Estimated Gain from OC with my system.

[coup]

hello. i would be very grateful if someone with lots of brains could give me a rough estimate on what i can espect to gain by overclocking my system. i know the figure is rough, because u need to do detailed anaylsis with OC to find out exactly what you get, but before i shell out on a decent heatsink with heatpipes and [-peep-] and some more case fans, i need to know if its worth the time and effort.

system:

Pentium 4 Northwood 2.4
Abit IT7 Max 2 Version 2
Asus V8420 128Meg GF4
512k DDR CAS 2.5 PC2700

i understand the rough basics of overclocking, but would like a rough estimate of what i can get from my p4 before spending lots of time and effort to find i get very little.

any feedback is welcomed, thanks in advance.

 

[Blasphemy]

Well most people with a Northwood core seem to have very good luck with O/Cing them, so I would be pretty hopeful if I were you. Every processor is different, so noone here can tell you exactly what to expect, but I would recommend trying to O/C it with the cooling you currently have and see how it responds. You may just get a good enough response and not have to go out and buy more expensive cooling. With good air cooling, providing your Northwood responds well, you could easily hit over 200MHz O/C

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AMD Athlon XP 2100+ stock
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
1GB generic RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 360/335

 

[Crashman]

Which Pentium 4 Northwood, A (400 bus), B (533 bus), or C (800 bus)?

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[coup]

Willamette core, 0.18 micron process, 400FSB, 512k L2 Cache, P4 up to 2.0Ghz
Northwood core(A), 0.13 micron process, 400FSB, 512k L2 Cache, P4 up to 2.4Ghz
Northwood core(B), 0.13 micron process, 533FSB, 512k L2 Cache, P4 up to 3.06Ghz
Northwood core(C), 0.13micron process, 800FSB, 512k L2 Cache, P4 up to 3.4Ghz
Prescott core(E)*, 0.09 micron process, 800FSB, 1mb L2 Cache, P4 up to 3.4Ghz

According to that piece of info i found somewhere on this site, im "guessing" its either 400 or 533. does it tell u when u boot? ive never noticed. ill have a look nxt time i reboot.

With regards to current cooling, my heatsink looks something like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Akasa827.jpg and blows most if its air right at the PSU (great design).

that is my only extraction fan, and i have no inhale fan. although there is one mounting point for one more fan, which would have to be inhalation.

Im an electrician so with some thought i might be able to make some mounting holes in my case for more fans by myself.

Whats the CPU temp speed im gona want to stop at? my mate says u want ur CPU to be hottest around 50c when ur just messing about in windows, as it'll rise abit when gaming.

thanks.

 

[Blasphemy]

To find out what you have d/l cpu-z @ cpuid.com

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AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (stock)//1GB Corsair 3200XL//ATI Radeon 9700Pro (360/335)//WD Raptor 74GB/Antec Neopower 480W//Lian Li PC-61 Custom

 

[Crashman]

These things have thermal protection, you won't damage it. I'd push it up to around 60C, somewhere around 65C-70C causes thermal kickdown.

The core can tolerate up to 1.70v. Anything above 1.65v has little effect, so I'd set it at 1.65v and push it as high as it goes.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[coup]

im gona have to reply to ur post even when i have nothing to say because i cant for the life of me find the reply button lol!

would someone please have a rough guess what ghz ill get tho plz before i shell out money and drill holes in my case to mount fans.

the guy who has advised me on technical issues for many years says i wont get much of an overclock because my ram has a slow speed (PC2700 / 333mhz) so because of this it'll hamper incrasing my fsb, thus resulting in lots of effort with cooling and tweaking, for very little results, not even hitting 3.0ghz with my 2.4. is this accurate?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by coup on 10/19/04 01:56 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Cybercraig]

Yes. At 5:4, 3ghz is probably the max. You could probably do better with another 512mb of memory.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[Crashman]

He probably has a "B", which would mean he can probably push the core to its max at 1:1.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Crashman]

It really depends on your stock bus speed. If you have a "533" bus P4 2.4, that's based on an actual clock rate of 133MHz (using Quad Data Rate to make the data transfers 4x as fast). And DDR333 (PC2700) has an actual approved clockrate of 166MHz.

18x133.3=2400, 18x166.6=3000, so you could get to 3GHz with the RAM running the same clock rate as the CPU. Depending on the board, that means setting the CPU:RAM at 1:1, or setting the RAM to 133MHz (clock rate), 266MHz (data rate), or PC2100, then increasing the bus speed of the CPU.

Most 2.4B's would only go to around 2.7GHz or slightly above. So you'll probably find the limit of the CPU before you reach the limit of the RAM, using a 1:1 ratio.

Now, if you had a 2.4 with 400 bus, you'd use other settings. And a 2.4 with 800 bus would require other settings still.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Cybercraig]

Damn, I missed that! Drat! I was thinking he already had a
166mhz FSB based on his ram. He does have some room here.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[Crashman]

Hmm, 166MHz FSB...AMD on the brain? Time to get an Athlon system!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[RichPLS]

Whatever ya buy, be sure to be satified with the stock speed, especially if ya plan on an aggressive overclock, and it dont work out.

_____________________________________________
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[coup]

im sure that will help u. from what uve said, and that above, i should be able to hit 3.0ghz aslong as i sort my currently shoddy cooling out.

if i exchanged my mem for something decent, would it make much difference in either hitting 3ghz or over, or is over 3ghz wonderland without going into extremes of advanced cooling and blah blah..

thanks upto now.

edit: just found out some more great news (sarcasm), my PSU is 300W. details:

model number ADT 300

on the unit it also says:

+5V +3.3V Total Output 160W (??)

i dunno how that effects the situation.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by coup on 10/20/04 05:01 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

You'd be a little lucky to get that old stepping up to 3.0GHz. But 3.0GHz does come at your memory's rated speed, when you run it synchronously (1:1 ratio with the CPU bus).

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>