Best P4 Overclocker?

[logear1]

did a search but couldn't find what I was looking for. Is any Northwood cpu better than others for overclocking? Seems like results are 1.6a overclocks about 150%,thought I saw 1.8a and 2.0a are not good overclockers,2.2a is,etc.2.26 Northwood is $231,2.53 Northwood is $248 @ Googlegear.what's your experience with all these? thanks

 

[Yeti101]

You can get the bigest OC (clock speed wise) with the 1.6a, but for people who want to reach 3Ghz+ Then they're probly going to go with the high end P4s (2.26, 2.4b, 2.53, 2.6, 2.66, 2.8)

Hope this helps

 

[Budman]

The 2.26 I have is a great overclocker, 2720mhz and still on default voltage.

I would go higher but I dont have the need to go any higher for now ,and adding more volts to it just scares me.With people kiling their OC potential or thier chips by using too much voltage I would rather play it safe & so far I got 2.7ghz on default voltage.

 

[Mickey21]

P4 1.8A not a good overclocker? I got my 1.8A to 2844(158FSB X18) @ 1.85volts. Thats 158%
I am running watercooled though...

 

[Sunny129]

the most OCable P4's are the 1.6A's percentage wise, followed by the 1.8A's. of course there are exceptions, like Mickey21 stated...his is running @ 2844MHz, but note its water cooled. the same % OC can be done with the 1.6A (if not a higher % OC) with that kind of cooling. as far as air cooling goes (either stock hsf, or aftermarket such as a dragon, volcano, orb, etc.), you have better chances with the 1.6A. as for reaching 3GHz+, you would have to get one of the higher clocked, more expensive P4's, like the 2.4 or 2.53GHz models. those do not OC as well as the 1.6A's and 1.8A's...

by the way, a 1.8A @ 2844MHz is only a 158% OC if you take the default clock frequency to be 100%. its always been my method to take the default clock frequency to be 0%. so 2844 - 1800 = 1044 ==> 1044 / 1800 = 0.58 = 58% ==> so i only consider it to be 58% OC, not a 158% OC. it just seems to make more sense to me to consider a 100% OC as double the default freq. make sense? if not, i still understand where your calculations came from and it also makes semse to me...

 

[Duvie]

Anything above 1.8a for the "a" chips (400mhz fsb) has too high of an multiplier to make getting to high enough fsb to run 333mhz let alone 400mhz ddr....3:4 ratio with a 1.8 takes 150fsb to get 400mhz ddr and a 2.7ghz chip, which is still not a lock with the chip. 1.6@ at 150fsb only meand a 2.4ghz chip and pretty much most of them from may on were hitting that regularly. My 1.6 does 2.544ghz at default vcore!!!

The 2.0a has a 20x muliplier and 150fsb and 3ghz is a very long shot!!! Hell even 133fsb is no lock and you better have a board with an agp/pci lock in case you dont make it to 133fsb and the 1/4 pci divider.

The 2.2a even higher 22x muliplier and 133fsb is damn near impossible....

The 2.26 is a "b" chip with a 17x multiplier so 400mhz ddr is very attainable...

The 2.4a...no way don't even look at it...

The 2.4b...Same as a 1.8a with a 18x muliplier...better bet IMO then a chance with a 1.8a though they can all theoretically hit same limit. Goes into whole chips are manufactured off same wafer thing I have covered numerous times...

The 2.53b chip and now for 250 is a good chip with a 19x muliplier...400 mhz ddr can still be had with 3:4 ratio and likely is best bet to reach 3ghz....Themost I have seen hit it are running 2.533ghz and ddr mobos!!! Plain simple facts...

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: Mickey21
P4 1.8A not a good overclocker? I got my 1.8A to 2844(158FSB X18) @ 1.85volts. Thats 158%
I am running watercooled though...

at 1.85 volts your chip is not going to last long,better order a new one right away.