Getting the most out of a 2.66 P4 Northwood

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Grimmy

Grimmy

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Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has got a P4 2.66ghz stable over 3ghz?

The reason why I ask, is I finally got a better HSF for better air cooling.

I have got my P4 OC to 3.1 - but the onboard sound card is no longer detected. Though, the USB headset still works inplace of that. :lol:

I set the bios to go lil more futher, but doesn't no boot into windows. I get the BSOD when clocked to 3.2ghz.

I think I can only keep my P4 happy at 3ghz it seems. Prime95 fails will basically memory problems under less then a min, when clocked at 3.1 with no onboard sound card detected.

Any advice?

Also I started a thread on my installation on my Zalman HSF:

Zalman on P4 2.66

Edit: CPU-Z Validator
 
joefriday

joefriday

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Never owned a 2.66 ghz chip (except a Celeron 2.0 @ 2.66, which I would run at 3.0 in a decent mobo), but I have a 2.4 Northy that will easily run 3.4 Ghz, and could almost hit 3.6 (and is now running at 2.4 in a Dell)

Listen: get a new mobo with agp/pci locks, or learn how to pin mod. Most aftermaket mobos that support 800 fsb also unofficially support 666 fsb. If your mobo supports 800 fsb, then pin mod the stupid cpu to the 666 fsb, which will net you 3.33 GHz. If its a prescott and you want to fail, you could try the 800 fsb and see if it will run at 4 GHz, which I obviously seriously doubt.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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It is a northwood, not prescott (*note the CPU-Z link on 1st post). It will support 800FSB northwood.

Not understanding the mod pin your talking about. There a link I could read up on?
 
joefriday

joefriday

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pin modding

That link is about socket 478 and mobile celerons, but the socket 478 stuff is universal. Take what you learned and apply it to your situation. Also, look at my post:

Celeron D 310; Easy 50% overclock

I recommend my method, as you are already on the 533 bus. To go to 666 fsb, just simply omit the added "U" wire step (just insulate the BSEL pin).

Good Luck :wink:
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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Seems temping... but I'm just not too sure about it.

Doing some homework, I guess your saying to insulate the pin 'AD6'.

Which I guess is the same pin that is marked red on the pic I saw from one of those links?

I think I'll hold off on that, since:

1.) I might just buy a 3ghz or 2.8ghz 800 FSB northwood later on. (saw 2.8 for 111 bucks, FSB in the bios does goto 230)

2.) I have had this 2.66 OC to 3.1, I saw my vcore at 1.76v which does alarm me. (SNDS)

Now if I kick this on a 666 FSB (should give me 3.33ghz?), I kinda wonder how much volts it will want to suck down, prolly enough to kill it I guess... :lol:

But I don't want to loose this P4 by killing it. After loosing sound at 3.1ghz.. I wonder if I should just give it up...
 
M

MrsD

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Memory usually holds you back in that situation. I had a Celeron 2ghz that I ran at 2.8ghz the entire time I owned it. So should be able to get a 2.66 to 3.0.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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I can OC to 3ghz with no problems except, when ran on prime95, it fails in about an hour or 2. I think it has to do with memory, then having enough vcore.

I can OC to 3.1, but I loose my onboard soundcard, and my vcore is 1.76, which scares me.. heh

So... I think I'll just stay at 2.96, vcore 1.66-1.68. Ran prime95 okay on that setting.
 
Datman

Datman

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I couldn't get my 2.4 Northwood past 2.7 without problems.

Northwoods don't like too much voltage also. Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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Yep.. I'm aware of that.

Seems temping... but I'm just not too sure about it.

Doing some homework, I guess your saying to insulate the pin 'AD6'.

Which I guess is the same pin that is marked red on the pic I saw from one of those links?

I think I'll hold off on that, since:

1.) I might just buy a 3ghz or 2.8ghz 800 FSB northwood later on. (saw 2.8 for 111 bucks, FSB in the bios does goto 230)

2.) I have had this 2.66 OC to 3.1, I saw my vcore at 1.76v which does alarm me. (SNDS)

Now if I kick this on a 666 FSB (should give me 3.33ghz?), I kinda wonder how much volts it will want to suck down, prolly enough to kill it I guess... :lol:

But I don't want to loose this P4 by killing it. After loosing sound at 3.1ghz.. I wonder if I should just give it up...
Click to expand...
 
Datman

Datman

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I think it might of been the memory that I was using that was limiting my OC.

I had the 2.4gig 533fsb cpu with legend 333mhz on a Asus P4S8X MB at the time.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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I just saw the volts, missed the SNDS on the end. Thought I would give a friendly reminder.
Click to expand...

Thanks.. :wink:

It is scarey to mess with the voltage. Just don't want to be on it after a month or so, and get a BSOD, reboot, and then nothing... heh

I guess I don't understand the memory timings all the much. I understand the lower the timings are the better, but more stressful.

And the other thing that confuses me, is no matter what I set the timings, cpu-z reads them as default, even though I changed it.

I had it set to 2-2-2-6. When I rechecked it with cpu-z, it says it set at 2.5-3-3-7. I'm guessing it defaults to reg values if the FSB is pushed, since its an Asus board. Ratio changes though. 1:1 now. But if I go back to default speeds (2.66ghz), ratio is 4:5.

But I guess I should be happy enough for what it is set at for now.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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LOL... Doh I feel stupid.

I forgot to set my memory frequency, it was set to.. auto :roll:

I set it to 300mhz, when back and changed the timings to:

2-2-2-5

Re-Validated:

CPUZ - P4 2.66 @ 3.0

Gawd.. re-running prime95

Wish me plenty.. errr luck.... :lol:

Edit: failed.... I think I'm just too tired atm.

Edit: Gah.. I'll just stick to 2.96ghz. The timing to 2-2-2-5 helped out some. Prime95 is just abit picky on it when I run it at 3.0 ghz.
 
linux_0

linux_0

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You realize your northwood might explode right?

Oh what the heck give it more volts! When it does explode get an AMD64 ;-)

I'm not bashing anyone AMD chips will explode too if you give them too much juice!
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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LOL - Well, I only add some voltage to get stable OC. Not to blow it up. But the thought of getting it to 3.33 would be something, though I don't think it would last long, if the vcore was at 1.8+.

Anyhoo, funny how an odd P4 frequecy of 2.66 can't do an even 3.0 ghz - stable. It can run that way with the vcore at 1.675 or even set to auto. Prime95 just finds it not stable.

Just got done with Prime95 @ 2.960ghz / 2-2-2-5:

prime95.jpg


I usually just run it for 6 hours, but it passed 7 hours 17 mins.

Again, 40mhz difference, for 3ghz, and it couldn't run Prime95 for over 2 hours.

I just wondered how many people with a P4 2.66/533 would have it running at or above 3ghz stable, and could share tips. Though, if they had it above 3ghz, hard to say if the CPU is still.. alive. :shock:
 
Datman

Datman

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For the memory timings try 2.5 3 3 6, see if that helps OC better. Later try 3 4 4 7. just an experiment.

What brand is the memory?

They never made a 533fsb northwood faster than 3.06ghz, that will limit overclocking these chips too.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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It is A-Data DDR400. I relaxed the timing to 2.5-3-3-8 (which will cause performance to go down, and is far as it can go relaxed wise). Still no go. I think it just an odd CPU wanting to stay at an odd figure as far as getting it to go as fast as it can, stable wise.

40mhz difference isn't going to make up for anymore performance increase. As far as getting it over 3ghz, I don't want it to have to face death at 1.8+v.

I'm better off waiting on a nother P4 northwood, especally if the mulitplier is unlocked. Mine is locked at 20. The 3ghz800FSB I saw might be unlocked, or locked at 15. That still would get me 3.4ghz at the most if locked.

I should just be happy with wat I got.. :lol:
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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Feb 20, 2006
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I think I have it on auto. Though I did mess with that setting, and tried to for 66.66/33.33 and it wouldn't post, when trying to get the onboard sound to work, when clocked to run 3.10ghz. The speeds are so out of wack that it doesn't help to put it on a fix speed.

As far as FSB, it supports 266/400FSB or uses PC2700(DDR266) or PC3200(DDR400) memory. I'm not sure if that is where you get 333 at, unless that was the 'unofficially support 666 FSB' that joe was referring to.
 
Datman

Datman

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Sorry, that's memory not fsb, my mistake.

Should of been 400, 533, 800 FSB. There is no 666fsb.

533fsb uses 333mhz memory. 2x166mhz DDR
533=133x4, quad pumped cpu fsb
a little confusing.

If your MB supports 800fsb and you kill the cpu get a 3.2 or 3.4 cpu.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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Feb 20, 2006
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Ya with the quad, it gets confusing. The fastest it supports is 3.2. But OC, it may take it a step further.

Well, that is pretty much my idea that I have for now. Hard to find the 3.2 extreme, which would be the most expensive of the line of northy cores, though I don't want to buy it from ebay.

The other thing of experiencing the 800FSB speed, which my RAM isn't doing.. hehe. That is my extreme-non-existing budget for a last upgrade for this machine, with another 1 gig stick of the same A-Data ram.

I did see some a good deals like I mentioned earlier:

2.8-800FSB for $111 US
3.0-800FSB for $154 US

Just wonder how long they will be in stock, or if the price will go down. While waiting, the other idea was to see if anyone was getting the most of what they can from this particular frequency speed of 2.66.

I also wonder if the one I saw (2.8-3.0), have the mulitplier unlocked. I'm guessing that they are.
 
Grimmy

Grimmy

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Most Northwood cores won't be stable past 3.0 GHz dude.

Some don't make 2.80 GHz stable, others will do 3.20 GHz.
Click to expand...

So.. How many Northwood cores have you OC'd (w/vcore increase), as well as the FSB and with what brand of memory?
 
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