3.2 Volts for P233

I have an Asus VX97 mainboard and I just bought a used P233 CPU. I know it is a P233 because I checked the nomenclature on the CPU(SL27S). I can run the CPU at the prescribed voltage of 2.8 if I clock it at 75 Mhz with a 3.0 multiple however if I try to run it as it is suppose to run, that is at 66 Mhz with a 3.5 multiple and with 2.8 volts it will not boot. If I up the voltage to 3.2 and then try to run it with a setting of 66 Mhz and a 3.5 multiple it will boot and seems to run OK. I have run Sandra tests and it passes all of them.

Can I run the P233 CPU with a setting of 3.2 volts at 66 Mhz and a 3.5 multiple or will this setting damage the CPU and/or MB?

 

Most MBs with AMDs don't support anything higher than 1.8 (cpu volt) and 2.8 (mem volt). It can be overclocked by adding resisters.

The 75 mhz for your FSB and 3.0 multiplier is within specs, and why it will not boot with 66FSB, 3.5 mult and 2.8v is strange as that also appears to be within specs. I am not able to distinquish the variable setting that is common to the 3 scenarios that explains the different circumstances!

If you increase memcore to 3.2 you run a risk of overheating and ultimate damage. You didn't include CPUv? The safe configuration is 2.8v (memcore), 1.8 vcore and 75mhz FSB with a 3.0 multiplier.

 

Old board

Thank you for your response

This is an old board and the lowest it goes for voltage is 2.0 volts. The P233 was an Intel 233 Mhz dual voltage CPU that required a 2.7 to 2.9 core voltage range and a 3.2 secondary voltage, the last of the Pentium processors for they then went to the Pentium II.

I found out the problem. Either the Asus VX97 board is bad or the board was not jumpered correctly when it was manufactured. I think now that the board is bad. I found a way to check the Core Voltage with a VOM. When I set the jumpers to 3.2 volts and 3.5x66(233 Mhz) and measure the core voltage I get 2.86 volts. If I set the jumpers to 2.8 volts and 3x66(200 Mhz) then I get a core voltage of 2.54. A core voltage of 2.54 is enough to start the CPU at 200 Mhz but not enough voltage to start it at 233 Mhz.

 

This has happened to me, too. The reported core voltage of 2.4 would not allow me to boot. But setting it to 3.8 volts seemed to solve the problem.

My thinking was that it really didn't matter if I blew the CPU since that was the only way I could even use the computer, so I never checked the true voltage. It ran perfectly and didn't get hot for 2 years. Was still working when I got a new board, but I came to believe that the BIOS was misreporting the voltage.

The moral is, I guess, that if that is the only way you can boot, then the settings will just have to do. A new CPU is cheap at Ebay

 

I would still like to know

I looked on Goggles Groups and it seemed that some of the people who posted had a somewhat similar problem with the VX97 board.

It is hard for me to accept that the board could have shipped with that problem so I am assuming it was some problem that developed over the years. I do not know if any problem like that could even develop over the years. It is not like wearing shoes in that their may be no way such a problem could just occur though I really don't know. I would still like to know.

Do you know if a problem, that is the core voltage droping because of some error, could occur.