First Intel Overclocking Foray for Leo
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire. This is fun. If anyone is considering an Intel P4(C) - Canterwood build, just do it. This recommendation from me is especially true if you base it on the Abit IC7/IC7-G motherboard.
I'm a decent overcloaker, having learned the ropes with the infamous Via KT100 chipset (Abit KT7); but I certainly am not in the benchmarking competition category. I had no idea I could push this system this high, this easily. And there is still headroom left! I haven't even pumped up the vCore much yet!
3.5GHz, FSB 500 (DDR)/1000 "Quad Pumped"
It wasn't all that difficult getting there once I started implementing options in the Soft Menu BIOS. I have to hand it to Abit, this motherboard is rich in overclocking tweaks in the BIOS.
Here it is in a nutshell:
AGP-PCI frequency ratio is fixed -- 66/33. I had tried running one of the preset CPU-AGP-PCI frequency ratios, 7:2:1, but the computer would experience memory dumps. I think my NIC doesn't have tolerance for out of spec voltages. That's the only card occupying a PCI slot - must have been the problem. I don't think the Radeon 9500 Pro would have been the culprit.
DRAM frequency is fixed at DDR400. This Geil RAM was a bargain, and performs exactly as advertised (CL2.5, 6/3/3); but overclockers' RAM it is not. I was able to overclock the RAM only by about 15MHz, so just decided to leave it at default. Boostin' DRAM voltage didn't accomplish much of anything.
At first, I had a terrible time getting CPU FSB overclock over 3.0GHz. Then it dawned on me - the computer wasn't crashing, wasn't dumping memory, it was merely throttling itself as CPU temperatures rose due to increased FSB and CPU core voltage. A look at the BIOS confirmed this. I disabled clock throttling and made it to 3500MHz in only about one half hour after that.
Voltages. These are the voltages that are selected in the BIOS. Measured voltages are actually lower.
CPU Core - 1.675 (I'll lower it later and see if all is still stable)
DRAM - 2.6
AGP - 1.55
Indicated CPU core temperature, measured by on-chip device (not motherboard thermistor) is 58*C. That's with an ambient temperature where my computer sits of 22*C/78*F. That temperature is at 100% CPU load - two instances of Folding@Home running.
For stability testing, I ran 3DMark03 several times with both instances of Folding running in the background. No, no 24-torture testing yet. The 3500 clock has been in effect now for about 8 hours without a hitch. Absolutely smooth, stable, and FAST! I am so impressed with the P4C, Canterwood chipset, and Abit's rendering of the 875 chipset. Intel hype, at least this once, is justified.
I've run a full battery of SiSoft Sandra benchmarks. If anyone wants to see one, let me know.
One more comment - KUDOS to Vantec for the AeroFlow heatsink with TMD fan. Excellent cooling, and almost as quiet as the stock P4 cooler. After the AeroFlow installation, CPU temps under full load fell 18-20*C!
Yup, I'll see what the Abit NF7-S - XP 2800+ can do later. Right now, I don't want to mix and match Intel and AMD tweaking in my brain. One system at a time.
Leo
I'm a decent overcloaker, having learned the ropes with the infamous Via KT100 chipset (Abit KT7); but I certainly am not in the benchmarking competition category. I had no idea I could push this system this high, this easily. And there is still headroom left! I haven't even pumped up the vCore much yet!
3.5GHz, FSB 500 (DDR)/1000 "Quad Pumped"
It wasn't all that difficult getting there once I started implementing options in the Soft Menu BIOS. I have to hand it to Abit, this motherboard is rich in overclocking tweaks in the BIOS.
Here it is in a nutshell:
AGP-PCI frequency ratio is fixed -- 66/33. I had tried running one of the preset CPU-AGP-PCI frequency ratios, 7:2:1, but the computer would experience memory dumps. I think my NIC doesn't have tolerance for out of spec voltages. That's the only card occupying a PCI slot - must have been the problem. I don't think the Radeon 9500 Pro would have been the culprit.
DRAM frequency is fixed at DDR400. This Geil RAM was a bargain, and performs exactly as advertised (CL2.5, 6/3/3); but overclockers' RAM it is not. I was able to overclock the RAM only by about 15MHz, so just decided to leave it at default. Boostin' DRAM voltage didn't accomplish much of anything.
At first, I had a terrible time getting CPU FSB overclock over 3.0GHz. Then it dawned on me - the computer wasn't crashing, wasn't dumping memory, it was merely throttling itself as CPU temperatures rose due to increased FSB and CPU core voltage. A look at the BIOS confirmed this. I disabled clock throttling and made it to 3500MHz in only about one half hour after that.
Voltages. These are the voltages that are selected in the BIOS. Measured voltages are actually lower.
CPU Core - 1.675 (I'll lower it later and see if all is still stable)
DRAM - 2.6
AGP - 1.55
Indicated CPU core temperature, measured by on-chip device (not motherboard thermistor) is 58*C. That's with an ambient temperature where my computer sits of 22*C/78*F. That temperature is at 100% CPU load - two instances of Folding@Home running.
For stability testing, I ran 3DMark03 several times with both instances of Folding running in the background. No, no 24-torture testing yet. The 3500 clock has been in effect now for about 8 hours without a hitch. Absolutely smooth, stable, and FAST! I am so impressed with the P4C, Canterwood chipset, and Abit's rendering of the 875 chipset. Intel hype, at least this once, is justified.
I've run a full battery of SiSoft Sandra benchmarks. If anyone wants to see one, let me know.
One more comment - KUDOS to Vantec for the AeroFlow heatsink with TMD fan. Excellent cooling, and almost as quiet as the stock P4 cooler. After the AeroFlow installation, CPU temps under full load fell 18-20*C!
Yup, I'll see what the Abit NF7-S - XP 2800+ can do later. Right now, I don't want to mix and match Intel and AMD tweaking in my brain. One system at a time.
Leo
0
Comments
my corsair twinx's didnt like the abit IS7, the OCZ gold pc3700 dual channels are on the way, should hit some nice speed with great timings soon.
great OC
Nice one Leo! personally, I can't wait to see what you get with the AMD setup
Citrix. I bought the RAM for is volume per price attractivenes. It was $70/512MB stick. I have to hand it to Geil - it runs just as advertised, CL2.5, 6/3/3. Later, I will start playing with the RAM timings. I already know though, that CL2 is not possible, at least with 6/3/3.
But first, I want to find out how much headroom there is left in this CPU's FSB. It won't surprise me if this is a 3.7GHz-capable chip.
Ageek - I've dropped the vCore down to setting of 1.60, indicated (MBM5) of 1.57. CPU fan is now running at 70% RPM; full CPU usage running two instances of Folding@Home at 56*C.
At 3.5Ghz, 25% overclock?