![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, January 29, 2003
- Author:
- Steve Lynch
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Pentium 4 @ 4.44GHz
After killing off a CPU at 4.2GHz, we are back with a fresh processor, two VapoChills, water cooling, all stuffed in one box and cranking out 4.44GHz.
By using the TEC power supply to power the VapoChill unit, our primary VapoChill maintains a solid -30C temperature at idle while the Granite Bay chipset (E7205) hums along at a chilly -25C.
We made sure everything fit inside the case, reinstalled the outer panels and fired everything up. Now that we have our system ready to roll, it is time to benchmark this bad boy.
We know our last system was capable of 4.2GHz, so we set out for at least 4.3GHz this time around. We set our system to the most aggressive memory timings we could, set the system FSB to 187 with a 23 multiplier, voltage to 1.85v and the system booted flawless at 4.3GHz. Instead of running through our normal barrage of benchmarks, I restarted the system and went for broke.
4.44GHz ended up being the fastest stable speed we could run the system at, although it did require boosting the Vcore to 1.90v.
( *reviewers note* After getting our system up to speed, we found this was the time to experiment with different settings, and hardware. We tried the ATi Radeon 9700Pro but after seeing a bottleneck with the first video card, we tried out and settled on the Tyan Tachyon Radeon 9700Pro for the final tests. We had also started out our overclocking journey with the ASUS P4PE but ultimately decided to use the P4G8X for the better memory performance. In the end, we ended up with the fastest possible system we could through a big process of trial and error. )
We ran the system through the usual round of benchmarks, to make sure the system would remain stable throughout testing. We found the results simply amazing.
We have cut to the chase with our screen shots and offered up Business Winstone and Content Creation Winstone. Note that these benchmarks were run at the 4.44GHz noted above. No switcheroos here. These are the highest scores we have ever seen in these tests. PCMark also pulled in the highest score we have ever seen as well.
We are holding off on the 3D benchmarks as our 9700Pro seems to be our current bottleneck. Yes, you read that correctly, the 9700 Pro seems to be keeping us "VPU limited" at 425MHz core speed. We still have a little ways to go till we get the wow factor tweaked, but we will of course revisit that at a later date.
I can honestly say this has been the most fun we have had in a long time just getting the chance to cut loose, get back to our roots and overclocking the hell out of hardware. Getting everything to fit nice and neat into the case was definitely a challenge, and I think it is now time to go back completely through the system and tweak everything and tidy up all the little things I didn’t have a chance to during this write up…and maybe work on my lagging mod skills.
Then when that is done, I think it will be time to find something else to overclock. Now where did I put that Barton?