Is it possible to overclock a Pentium 166? >_>

[GyRo567]

I've recently been getting into some retro gaming, and I've borrowed my dad's old Pentium 166 PC which has Windows 95 and DOS on it.

The specs I know (as detailed as I can get):
Pentium 166
nearly full 2 GB HDD
a broken tape backup drive, a noisy floppy and a weird non-tray CD-ROM
64 MB RAM (now we're talking! ;P)
Imagine 128 4 MB video card (using some Hawkeye95 driver or something)

I'm forgetting something... Anyway, that's what I can remember right now. I haven't a clue what motherboard or BIOS it's using, haven't even tried to go into it yet.

Anyhow, is it possible to overclock the thing to get some extra performance, and should I even bother or would performance results not be worth it? The video card is the main thing giving me a not-so-hot framerate (borderline playable) in some games, but I figure maybe the CPU can help compensate since they made a big difference back then.

 

[fishmahn]

Yes it's possible. I have a few Pentiums - a 120 that could only make it to 133, a 166 that run ok at 200, and a 200 that somehow I blew the 200 multiplier but runs fine at 166...

Most boards back then didn't have the fine-grained controls (1mhz increments) of today, they just had 50/60/66 mhz for fsb (if that) and a multiplier adjustment (up to 3.5x). Generally those were jumpers on the mobo - bios just reported what was jumper set. Some had a 75 and 83 mhz fsb (but rare). Most of the times the fsb adjustment also changed PCI - 25/30/33 resp. 200mhz is 66fsb and 3.0 multiplier

Usually have to use the 'finger test' to see if its getting too hot, but if it boots and is stable...

Mike.

<font color=blue>Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside the dog its too dark to read.
-- Groucho Marx</font color=blue>

 

[GyRo567]

Cool, thanks. I'm no stranger to using jumpers or dip switches to overclock... >_> My current motherboard has multipliers on dip switches and BIOS controls over FSB. I'll try the 200 Mhz overclock and see if it works.

 

[jammydodger]

Jesus d00d, u must be getting desperate if you are trying to overclock a 120Mhz p1. I mean jesus you could buy a 1Ghz CPU and motherboard for about $10.

 

[RichPLS]

We are not all fortunate enough to have that kind of money just sittin around collecting dust!

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[RichPLS]

That is a 18 pack of BEER!

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[jammydodger]

My God you are right! What the hell was I thinking? I hope Im not turning into a sober person.

 

[GyRo567]

Um, I guess you didn't read my post closely enough, but this is for running retro games, and I gave up on emulation... >_>

My real PC has an overclocked Athlon XP 2700+, 1.5 GB RAM, an overclocked 6800 GT, an 80 GB HDD and a 200 GB HDD. Well, I guess it could be considered "cheap" being 3 digits pricing, but yeah, it'll run all the games maxed out, so I'm happy.

But I haven't been depending on the Pentium 166 since 2000.

 

[Crashman]

Some 166's were multiplier capped, others weren't. You can try the 3x multiplier, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work!

<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>

 

[claudehl]

Sure it is. I did that with an old Abit motherboard. Don't waste your time with the increase the clock multiplier. Increase the FSB instead.

Gotta love the old DOS (now there's a real OS ).

Claude

 

[Breeman]

hehe my dos gameing comp is a pII 400 i do believe, and ive only got an 850 mb drive for it.... sorry off topic but hey... i love dos best OS ever made

-bre

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

WELL NOW WE ARE TALKING...

yes yes, i know, im back, for anyone who remembers me anyways...its been a godo 2 years since ive posted here...

anyways as far as the Pentium 166 goes, is this a Pentium classic or a P55c 166mmx??

I overclocked my brothers 166mmx to 233mhz..rock solid stable ran like that all its life minus the first month he owned it...still works too...

-Jay

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

 

[Crashman]

I overclocked a Pentium 200MMX to 100MHz bus. That's 300MHz. My highest clock was a Pentium 233MMX at around 375MHz.

<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>

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

^Good old Super 7 boards eh Crashman??

Those were the days...

Screw this dual ddr 64bit computing BS... Lets play pong!

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

 

[Crashman]

I wanted one of the mobile Pentium MMX 266's, because they used the smaller die process for ultra-high clocks...

<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>

 

[apesoccer]

yea...well my apple IIe went to 9mhz from 5...er ah yea

=P

F@H:
AMD: [64 3000+ (down)][2500+][2400+][2000+][1.3][366]
Intel: [X 3.0x3][X 2.8x2][P4 3.0x2][P4-M 2.4][P4 1.4x5][P4 1.3]

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