Dual pII system

a2jfreak

I have a dual pII mobo (Gigabyte GA-686DL2) and it supports up to 366MHz. So, basically that would give me ~ 733MHz of folding power, but with a pII not a pIII. I can get a pII 400 for $12 (according to PriceWatch) so I would just up the multi from 4 to 5.5, but the FSB would be 66, not 100. Get two of those and it would only be $24. But, honestly, do you think it would be worth it? I know on the p3-500 I used to have setup it took ages to complete a WU (just need to get another HD and that system can be back up and folding).

Another pII I have (think it's 233, maybe higher, but I'm not sure as I haven't looked at it in a VERY long time) could be folding if I got an HD and a CASE+PSU for it, but would a 233 (or even a 333) be worth it? What's the slowest CPU that's really worth using for F@H?

SimGuy

The PII's fold like retarded kids. Without the SSE optimization available on the Pentium II lineup, performance is abysmally slow.

However, every little bit helps the cause and I suppose it could fold genomes for some points (albeit very slowly)...

AFAIK, even the Pentium II's are multiplier locked. I'm pretty sure you won't be able to change the multiplier utilized by the P2 CPU's.

a2jfreak

I don't want retarded kids folding,

I don't know for sure so I'm not going to say you're mistaken, but since the mobo has a dipswitch that allows multiplier adjustment I think the multis on the pIIs can be changed. Back then most systems didn't have overclocking features, especially dual systems.

Oh well.

SimGuy

Adjusting the multiplier is simple. Just look at the motherboard user manual, and see how adjustment of the multiplier is accomplished. If you have a pre-Pentium II 350MHz processor and it was manufactured prior to August 1998, your Pentium II processor might not be multiplier locked. This means you can adjust your multiplier to overclock and still keep the same bus speed. This was the traditional way to overclock and is much more reliable than increasing the bus speed. This is because adjusting the front side bus also changes the speed at which local buses operate at (AGP, PCI, and ISA). This can pose a problem with some devices in the buses that have limits at which can operate. If you have a processor that was created post-Pentium II 350MHz, August 1998, your processor is multiplier locked and the only way that overclocking can be achieved is by increasing the bus speed.

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=87

I suppose we were both right

a2jfreak

I could get the 333 then (that's pre-350) and it's also $12. Might be able to O/C it to 366 or might not be able to. I had a p166MMX I O/C'd to 200MHz and it was fine so it's possible. But, if they fold like they're retarded then I probably don't want to fork over the $24 for the CPUs and cough up a PSU + HD. Oh well.

seversphere

waste of electricity and your time but if you already have everything else except the cpu and it's going to be running anyways then it might was well fold.