ABIT BH7 (845PE): Entry Level 800MHz FSB

FSB Overclocking

Normally we use a run-of-the-mill 2.26GHz B0 stepping (SL67Y) Pentium 4 processor for our overclocking tests. However with the ABIT BH7 we thought it necessary to find out if its supposed 800MHz FSB support was just marketing hype or reality. Therefore we used a mobile 1.7GHz Pentium 4 processor for our FSB overclocking tests. This is the same processor used in our 800MHz Sneak Peek article a couple weeks ago, and of course this CPU still has a default multiplier of 12 (instead of 17) when installed in a desktop motherboard like the ABIT BH7. Just to reiterate a point we made about the 1.7M CPU in the 800MHz FSB Sneak Peek article, the lower the multiplier the higher the FSB overclock, and since 12 is by far the lowest Pentium 4 multiplier in existence the 1.7M is the perfect CPU for 800MHz FSB testing (besides having an actual 800MHz FSB CPU of course).

We're happy to report that the ABIT BH7 can indeed reliably operate at 800MHz FSB. In fact, the BH7 was able to reach just over 218MHz FSB (that's about 872MHz FSB for those of you that are mathematically impaired :)). At 218MHz FSB, DRAM was running synchronously for an effective clock rate of 436MHz with timings set to CAS2/3T/6T/3T. This is very impressive to say the least. Of course no one is going to be able to overclock any current desktop Pentium 4 processor to 218MHz FSB; we're merely trying to demonstrate that the ABIT BH7 runs at and even well beyond its 800MHz FSB specifications by using a mobile CPU with a low multiplier.

For now, overclockers should be looking to purchase C1 stepping Pentium 4 processors, as these babies have proven themselves to be overclockable in the 170-180MHz FSB range on a good Pentium 4 motherboard. Just to clarify, the FSB overclocking results you've been reading about in past Pentium 4 motherboard reviews were all conducted using a B0 stepping Pentium 4 processor, which by itself is capable of no more than 160MHz-166MHz FSB, irregardless of the motherboard.