BH6's Last Gasp: What's the highest CPU I can use?

[Guest]

Hello All,

I have an old ABIT BH6 mobo that has given me nothing but great and reliable usage, over 2 years now with a Celeron 300A running at 450. Now, I was reading about overclocking the BX chipset, as it runs as well or even better than the newer chipsets, even though it's older.

Of course, the BH6 seems to have a max. multiplier of 5.5, and max. bus speed of 133, so overclocking a somewhat newer PII or PIII is theoretically possible with the old Slot 1. My question is: What is the highest CPU I could slap in this old slot 1 mobo, that will run at 133 MHz? According to my math, 133 * 5.5 = 733 MHz. Is there a Slot 1 733? Any ideas what I could throw in this mobo and crank it up to the max--to get a last gasp out of what has been a very fine motherboard/CPU combo?

Thanks to all,

Coelacanth

 

[Unolocogringo]

it would depend on the board revision IE 1.0, 1.01, 1.1, 1.2
so if you can post this maybe someone can help.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Rick; I neglected to mention that I have the original, version 1.0 flavor of BH6 (unfortunately). I forgot that, when I last downloaded a BIOS update for it, there were two basic BH6's: the original one (1.0), and the newer ones (1.x).

As far as wusy's suggestion to download a newer manual--that doesn't really address my question. The question, again, is: what is the highest SLOT 1 CPU I could theoretically install in my (version 1.0) BH6 'board?

Thanks again,

Coelacanth

 

[Guest]

...Not to mention that I haven't been able to download the user manual from either ABIT's USA or Taiwanese websites due to something screwed up on their end; also, not to mention that what I'm trying to accomplish (overclock the chipset to 133 MHz and slap in a 133 MHz-based CPU running at STOCK speed) will NOT be something documented in the manual.

 

[jclw]

Best Abit server is the french mirror

- JW

 

[Guest]

Hi again,

Well, I thought I'd revive this thread because I find it hard to believe that nobody out there, people who follow Tom's Hardware Guide (the virtual home of the overclocker), has tried to overclock the BX440 chipset on the ABIT BH6 motherboard (Rev. 1.0)!!! Incredible! Surely, someone out there has attempted this, and surely, someone that follows this community ought to be able to answer my original question: "How high a CPU can I theoretically put in a BH6 motherboard, running the bus at 133 MHz (which is possible but not documented) and using stock multiplier settings for the CPU?" (For example, will I be able to install a PIII 733?)

C'mon ABIT overclockers, please show yourselves!

Thanks again,

Coelacanth

 

[Unolocogringo]

iv'e looked and it appears that the highest this board will take is the p3 katmai core chips which go to 600.if you upgrade make sure it is a katmai 2.2 volts 512 L2 cache it does not support the coppermine chips 1.65 volts 256 L2 cache. sorry about the bad news. but this is all i could find out for sure.

 

[Guest]

I am running a bh6 mb. I think the revision is 1.04 so it is of the older 1.0x and not the 1.1x series. First off the manual does list 5.5 as max multiplier, second, It does not list any number fsb above 133mhz. Have you downloaded the latest bios and flashed your system? I am not sure if it will enable a higher multiplier but you are not at the end of your motherboard's rope yet. I just finished my upgrade and it should work for you but It is not a pIII but a celeron just like you have now. I used a slotkett card and installed a fcpga celeron 600 in it. I now have the higher multiplier selections but I am not sure if they came from the bios flash or the slotkett card. I am running at 927mhz= 103fsbx9 ( user defined 100, turbo enabled) and it is working very well, the same as my 300A did. It cost me about $100 for the complete upgrade. If you want to buy a pretested kit they are $125 at <A HREF="http://www.pcnut.com/cool/combo.htm" target="_new">PC NUT</A>. They also have the p3 700 for slot one mb but make sure it will work if you go with a p3. Here is the setup I ended up with and considerations when using this setup.
Processer celeron 600 fcpga - <A HREF="http://www.upgradeplanet.com/shop/default.asp?idGroup=207&mscssid=P1B1AEDJ2DS92MS300J74Q3KPJXH0462" target="_new">UPGRADE PLANET</A> $61. plus shipping. (watch out for ordering untested chips from sites selling tested chips.)
"New Vantec Heatsink" The 60mm square sink - <A HREF="http://www.inflowdirect.com/socket7ppga370.html" target="_new">INFLOW DIRECT</A> $13.00 and arctic silver II $8.50(same place) +shipping. I sanded/lapped the bottom of sink with 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to a bright polish for better heat transfer.Start off with about 800 grit then 1000 grit then 1500 or 2000 grit or you will be forever. Space wise you won't be able to use a sink much bigger around than about 60mm and watch out for height. The alpha 6035 should be better but more expensive.
Iwill slocketII card $10. from <A HREF="http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?dept_id=83&pid=1641&sid=74T7A6AP0ES92H2F080205RWQCJ5FGS8" target="_new">ALLSTARSHOP</A>. They now list the abit card for $9.50 and not the Iwill card. these cards with the protective cartridge are a tight fit. On my inwin case I had to remove the ps fanguard and push down on the card to make it go past the back of the mb tray opening. I would stick with Iwill, ABIT, msi, or asus. Some don't support overclocking as well. Alot of sites don't even list the brand and the gigabyte regular version was not a good choice. One review site claimed the one with the big capacitors on card helped stability but who knows. I would think abit card and mb would have to be a good marriage. I also got 2 80mm case fans from them for $4. each which is why I bought from them.
If you used the molex celeron brackets which came with mb you will have to switch out to the p3 bracket for the cartridge-meaning you will probably need to remove mb and all cards to change out. I am running at 103fsb at 1.70 volts with the new bh6ss.exe bios flash. Make sure you expand to a bootable system floppy beforehand. <A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com/english/" target="_new">Abit site</A>
You can use your pc100 memory with this also. Did I leave anything out? Oh yes, down load a copy of sisoft sandra to check out your system settings afterwards. And If you change your fsb too high like I keep trying to get 112fsb and locking up just turn off your system and reboot holding down the insert key while turning on system. Remember, Not all chips overclock the same you may have to up your voltage or get one that won't overclock at all. But the chip I got from upgrade planet was a good one. Worse case is a 600mhz system which is still not bad for the money. Good luck!

 

[Guest]

<A HREF="http://www.overclockers.com.au/pcdb/" target="_new">Here</A> is a database page. list bh6 and search- returned 32 systems using some version of mb.

 

[Guest]

The only way to know for sure is to look in the BIOS settings, each flash can give you a different set of multipliers, in any order too (make sure you cycle all the way through). The BH6 I used to have had SoftMenu II, then just set it to user defined and pick a new multiplier. All of the multipliers the board supports will be available.

Finding the multiplier is only part of your problem. This mobo doesn't have the 1/4 multiplier for the PCI bus, so you will be overclocking the PCI bus when the FSB goes over 100 MHz. This is only a problem if you need to use the PCI bus though, good thing it has 2 ISA slots!

Anyway, the best buy in P3 is to get 550 or 600 100 MHz FSB with L2 cache of 256k and run the FSB up as high as is stable. I had mine running at 112 MHz, but I needed the PCI bus, and my cards didn't like going any higher.

Don't forget about the well documented issue of overclocking the AGP bus (port) and the 440BX chipset. Tom's has a good article about that issue.

Good Luck

phlyin

 

[wmunn]

i am currently running an abit bh6 1.01 version board with a slot 1 PIII 750, overclocked to 930MHZ by running the fsb at 124mhz and agi divider 1/3.. i know this will go higher, but my ram is only 66mhz and i am now running it at double that rate. i will be getting some faster ram and try for 133 fsb and see what happens.

hope this helps