On the board. Look at the board.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-17, 16:36:

myne wrote on 2025-01-17, 15:09:

To right corner. There's a big chip with 32/40 pins. That's the bios. What's the smaller chip next to it? […]
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To right corner. There's a big chip with 32/40 pins.
That's the bios.
What's the smaller chip next to it?

Near the metal oval thing.

It's probably ICS something. What's the number?
That's the clock generator.

An app called softfsb can talk to it and potentially change the fsb. But you need to knew which it is.

That app sounds ideal, though I'm not sure if a more up to date version exists...? The one I downloaded doesn't even list my motherboard.

Just tried CPUFSB and that does list my motherboard. Sadly though, setting it to 133 (or anything by the looks of it) causes the system to lock up. So I’m guessing it’s a no. 🙁

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-17, 17:05:

Just tried CPUFSB and that does list my motherboard. Sadly though, setting it to 133 (or anything by the looks of it) causes the system to lock up. So I’m guessing it’s a no. 🙁

The attachment IMG_4025.gif is no longer available

Too soon to tell. You currently have a CPU that isn't designed to run at 133Mhz bus and you probably have RAM that's not capable of that either. You'd need to wait for your new CPU to come, and possibly get some faster RAM too.

Not many chips are capable of a 30%overclock.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-01-17, 17:09:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-17, 17:05:

Just tried CPUFSB and that does list my motherboard. Sadly though, setting it to 133 (or anything by the looks of it) causes the system to lock up. So I’m guessing it’s a no. 🙁

The attachment IMG_4025.gif is no longer available

Too soon to tell. You currently have a CPU that isn't designed to run at 133Mhz bus and you probably have RAM that's not capable of that either. You'd need to wait for your new CPU to come, and possibly get some faster RAM too.

I just tried 112Mhz and 124MHz and that didn’t lock up. Though it’s too soon to say it’s stable. I take it I would need to run a stress test for an hour?

HWinfo doesn’t list any higher supported speeds for the RAM, so I’m guessing I’m stuck with 100MHz speed for that as well…? It says my current RAM is an SK Hynix 100MHz.

myne wrote on 2025-01-17, 16:47:

On the board. Look at the board.

This…?

Is there a free version of CPUFSB and Memtest86 for WIndows 98? The version of Memtest86 I tried was Memtest86+ and that just gave me an Illegal Operation error whenever I tried to install it. The latest version of CPUFSB keeps pestering me to register and therefore doesn't save anything. I can't believe non of the usual tools have any proper benchmarking tools, including CPU-Z and HWinfo. 😒

The seller of the CPU is going to give me first dibs on their second hand mobo they're going to sell. It's the Abit BE6-II. Pretty similar to what I have, though that does allow for an FSB of 133MHz. I don't know what other's thoughts are on this motherboard. Or if it's even worth changing to?

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-17, 17:19:

myne wrote on 2025-01-17, 16:47:

On the board. Look at the board.

This…?

The attachment IMG_4027.jpeg is no longer available

Yep.
Pg6.
https://www.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/47742/W … 83194R-39A.html

myne wrote on 2025-01-18, 17:11:

Yep. Pg6. https://www.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/47742/W … 83194R-39A.html […]
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DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-17, 17:19:

myne wrote on 2025-01-17, 16:47:

On the board. Look at the board.

This…?

The attachment IMG_4027.jpeg is no longer available

Yep.
Pg6.
https://www.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/47742/W … 83194R-39A.html

Hmm. So, based on that table, it should be able to go to 133MHz...? If I set the Frequency Selection to 1 and 2...? I'm a little confused with it.

EDIT: Oh wait, so the PC should scale it automatically...?

The clock generator can do it.
Either manually, via jumpers, or by softfsb if that exact chip is supported.
That's no guarantee that the CPU can do it.

myne wrote on 2025-01-18, 18:52:

The clock generator can do it.
Either manually, via jumpers, or by softfsb if that exact chip is supported.
That's no guarantee that the CPU can do it.

Well, I've not had any luck with SoftFSB. The last one I tried didn't even list my motherboard. Struggling to find a freeware version of CPUFSB. Supposedly the one that is freeware I downloaded was acting very... weird. The PC kept complaining it had no memory left to do anything else. It seemed to eat up all the resources.

Look for the chip, not the motherboard.
The motherboard might have different versions with different chips.
I'm not sure why it does that but it's "normal" on startup.

Installed the new CPU, but sadly it didn't configure the FSB. The seller has made a very tempting offer to me for his motherboard, so I'm thinking of taking it off his hands. It can be a project for another time as I'd need to reformat the PC if I installed it. But at least it would be unlocked and would have a 133MHz FSB.

For now, I need to find an alternative FSB utility that doesn't require registeration and allows me to set the overclock for when it reboots.

As an aside, I'm guessing I would also need to get some different RAM that's also 133MHz...?

Before spending even more money on this setup. Let's take a quick step back. What are trying to resolve with the upgrades?

It seemed like you want more processing power, as well as more control for slowing the machine down. Going for a faster Pentium 3 is only a small performance increase, and will likely not do anything on the slowdown front. Are these your goals? If so it might be time to look at other options.

SScorpio wrote on 2025-01-21, 00:52:

Before spending even more money on this setup. Let's take a quick step back. What are trying to resolve with the upgrades?

It seemed like you want more processing power, as well as more control for slowing the machine down. Going for a faster Pentium 3 is only a small performance increase, and will likely not do anything on the slowdown front. Are these your goals? If so it might be time to look at other options.

I guess I'm trying to ensure all of my games run well. Having the option to slow down the CPU is a great option to have for DOS games and quite a few need it. There's only one game I'm trying to fine tune as best I can at the moment. The processing power I now have is much better for the games I have from the late 90s and the start of the 00s. The motherboard offer would allow me to run that CPU to its full potential. I don't think I would be able, nor would I need to, upgrade the CPU any further anyway. Not from Coppermine. Not unless I went from a 440BX to something a bit newer, which I don't think would be a good idea for the era of system/games I'm after.

The increase in CPU power has allowed me to select option 3 with Throttle for the game I'm trying to fine tune. Whereas with the other one, it had to be option 2 because 3 then started causing stutter.

Try setting ram to cl3, and then use softfsb to try 133fsb.

If it works, other options can be considered.

There might be a board that's electrically identical.
Ie it has all the same major chips.

With a spare bios chip, and some hot flashing, you might be able to use a bios with those settings available.
There were dozens of bx boards. Even different versions of the same board with only minor passive differences. Finding one probably isn't impossible.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-21, 01:20:

I guess I'm trying to ensure all of my games run well. Having the option to slow down the CPU is a great option to have for DOS games and quite a few need it. There's only one game I'm trying to fine tune as best I can at the moment. The processing power I now have is much better for the games I have from the late 90s and the start of the 00s. The motherboard offer would allow me to run that CPU to its full potential. I don't think I would be able, nor would I need to, upgrade the CPU any further anyway. Not from Coppermine. Not unless I went from a 440BX to something a bit newer, which I don't think would be a good idea for the era of system/games I'm after.

The increase in CPU power has allowed me to select option 3 with Throttle for the game I'm trying to fine tune. Whereas with the other one, it had to be option 2 because 3 then started causing stutter.

What I'm questioning is if it might make sense to go with a newer generation chip that could be more powerful, and might provide more options for fine tuning. That of course depends on what a CPU/MB combo would cost compared to what you might be buying the motherboard for.

SScorpio wrote on 2025-01-21, 02:31:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-21, 01:20:

I guess I'm trying to ensure all of my games run well. Having the option to slow down the CPU is a great option to have for DOS games and quite a few need it. There's only one game I'm trying to fine tune as best I can at the moment. The processing power I now have is much better for the games I have from the late 90s and the start of the 00s. The motherboard offer would allow me to run that CPU to its full potential. I don't think I would be able, nor would I need to, upgrade the CPU any further anyway. Not from Coppermine. Not unless I went from a 440BX to something a bit newer, which I don't think would be a good idea for the era of system/games I'm after.

The increase in CPU power has allowed me to select option 3 with Throttle for the game I'm trying to fine tune. Whereas with the other one, it had to be option 2 because 3 then started causing stutter.

What I'm questioning is if it might make sense to go with a newer generation chip that could be more powerful, and might provide more options for fine tuning. That of course depends on what a CPU/MB combo would cost compared to what you might be buying the motherboard for.

Things may get pricier depending on the combo. Plus, wouldn't a newer generation potentially be a problem for Windows 98 and some of the older games? But I suppose it depends on what that newer generation is and from when.

myne wrote on 2025-01-21, 01:52:

Try setting ram to cl3, and then use softfsb to try 133fsb. […]
Show full quote

Try setting ram to cl3, and then use softfsb to try 133fsb.

If it works, other options can be considered.

There might be a board that's electrically identical.
Ie it has all the same major chips.

With a spare bios chip, and some hot flashing, you might be able to use a bios with those settings available.
There were dozens of bx boards. Even different versions of the same board with only minor passive differences. Finding one probably isn't impossible.

CL3...? What's that? I don't recall seeing that as an option. I'm guessing that would overclock it to 133 as well...? The options I've only been able to try so far are the FSB and the PCI.

I can't recall now what SoftFSB offers. I know I've tried CPUFSB and SetFSB. The latter didn't list my motherboard, the former does, but it requires registration in order for settings to be saved and load on boot. I need to find out if they're still active and if paying them nets you a registration code. Or if it's abandoned. Otherwise, I need to find a free alternative.