Installed New Fan - Now I can't overclock at all?

[gooeykat]

So I started overclocking my P4 2.93 Ghz 775 processor this past weekend. I have an Intel mobo, so it's taken me a while to figure out how I could do this. Finally did it on Saturday using ClockGen and got it up to 3.29 Ghz (22 Multiplier, 149 FSB, 596 Bus Speed) but for some reason I was not able to increase the FSB past 149. What is wierd is that the temps and voltages go up a little but not much (per Motherboard Monitor program that I am using). As soon as raise the FSB to 150, it locks up.

So thinking that it may been a heat issue I purchased a new fan/heatsink to replace the stock Intel version that came with the processor. I take the cpu out and clean it and put new thermal grease on, attach the new fan/heatsink. Power it up, and then the Intel Inside screen comes up and it just sits there for about 2-3 minutes (nothing going on, HD not running, nothing, it just sits there) finally XP loads. I then open ClockGen to begin overclocking. I can now barely get the FSB to 145 before it locks up.

Did I screw something up when I removed the CPU to clean?
Could I have damaged the CPU?
Is the RAM Frequency and issue?
Is it too high? (it's runs at about 299 MHz at a FSB of 149)

Anyway, not sure what is going on and I ordered a Pentium D805 as soon as I figured out how to OC my Intel mobo thinking I would be able to overclock that baby up to 3.6 GHz.


Intel P4 2.93 GHz CPU
Intel 945PSN Mobo
2 GHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 4200
100 GB Maxtor SATA 7200 RPM HD
XFX 7600GT XXX GPU
500-watt Ultra X-finity PSU
Windows XP Professional Edition w/SP2

 

[The_Prophecy]

Your DDR2-533 ram is most likely the issue. Ram can only be OC'ed so much.... If you really want to overclock that bad.... pick up this set of OCZ DDR2-800

 

[Pain]

Increase the core voltage by 1 volt. That will fix it.

:roll:

Sorry...Don't do that. The difference between 145 and 149 isn't all that much, and I would speculate that 149 wasn't stable, or as stable as you may have thought it was, or wished it was.

Furthermore, through your research I'm sure you found that it may take days/weeks for the thermal bond to mature between HS and CPU, so this perhaps isn't strange at all, though I doubt it has little or nothing to do with the HS.

Let me also ask...if you are willing to buy new processors in hopes of overclocking, why not just buy a faster machine to begin with? I know, it's the thrill of the chase. I can understand that.

 

[gooeykat]

Increase the core voltage by 1 volt. That will fix it.

:roll:

Sorry...Don't do that. The difference between 145 and 149 isn't all that much, and I would speculate that 149 wasn't stable, or as stable as you may have thought it was, or wished it was.

Furthermore, through your research I'm sure you found that it may take days/weeks for the thermal bond to mature between HS and CPU, so this perhaps isn't strange at all, though I doubt it has little or nothing to do with the HS.

Let me also ask...if you are willing to buy new processors in hopes of overclocking, why not just buy a faster machine to begin with? I know, it's the thrill of the chase. I can understand that.

Unfotunately my Intel mobo has next to no overclocking features and doesn't allow me to adjust voltage levels in the BIOS. Is there a Windows based program that would allow me to do this?

This is my first system build (put it together back in February) and I have already made a lot misjudgements in my purchases. My budget is already overblown and basically this is last upgrade I can make until next year. As soon I figured out how to overclock this Intel board I ordered the 805D thinking I could get a dual core for only $100 and overclock it. Little did I know all the additional tweaking that goes on into overclocking than just raising the FSB. Anyway, the 805D came in and I have it overclocked to 2.95 GHz, but as soon as that RAM gets to 300 MHz the system crashes. I'm sure it has something to do with the voltage levels.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Pain]

I was kidding anyway about raising the voltage by 1 volt, but next time don't buy an intel board. They aren't going to make it easy for you to overclock. And, yes, there could be more too it than just raising the fsb.