Overclocking P4 2.4 - a newbie's story

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

Hey all....

Let me start by saying a BIG Thanks to Nathan.... I found this forum while googling and found a post in which Nathan said it was ok to contact him on ICQ......and beeing the new proud owner of a ABIT IC7-MAX3 and a P4 2.4, that is what I did.
And even though we are in different parts of the world hence diff timezones, Nathen willingly answered all my lame beginner questions and had the patience of an angel - so THNX!

Ok...my former system was a Ahtlon 1200 with unlocked multiplier clocked at 1300 ... 768 crappy PC133 SDRAM, so my upgrade was long overdue.

For a long time at didn't know wether to continue with AMD and wait for the AMD64 or to go back to Intel (my first and second PC's were both Intel....AMD did not exists at that time, hehe).

So while surfing for information and reading reviews/previews... the test I saw of the new AMD64 didn't look to convincing to me, so I focused on Intel.

Reading varios test I came to the conclusion that the P4 2.4 was the best buy and very overclock friendly.

Ok, CPU decided onj... I needed a good MB....and that is when ABIT announced the release of their IC7-MAX3.
Looking at the previews and the descriptions of this gem of a MB, I became obsessed by owning one.
Living in Denmark ( the smallest of the Scandinavian countries...home of the orgeous blond girls) found out, that the release of this MB was set to late august.
I ordered and waited...and waited...and waited... delivery was postboned 4 times!!!! ...but I had my heart set for this gem, and have not regretted waiting!

And then... it finally arrived!!..
I had ordered and recived my Geil PC4000 Dual Channel DDR RAM weeks before... they were eager to get into action :)
And since the MB is filled with SATA, I also "had" to get a Seagte 120 Gb SATA hdd...allthough my girlfriend didn't really see the same need :)

Well, I assempled the new system and it booted the first time - yabii!!
Running at all default values in BIOS I installed XP, all drivers, updated XP, downloaded 3Dmark03, SiSoftSandraPro etc... the usual stuff.

Ok, ready for testing how far this sucker can run.
My Geil RAM are set default at 2.5-7-4-4 and I am using stock Intel heatsink/cooler - with Artic Cheramic paste.

After reading a bit here and reading other overclocking articles I started out at FSB 250, 1:1,vdimm 2.8...
But not knowing too much about ALL the various BIOS settings I started bothering Nathan on ICQ... and have prob asked the same questions more than once, hehe (sorry).

So.. the last two days have been testing, testing and testing.. and then some more testing. Too excausted right now to write about all the combinations I tried.... but have tried ALOT!

First I wanted to see how far I could go with 1:1 ...
With default RAM timings I could go to 250 Fsb, 1:1 vdim 2.8

Then I dropped to 5:4 and have so far reached:
Timings=3-8-4-4
FSB 277
ratio=5:4
vcore=1.575
Vdimm=2.8
AGP vol=1,6 (I also clocked my Radeon 9700 to 339/300 with stock cooling which I now suspect might have influenced on some of my test results...had crashes.. so upped the AGP vol a bit)

So clocked at 3.33 Ghz

This is how far I have gotten....
3Smark03=5256
Aquamark=40471

Idle temps are:
CPU=42-43 Celcius
System=32 Celcius
PWM=35-36 Celcius


So next step is: putting on the Swiftech MCX4000-B I ordered + a 92 mm pabst low noice....optimize case airflow...to get more cool air to the RAM....maybe put some Artic Cheramic on the RAM instead of default stuff.

Other ideas are welcome!

[Google]

[[TN] Nathan]

Man, looks good!

I also would go back to stock on your videocard and allow it to be the most stable.

Also, lock your agp/pci clocks at 66/33Mhz.

Good job bud!
_________________
Owner & Administrator
www.Tweaknews.net
www.Pocketbookpinch.com

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

Well... if my Radeon runs fine and doesn't crashed clocked as it is now.. why go back to stock?
That would mean a significant drop in 3Dmark03 and Aquamark scores...hence poorer perfomance in gaming...

AGP/PCI IS locked at 66/33...otherwise I couldn't have gotten that far :)
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc

[[TN] Nathan]

You will get more performance out of a higher overclock than you will get from overclocking your videocard.

Trust me, I have tested this through and through.
_________________
Owner & Administrator
www.Tweaknews.net
www.Pocketbookpinch.com

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

Ah ok.. see your point... so if I drop my GFX to stock setting I can go even higher on FSB?
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc

[[TN] Nathan]

yes
_________________
Owner & Administrator
www.Tweaknews.net
www.Pocketbookpinch.com

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

kewlio...back to the drawing board for me then......might have to switch to 3:2 soon.... but will loose alot on mem bandwidth then...

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

hmmmm...I have to be able to increase FSB quite alot...dropped 700 points in 3Dmark03 setting back my Radeon to stock settings..will post results later

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

and mem bandwidth dropped aprox 600 points too...going from 5:4 to 3:2
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc

[[TN] Nathan]

yes, I know, but you will be able to push your FSB higher to compensate for the loss.
_________________
Owner & Administrator
www.Tweaknews.net
www.Pocketbookpinch.com

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

Nope ... FSb wont go higher than 280...and my scores don't get anywhere near what they were with Radeon overclocked....
so unless I am missing something obvious, I think I will go back to 275-277 with 5:4 and then clock my Radeon slowly and test...
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

Maybe things will look different once I get my Swiftech heatsink one the CPU... on can only hope...and test
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc

[[TN] Nathan]

did you bump up the cpu voltage a bit?
_________________
Owner & Administrator
www.Tweaknews.net
www.Pocketbookpinch.com

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

yup..went to 1.65 ....but a higher CPU vol could never make up for the non-clocked Radeon.
And besides...I have noticed that scores drop slightly when CPU vol. is upped...maybe because of stock cooling...

So..I am back on 5:4 and trying to find optimal settings... and then I will clock my radoean again....
Unclocked Radoen and FSB above 280 doesn't seem like the right mix for me...
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc

[-.-PhanTom-.-]

Update:
now at FSB 280, vdim 2.9, vcore 1.650 - so running stable at 3.336 Ghz
_________________
Opteron170 @ 2.8 Ghz - NexXxoS XP AMD64, NexXxoS NVXP-3, NexXxoS NB-SLI1 Northbridge
(Laing DCC Ultra pump)
DFI Expert, 2x1 Gb G.Skill PC4000, Inno3D 7800GT
76 GB WD 10.000RPM Raptor, 300 GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 SATA, 300 GB Seagate SATA etc