Overclocking the Celeron 566 on Asus CUBX
(3 weeks of research summed up in 3 minutes reading)
Updated 7/06/00
6/02/00
Install OEM
Celeron 566 in Asus CUBX Bios Ver 1005 using generic Heat sink/fan provided by CPU vendor,
Bios fails to recognize CPU, no jumper settings available on the Asus site. Manually set
dip switches for 8x 66 MHz, motherboard identifies CPU correctly as Celeron 566.
Don’t want to trash my primary drive, so take an empty hard drive, and attempt a
fresh install of Win 98. Two tries with no success. Remove all cards except SVGA. Install
fails half way through each time. Maybe the drive is not compatible? Install an old
drive with a Win 98 Ver 1 installation already on it. Win 98 detects the new HW and I
am up and running. CPU is running extremely hot. Intermittent warning tone from
motherboard
6/03/00
Go to Radio Shack
for Heat sink compound. Temp drops 30 degrees after application. Install 2 more case fans
in my Acer full tower. The tower now has 6 fans:
1) CPU
2) power supply
3) provided mount, lower front
4) 1st provided mount, upper rear
5) 2nd provided mount, upper rear
6) custom mount fan
directly above CPU and chipset
I sure hope
this solves my temperature problems!
6/04/00 Seems
to be running stable and cooler now, around 30 degrees C. Lets try to overclock it.
8.5 X 75 for 637 MHz is ok, as is 8.5 X 83 for 708 MHz. But can’t go
higher. Remove all cards (NIC, Sound, SCSI, and Modem) from the computer
except my ATI all in wonder AGP. Still no go. Try a PCI SVGA no good either. I have no way to adjust my voltage with the
jumpers. How come Asus says this board can support Celeron 566 but the Bios will not
recognize the chip? Their technical reference page refers to Bios version 1006.001, but
where the heck is it? E-mail Asus support, post to the Asus news group, and check Asus
NetQ. I see why they call it NetQ it is definitely just like a waiting in a Que. I think
they must be running NetQ on a 386.
6/08/00
Asus never
replies, but someone in the news groups says “ Try Asus Germany they always have the
latest Bios.” Go to Asus Germany – Sure enough there it is: beta Bios 1006.003.
Install the Bios and Voila – the CPU is recognized as a Celeron 566. Lets try to over
clock again. Now I can run at 875 MHz at 1.65 V. Lets start putting cards back in one by
one. Well all the cards are back in and I can still run at 850 MHz. I am only using pc100
memory so wasn’t expecting much more. I am having some warm boot / reboot problems,
but everything always comes back up if I turn the power off. A small price to pay for an
extra 284 MHz, and hopefully the next Bios rev will fix the problem. Overall I am very
pleased.
6/09/00
Better post my
find to NetQ for any other poor souls waiting for a response from Asus.
6/10/00
I have been
getting some really bizarre readings from Asus probe. My 12V 5V and 3.5V will sometimes
suddenly drop by 50%. Could be my power supply is going out, better try another. Replace
power supply.
6/11/00
Still bizarre
probe voltage readings. Put the original 300W Acer back in. What is going on here do I
have a bad board?
6/13/00
After a couple
days of fiddling around I realize it is the crappy Asus Probe software causing the
problem. Disable “Smart Fan Control” and the problem goes away. Later I notice
many posts from people who have this same problem with a variety of Asus boards when using
Asus “Dumb Probe”.
6/14/00
Now that I
have my original hard drive back in the Computer running 98SE I want to utilize the CMD
UDMA 66 controller. I put my UDMA Quantum on the channel and run some benchmarks. What
gives I am running much slower on the UDMA channel. Set the board back to 566MHz and try
various settings, also I do a hardware redetect, some devices are updated but things are
still slow. Manually override the CMD setting and set to UDMA mode 4, now I am moving. HD
tack shows 58MB burst. The driver does however have a negative impact on boot time. It
takes and extra 30 seconds more with the CMD controller.
6/17/00
Have some
time today so its back to the workbench, remove all the cards except the svga. Still no
luck at 850Mhz. Run system file checker – still no luck, Go to device manager and
remove all mother board devices and the redetect – still no luck, re-install Win 98
still no luck. I can’t believe it I have been working on this for almost two weeks
and I am back to square 1. The Board simply will not over clock except in safe mode. What
the heck happened I had 850 MHz!
6/20/00
Ok if I can
get in safe mode it must be some kind of driver problem. Where is that old spare drive
with Win 98 Ver 1? I install the drive and right away - Bang .. 850Mhz. Ok what gives? Is
it the version of windows? I don’t think so since I was able at one time to run
850MHz with Win98SE.
6/22/00
I print out
a copy of my system devices settings. (Alt-print screen, then paste to paint brush) And
sift through item by item. I notice that on My 98SE installation the Bios is called ACPI
Bios, and on my 98 Ver1 installation it is called Plug and play Bios (should be plug and
pray!) maybe I am on to something! Back up the registry. Remove the ACPI Bios and re-boot.
Ok that got rid of the Bios but all my other devices as well. If I do a redetect it will
put the ACPI Bios back as well as the other devices. Restore the registry. Reboot. Select
ACPI Bios and update driver. Now I select Plug and Play Bios (fail safe). Reboot.
Everything seems OK at 566. Reboot at 850. I am holding my breath as I reach the
desktop.......... Oh my Gosh I am back to running at 850Mhz again.
6/23/00
Run a variety of test /
burn in programs.. no crashes. System is rock stable running 850 MHz with 1.6V @ 45
Degrees C. The Fail safe bios has not hurt performance at all, actually I am running
slightly faster on some benchmarks. Although I have not needed it, there still seems to be
a problem running the Celeron at any voltage higher than 1.65 with the current board /
Bios.
6/25/00
Running stable for 3
days now: No more reboot/warm boot problems either. I am proud of my accomplishment. I
have spent 3 weeks of my time combing the Asus Support site, news groups, and NetQ, flashing Bios, and re-booting, changing Bios
settings and re-booting, changing Win98 settings and re-booting, removing software, and
re-booting, reinstalling software, and re-booting, removing hardware, and re-booting,
putting the hardware back in, and re-booting, switching hard drives and re-booting,
switching hard drives back and re-booting.
But
….I HAVE MADE MY CPU PERFORM ON THE LEVEL OF ONE PRICED $100 MORE!!!! (Sarcastic
tone intended)
What
happened to the good old days when cases had digital LED's so you could just change the
number and say you were running that fast???
6/2700
Well I violated one of my rules today, which says " If it ain't broken
then don’t fix it". Though I have been running Rock solid at 850 MHz for some
time now, I was curios to see if the new bios Ver 1006.004 would address two issues: 1)
the Celeron voltage problem 2) The need to use PNP(fail safe) device drivers instead of
the normal ACPI Bios Drivers. Since the brilliant team at Asus does not see fit to release
any info whatsoever regarding Bios updates, the only way to find out is to give it a try.
1) Put everything back to 566 MHz
2) Flash the Bios
3) Return to 850Mhz … All is well.
4) Attempt to boot at any voltage over 1.65... still no good.
5) Uninstall the PnP Bios device drivers and re-install the correct ACPI drivers ... Still cannot overclock with the ACPI drivers. I lock up at the 98 desktop every time
6) Recover registry ... all is stable again at 850MHz with the PNP driver.
Conclusion - I just wasted 45 minutes, the new Bios has not addressed any of the issues I am experiencing. If you are stable with the PNP driver don’t waste your time.
Click here for The CUBX BIOS Ver 1007.004 check sum = 0296
Click here for The Win 98 CMD 648 IDE Driver Ver 3.1.5
Click here for The Win 2k CMD 648 IDE Driver Ver 2.0.4
Click here for The Win NT CMD 648 IDE Driver Ver 3.0.8
Click here to for a picture of my system devices
Click here for my system configuration
Click here for Answers to some CUBX questions
Hot! Click here for some answers to important questions of eternal value Hot!
New Click here for a comparison of 4 FC-PGA fans that fit the CUBX New
Other CUBX sites:
Feel free to link to this page, but I would appreciate a note letting me know where the traffic is coming from.
Thanks,
Dave
