Advice on TBird System

[Bombastik]

Hi!
I'm about to upgrade my old Asus P2B+PII/333 to a AMD Thunderbird system... my target speed is 1Ghz.

The motherboard will either be the Asus A7V133 or the Abit KT7A-RAID.

I'm thinking about buying the 1Ghz/100 Tbird but first i'd like some advice on the FSB issue.
It was common practice in Intel system to OC the FSB in favor of the Multiplier, and since both Motherboard use the KT133A chip i was wondering if i can achive 1Ghz/133 with ANY 100Mhz FSB Tbird or can this only be accomplished with a 133Mhz FSB Tbird?

Ok now, i've been told that i should buy the 900Mhz Tbird instead the 1Ghz one, because it can easly attain 1Ghz and the 1Ghz TBird can't be much OC over 1.1Ghz. Should i buy the 900Mhz one?

I'm asking this 'cause when i bought the PII i wanted the 350Mhz one 'cause it was the cheapest with 100Mhz FSB, but a friend of mine adviced me not to do it since it only had a 3.5x multiplier and it was that time when the multiplier was lock for values up.... So ended up buying the 333Mhz witch had a 5x multiplier and for my misfortune it was one of the first batch to come with the multiplier locked UP and DOWN... so i basicly can't use the 100Mhz FSB since it would boot the PII 333@500 or rather, not boot at all.
So as you can see i have a bad experience in OC ...

All i want to know if it is really probable (almost foulproof) to get the 900Mhz TBird at 1000Mhz in a stable state or not.


Thank you for your time

 

[Scout]

Not sure how well the KT133A works with a FSB overclock, but with the T-bird, the pencil trick is easy and allows full multiplier adjustment.

There seems to be a lot of difference between certain Athlon chips and their ability to overclock. I use a 750 T-bird that will run 950, but not entirely stable. I use it at 850 to avoid lockups. My friend bought a 1 GHz. and it runs nicely at 1.2 GHz. I think he has one of the Dresden fabbed chips and they are better due to using copper interconnects. My 750 is from Texas and uses aluminum. Look for the date code in the number and get as new a chip as you can for best overclocking.

Scout

 

[JOJO]

hey, i just a got a kt7a-raid and it's great

using an 'old' tb 800@933

7x133 i believe, i just had to lower my multiplier to run the 133 bus, but a noticeble improvement.

i almost got it to go at 7.5 x 133 which is close to a Ghz.
If you got the 900, i'm sure you'd be able to run it at 7.5 x 133, which is close to 1Ghz, although you might be able to get 8 x 133 or even 8.5 x 133. Which would be nice. Depends on the proccessor though, different ones overclock differently.

good luck!

 

[Guest]

Have you considered running a slotket card adapter and celeron 600? It should overclock to 900 at 100 fsb. I have one ordered for my bh6 which had the 300A@464. Total cost for chip, adapter card, arctic silver II, and hs/fan was about $96 bucks before shipping ($25). This will also run with your existing pc100 memory which the other one @133 will not. Of course I have to hope my chip will oc but thats a chance you have to take with all of them. Its an economical upgrade and almost 3X faster than what you have but it won't take you to a gig (unless you can get 112fsb). good luck whatever you do.

 

[Bombastik]

Thank you all for your advice...

Right now i'm steering clear of the Intel solution, i've allways used Intel systems, but from K6-2 and upward i've had high expections for AMD, and now that they seem to be very well acepted and stable in general i think i'm going to give the Athlon the benefit of the doubt...

About the 133Mhz FSB, i have a friend of mine how has a Duron600 at 900 and he says the the Athlon (Tbird or Duron) doesn't cope as well as the Cely or the PIII with FSB overclocking, it does cope really well with Multiplier overclocking, thus, he said with both the TBird 900 or the TBird 1Ghz my chances of having +/-1Ghz@133Mhz FSB are pretty slim.

He sayd as well that the TBird 1Ghz can be OC to 1.1Ghz but now much beyound that, but the TBird 900 should be able to get me at least 1GHz or perhaps even 1.1Ghz... so logicaly he sayd that the TBird 900 is a better buy than the TBird 1Ghz...

Has anyone had sucessfull experiences using 133Mhz FSB on 100Mhz FSB Tbirds/Durons??
Is the TBird 900 a better buy than the 1Ghz?

 

[Skirmash]

I am successfully running my 100FSB 900 Athlon at 933 (7 * 133) on a KT7A with no problems. Absolutely none !

Will probably aim at 1Ghz in the near future depending upon responses to another of my posts seeking advice on temperatures.

 

[Bombastik]

Skirmash, as you seem to have the same goal as I, i need to ask you this:

My friends tell me that in the Duron/Tbird (not in on Intel) it's better to OC using multiplier rather than FSB. Do you share this view (i don't, but then again i've never used/had a Duron/TBird) ?

Using the Tbird 900 it maybe easy to do 1Ghz/100 but may prove to be a bit too much 1Ghz/133 (from 900/100 to 1000/100 as alot diferent from 900/100 to 1000/133) , so in the light of this perhaps (but on completly) its almost a fact that you can do 1Ghz/133 (7.5 * 133) on a 1Ghz/100 (10 * 100)...?

This is because, as said in the first post, my target speed is 1Ghz at 133Mhz FSB, so i'm a bit undecided wether to go for the Tbird900 or the Tbird1G for this?

 

[Guest]

From what I've read it seems the athlon doesn't have too many problems reaching higher fsb. It is more of an issue of having ram post that high as well as pci and agp units run at higher fsb. Unless I wait for mp athlon I will buy a tbird 850 or 900 and I will be trying for 133x7 and 150x6. I will probably buy crucial 128 (pc133)x2 and will only have to worry about the vid card and nic not running at higher clocks.

 

[Bombastik]

Actually my Graf Card is the CL TnT2 Ultra and my NIC is just an old Realtek 10Mbps PCI.

I'm thinking of buying 1x256 PC133 DIMM or if not too expensive 1x256 PC150 DIMM, but i think doing 1Ghz/150 may be a bit too much even for the TBird 1Ghz (it's double pump 100=200Mhz to double pump 150=300Mhz ... that's a BIG difference). I think if are going to buy 256Mb SDRAM you should rather go for 1 piece (256 DIMM) rather than 2 pieces (2x128 DIMM)...

 

[Guest]

actually, with Abit mother board you can set the ram at, lets say 105 and have the processor being run at 133... it is sweet that way (0-28, at 1 increments)... you can set the fsb for the processor higher than the ram...

Old addage: "Users never prosper" ) Long live the tweakers

 

[Guest]

If you are running 133fsb on an Asus K7V133, you dont need to worry about PCI or AGP speeds as at 133 or above, the mobo switches the multiplier. At 133, your PCI will still be 33 and AGP will still be 66. But at 132, PCI will be 44 and AGP will be 88.

Tom...

 

[Bombastik]

Ok changed the topic, but the question is still the same...

What's the best TBird for 1Ghz/133?????

BTW, Tommyboy you have an Asus K7V133?? Don't you mean Asus A7V133??? Are you happy with that board?

 

[Guest]

ARRRGGHHH ALL THESE NUMBERS!!!

Yes, I mean that one

Well, so far i'm happy. I had moved to germany a while back and brought my bx440 sloweron 400@500 with me... The board dint survive the journey, so I got an el cheapo VIA board for it.

Nothing but troublew with it, so I went out to get me the Asus + TB800. Just cant wait for someone to do the vcore mod so I can try voltages higher than 1.85. I'd be happy to hit the big 1.0 but fear I wont manage it with mine.

I got my 800 to post at 1.0Ghz/133fsb but it got no further than that. I'd guess then that any 1.0Ghz TB should be fine at 133.. But i'm an inexperienced newbie at clocking.. not to hardware, just to clocking.

But yes.. I like the board.

Tom...

 

[ckbumps]

there is no differance between 1ghz/133 and 1ghz/100 to the chip . the chip is still running at 1ghz, it is just at a lower multiplier. with a board capable of 133 bus yuo can run any cpu at 133 bus, as long as you can lower the multiplier enough.
ex: 10x100=1Ghz
7.5x133=1Ghz
It sounded as if you were a bit confused if not disregard this hope this helps

$If Money Is The Root Of All Evil Than I Must Be Goin To Heaven$

 

[Bombastik]

Duh... your actually right...
How stupid of me, 1Ghz is allways 1Ghz... the SYSTEM (bus+cards) is the one that may not accept 133Mhz or 150Mhz FSB, but at least runing@133 should be a breeze...

In the light of this, i wonder what keeps anyone with a 133Mhz FSB System and having a Duron/Tbird@XXXMhz/100 doing XXXMhz/133... to the processor it's same...

Thaks man, you really shed some light on the subject

 

[Guest]

Are you saying the the tbird cares only for the multiplier and the system cares about the FSB? ...so my 1ghz tbird(10x100) should run fine at 10x133 on my kt7a-raid? It wont post at that speed.... I have corsair cas 2 133 sdram, a geforce2 GTS and a new 3com board.

Right now I'm running it at 7.5x133... if I boost the multiplier and it doesn't boot, should I bump up the vcore until it does, or have I reached my limit?

 

[Bombastik]

Hey hey.. i said "to the processor 1Ghz is allways 1Ghz no matter the FSB"...NOT 10*133Mhz=10*100Mhz on the FSV

If you do the math 10*133Mhz=1330Mhz which is ALOT diferent of 1000Mhz (10*100Mhz)

Yeah.. the processor SHOULD (i still don't own one) work fine at 10*100Mhz and 7.5*133Mhz (which actually is only 997.5Mhz and not 1000Mhz, but it rounds up)...

Now if you try more than 7.5@133Mhz FSB you have to consider too things.
-The processor temperature
-The Vcore

Perhaps you did reach the limmit for Temp/Vcore setting OR you have a troublesome PCI card (which i don't think is the case)

I think 8*133+/-=1.1Ghz is attainable but perhaps you'll have to bump the Vcore a bit up BUT, pay CLOSE attencion to the processor temperature..

 

[Guest]

Both ASUS and ABit Motherboards based on the VIA KT133A chipset have been tested stable above 155 Mhz FSB. (I think it was on Overclockers.com) But you need a KT133A based MoBo. The north- (or was it the south) port on KT133 based MoBos wont run much more than 112 Mhz.

 

[Guest]

Are you sure about this!
My A7V133 change PCI divider at FSB speeds >120 Mhz (I think)

 

[ivwshane]

Then I should be able to take a 750mhz tbird and overclock it to 1ghz by 7.5x133fsb=998mhz, right? Or would I have to lower the multipier in order to use the 133fsb?

 

[Guest]

i don't know its tough and depends on your luck. i have a tbird 800 and i can only get it to go 933 (7.0 x 133) or 945 (9.0 x 105). and believe me i want 1Ghz bad. i think i've tried almost everything too. so remember there's some luck involved also. i use a asus a7v133 motherboard.

but best of luck

 

[Guest]

All I can tell you is to get Artic Silver 2 paste and a Swiftech MC462 heatsink. I have both. I don't know who should get the credit my my CPU is very cold. The MC462 is the best heatsink to come along yet. I've used many. And, It will fit on a KT7A.

KT7, TBird 800@1008, 9x112
Swiftech MC462