OC'ing a 2.6 Northwood/Asus P4C800 Deluxe

[ashrym]

I know Asus mobos aren't good overclockers. With a good aftermarket HSF, How much of an overclock do you think I could get from my CPU? Oh yeah, I have (2x1gb) OCZ 2-3-2-5 memory. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[WolfDragon]

Before my X2 4800+ I ran a Prescott 3.06 at 3.6 with a P4p800-e DLX with VDroop Mod.

Thermoelectric assisted watercooling cooling was how I did it.

 

[Farrwalker]

I know Asus mobos aren't good overclockers. With a good aftermarket HSF, How much of an overclock do you think I could get from my CPU? Oh yeah, I have (2x1gb) OCZ 2-3-2-5 memory. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I built a system with an ASUS P4P800 and a P4 2.6C. That was about 2 years ago and I've had it running on air cooling at 3.250GHz. That's a 21% overclock.

I am working on a new build with an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe and an Opteron 165. After messing around for a couple of days I have it ovrclocked at 2450MHz from the default of 1800MHz and have room for more. That's a 36% overclock.

So . . . I would not say that ASUS boards are not good overclockers.

 

[kwalker]

I know Asus mobos aren't good overclockers. With a good aftermarket HSF, How much of an overclock do you think I could get from my CPU? Oh yeah, I have (2x1gb) OCZ 2-3-2-5 memory. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I can't see asus being a bad overclocker unless you had a bad experience or heard from someone who favors another brand.
a lot of boards in my opinion are as good as your ability to oc.
if your looking for a fast boost from 5 to 20 % its preset with the Asus board.
with a little skill you will get much more manually .

Stability is what I wanted and thats what I got.

 

[ashrym]

So, explain to me the whole need for the Vdroop mod. And, will I need it even if I'd want to OC it to 3.2 instead of 3.5?

 

[1Tanker]

So, explain to me the whole need for the Vdroop mod. And, will I need it even if I'd want to OC it to 3.2 instead of 3.5?

The reason for the vDoop mod, is because(apparently) ASUS only used

4-phase power to there Capacitors and Voltage regulators. There newest

boards use 8-phase. On my P4C800, for example, when putting system

under load on Prime95(while watching MBM) the voltage starts out as 1.49v.

Then as the load tops out, the voltage "droops" to 1.42,then back up, then

back down. When running under normal conditions, the "1.42v is enough

to keep the CPU stable, but, under heavy load, it will cause a crash or

freeze. The solution is to solder a potentiometer to the board. The "pot"

bypasses certain circuits, and adjusting the resistance on the pot, will

"normalize" the drooping effect. I haven't done it to mine yet, but i'm

going to. You need a steady hand, and half-decent soldering skills. Do it

wrong, and vDroop will be the least of your problems. Here's a good link

on how to do the mod, as Malve is well-known for modding peolpe's

boards.

http://www.malvescorner.net/p4c800.html


P.S. You may get by without the vDroop mod, to 3.2.

 

[ashrym]

Crap, I didn't know the Vdroop Mod required physical modification. I've never soldered a thing in my life. I suppose I'll read into it and consider it. At what voltage do you think I'd be able to hit 3.2 ghz? Also, does anyone have any clue what the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage is?

 

[1Tanker]

Crap, I didn't know the Vdroop Mod required physical modification. I've never soldered a thing in my life. I suppose I'll read into it and consider it. At what voltage do you think I'd be able to hit 3.2 ghz? Also, does anyone have any clue what the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage is?

1.70v

 

[ashrym]

[[/quote]1.70v[/quote]

Was that in regards to the voltage that I'd be able to hit 3.2ghz, or the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage?

 

[1Tanker]

[

1.70v[/quote]

Was that in regards to the voltage that I'd be able to hit 3.2ghz, or the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage?[/quote]

Voltage, that if run at for prolonged period, "may" cause SNDS.

I can't really say for sure what voltage you should be able to hit 3.2 with.

Who knows, you may not be able to hit it at all. Just try and stick around

1.60-1.65v, and see what you can hit from there. I don't really think the

vDroop will prevent you from hitting ~3.2. Your chip will either be capable

of that, or it won't.

 

[Crashman]

Also, does anyone have any clue what the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage is?

1.70v

1.75v.

 

[1Tanker]

Also, does anyone have any clue what the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage is?

1.70v

1.75v.
1.70 killed mine

 

[Crashman]

Ah, were you running an Asus board? 1.70v to the P4C800 series could fluctate by a tenth of a volt!

 

[1Tanker]

Ah, were you running an Asus board? 1.70v to the P4C800 series could fluctate by a tenth of a volt!

So you're saying that vDroop could have had something to do with it. My

voltage droops, less than a tenth, but doesn't spike up. The most it goes up,

that i've seen in 2 years, on my Northwood, or Prescott, is .02v over.

ie N/W: In BIOS 1.70 in MBM 1.65-1.72 Same In Everest.

Prescott: In BIOS 1.55 in MBM droop to 1.47 peak @ 1.57 Same In Everest.

Maybe mine isn't suffering as badly as some have :?: :?


PS. Not trying to argue, just trying to get a better grasp of whether mine

is AS bad as some other boards.

 

[Crashman]

When I said a tenth of a volt, I meant 50mv in each direction. This I have seen with the P4C800-E Deluxe. Droop, followed by popping up.

 

[Scougs]

Also, does anyone have any clue what the Northwood Sudden Death Syndrome voltage is?

I wouldn't be surprised if you could get 250-260 fsb with a 2.6c northwood.
I wouldn't be too quick to raise the voltage on your cpu though.
I have a 2.8c that is running at 3.5GHz (250x14) on stock voltage (1.525v).
I can maybe get it up to 3.7GHz if I up the voltage to like 1.6v or so but to me its not worth it. I like how cool and stable it runs at 3.5 with stock voltage. I personally wouldn't dare run it at 1.7v but it is up to you.

I would suggest setting your memory to run at a 5:4 ratio (DDR333) when trying to find your CPUs maximum speed. That way, when your fsb is at 250 your ram will only be running at 200 (DDR400).

 

[Crashman]

For the most part that can't be done, because for the most part 2.6C's used an inferior stepping that did not overclock well. Only a small percentage of the 2.6C's used the good steppings found in either 2.4C's or 2.8C's.

The result of the inferior stepping is a CPU that didn't overclock well. It required added vCore to get "mediocre" overclocks, just about anything over 3.0GHz.

And I'm not picking on the CPU out of spite, I own one and researched the issue a lot. I bought mine before the crappy stepping became common knowledge in the overclocking community.

I had to buy SOMETHING, ANYTHING to use in an early DDR500 review. I should have gotten a 2.4C instead. The payoff was, I got the memory free, it was worth more than the CPU.

 

[Farrwalker]

I have had a P4 2.6C (Northwood) running at 3268MHz on air cooling for over 2 years on an ASUS P4P800. 25% overclock and stable.
Bios 1009.008
CPU voltage at 1.63v.
CPU external frequency 250MHz,
DRAM frequency 320MHz and 2.85v.

Newest build:
Case: Lian-Li G70
PSU: Sparkle FSP650
Motherboard: Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
CPU: Opteron 165 (socket 939)
Memory: 2 x 1GB OCZ5 DDR 500
HDD: Samsung 250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 7200 rpm
Graphics card: XFX 7900GTX 512MB
OS: Windows XP
CPU Cooling: Cool It - FreezeZone (thermo electric and liquid cooling)
CPU now OC'd to 2700MHz (1800MHz default) 50% overclock 1.44v

 

[Crashman]

Lucky you! Most of us had to push a little harder to get that speed, like around 1.65v to 1.70v. 1.65v and up is where the droop problem was most noticeable on Asus's P4C series.

 

[Scougs]

CPU external frequency 250MHz,
DRAM frequency 320MHz and 2.85v.

Do you mean that you have your memroy at a 5:4 divieder?
I can't think of a way that you could get your memory to run at 320MHz and your fsb at 250MHz. Also, you shouldn't have to run your memory at 2.85v if it is DDR400 memory. If you are using a 5:4 divider and 250MHz fsb then you memory is running at DDR400 so something like 2.6v should work with most memory.

It is a bumer if many of the 2.6c P4s aren't good overclockers. I hadn't heard about that. I said suggested not pushing the voltage right away because I have seen people raise their voltage quite a bit when they don't need to. I saw a guy once with a 2.8c @ about 3.2 and he had the voltage at like 1.65 or something. He totally didn't need that much voltage.

 

[Farrwalker]

CPU external frequency 250MHz,
DRAM frequency 320MHz and 2.85v.

Do you mean that you have your memroy at a 5:4 divieder?
I can't think of a way that you could get your memory to run at 320MHz and your fsb at 250MHz. Also, you shouldn't have to run your memory at 2.85v if it is DDR400 memory. If you are using a 5:4 divider and 250MHz fsb then you memory is running at DDR400 so something like 2.6v should work with most memory.

Yup, I have the memory on a 5:4 divider.
CPU-Z ver. 1.32.1 lists the FSB as 250.0MHz and the Bus Speed as 1000.0MHz.

Sanda 2007 Memory Bandwidth = 5289 MB/s Int and 5283MB/s Float
Arithmetic Bench = Dhrystone 8274 MIPS and Whetstone 9842 MFLOPS
Not bad for a CPU that's over 2 years old and cost $260 at the time.

 

[ashrym]

Cool. This thread's been pretty inspiring so far. I hope to be able to get 3.2 without the Vdroop mod at a decent voltage, and without any voltage drooping. The one thing that bugs me is that I've already spent roughly $100 on 5 really nice 120mm case fans and Scythe Ninja. So, I was really hoping to be able to utilitize those to potentiate the OC as much as I could. I know I need to do the Vdroop mod if I want to be able to get any real use out of all that.

Who here has done the mod and can vouch for it's difficulty. Plus, could someone give me a link on an in depth walkthrough for it?

 

[1Tanker]

So, explain to me the whole need for the Vdroop mod. And, will I need it even if I'd want to OC it to 3.2 instead of 3.5?

The reason for the vDoop mod, is because(apparently) ASUS only used

4-phase power to there Capacitors and Voltage regulators. There newest

boards use 8-phase. On my P4C800, for example, when putting system

under load on Prime95(while watching MBM) the voltage starts out as 1.49v.

Then as the load tops out, the voltage "droops" to 1.42,then back up, then

back down. When running under normal conditions, the "1.42v is enough

to keep the CPU stable, but, under heavy load, it will cause a crash or

freeze. The solution is to solder a potentiometer to the board. The "pot"

bypasses certain circuits, and adjusting the resistance on the pot, will

"normalize" the drooping effect. I haven't done it to mine yet, but i'm

going to. You need a steady hand, and half-decent soldering skills. Do it

wrong, and vDroop will be the least of your problems. Here's a good link

on how to do the mod, as Malve is well-known for modding peolpe's

boards.

http://www.malvescorner.net/p4c800.html


P.S. You may get by without the vDroop mod, to 3.2.


I Posted a link here, though it isn't what i would call indepth.