General OCing questions

Curio

Curio

Curio

Soldato
Joined
14 Mar 2004
Posts
8,040
Location
Brit in the USA
I'm pretty new to overclocking a CPU...

I recently decided to try overclocking my CPU (2.6GHz P4 Northwood) and was surprised how easy it was. I got it up to 2.9GHz with no problems at all. Anything higher tho and Windows would crash straight away with a bluescreen. I tried messing with voltages a bit but it made no difference.

I'm fairly certain it's my RAM that's the problem - it's awful TwinMOS PC3200 stuff that doesn't work at the advertised CAS 2.5. Even at CAS 3 I get some errors on most passes in Memtest. It's never caused any problems in Windows tho so I've never bothered replacing it. However, I'm guessing now that I'm pushing the FSB up the RAM is starting to carp out?

I have a bit of extra money coming my way soon from a bonus at work so I was thinking of getting some new (and good quality...) RAM with the hope of getting the P4 up and above 3GHz. Is the dicky TwinMOS most likely the cause of the problems here? If so, what would be a good 1GB(2x512) PC3200 kit to replace it with, that's good for OCing with good timings etc? I can't afford 2GB before anybody starts ;)

Also, how high do you think I can push the P4? Right now, at 2.9GHz, it's maxing out at 55/56 and idling around 38. That's with the standard Intel cooler. What temps can Northwoods stand?

Any other info or suggestions appreciated :)
 
Well, just an update. Thanks for all the replies btw :D

I managed to break 3GHz \0/ - 3.06GHz to be exact. I did it by setting the divider to 5:4 so my RAM is running around 185MHz. By doing this I was also able to really tighten the timings on the RAM, which pretty much cancelled out the slight drop in speed. I then also raised the CPU core voltage just a notch as well. It all seems stable after testing with Prime95 and 3DMark. The temps are also pretty good - well within safe limits.

Interestingly, I ran Sandra on my PC and the wife's (she has a 630 3.0GHz Prescot) and my CPU scores actually came out on top by a bit. I assume this is because they're running at the same speed but my FSB is higher due to the overclock?

Anyway, I'm happy. Northwoods rock! :)
 
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