350 P2 overclock

[JungleMan1]

I've got a Gateway system with a Pentium II, 350mhz, 100 mhz bus. I have heard that it's impossible to overclock OEM systems...is this true?

[Darren Wilson]

We never said impossible, we said highly unlikely.

[MDD1963]

Let's just stick with "virtually impossible", as Gateway, Dell, Compaq, etc., will certainly never include BIOS options for upping the FSB beyond 100 MHz.

[Darren Wilson]

You can do it by multiplier if you know how to 'tape' pin B21 thats if the board has multiplier settings as well

[JungleMan1]

Could it be possible to just throw in another motherboard (maybe an Athlon mobo with a 1ghz athlon) into the same case? Or could there be a conflict with the power supply? That'd be a hell of a lot easier than messing with that P2 and maybe only getting a few megahertz out of it, if even that.

[MDD1963]

Originally posted by Darren Wilson:
You can do it by multiplier if you know how to 'tape' pin B21 thats if the board has multiplier settings as well

The infamous Pin B21 tape trick simply forces the MB to use the 100 MHZ FSB, even if the cpu was originally designed as a 66 MHz cpu. As the P2/350 is already a 100 MHz FSB processor, I doubt it would help much.

[lysergic]

Have seen Gateways with a jumper on a BX motherboard that will allow a small selection of FSB over 100 mhz. Think the highest I saw was 105 mhz. In fact my parents now have one with a Celeron 300A at 463mhz (103mhz fsb).

As far as a different motherboard, if the case will accept a std ATX motherboard and the powersupply is decent, then sure.

[Darren Wilson]

Originally posted by MDD1963:
The infamous Pin B21 tape trick simply forces the MB to use the 100 MHZ FSB, even if the cpu was originally designed as a 66 MHz cpu. As the P2/350 is already a 100 MHz FSB processor, I doubt it would help much.

I stand corrected. You can tape one of the pins though on the Slot 1 cpu's with preset multiplier to enable the unlocking. Will try to dig up the article and see exactly which one/s. It's been a long time since I have done this now.

Thanks for the correction.

Found the article on what to change to unlock the Slot 1 CPU's.

[MDD1963]

Originally posted by Lysergic:

As far as a different motherboard, if the case will accept a std ATX motherboard and the powersupply is decent, then sure.

I'd give about 10-1 odds against an old Gateway case/PS supporting a 1 GHz+ T-Bird!

[lysergic]

Originally posted by MDD1963:
I'd give about 10-1 odds against an old Gateway case/PS supporting a 1 GHz+ T-Bird!

Never said there was a good chance of it working, but at least with a Gateway there is a much better chance then if it is a Comapq. Then the answer would have just been NO.

[JungleMan1]

Could it support an Intel P3 mobo, or maybe even a P4? Most of the question lies in "would it fit".

[Darren Wilson]

If it a standard ATX form factor then it should support a P3 board with no problems. You may have to do a bit of butchery to the motherboard mounts (depending on exact model of Gateway). The P4 though I wouldn't even think about as you may as well buy a complete new case with P4 supported PSU due to the extra 12v connector needed by the P4, instead of messing around with the Gateway.. The motherboard mounting for the P4 boards is of a different standard to normal ATX and at the moment, Asus are the only company who have mounting plate conversions for their board to fit into a standard ATX case.

[JungleMan1]

I'll consider it...I think P3's go up to, what, 1ghz or something?

I already know PCchips is the worst brand of motherboard, what is the absolute best?

[TrackMan]

Asus is the absolute best motherboard manufacturer out there. if you want to upgrade to a pIII definatly get the asus cusl2

[Darren Wilson]

Originally posted by Insane Monkey:
I'll consider it...I think P3's go up to, what, 1ghz or something?

I already know PCchips is the worst brand of motherboard, what is the absolute best?

My personal preference is the Abit's, but the Asus boards as as good, but tend to be a little bit more expensive.