OC'ing P4 2.6 Northwood/Asus P4C800 Deluxe? -- HELP!

[Ashrym]

I know Asus mobos aren't good overclockers. With a good aftermarket HSF, How much of an overclock do you think I could get from my CPU? Oh yeah, I have (2x1gb) OCZ 2-3-2-5 memory. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[mike306dt]

From what I remember fella, that motherboard wasn't a bad clocker at all. Whats the stock settings of the 2600? Is it on a 400/533/800 bus? I'd imagine you'd be able to clock a little way with your stock heatsink. 3ghz plus shouldn't be hard

[Nox]

yeah, that asus board was a good one, i875 right? I owned two p4 2.4's and a p4 3.2, both 2.4's would do WELL over 3.0, one was around 3.4, the other my wife used so sat running at 3.0 all day, every day.

Fingers crossed... slap the FSB up to 250, and run the mem divider at 4:5, so the mem will still run at 200Mhz. This will push the CPU into the 3.25 region. I would hope... it would be stable here. If you want to be slightly more cautious, and I would recommend this, set the divider and increase the FSB by 10Mhz increments, until around 250, then start your testing. I have that memory too - its not bad, but I don't get a lot extra from running it at 2.7 (the recommended) compared to 2.5 (very cool!!) Mine will do 220-230, 220 being absolutely, 100% stable all day, everyday at 2.5, 230 being pretty good at 2.8, ie benchmark progs are pretty much ok, but thats about it...

Nox

[mike306dt]

Have you given it a go yet mate? Would be interesting to know how you get on

[Ashrym]

Awesome. Thanks for all of the info. As for the question about whether or not I've done it yet - no, but I will soon. I'm anchoring all of my parts together right now. Soon I'll have all of the new parts to put my CPU and mobo in. It seems that people over at Tomshardware Forums seem to believe otherwise as for this being a good OC board. They said it requires a Vdroop mod due to the voltage dropping at high overclocks.

I just picked up a Scythe Ninja (got it for $39 w/free shipping). I was going to get a Tuniq Tower or Scythe Mine, but when I saw the Ninja at the price, I couldn't pass it up. Anyway. I ordered the NZXT Lexa. Got it for $100 w/shipping. Was also considering the Antec P180 and Thermaltake Armor. Once again, couldn't pass up the deal. As soon as I get everything together, I'll start updating this thread with some numbers. As always, you guys are extremely helpful. Thanks .

[kojak71]

I've been able to overclock my P4 2.8GHz Northwood (800MHz) on the same motherboard to 3.5GHz, just by upping the FSB from 200MHz to 250MHz and a modest upping of the CPU voltage. I supposed I might have been able to go even higher, but my RAM is not the best in the world. Assuming you have the 800MHz version of the 2.6GHz Northwood (and not the 533MHz one), 3.25GHz shouldn't be a problem. Just remember that with Northwood core CPUs do not go above 1.7 volts, as this will drastically reduce it's lifespan.

I don't think you should have any concerns about this motherboard, it's a good overclocker. The only problem I've found is the PAT technology, there is no way of disabling it, so even if you set the RAM timings manually, the motherboard can tighten these further as the system boots up. Unfortunately this tweak can cause instability.

[Ashrym]

I've been able to overclock my P4 2.8GHz Northwood (800MHz) on the same motherboard to 3.5GHz, just by upping the FSB from 200MHz to 250MHz and a modest upping of the CPU voltage. I supposed I might have been able to go even higher, but my RAM is not the best in the world. Assuming you have the 800MHz version of the 2.6GHz Northwood (and not the 533MHz one), 3.25GHz shouldn't be a problem. Just remember that with Northwood core CPUs do not go above 1.7 volts, as this will drastically reduce it's lifespan.

I don't think you should have any concerns about this motherboard, it's a good overclocker. The only problem I've found is the PAT technology, there is no way of disabling it, so even if you set the RAM timings manually, the motherboard can tighten these further as the system boots up. Unfortunately this tweak can cause instability.

I heard that the P4C800 Deluxe has a problem that causes the voltage to drop at high voltages/overclocks, resulting in many people doing the Vdroop Mod. Can you or anyone else vouch for most of these boards requiring this?

[Nox]

I don't think we are talking about a high overclock, unless you are about to attach it to a prometeia?

Nox