pentium ll 350mhz clocking

[simpleton]

Hi i have a packard bell platinum 2010 with a pentium 350mhz cpu can this be clocked or am i better to buy a new processor,it will take a plll 500mhz slot 1.
Thanks for your help
Simpleton

[Paleo Pete]

If you mean overclocked, it might be possible, but I don't recommend it. CPU's can often be overclocked successfully, but the risks do need to be thoroughly checked and understood.

I would get a faster CPU.

Overclocking-the Dissenting Opinion (http://www.pcguide.com/opt/oc/index.htm) from the PC Guide is one of the best articles I know of explaining the nature of the risks involved.

Maximum PC-Overclocking (http://www.maximumpc.com/overclocking/)
Scott's Hardware Site (http://members.tripod.com/~scottshw/)

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[kenja]

A capsule review of the "Overclocking-..." article: Excellent.

I'm not a professional PC person, but I do have over a decade's experience as an industrial electronics maintenance technician. Every single thought that went through my mind before I tried overclocking (for the first time, two days ago) is fully covered.

Simpleton, I don't think any OEM motherboard/BIOS is going to let you overclock.

My overclocking experience: 500MHz Celeron on a Tekram S381M+ motherboard; I changed the (standard) "CPU Host/PCI Clock" BIOS setting from 66/33MHz to 75/37MHz, yielding a CPU "speed" of 562.5MHz. I built a custom fan/heatsink assembly, and it's cool as a cucumber.

Biggest disappointment: Intel has locked the Celeron's memory bus at 66MHz, judging from SiSoft Sandra benchmarks.

How much more real-world performance can I honestly say I've experienced with the 12% system overclock? Very little, but it sure FEELS good!

A general note on Pentium/Celeron "Socket 370" upgrades: Do some research before laying down your money. I am very lucky that my new "Coppermine" 600MHz Celeron works fine on the Compaq Presario motherboard that the "Katmai" 500MHz Celeron came out of.

[kenja]

[Follow-up note:]

May well have just been my imagination, but the hard drives seemed to have an extra "klunk" when powered up on the overclocked system.

I've gone back to the standard settings in BIOS.

My reasoning: Why mess up a perfectly good system of hardware? (Answer: "Hot-rod" mentality! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif )

[kenja]

[CPU name correction]:

I meant to write "Mendocino" 500MHz Celeron. A 500MHz Pentium III has the "Katmai" core. (I'd better get to bed, one of these days.)

[Paleo Pete]

My reasoning: Why mess up a perfectly good system of hardware? (Answer: "Hot-rod" mentality! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif )

Does the phrase "If it ain't broke don't fix it" ring any bells? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif



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Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

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[kenja]

Yup!

[sleddog]

Originally posted by kenja:
[Follow-up note:]

May well have just been my imagination, but the hard drives seemed to have an extra "klunk" when powered up on the overclocked system.

I've gone back to the standard settings in BIOS.

My reasoning: Why mess up a perfectly good system of hardware? (Answer: "Hot-rod" mentality! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif )

Well, raising the frontside bus to 75Mhz means you've changed the system bus to 37Mhz (as you've noted), which might results in PCI problems, so you *could* experience HDD problems. I've read reports of inexperienced overclockers corrupting harddrives when overclocking to 83/41.

When overclocking you want to avoid these potential problems by keeping the system bus within spec, i.e., around 33MHz.

For example my Celeron 600 ticks along happily at 900Mhz -- which is 100/33 (or something fractionally close to 33). I have a high-performance heatsink and I always monitor temperature closely.

I also have a Celeron 300A system. The motherboard allows bus speed changes to 75/37 and 83/41. As either of these settings means running the system bus out of spec, I do not overclock this system. Running it at the max (83/41, which would give me 375Mhz) would probably not produce any perceivable speed increase but would introduce a real danger of corruption or damage to system components.

I am not promoting overclocking. Anyone contemplating it should read a *lot* before attempting it.



[This message has been edited by sleddog (edited 12-30-2000).]

[sleddog]

Originally posted by simpleton:
Hi i have a packard bell platinum 2010 with a pentium 350mhz cpu can this be clocked or am i better to buy a new processor,it will take a plll 500mhz slot 1.
Thanks for your help
Simpleton

You can look it up in the CPU database at http://www.overclockers.com/
You're motherboard make and model will be a determining factor. Unless you have a motherboard that matches one of these in the database results, forget about it.

Even if you do have one of the motherboards, I strongly advise reading a lot about overclocking before attempting it (starting will all the posts in this thread http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif )

If you want a "faster" system, a faster CPU isn't necessarily the answer. You may have insufficient RAM for the operating system and programs you run. A faster harddrive or video card might significantly improve system performance. Or perhaps your system needs an overhaul -- start with defragmenting the harddrive.

Brand name machines are often proprietary and difficult to upgrade. You might want to start considering a new system. Do it yourself or talk with a reputable shop. Begin with a quality motherboard and -- why not? -- an economical Duron or Celeron processor. IMHO PIII's (and now PIV's) are 90% marketing and 10% processor http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[kenja]

Right you are, sleddog.

Something I didn't say earlier, because it really falls under the category of "Don't try this at home!": I tried the next increment of 83/41 MHz. (Just for kicks, I had no intention of leaving it there.)

Results: (While holding my breath) during power-up, I got the text message "NTLDR NOT FOUND" (I'm running Windows 2000). The reason, as you know: the Promise Ultra66 (PCI to IDE adapter) had the caffeine jitters. I wouldn't treat a hard drive I really cared about this way; I had my oldest drive installed because I figured permanent damage could result.

[sleddog]

Kenja, how's this for talking around the 83/41 danger? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif
http://forums.overclockers.ws/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=1&TID=857&SID=903

[kenja]

Yeah, cavalier attitude, to say the least! Back to my hot-rod analogy: At least these people aren't endangering the general public by driving their machines on the street. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[hiredgoonz]

The pentium 2 with 100 mhz bus are not really good overclockers...unless you go crazy with an exotic coolig system, you'll probably won't get much higher than 112mhz bus X 3.5 multiplier (which is locked) and you'll be at 392...to do this though, you'd have to have a mobo that supports bus speeds other than 66/100 or 133, which most oem boards do not...

So with a new mobo, possibly new memory (no guarantee that pc100 which you probably have now will run at 112, although I'd bet it would), and possible stability issues, with the worst case scenario burning out your cpu combined with the fact that a 42 mhz increase really ain't that much, you're probably better off living w/350 and saving your money for a new system...

[kenja]

[Follow-up Note:] (This thread is a favorite to me. I've kept thinking of appending a "friendly", and recent events in the forums prompted me to do so.)

I will say this for overclockers (and gamers in general): They've helped make computers fun again for me. In the early days of microcomputers, I used to read Byte magazine virtually cover-to-cover (even after it ballooned in size). Then, through a combination of excessive overtime (as an industrial technician), a less than good workplace situation, and my own bad attitude, recreational use of a computer was the last thing I felt like doing.

I got back into PCs a little over a year ago, and I keep finding interesting "enthusiasts" web sites from all over the world. I've got a subscription to PC Magazine, but I barely glance at it; even the typeface bores me to death. On the other hand, my father has a subscription to Maximum PC (that he was transferred to when Windows magazine folded). Whenever I visit him, I find myself digging through the pile of periodicals, looking for the Maximum PCs!