OC an older P4 setup - assistance please

S

SuperSaiyan

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
307
OK folks....I want to try to do a little overclocking on an older setup ... just to see what it will do.

Motherboard - Abit IC7-G
Processor - P4 Northwood 3.4 SL793
Memory - 2GB Patriot PDC2G3200LLK (2-3-2-5 timings --- this is still greek to me!)
80GB Velociraptor HDD on its way (currently 7200 80GB SATA)
Stock Air cooling (not going to upgrade unless I get a good one for cheap someplace)
550W PSU
Visiontek x1950 Pro XGE on its way (currently FX5500)
Windows XP Pro

I'd like to see if I can hit 3.8Ghz with some tight memory timings. This board seems to VERY overclock friendly, but I don't want to fry something while trying. I know the key is change one thing at a time. I used to have a 3.06 OC'd to 3.6 on water with RAMBUS but that was a Looooooong time ago.

I'd just like some general pointers or maybe some step-by-step walkthru from someone that had a setup similiar. This Patriot ram is supposed to be some of the best as long as you bump up the voltage, that's what I heard anyway.

Thanks all for indulging me in this ancient setup. I know this doesn't compare to my existing watercooled rig, but this is purely for playing old games (Dominion Wars, TIE Fighter, etc) and running as a media/picture library.
 
I think there are too many variables in the bios for any overclock plateau for someone to relate them from memory here; ... A web search on
...
abit ic7 overclocked to
...
turned up several walkthroughs, implying you can bump up the fsb to 265 mhz, but maybe notch up those memory timing ratings up some. ( from an overclocking trial on the first page of the search
results) (No clue here as to whether the memory timings would cancel out the
fsb bus increase...)
 
I'd start with the ram. Loosen the timings to 3-3-3-8 and give it 2.6-2.8v. Then start pushing on that FSB. When you become unstable, give the CPU some more volts. If that doesn't change anything, then you need to adjust your northbridge volts. The generalized "Safe" Voltage for the northbridge is 1.8v, but watch you temps. You will likely hit the ceiling of your NB before Ram, and the CPU before them both. Once you think you've hit the top of your CPU, then start adjusting the ram and nb down until you run into stability issues again.

Edit: Beware of P4 Sudden Death Syndrome. Keep your volts under 1.65 and you should be safe, but becareful.
 
Thanks all...I had googled this several times but I find it is always informative to get any firsthand experience also rather than rely on search engine based experience only.
 
I had an IC7 or IS7 (I forget, but they're similar) with a 3.2ghz prescott (I was young, dumb, and stupid). I could only get it up to about 3.9ghz and I toasted the whole setup by suicide running to break 4ghz.

Doing some math I was running mid 240mhz on the FSB (3.9ghz / 16x multi on CPU) but I was definitely held back by the CPU. That board was a really good board, it's a shame it house a crappy CPU. The day I went from Prescott to Opteron 165 @ 2.9ghz was the day I could finally close my windows in winter because the Prescott wasn't blowing out 85c air all day. That thing was so hot I couldn't even hold my hand by the back exhaust vents of the case without feeling pain from the heat.
 
Yeah, I always stayed away from Pressys for that one reason alone! The only machine that I had with a Prescott in it was a Dell SX760 that i used at work. The group I worked with all had one and we were enclosed in this little room with no windows and one air vent that didn't work..just a single door that we kept propped open. We actually cooked an egg and some livermush on the exhaust fan one morning (on a sheet of foil) to prove a point to our Technology VP to stop buying them AND to prove that they were the cause for the temp in our little room to jump up 14 degrees since getting them. He always said it was because our air vent the ceiling was clogged but it never put air out...it was one of those that drew air in (I forget what that kind of vent is called)

Ahhh, good memories!
 
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