OCing P4 2.2; is 2.54 good enuf?

Last week I replaced the P4b266 Mobo with another Asus, the P4P800 Deluxe.
I transferred over old components including my 15 month old P4 2.2GHz Intel
processor with a 400 MHz FSB, plus 2 sticks of 512MB PC2100 DDR Micron RAM.

I tried various things to overclock this setup and the best I've been able
to do, that appears now to be stable, is pushing the external clock up to
115 (15% overclock), with a Vcore of 1.664. I set the Vcore in the BIOS at
1.5875 but apparently the BIOS has overruled that and gone to the 1.664v.
that shows up in ASUS Probe.

When the clock was pushed up to 120 (20% overclock) the system seems
unstable, either that or I'd have to push the Vcore up higher than maybe
would be wise with no added cooling (I'm using the stock Intel P4 cooling
fan that came with the chip). CPU temp is typically 27 to 32 C., and Mobo
temp around 29 to 34 with this setup.

I ran Memtest86 (and after disabling the legacy USB support, which caused
the program to crash, but without errors) I got 5 passes with no errors at
all.

So here are my questions:

(1) Do I risk any damage to components, drives, etc. with the setup as is?

(2) Is there any point in pushing this OCing any higher? My sense is this
is about as far as this chip will go. I put 1.65 in as a Vcore and pushed
the internal clock up to 120 (20% OC) but the system would not boot and I
got the verbal response from the Mobo that "Overclocking Failed." It's not
that I really need this processor power anyway; I'm not a gamer, and I don't
want to damage the system. I also don't want to have stability problems.

My sense is that what I've got is basically a "gimme," free, that is, little
risk of downside. Am I wrong?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Ken

"Martin" wrote in message
...


My sense is that what I've got is basically a "gimme," free, that
is,
little risk of downside. Am I wrong?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Ken

Ken,

Personally, with that processor and memory and stock cooling, I think
you've done pretty well. You have done things in the right order too.
If you feel the need to push further, you could try relaxing your
memory timings a bit...

Regards

Martin


Hi Martin,

The system remains stable, now having been run "as-is" for two days and all
of last night. CPU temp has never gone above the mid 30's and that was only
when doing intensive testing with Sandra; right now it is at 29 degrees C.
Yesterday I did another 6 passes of Memtest86, so the system as configured
and OC'ed has done 11 passes in total now with no errors of any type.

I'm not really clear on what you mean by "relaxing" the memory timings so if
you could clarify then I'll try that.

I've not done anything with the video card, which most people here would
probably turn their noses up at; it is a Radeon 8500LE with 128MB of slow
166 MHz RAM on it, sold directly by Micron about the same time I bought the
processor and RAM, e.g. 15 months ago. It is attached via DVI port to a
Dell FP2000 20" LCD monitor I bought a few months ago. The video card was
no screamer when I bought it and I'm sure most here would think it is
paleolithic by modern standards. Would it be worth doing anything to the
voltage or timings on that card? There appear to be some options with the
P4P800 DLX BIOS, but I don't know where to start or if it is worth bothering
with considering what I'm starting with ----

Thanks,

Ken

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 12:56:46 -0700, "Ken Fox"
wrote:

"Martin" wrote in message
...


My sense is that what I've got is basically a "gimme," free, that
is,
little risk of downside. Am I wrong?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Ken

Ken,

Personally, with that processor and memory and stock cooling, I think
you've done pretty well. You have done things in the right order too.
If you feel the need to push further, you could try relaxing your
memory timings a bit...

Regards

Martin


Hi Martin,

The system remains stable, now having been run "as-is" for two days and all
of last night. CPU temp has never gone above the mid 30's and that was only
when doing intensive testing with Sandra; right now it is at 29 degrees C.
Yesterday I did another 6 passes of Memtest86, so the system as configured
and OC'ed has done 11 passes in total now with no errors of any type.

No whining about great numbers!

I'm not really clear on what you mean by "relaxing" the memory timings so if
you could clarify then I'll try that.

My ram is running 2-2-2-5 OC'd to uh..... what the hell is it now....
3.4x I think. I could probably bring up the Ram frequency more if I
was to open up the timings a bit to like 2-3-2-6 for example.
It's experimentation that finds the right timing for the FSB you want
to run. If the ram just won't cooperate, a minor voltage nudge has
been known to make it see the light. Bearing in mind that a major
voltage nudge has been know to make it make it's own light.....
Actually my Asus board has a "feature" that when the FSB goes over
144mhz, it takes it on itself to reset the timing to the worst
imaginable numbers.... no matter what is set in the BIOS and without
telling me. A "feature" to make the OC more stable.
A hacked BIOS took care of the feature thoEG

I've not done anything with the video card, which most people here would
probably turn their noses up at; it is a Radeon 8500LE with 128MB of slow
166 MHz RAM on it, sold directly by Micron about the same time I bought the
processor and RAM, e.g. 15 months ago. It is attached via DVI port to a
Dell FP2000 20" LCD monitor I bought a few months ago. The video card was
no screamer when I bought it and I'm sure most here would think it is
paleolithic by modern standards. Would it be worth doing anything to the
voltage or timings on that card? There appear to be some options with the
P4P800 DLX BIOS, but I don't know where to start or if it is worth bothering
with considering what I'm starting with ----

You could always overclock the card. Don't know offhand what the OC
potential of that one is but wouldn't (might) hurt to try pushing the
core/memory speeds past the stock numbers... No doubt there are
utilities for it if the drivers don't have the feature
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admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
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"Overlord" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 12:56:46 -0700, "Ken Fox"
wrote:

"Martin" wrote in message
...


My sense is that what I've got is basically a "gimme," free, that
is,
little risk of downside. Am I wrong?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Ken

Ken,

Personally, with that processor and memory and stock cooling, I think
you've done pretty well. You have done things in the right order too.
If you feel the need to push further, you could try relaxing your
memory timings a bit...

Regards

Martin


Hi Martin,

The system remains stable, now having been run "as-is" for two days and
all
of last night. CPU temp has never gone above the mid 30's and that was
only
when doing intensive testing with Sandra; right now it is at 29 degrees
C.
Yesterday I did another 6 passes of Memtest86, so the system as
configured
and OC'ed has done 11 passes in total now with no errors of any type.

No whining about great numbers!

I'm not really clear on what you mean by "relaxing" the memory timings so
if
you could clarify then I'll try that.

My ram is running 2-2-2-5 OC'd to uh..... what the hell is it now....
3.4x I think. I could probably bring up the Ram frequency more if I
was to open up the timings a bit to like 2-3-2-6 for example.
It's experimentation that finds the right timing for the FSB you want
to run. If the ram just won't cooperate, a minor voltage nudge has
been known to make it see the light. Bearing in mind that a major
voltage nudge has been know to make it make it's own light.....
Actually my Asus board has a "feature" that when the FSB goes over
144mhz, it takes it on itself to reset the timing to the worst
imaginable numbers.... no matter what is set in the BIOS and without
telling me. A "feature" to make the OC more stable.
A hacked BIOS took care of the feature thoEG

I've not done anything with the video card, which most people here would
probably turn their noses up at; it is a Radeon 8500LE with 128MB of slow
166 MHz RAM on it, sold directly by Micron about the same time I bought
the
processor and RAM, e.g. 15 months ago. It is attached via DVI port to a
Dell FP2000 20" LCD monitor I bought a few months ago. The video card
was
no screamer when I bought it and I'm sure most here would think it is
paleolithic by modern standards. Would it be worth doing anything to the
voltage or timings on that card? There appear to be some options with
the
P4P800 DLX BIOS, but I don't know where to start or if it is worth
bothering
with considering what I'm starting with ----

You could always overclock the card. Don't know offhand what the OC
potential of that one is but wouldn't (might) hurt to try pushing the
core/memory speeds past the stock numbers... No doubt there are
utilities for it if the drivers don't have the feature
~~~~~~
Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
]

~~~~~~
Remove "spamless" to email me.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll try them. Tomorrow morning very early I'm
off for a week, so it will have to wait a week until I have the time to
explore this more and do some experimenting. Right now I have to pack!
I've printed out this post and it will be awaiting me on my return.

Thanks again,

ken