I just tried this crazy setting -

100.2f x 3m x 3.3cv x 3.8io = 300mhz

And I got to the win98 desktop! Then, I OC'd the Voodoo3 card to 190mhz. I ran qlQuake, but the "timedemo demo2" test exited back to the desktop. I tried this test several times. My only option now is to increase the core voltage from 3.3 to 3.4. I can't increase the io voltage any further, as that jumper setting hasn't got any higher value.

well if that works test it to see if it is stable is all i can say that and wow for the amount of mhz you pulled out of it.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to get glQuake stable with the 233 CPU OC'd to 300mhz. I tried increasing the voltage core up to 3.4 (from 3.3), and it made things worse - the "general desktop experience" was unstable. However, it's not all bad news as these settings seem to work well:

83.3f x 3.5m x 3.3cv x 3.8io = 290mhz

With the Voodoo3 card cranked up to 194mhz, glQuake (@ 1280x1024x16) gave me 49.1 fps.

Edit: I reset all of the mobo's jumpers to "default mode" for a 233 CPU. I then reran some tests, and merged them alongside the OC'd CPU glQuake (1280x1024x16) result.

233 OC'd to 290, and Voodoo3 OC'd to 190+ mhz = 49.1 fps
233 not OC'd, and Voodoo3 OC'd to 190+ mhz = 48.5 fps
233 not OC'd, and Voodoo3 not OC'd = 42.5 fps

So for playing glQuake at 1280x1024, it seems worthwhile to OC the graphics card, but there seems to be little benefit to OC the CPU as well.

This took some effort, but it seems stable now...
Pentium 233 @ 100x3.0; 3.3V core, 3.8V I/O

I built a system out of backup parts because I didn't want to fry my "production machine". The mainboard is a P5A v1.06 with an ATI Rage 128 Pro.
It also boots into Win98 without crashes, but I only tested with the standard VGA driver (too lazy to download/transfer the ATI driver atm).

Nice work 5u3! What was the resolution that you ran that at? I'm assuming that you just used software rendering, in which case the ATi driver shouldn't have made much of a difference.

I also wonder what kind of cooling your using, and how hot it ended up gettig. It does seem like it is a little too much for even casual use 🙁

I decided to remove the AGP Voodoo3 card, and replace it with a "lesser powered" AGP card. I just picked the first thing to hand, which is a fairly average ATI Rage Pro Turbo AGP card. I think it's 8mb. Circa '98. I tried to boot up with my new 2.5" laptop HDD, but the power kept dying. I increased the V core voltage to 3.4, but it still wouldn't boot. So, I swapped that HDD out with a 3.5" desktop HDD, and left the V core voltage on 3.4. The mobo/HDD boots OK now. My jumper settings are now -

100.2f x 3m x 3.4cv x 3.8io = 300mhz

The win98 desktop seems stable, with the ATI Rage Pro driver installed. I ran both winquake.exe and "quake for DOS" inside win98, and got fairly poor fps scores of approximately 50 fps. This was running Quake in software mode, full screen, at 320x200 resolution. I ran pcpbench inside win98, and got a score of about 31 running in default resolution mode. Again, nothing special.

My humble conclusion to all of this messing about is that OC'ing a 233 CPU to 300mhz isn't worth the risks involved. I think these settings are probably better -

83.3f x 3.5m x 3.3cv (or less) x 3.8io (or less) = 290mhz

Edit: I made some adjustments inside the mobo's BIOS, and just Enabled stuff that I thought might speed things up a bit. Sorry I can't be more precise - I just selected Enabled for whatever values sounded interesting.

Back at the win98 desktop, everything still seems stable. I reran winquake, and got some slightly better fps scores -

320x200 55.9fps
640x480 25.9fps

5u3's 70fps score is outstanding. I can't get close to that, but I am satisfied that I've managed to beat a PPro-233oc, as seen on this webpage (about 1/4 of the way down) -

http://web.archive.org/web/19961223112037/htt … gena/quake.html

Edit 2: I got rid of the ATI Rage card, and put the AGP Voodoo3 back in. The OC'd 300mhz system does seem to be stable. I ran winquake, and increased my score to -

320x200 63.5fps

I still can't reach 5u3's fps score of 70+ fps, but 63 isn't bad!

Edit 3: The Voodoo3 card does seem stable now, with the CPU OC'd to 300mhz. I've got some new fps results, because glQuake now works OK:

glQuake, 640x480x16 = 103.9 fps, voodoo3 not OC'd. Interestingly, with the Voodoo3 OC'd to 185, I only get 104.1 fps

Edit 4: I removed the win98 HDD, and installed a DOS HDD, with Quake shareware 1.06 for DOS on it. I get 66.3fps for 320x200 resolution.

Na, this is the kind of hardware you try your hand at peltier, water cooling, and board mods.

prophase_j wrote:

What was the resolution that you ran that at? I'm assuming that you just used software rendering, in which case the ATi driver shouldn't have made much of a difference.

The Quake screenshot is vanilla 320x200 under plain DOS.

prophase_j wrote:

I also wonder what kind of cooling your using, and how hot it ended up gettig. It does seem like it is a little too much for even casual use 🙁

The cooling is the same as before - a simple 50x55x35mm aluminium heatsink (I think it came from a Socket370 Celeron).
This board reported the temperature as slightly lower (~58° C), those external temperature diodes are not really accurate.

For a permanent setup I would look out for a nice heatpiped heatsink, however mounting one of these on the board could be a challenge. I'm not particularly worried about the voltage converters, this board has coped with overvolted AHX-core K6-IIIs, which may draw twice as much power as a P55C.

ih8registrations wrote:

Na, this is the kind of hardware you try your hand at peltier, water cooling, and board mods.

Unfortunately the mobo's CPU heatsink clip is broken, and so I just used some heavy items to help.

No problem, most serious oc'ing require diy mounting anyway. At any half decent oc'ing site you'll find a variety of solutions already figured out.

Wow we have some "dark voodoo" tweaking in progress here.....

I vote for a 150W peltier junction (roughly 10x more than you need) and then covering the whole mobo with that horrible expanding foam insulation to prevent condensation. But that is probably a terrible idea. 😀

Forget the peltier route, i'm going to submerge mine in mineral oil!!

Liquid Nitrogen Cooled Fluorinert Immersion 😀 😀 😀

swaaye wrote:

Wow we have some "dark voodoo" tweaking in progress here.....

I'm aiming for something even darker! 😈 I cranked up the BIOS FSB to 105mhz (from 100mhz), and the BIOS POSTed OK, but the P233 CPU was still reported as being 300mhz. So I cranked up the BIOS FSB to 110mhz, and the power "died" and I got no POST. I think my only remaining option now is to set the core voltage jumper to its max: 3.5 (from 3.4).

BTW, I've got no thermal paste on the CPU. I hope that isn't too much of a problem.

swaaye wrote:

Liquid Nitrogen Cooled Fluorinert Immersion 😀 😀 😀

These 2 submersion experiments are fantastic! Excellent link!

The Fluorinert experiment is a classic fav of mine. Before crazy stuff like that became commonplace for crazy tweakers. I've had it bookmarked since 2000 😀

If you wanna see some pros at work:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10

BTW, I've got no thermal paste on the CPU. I hope that isn't too much of a problem

Brave man! too bad the motherboard I have at the moment is limited to 66mhz bus speeds....not very super 7. I have my eyes set on one of these though:

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Reviews/MBs/Epox/ … mvp3c_intro.htm

The ultimate socket 7 board is the Soltek SL54U5, only board noted that can set the FSB to 150.
Failing that, Gigabyte GA-5AA or GA-5AX than can be set to 140, then about six boards that can be set to 133.

http://compatlist.k6plus.com/

The IWill XA100plus mobo is mentioned on that compatibility list, but each field just says: "?" That's a shame, because this board will go up to 140FSB.

Usually a limiting factor in the FSB with these motherboards is the on board cache. The operating frequency is that of the main bus, so in most cases you actually have to disable it to hit the really high numbers. That's unless they built in a divider, but I don't think it could work that way.