P4 2.8 at 3.2 but want to keep going

[Toobiz]

I've been having a great time learning about overclocking - and this forum has been very helpful. Playing around with my current P4 setup before embarking on a new Core 2 Duo later this year.

PCMark crashes at anything over FSB of 228 at a temp of 60 Celcius - trying to figure out what to do next to go higher for under $200. Any insights are greatly appreciated.

Components:
- ASUS P4P800
- P4 2.8GHz Northwood w/ Stock HS/F overclocked to 3.19GHz
- Apollo 512MB (2x 256MB) DDR-SDRAM PC3200
- Radeon X800 Pro AGP

BIOS Settings:
- FSB 228
- DRAM 320MHz
- AGP 66.66
- Vcore 1.5875V
- Vdimm Auto

Memory Timings
- 5:4 FSB/DRAM
- Freq 182MHz
- 3/4/4/8

This is what I'm considering doing - don't laugh

- I'm thinking I should stick with the P4 2.8 and trying to get it higher rather than buying the P4 3.0 Prescott for $80
- Upgrade to 1GB of DDR-SDRAM (any recommendations?)
- Popping a Zalman HSF on the CPU

Any ideas why I might be crashing over FSB228 and whether my proposed next steps are any good?

Many thanks!

 

[mesarectifier]

Buy a new cooler by all means, and upgrading to 1gb RAM is always a good idea. However buying a Prescott IS NOT A GOOD IDEA UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

Anyway, I don't think it's worth investing in $200 in overclocking this CPU - it'll be a waste of cash, as it's not going to give you that much extra performance anyway. Spend it on a new rig!

 

[apache_lives]

wether that northwood is as 2.8ghz, or 4ghz etc its still netburst, still has 512k cache etc - still the same limits, dont spend the extra $$$ on a mere few mhz

 

[patchez]

- Popping a Zalman HSF on the CPU

Definitely a good idea, although not necessarily a Zalmans. if your planning to build a new pc within the year, perhaps get a more powerful cooler that supports both sockets(p4=478 and C2D=775). this way you can OC your p4, and when you get your new pc you can plop that cooler on the new PC.

my P4 2.8 northwood went up to 3.6ghz @ 1.6V on stock cooler and still run cpuz but got way too hot and was unstable. Added the zalmans 7000alcu and ran the computer stable with FSB of 243 at 1.575V. i remember reading a lot of ppl having problems getting the system stable around a FSB of 240+.

anywayz, keep researching oc'd p4 northwoods, there are a lot of resouces out there