSB): 2223 pts
OC to 786Mhz, changed CAS to 2-2-2: 2257 pts
OC to 824Mhz, (110Mhz FSB): 2291 pts

Pretty dissappointing results I must say. I didn't try going any higher than 110Mhz FSB because I only have the stock HSF combo on my new PIII750. I did get rid of the PC100 memory stick because I figured that it would be the most significant bottleneck.

I guess the scores are low because the CPU is not the bottleneck, but probably the video memory bandwidth??? (i.e. AGP 1X)

What do you guys think?

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[NickM]

I have an oldie, the Abit BH6… I heard from some technicians and read the articles, pointing that a BH6, or even 440BX in general don’t work well with memory in non-native 133 MHz mode.

Well, mine BH6 is c/w Pentium II – 266…, now o/c up to 333 MHz @133 FSB, latest BIOS upgrade, CPU speed signal recognition set to low, CPU pin-21 is disabled.
384MB of RAM set to CAS2. Very stable, never crashed in Win2K, nothing much to complain with Win98SE.

My old ATI Rage IIC is no problem, the 3Com Fast EtherLink LX 10/100Mb TX NIC is working, US-Robotics dial-up modem is working, the sound is no problem, my new Acer CD-RW with Nero never failed;
20+40 GB HDD, separate boot into Win2K Advanced Server and Win98SE, that’s my Oracle8i training machine. I don’t have any problem with my machine running at 133 FSB.

I don't mind buying a complete new system, but I also have a pleasure from keeping a reliable networked veteran running, and I'm thinking about possible CPU upgrade. The PowerLeap replied me with the confirmation that they have tested OK their PL-iP3/T™ c/w Celeron 1200 on my particular BH6 version v1.01.

 

[Crashman]

I have had 100% success running BX chipset boards that support a 133MHz FSB setting at that speed. 100% success. The naysayers are full of crap. As long as your CPU and memory can handle the bus speed, and you have a fairly recent video card, it will work.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Crashman]

BX has AGP2x, which in reality is almost as fast as AGP4x, because AGP4x is underutilized by all cards. Your low score is probably due to your low bus speed. The most likely problem for overclocking is your CPU, the 750 will need 1.85v or more to hit 1GHz, if it does at all.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Guest]

Hi again, I posted the original message in this thread. I want to thank all of you for your replies. They helped me a lot. As many people pointed out, the problem would lie with the overclocking of the AGP bus. Looking over the net I found this page: http://www.rolotech.com/reviews/videocard/Overclocking/choose_videocard/videocard_oclk_p3.htm
My video card is the ATI Rage Fury Pro. Theoretically this card could work with the AGP bus overclocked at 100MHz i.e. 150 MHz FSB. I guess it is a gamble, but in case it would work there could be a good chance that the graphic chip gets fried (I think). An alternative that I have to the 1GHz P III, is the slot 1 850 PIII FSB 100MHz (if I can find it). Overclocked at 117 FSB equals almost 1GHz. I would lose about 10% of processor speed as well as 10% bus speed, in the far case that I would be able to oveclock the 1 GHz PIII (according to the webpage above this is possible: at around 147 MHz bus speed the agp bus is 98MHz). I am not sure if I should push my luck that far… Thanks again everybody

 

[Flyboy]

My core voltage is set to 1.616V. I double-checked and I am set for AGP 2X. Ok...so if I want to do this how am I going to check my CPU temperature? I really don't want to burn up my processor, but I'm dying to push this system a little further.

So you think its the CPU, NOT the PCI bus...I hope your right.

Uh oh...I don't see any way to adjust the Vcore voltage! I'll check the BIOS real quick...

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Crashman]

It's hard to find a good cooler for the SECC2 package. If you don't have a sensor, you can always feel the heatsink to see if it's hot. It shouldn't be hotter than a hot coffee.
I suggested jumping staight to 133MHz BECAUSE there's a setting for 133FSB/33MHz PCI where the PCI won't be overclocked. The jumper chart on Asus's site shows the 133/33 setting.
Your CPU can handle a lot of power, I've had my PIII 700 overclocked around 1.1GHz/2.6v! But cooling is the key.
You'll probably need at least 1.85v to get to 1GHz. More than likely you'll need 1.90v-2.05v. If you can do it at 1.85v, you'll probably get by with the stock cooler.
Your stock voltage is probably 1.65v, so your power supply is not doing an accurate job of regulating voltage, but it still might do if you raise the voltage enough.
It looks like your going to need to cover a VID pin to raise your voltage. Look up the chart on Intel's site.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Flyboy]

I'll do that now...(looking for VID pin to bridge) If anything out of curiosity.



Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Flyboy]

Ok...I got the data sheet for the VID requirements.

So I need to go buy one of those silicon pensils? And what voltage should I try first? 1.85V?

One more thing. When I checked my BIOS for the Voltage monitor, for the VCORE voltage it shows ERROR. But in CPUID, it shows 1.616V, which seems low.

Any thoughts on this? Perhaps a BIOS upgrade? (anticipating you asking what BIOS version I have...I'll get that now!)

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Crashman]

I only have the VIO settings for the Socket 370, give me a document number or link so I can download the SECC2 version myself. I'd try 1.85v first if you can. Most people use tape, then a razor to trim the sides.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Flyboy]

<A HREF="http://ftp://download.intel.com/design/PentiumIII/datashts/24445208.pdf" target="_new">http://ftp://download.intel.com/design/PentiumIII/datashts/24445208.pdf</A>

What exactly do you mean by using tape? Like a electrically conductive tape?

BTW, I fixed the BIOS VCORE reading error. I updated my BIOS to version 1013.A for the P2B-F.

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Crashman]

This is going to be tough. OK, if you have a 1.65v processor, the easiest thing to do would be to cover VID1, VID2, and VID4. That makes it 2.1v, and you WILL need good cooling to do it. You can probably run it with stock cooling for a short period to see how hot it gets, moderate heat problems can be cured by using a better fan.

If your lucky enough to have the 1.70v processor, simply covering VID2 will raise it to 1.90v, which may be enough.

I'm talking about insulating tape. Some people use Scotch tape because it's thin.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Flyboy]

I'm going away for vacation for 2 weeks, so when I return and try this out I'll post a new thread.

Thanks for the help!

BTW, I still haven't seen your 3DMark2001 scores. I'd really like to know where I stand. If you don't want to post them publically could you just send it to me via email?

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Flyboy]

Hey I just installed the Detonator XP drivers and gained 200 points! I'm up to 2476 now...

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[upec]

I have the same motherboard. I am using it with a 733 MHz P3. I am using it as a server so I just put an old PCI video card to get around the overclocked AGP bus.

 

[Crashman]

My score for my GTS was 3229, about the same for my Radeon LE, in 3D-Mark 2001 using the 6.31 drivers for the GTS and the original release drivers for the LE, on a PIII 700@933.


What's the frequency, Kenneth?