BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:07:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-12-31, 11:27:

Yes, this is why it's a good idea to state the parts used in the OP because being vague often creates more confusion. […]
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BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 00:55:

Sorry for the confusion. 3.5 is the lowest my motherboard supports

Yes, this is why it's a good idea to state the parts used in the OP because being vague often creates more confusion.

What motherboard are you using?
Unless your board is some kind of (usually non-standard) OEM board (or perhaps one of those uncommon jumperless ones?), your board should have a jumper block which most likely is able to be set below 3.5x CPU multiplier. If not, it should be able to set the CPU multiplier in the BIOS.

tldr, your board should be able to set the CPU multiplier below 3.5

EDIT: If you can't set the CPU multiplier below 3.5x, can you confirm you can set the CPU multiplier to 4.0 or higher? Because if your current system can't do that either, then I'd assume that particular CPU is fully locked.

To be honest I wasn’t fully expecting a hardware based answer. I was kind of expecting a general answer 🤣. I’m using the same Gigabyte GA-6BXC V2. It’s good for most things, supporting multiple points between 66 and 133 while having three ISA slots. I don’t know if it’s Tualatin compatible but it rocks a coppermine.

Btw, your board does support CPU multipliers below 3.5.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-6BXC/sp#sp

CPU […]
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CPU

• [Intel®Pentium® II / III and Celeron™ Processer
  Slot1 for future Processor support
  66/75*/83*/100/112*/133* MHz System Bus
  AUTO Detect CPU Voltage
  Clock multiplier 3.0/3.5......./9.5]

so if this combination gives you the lowest CPU multiplier as 3.5 for a CPU which in locked state has a CPU multiplier of 3.5, I'm inclined to believe your CPU is in fact locked.
Are you absolutely certain your CPU is unlocked as your thread title has advertised? Because something is not adding up here 😜

Besides, I'm not sure why you weren't expecting a hardware answer even though this subforum is literally called "General Old Hardware" 😜

Tetrium wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:39:

Btw, your board does support CPU multipliers below 3.5. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-6BXC/sp#sp […]
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BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:07:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-12-31, 11:27:

Yes, this is why it's a good idea to state the parts used in the OP because being vague often creates more confusion. […]
Show full quote

Yes, this is why it's a good idea to state the parts used in the OP because being vague often creates more confusion.

What motherboard are you using?
Unless your board is some kind of (usually non-standard) OEM board (or perhaps one of those uncommon jumperless ones?), your board should have a jumper block which most likely is able to be set below 3.5x CPU multiplier. If not, it should be able to set the CPU multiplier in the BIOS.

tldr, your board should be able to set the CPU multiplier below 3.5

EDIT: If you can't set the CPU multiplier below 3.5x, can you confirm you can set the CPU multiplier to 4.0 or higher? Because if your current system can't do that either, then I'd assume that particular CPU is fully locked.

To be honest I wasn’t fully expecting a hardware based answer. I was kind of expecting a general answer 🤣. I’m using the same Gigabyte GA-6BXC V2. It’s good for most things, supporting multiple points between 66 and 133 while having three ISA slots. I don’t know if it’s Tualatin compatible but it rocks a coppermine.

Btw, your board does support CPU multipliers below 3.5.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-6BXC/sp#sp

CPU […]
Show full quote

CPU

• [Intel®Pentium® II / III and Celeron™ Processer
  Slot1 for future Processor support
  66/75*/83*/100/112*/133* MHz System Bus
  AUTO Detect CPU Voltage
  Clock multiplier 3.0/3.5......./9.5]

so if this combination gives you the lowest CPU multiplier as 3.5 for a CPU which in locked state has a CPU multiplier of 3.5, I'm inclined to believe your CPU is in fact locked.
Are you absolutely certain your CPU is unlocked as your thread title has advertised? Because something is not adding up here 😜

Besides, I'm not sure why you weren't expecting a hardware answer even though this subforum is literally called "General Old Hardware" 😜

I meant in the context of “yeah you can slow it down a bit more using this”. And I was going with the manual and board having 3.5 printed on them. I was completely unaware that I could go lower. As for the Pentium II, I have booted it before with a lower clock than 350, but it’s been years since I used anything but my P3-700@933, so I don’t have hard numbers quite yet.

Edit: nevermind, I managed to scrounge up my CPU-Z result where it was running at 200. I’m full of crap apparently.

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:47:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:39:

Btw, your board does support CPU multipliers below 3.5. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-6BXC/sp#sp […]
Show full quote

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:07:

To be honest I wasn’t fully expecting a hardware based answer. I was kind of expecting a general answer 🤣. I’m using the same Gigabyte GA-6BXC V2. It’s good for most things, supporting multiple points between 66 and 133 while having three ISA slots. I don’t know if it’s Tualatin compatible but it rocks a coppermine.

Btw, your board does support CPU multipliers below 3.5.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-6BXC/sp#sp

CPU […]
Show full quote

CPU

• [Intel®Pentium® II / III and Celeron™ Processer
  Slot1 for future Processor support
  66/75*/83*/100/112*/133* MHz System Bus
  AUTO Detect CPU Voltage
  Clock multiplier 3.0/3.5......./9.5]

so if this combination gives you the lowest CPU multiplier as 3.5 for a CPU which in locked state has a CPU multiplier of 3.5, I'm inclined to believe your CPU is in fact locked.
Are you absolutely certain your CPU is unlocked as your thread title has advertised? Because something is not adding up here 😜

Besides, I'm not sure why you weren't expecting a hardware answer even though this subforum is literally called "General Old Hardware" 😜

I meant in the context of “yeah you can slow it down a bit more using this”. And I was going with the manual and board having 3.5 printed on them. I was completely unaware that I could go lower.

As a general rule (no pun intended) from boards at that time, they often omitted all available settings from the manual and the sinkscreen, probably on purpose (I suppose it was mostly a warranty thing of them wanting to support only certain features while in practice some boards were often supplied with several different parts, some of which were more capable than other parts), which we call hidden jumper settings.
Often the board can actually go higher, but it may not be able to handle it or handle it properly.
That's usually less of a concern when underclocking, of course.

So if it's in the manual, it means that those settings should at least work (exceptions exist, of course). But it doesn't exclude other settings.

As for the Pentium II, I have booted it before with a lower clock than 350, but it’s been years since I used anything but my P3-700@933, so I don’t have hard numbers quite yet.

Edit: nevermind, I managed to scrounge up my CPU-Z result where it was running at 200. I’m full of crap apparently.
12D3B035-CF7F-41A5-959D-0E61BFAF0240.png

Very nice.
You gotta try it out right away 😜 ^^

bloodem wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:31:

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:07:

To be honest I wasn’t fully expecting a hardware based answer. I was kind of expecting a general answer 🤣. I’m using the same Gigabyte GA-6BXC V2. It’s good for most things, supporting multiple points between 66 and 133 while having three ISA slots. I don’t know if it’s Tualatin compatible but it rocks a coppermine.

The GA-6BXC is even better than you think. Not only does it support FSB frequencies between 50 and 133 MHz, but you can use SoftFSB to control the FSB frequency from within DOS and Win98.
It's actually the ideal pair for a VIA C3 Ezra-T 😁

This is actually pretty neat 👍

bloodem wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:31:

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 18:07:

To be honest I wasn’t fully expecting a hardware based answer. I was kind of expecting a general answer 🤣. I’m using the same Gigabyte GA-6BXC V2. It’s good for most things, supporting multiple points between 66 and 133 while having three ISA slots. I don’t know if it’s Tualatin compatible but it rocks a coppermine.

The GA-6BXC is even better than you think. Not only does it support FSB frequencies between 50 and 133 MHz, but you can use SoftFSB to control the FSB frequency from within DOS and Win98.
It's actually the ideal pair for a VIA C3 Ezra-T 😁

How do you get the 50MHz mode going if I might ask? And what kind of a slotcket adapter should I be on the lookout for if I wanted to go that route?

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 21:14:

How do you get the 50MHz mode going if I might ask? And what kind of a slotcket adapter should I be on the lookout for if I wanted to go that route?

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency generator, it should work by setting SW1 to "ON - ON - ON - ON".
Personally, when it comes to the GA-6BXC, I always set the FSB to 133 or 100 MHz on the motherboard itself, and if I temporarily need other FSB frequencies, I simply use SoftFSB from within DOS or Win98.

As for the Ezra-T, it should work with any Coppermine compatible Slotket. I've used it both with cheap and with more expensive slotkets (i.e.: the MSI MS-6905 "Master" Slotket) and I haven't encountered any issues with either of them, because the Ezra-T doesn't need a lot of power anyway.

You can see the Ezra-T in action on a Gigabyte GA-6BXC motherboard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEOjvsNI8pE
At the beginning of the video, I'm also briefly showing how the FSB frequency (and, in the case of the Ezra-T, also the CPU multiplier) can be easily controlled from within Win98.

bloodem wrote on 2023-01-01, 13:39:

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency gen […]
Show full quote

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 21:14:

How do you get the 50MHz mode going if I might ask? And what kind of a slotcket adapter should I be on the lookout for if I wanted to go that route?

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency generator, it should work by setting SW1 to "ON - ON - ON - ON".
Personally, when it comes to the GA-6BXC, I always set the FSB to 133 or 100 MHz on the motherboard itself, and if I temporarily need other FSB frequencies, I simply use SoftFSB from within DOS or Win98.

As for the Ezra-T, it should work with any Coppermine compatible Slotket. I've used it both with cheap and with more expensive slotkets (i.e.: the MSI MS-6905 "Master" Slotket) and I haven't encountered any issues with either of them, because the Ezra-T doesn't need a lot of power anyway.

You can see the Ezra-T in action on a Gigabyte GA-6BXC motherboard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEOjvsNI8pE
At the beginning of the video, I'm also briefly showing how the FSB frequency (and, in the case of the Ezra-T, also the CPU multiplier) can be easily controlled from within Win98.

Thanks, I may just have to look in to that.

bloodem wrote on 2023-01-01, 13:39:

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency gen […]
Show full quote

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 21:14:

How do you get the 50MHz mode going if I might ask? And what kind of a slotcket adapter should I be on the lookout for if I wanted to go that route?

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency generator, it should work by setting SW1 to "ON - ON - ON - ON".
Personally, when it comes to the GA-6BXC, I always set the FSB to 133 or 100 MHz on the motherboard itself, and if I temporarily need other FSB frequencies, I simply use SoftFSB from within DOS or Win98.

As for the Ezra-T, it should work with any Coppermine compatible Slotket. I've used it both with cheap and with more expensive slotkets (i.e.: the MSI MS-6905 "Master" Slotket) and I haven't encountered any issues with either of them, because the Ezra-T doesn't need a lot of power anyway.

You can see the Ezra-T in action on a Gigabyte GA-6BXC motherboard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEOjvsNI8pE
At the beginning of the video, I'm also briefly showing how the FSB frequency (and, in the case of the Ezra-T, also the CPU multiplier) can be easily controlled from within Win98.

Your advice was correct, I can bring a P2 down to 150MHz. I don't have a slotcket yet, and the only one I can find local is a generic that might not even useful for coppermine, so this is all for now at least.

BetaC wrote on 2023-01-10, 06:51:

Your advice was correct, I can bring a P2 down to 150MHz. I don't have a slotcket yet, and the only one I can find local is a generic that might not even useful for coppermine, so this is all for now at least.

Great, enjoy your build! 😀

BetaC wrote on 2023-01-10, 06:51:

bloodem wrote on 2023-01-01, 13:39:

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency gen […]
Show full quote

BetaC wrote on 2022-12-31, 21:14:

How do you get the 50MHz mode going if I might ask? And what kind of a slotcket adapter should I be on the lookout for if I wanted to go that route?

I've never tried to set the FSB to 50 MHz using the DIP switches, but looking at the datasheet for the ICS 9148-26 frequency generator, it should work by setting SW1 to "ON - ON - ON - ON".
Personally, when it comes to the GA-6BXC, I always set the FSB to 133 or 100 MHz on the motherboard itself, and if I temporarily need other FSB frequencies, I simply use SoftFSB from within DOS or Win98.

As for the Ezra-T, it should work with any Coppermine compatible Slotket. I've used it both with cheap and with more expensive slotkets (i.e.: the MSI MS-6905 "Master" Slotket) and I haven't encountered any issues with either of them, because the Ezra-T doesn't need a lot of power anyway.

You can see the Ezra-T in action on a Gigabyte GA-6BXC motherboard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEOjvsNI8pE
At the beginning of the video, I'm also briefly showing how the FSB frequency (and, in the case of the Ezra-T, also the CPU multiplier) can be easily controlled from within Win98.

lkydd6.png

Your advice was correct, I can bring a P2 down to 150MHz. I don't have a slotcket yet, and the only one I can find local is a generic that might not even useful for coppermine, so this is all for now at least.

What's left is to find out, whether your board might even support lower multipliers ... 😁 As for the manual, "ON-ON-ON-ON" is not described - this might be something, but try at your own risk ...