From your setup, it seems that your processor is the bottleneck. Getting a faster processor would be a good choice.

As for the value, there are many people selling off their 478 processors cheap, you could look around in Garage Sales to find a bargain.

I guess the 9800XT? 5900XT's was more like a rushed job IMHO. It only did well in certain games, didn't it?

Hmm, I thought PAT hacks relies tightening timings on the RAM? Even though if the motherboard supports PAT, the RAM has to take in the extra stress if it is enabled.

Also, I read somewhere that PAT also tightens internal Northbridge timings... I don't know how true it is. And from my experience with my board, enabling full PAT greatly reduces overclocking potiental.

So far, my PC only has partial PAT.

I use CTIAW to check whether PAT is fully enabled or partially enabled, like what kabukiawie mentioned a few posts back.

I don't use CPU-Z to check for PAT because it only either mentions Enabled or Disabled for the Performance Mode. I thought I had PAT fully enabled when I used CPU-Z, to my dismay it was only partially enabled when I used CTIAW.

kabukiawie: I don't think that's the case, but people only use Tweak865 when their PCs cant take on full PAT because the BIOS setting does not allow partial PAT, if I'm not mistaken.

sang_karim: Can't say exactly for sure... the reason why Tweak865 was created is because that it is not selectable in BIOS. You can have full PAT if you meet the certain requirements.

fylon: I read somewhere that 865 chipsets aren't fully functional 875 chipsets, so they were marketed off as a cheaper variant. In this case, PAT shouldn't be on 865 chipsets at all, but tests from other forumers have proven that it does have full PAT. My score for 3DMark03 is 6k+, so your scores should be normal.


To add, PAT didn't give me a quantum leap in performance... it only gave me extra 100 marks in 3DMark03. But it's a free boost to performance, so why not enable it?

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Aug 10 2007, 09:45 PM

Everyone seems to be in the overclocking mood...

I'm aiming for another 5MHz increase in FSB after my new RAM cooler fans arrive, currently my RAMs are limiting me

I'm not sure on what it calculates, but it will calculate the amount that you set it to as fast as possible, which means the faster it's done, the better it is.

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Added on August 15, 2007, 11:45 amHaha, thanks a lot.

When I used 3.3v on the RAMs, there was no difference in increasing OC potential, other than extra heat and instability

But since my RAMs have been running at 3v for quite a long time, so it's time to see if the 'training' has paid off

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Aug 15 2007, 11:45 AM

Guys, currently I'm using 4x256MB Mosel Vitelics in dual channel mode. Because these RAMs have hit the overclocking barrier, I was thinking of taking my old 2x256MB D43s and 2x256MB BH5s to replace the Vitelics, where they are confirmed to be stable at 260FSB.

Do you think that dual channel mode can still be maintained although the two RAMs are different, chipset wise?

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Aug 15 2007, 10:43 PM

GCI99, if you're using the stock Intel heatsink, then how do you lock the heatsink to the processor if you don't use the clips that come with the fancage?

From what I see, it seems that the fan is clipped onto the heatsink; but how does the heatsink stay there?

edit: oh wait I see it, there are actually clips, didn't notice earlier Anyway, where did you get those clips from?

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Aug 15 2007, 11:57 PM

I didn't know of a Tweak865-like program named Memset existed until kabukiawie mentioned it in his post. Thanks

There's much more options compared to Tweak865, gonna use it now

So, can anyone help me regarding my problem?

I think increments in AGP voltage are every 0.05v. The default AGP voltage is 1.6v, so you should try a setting of 1.65v.

I read somewhere that some graphic cards are quite sensitive to AGP voltage, so do be careful.

Hmm Vcore at 1.5v, that's quite a lot for a Prescott, yet you're on air-cooling

I'm running at 3.6GHz on stock voltage, heat is up to 65C on a hot day

Oh, which means that your priming is done in a cold room? Mine is around 55C on full load if the air-conditioning's turned on, otherwise it's 65C.

If I have the time, I'm gonna try 2x256MB BH5s and 2x256MB D43s to see if I can clock my PC any further.

Heard that it goes as high as 260MHz, with slack timings of 3-4-4-8 if you pump in 2.9v. From my experience, pumping 3.3v into D43s isn't that worthwhile because you only get to lower the timings to 2.5-4-3-7 but do not benefit extra FSB.

I don't think larger capacities retard overclocking, but maybe higher density chips are more sensitive to overclocking?

Yeah, my D43 256MB sticks clocked till around that speed too.

Well, what I meant by higher density chips is like for example, a 256MB single-sided module has eight TSOP chips, excluding the ECC chip, so 256 divided by 8 equals to 32, which means each TSOP chip contains 32MB.

For the 512MB modules, it's usually double-sided, so the same density is used on the each side of the module, giving it a total of 512MB.

As for the 1GB sticks, the density has to change if the TSOP chip arrangement stays constant (eight per side), so it would either be 128MB for each TSOP if it's single sided, or 64MB if it's double sided.

Now I'm not very sure about this, but my guess is having more chips might decrease the fault tolerance (more chips means a higher chance of a certain chip not able to clock to the speed that you want, because not every IC is manufactured alike), and using higher density chips might hamper overclocking due to differences in design (like when the Nforce2 chipsets had problems with double-sided modules) or technology to pack in more capacity per chip.

Again, this is my personal view so this isn't necessarily true.

So, lurking into the storeboxes I dug out my old D43s and BH5s to put them to the test once again. The Hynixes went first, and the PC booted right away on 240FSB. I increased the Vcore and Vagp so I wouldn't be held back by the CPU and the motherboard, and upped the FSB.

Surprisingly, it booted right up to 255FSB. Previously I only knew that my board could only reach 245FSB due to the limits of the memory. Excited, I plugged the BH5s to go with it, sadly to see the PC beeping and all. It just wouldn't run together with the D43s at all, no matter what arrangement I did with the modules.

Having the time, I ran each of my old SAT5Bs individually to see how high they could be pushed, hearing that some memory won't overclock well especially when all RAM slots were occupied. After a few minutes of swapping and plugging (my fingers hurt real bad), I took two of the best clocking modules and ran them with my D43s.

Surprise surprise. The D43s accepted the SAT5Bs like a charm. And the results were really unexpected since I can now run at 250FSB without thorough testing, but hey, much better than last time, I couldn't even boot at that speed!

Now, just for my RAM coolers to come, and maybe a 120MM fan at the top to exhaust the heat, I might be all set.

Also, just realised the source of the heat that could be felt from the top of my casing was actually coming from my RAMs. Gotta find a better way to cool them down somehow...

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Aug 17 2007, 04:01 PM

No shop lah. Those RAMs are from my old Nforce2 PCs, which got struck by lightning many years ago.

I'm already using the RAM cooler, just the fans in there are dying so they can't spin properly. Soon, I'll be replacing them with better fans to keep the RAMs cool.

I contemplated on placing ramsinks on the modules, but there just ain't enough space between the slots as Abit placed them real close together.

So far, four perfect Test 5 passes on Memtest86 on 250FSB. Time to optimise the timings and switch on PAT!

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Added on August 17, 2007, 4:27 pmI can't verify this now, because one SAT5B module cannot run any higher than 250FSB. I read about this before, where when you have more RAM slots used, it's more demanding on the memory controller.

Don't worry man, I'm gonna have to stick with this rig for a very long time, even when all you guys move to Core 2 Duos.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Aug 17 2007, 04:37 PM

It does make a difference when you want to keep things cool and stable.

Memtest would run a few passes on Test 5 perfectly, then suddenly thousands of errors will pop up. Haven't experienced this problem before, and I can't even get into Windows without BSODs.

Anyone had this particular problem before?

LOL, I've particularly maxed all the voltage settings that the board already has, except the processor.

I think the motherboard is limiting me, running with dividers also gives me the same problems.