CAN'T OVERCLOCK P4P800

[John]

I have a P4P800 Deluxe motherboard that I cannot overclock. I
technically cannot even run it at full speed. I have Corsair PC3500
memory in it and a 3GHz 800FSB processor in it and cannot run it at 2-2-
2-5-8. This memory was in an identical motherboard running at the 2-2-
2-5-8 with a 3.0GHz CPU and overclocked to 3.4GHz so it's either the
motherboard or the CPU. I have not swapped the CPU yet but anything I
try above 2.5-3-3-6-8 stalls on boot. Could it be that some Intel CPU
are more aggressively clockable that others? Or do I have a bad
motherboard? I plan on swapping the CPU tomorrow. I was looking for
experiences others have had with a situation such as this. By the way,
I have bumped up the voltage, turned PAT to auto and am running the
board as vannila as I can.

- JA

 

[Paul]

I have a P4P800 Deluxe motherboard that I cannot overclock. I
technically cannot even run it at full speed. I have Corsair PC3500
memory in it and a 3GHz 800FSB processor in it and cannot run it at 2-2-
2-5-8. This memory was in an identical motherboard running at the 2-2-
2-5-8 with a 3.0GHz CPU and overclocked to 3.4GHz so it's either the
motherboard or the CPU. I have not swapped the CPU yet but anything I
try above 2.5-3-3-6-8 stalls on boot. Could it be that some Intel CPU
are more aggressively clockable that others? Or do I have a bad
motherboard? I plan on swapping the CPU tomorrow. I was looking for
experiences others have had with a situation such as this. By the way,
I have bumped up the voltage, turned PAT to auto and am running the
board as vannila as I can.

- JA

The memory interface is between the Northbridge and the DIMMs. The
processor connects to the other side of the Northbridge. Since adjusting
the memory parameters makes a difference, there is something going on
with your memory bus. That means either the Northbridge is at fault,
or the memory is at fault.

Be careful with the BIOS settings, because frequently BIOS have those
silly settings like "Turbo", where no one knows what they do. Using
controls like this makes it hard to observe exactly what is being
changed with respect to the hardware. If using controls like this,
try to find a utility that can report the true hardware settings, so
you'll know what is being applied. The toughest part of BIOS is when
they lie to you, about the PCI clock being locked, or about certain
voltages which aren't really being adjusted at all, and so on.

I've read on one of the hardware sites, that sometime just relaxing
Trcd is enough to make a memory more overclockable. So, based on that
advice, I'd try 2-3-2-5 8 instead of 2-2-2-5 8. Make sure the goofy
BIOS settings like Turbo or Aggressive are returned to something
"normal".

HTH,
Paul