Overclocking P-III 800 MHz

[MajorBobL]

My system ids this as "Genuine Intel Family 6 Model 8 400". Can this be overclocked? My CPU frequency is 133 MHz and, based on the users manual for the motherboard, I believe jumpers can be configured for a multiplier as high as 8.0. Don't know what the multiplier is now.

[JCB]

Read up bud.

Intels are clock locked. The only way to oc them is to push the fsb. Your's is already 133 and if your board or RAM won't do more, neither will you. With your present setup, that is.

[MajorBobL]

Thanks for your help. Just checking.

[Bulldog]

If you're using a oem motherboard you'd have to use softfsb to increase your front side bus(ie 133). If you have a P3 800 you have a multiplier of 6.(6x133=798 or rounded off 800.) Since you are stuck as far as the multiplier (all Intel cpu's since Pentium II are locked) then you have to use softfsb which is a software program to raise your front side bus but...(there is always a but) when you do that you raise the bus speed for everything else like ram and video card. I don't know what equipment you have but you can probably raise it a little but to raise it alot you'll need to replace the motherboard, Overclocker motherboards have a way through the bios to control the fsb(my P3 700 which has a 7 multiplier X 100,my fsb=700 and I've raised the fsb to 140 and above to get up to, right now 943mgz. I also had to buy 133 fsb ram which will run at 140 but to go higher I would have to get 150 fsb ram. Also it' ain't the humidity, it's the heat so you have to cool everything off. I have a dual cpu fan and a slot fan and a case fan and the fan on the power supply. What I'm trying to say is , it ain't cheap. The only reason to do this (our thing) is because you can't help yourself. If I had a brain in my head I'd have bought a Dell P3 1 gig system but I don't and I had a lot of fun putting everything together. Of course you can save some dough putting your own system together.

[MajorBobL]

Thanks Bulldog. I have the manual for my motherboard. According to it, I can reset the jumper for the multiplier to 8.0. Haven't actually looked at the board, but would this help? I've got a heatsink fan on the processor, as well as an exaust fan.

[Bulldog]

Sorry. Intel locked all multipliers up so you can set the multiplier to 8 but it will still be 6.5. I guess some dealers were taking 233's and clocking them and selling them as 266's or something like that. The only way to go is increasing fsb. That's why a P3 700 at 100 fsb(7 multiplier X 100 fsb) is a better overclocker than an 800 at 133fsb(6.5 X 133). The multiplier is higher from the get go. I can take my 100 fsb to 140 pretty easily so I boost my mgz by 280(7 x 40 extra fsb=280). Whereas you can take your 133 fsb cpu to 140 giving you an 800 mgz computer performing like an 845 mgz computer(6.5 x 7 extra fsb=45.5).

[MajorBobL]

Would this be true even though I purchased a bare bone system and installed the processor myself?

[Bulldog]

Doesn't matter. The cpu you choose should be a 100fsb and the motherboard should give you a lot of leeway in adjusting it. My Soyo mobo let's me set the fsb to 150 +. Make sure you get ram rated at 150 fsb to take the bandwidth and make sure you get a decent vid card(minimum geforce 2 MX because they will have to perform above recommended fsb too. You don't speed up just your cpu, you speed up everything and the other components have to be able to take the heat or your burning them up left and right. I'd hang around this and other overclocking sites to learn more about it before you attempt it. Barebones units are usually ,as far as I can tell, less than top components. Of course it depends on where you get them. I bought my Soyo SYBA6+100 board and ran my old P2 300 on it and became comfortable then bought a P3 700 from PC nut guaranteed to clock to 983 and haven't been disappointed. Either buy from a reputable overclock site or read all you can and add components as you go. The P2 300 I have was bought at Ebay for 45 bucks. That way if I screwed it up I don't screw up 150 bucks but 45 bucks.

[MajorBobL]

Thanks for all the info Bulldog. I'll keep investigating.

[cedar2]

Bulldog, did you try using the multiplier release jumper trick that SOYO talks about in the manual (closing JP8 to specify 66MHz while using a 100MHz processor)?

[-tetsujin-]

I've tried that trick with 3 different slot 1 cpu's and it's never worked. But it did succeed in messing up my harddrive! WOot!

snow

[MajorBobL]

Just looked at my mobo, an Amptron 3754-LMR. The manual for the board from Indicates the jumper setting to match a P-III 800 MHz processor to be:

CPU Frequency Selector (JP8)
Frequency: 60MHz 100MHz 105MHz 133MHz
JP8-A 2-3 1-2 2-3 1-2
JP8-B 2-3 2-3 1-2 1-2
My understanding this that the jumpers would cross these pins, exposing just one pin. This board can with the jumpers across pins 2-3, leaving pin 1 exposed. Does this mean it is set up fo 60MHz? If so, should I change it to reflect the 133 MHz setup, which is what both the board and processor are designed for?

CPU Multiplier Selector (JP2)
This has a number of settings to reflect multipliers from 2.0 to 8.0. However, the board does not have any jumpers on any of the four pins. With no jumpers on any pins, all jumpers are open, correct? The manual doesn't say anything about all pins being open, so I don't know what that multiplier would be, if any.

According to the user manual, I would need three (3) single jumpers on pins JP2-A, JP2-C, and JP2-D in order to select Multiplier 6.0 and single jumpers on pins JP2-A and JP2-C to select Multiplier 8.0 (highest available).

So, I contacted Amptron with this information and am waiting for a response, and jumpers. How am I doing for a rookie?

[cedar2]

Yes, you need to set the bus for 133. Your board will probably autodetect the multiplier, but if not you can set it with the jumpers.
You won't be able to hardware overclock though because you don't have the option to increase the speed beyond 133 and the cpu multiplier is locked. You could try SoftFSB or CPUFSB for a software overclock. Plug those names into a search engine to get more info.



[This message has been edited by cedar2 (edited 04-22-2001).]

[MajorBobL]

OK. I'll reset the jumpers to reflect 133MHz. Now, about the frequency. If the system will auto detect without the jumpers, the multiplier will probably be 6, as it is now. Now the question is, if I use jumpers to reflect a frequency higher than 6 will that bypass the autodetect? The manual says the board supports processors, P-III: 500~866MHz, FSB: 100MHz, 133MHz. So, If I set the frequency to 8 (the highest the board will allow), I would rate the processor at 1064, right? Can I set the frequency higher than 6 without causing any damage to the board or processor (processor has heat sink fan and I've installed an exhaust box fan)?

[Bsdboy]

This has already been answered,your chip is
locked at 6 if you set it to 8 it will
still be a 6.

Bsdboy

[MajorBobL]

Thanks everybody. I'm all set now.