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P4 2.80GHz Overclocked to 3.917GHz 380
vwbus writes "The guys at Muropaketti have taken a brand new Pentium 4 2.80GHz chip, bought a pint or so of liquid nitrogen and overclocked it to an astounding 3.917GHz. The Finns describe how they put together the system on their web page, and luckily there are a whole set of pictures which demonstrate exactly what they've done, so you don't need to understand Finnish to figure it out. The pictures show wisps of nitrogen evaporating from the jar sitting on top of the CPU, and they publish some SiSoft figures to demonstrate the kind of speeds they attained."
The folks at Muropaketti have had a lot of practice with this cooling method.
Its soo cold in finland (Score:3, Funny)
Climate change (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:4, Funny)
Cuz the bears would eat it
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:2)
(or at least shit on it).
Only if it was in the woods
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:2)
No it isn't.... (Score:2)
If you want really cold you need to find that place in Siberia where they have down to -57C.
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:2, Informative)
Prosessori ei kestänyt todella alhaisia lämpötiloja. Testit alkoivat rullaamaan huomattavasti paremmin, kun kulho ei ollutkaan aivan umpijäässä.
"The processor didn't handle really low temperatures. The tests ran significantly better when the bowl wasn't completely frozen."
So, now you know why we can't keep the processor outside - it would get too cold!
NB. Daily temperature maximums for Helsinki the last few weeks have rarely dipped below 25 C. Not that you would care, though. :)
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:2)
Hehe.. Actually I live in Denmark so I know how good the weather has been here lately, but that would make a very good fp
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:2)
F works kinda nice because it gauges the standard human range of temperatures. 100 is much too hot, 0 is much too cold. 50 is a nice day out. 30 is damn cold. 70 is a tad warm.
(actually here's where it shows its european roots: the scale is a bit chillier than americans like. so really 40 is much to cold, 60 is a nice day, and 80 warm. just bump it up 10 degrees to measure american whims.)
but yeah. F is people terms, 0-100.
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:5, Funny)
In university, we got an old huge VAX which we had to run with open windows, but after a while they told us to stop. Not because of the immense power drain, but because the palm trees were starting to push out the birch, fur and pine trees in the local forests and they were concerned that tigers were next. This was in northern Sweden, BTW. You Americans can probably relate to Minnesota, if it helps.
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Its soo cold in finland (Score:2)
Quite ironic you should say that. While most of central Europe is battling floods [bbc.co.uk], the first drops of rain to southern Finland for at least four weeks came yesterday. It's been around 25 degrees Celcius the whole month, probably a bit more inlands.
Now, Kids... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now, Kids... (Score:2)
Re:Now, Kids... (Score:2)
Money to burn (Score:5, Funny)
person 2: "Get a Radeon 9700 and get on top of the 3Dmark2001 benchmark list at Mad Onion?"
person 1: "Radeon hasn't come in yet..."
person 2: "Compile some software?"
person 1: "Already did that."
person 2: "Create a new anthropomorphic CGI character with a Jamaican accent?"
person 1: "Tried it, but for some reason the CGI software refuses to let me. Something about digital rights management and George Lucas."
person 2: "Rip some DVDs to DIVX?"
person 1: "Already did that. I think it's what pissed off George Lucas."
person 2: "Ah hell, lets just dump some liquid nitrogen on it and overclock it. It'll be like the Fast and The Furious if it blows up."
person 1: "Duuuuude! Great idea!"
Re:Money to burn (Score:2, Funny)
Liquid Nitrogen != Nitrous Oxide :)
Although Id like to see what happens if you atomize and spray liquid nitrogen into your engine :)
Just the CPU, or.. (Score:4, Interesting)
At what point will it be "necessary" to dip the total package of MB, memory, GPU and CPU in the nitrogen?
I mean, you would want to increase FSB and memory timings as well if you want to get half-decent Quake3 fps's scores.
Re:Just the CPU, or.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Here is a picture of LN2-cooled GeForce 4 Ti4600 display adapter:
GeForce 4 GPU running at 409MHz and Memory 777MHz [muropaketti.com]
Re:Just the CPU, or.. (Score:2, Insightful)
A better idea would be to put the "entire thing"in a tub of 3M fluorinert(a completely non-electrically conductive liquid) which comes in different flavors ranging from low heat transfer with low flamability, to very high heat transfer with very high flamability, and run pipes full of liquid nitrogen through the fluorinert in order to cool the system.
Fluorinert link (Score:2)
Rip off Slashdot (Score:2, Informative)
Alchimists we are (Score:2, Funny)
It's too cool!
I'm so cool... (Score:2, Funny)
I just give it The Fonzie and it runs like hellfire.
Re:I'm so cool... (Score:3, Funny)
Jumped the shark indeed.
Correction (Score:4, Informative)
You can't see the evaporating nitrogen. The wisps are droplets of water condensed from water vapor in the air by the low temperature.
Re:Correction (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Correction (Score:2)
Thanks.
Re:Correction (Score:2)
What some guys do for the kick... (Score:3, Funny)
Now, if they were to use the same system to get instant cold beer.. now that's something we can all use, but to work with a freezer on your desk....
Re:What some guys do for the kick... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What some guys do for the kick... (Score:2)
Re:What some guys do for the kick... (Score:2)
Did you see the recent article about how all those overclockable Celerons really ARE the max speed they'll clock to, but were remarked down to fill the market demand for cheaper chips
The Risks of Using Technology Evolve... (Score:5, Funny)
1972: Typist's Elbow
1982: Space Invaders Wrist
1992: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
2002: Your entire hand shatters after being frozen in liquid nitrogen.
Re:The Risks of Using Technology Evolve... (Score:2)
More like a millimeter, unless your body temp is 120 degrees.
Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:5, Interesting)
If you've seen this article before: yes, I know. Some people haven't. This is for them. Thanks.
Re:Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:2)
Re:Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:2)
Re:Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:4, Insightful)
I first read the story years ago on USENET (it might even have been when I was still in school, so late 80's early 90's). I remember that he even mentioned in his posting that "this is not an urban legend, so if it ever turns into one, you'll know it started with fact. Expect to see a journal article soon."
It looked a lot like the story at the darwin awards, but for the lack of mention of urban legends (of course, if I really *did* read it 12 years ago, then I may be having a memory lapse).
That said, the story looks more and more like a joke. I did a quick google USENET search, and didn't find the original article, but found plenty of reprints, mostly in joke groups. There's no mention of time (where and when did this happen?). And you'd certainly think that it would have made it to the journals by now.
So, has anyone found any definitive research on this story? I'd believed it was true, when I first read it, then forgot about it for years. Now, I'm not so sure. And snopes doesn't have anything on it.
Re:Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:2)
The guy's name is Michael Mazur and he was at WPI. Here was the original story from WPI. Also there are other similar incidents on record [jsgs.gr.jp], so the injuries are accurately described.
Re:Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:2)
Re:Liquid Nitrogen for External Use Only (Score:2)
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to type the phrase "begging the question" into Google and read every hit returned.
In other words: HUH?
this pic shows 4339mhz!!!!! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:this pic shows 4339mhz!!!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, the caption says that they checked what's the highest speed they can get to the POST... If it would have actually booted, that would have been interesting =)
It can't be all that good... (Score:2, Funny)
I don't see any "AMD Approved" sticker.
Ali
[Apoligies, but someone was gonna say it sooner or later!]
wow... (Score:3, Funny)
Over 4GHz? (Score:4, Interesting)
Thank god, in linux/arch/i386/time.c an unsigned long is used to measure KHz's.
Re:Over 4GHz? (Score:5, Interesting)
Danger? (Score:4, Interesting)
A relatively small jar of liquid N2 evaporated and warmed up to room temperature in a short time can replace many liters of air by pure N2. Trying to breathe the stuff won't cause a drowning or suffocating feeling or even a smell, as the air we breathe normally contains 70% of it.
The first symptoms of suffocation by lack of O2 in the air (rather than lack of air) are some kind of euphoric feeling and wooziness, so you wouldn't necessarily start thinking of finding a way to reduce the effect.
I bet that euphoric feeling is just what they experienced when they saw it working
You can speed up a mac the exact same way (Score:5, Funny)
See this this link [mac.com] for full instructions and pictures.
slashdot effect (Score:2)
Talk about.... (Score:2)
wasted time, but cool (Score:2, Insightful)
How many roving black-outs do we need to start thinking about energy conversation. It's great for your wallet by the way. Instead of eating up say 100 kilowatt hours a month, the system only used 5 kilowatt hours you'd save money. Businesses would save even more money when you take into consideration everything else it affects. Sure IBM is working on it, but it about time every CPU manufacturer start getting serious about reducing power consumption.
Re:wasted time, but cool (Score:2)
The rest of us want fast computers.
Great (Score:5, Funny)
Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:4, Interesting)
But really, what a waste of electricity, heat, and what a noise pollution. I'm waiting for desktop CPUs with SpeedStep which clock down to 100 MHz when you're doing vi editing and go up to 2.8 GHz, turning on all fans, when you compile software or transcode video streams.
I hope there will be enough consumer demand for such CPUs, pushing AMD/Intel towards saner technology.
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been thinking about that a lot lately, myself. I'm trying to rebuild my network at home (now that I have a cable modem, but don't start me on that!
Can't be done. Everywhere I look, I see 1GHz+ systems. I could find 500 MHz K6 CPUs, but that was about the lowest. And anything on eBay is both too fast and too big. I want something simple and small, that I can maybe put a four-port ethernet card into. Something like a 1U PIX, but running BSD.
This becomes more of an issue as I think about set-top boxes -- I want to be able to do video/audio/games/web to the TV, but I don't want to have whirring hard drives or whiny fans in my bedroom. Once again, I need a decent speed, but not super kick-ass (especially if I can do MPEG decoding in hardware), but, again, I'm out of luck. Stuff that slow (and cool) just isn't easy to find.
'course, I'm not looking *too* hard, either. And, no, I don't want to go the PC104 or SBC route -- if it comes to that, I'd just buy an Athlon 2600 and retire my Duron to firewall duty, for the same cost.
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Works really well with OpenBSD, if you want to try use Linux (or at least one of the piggy distros) you probably want something a little newer. Try your_city.forsale on usenet.
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Well, no one forces you to run it at this speed.
I have a K6 400MHz running at 166MHz without a fan.
Front side bus reduced from 100MHz to 66MHz
and a multiplier of 2.5.
The CPU doesn't get very hot, since it is idleing most of it's time.
IIRC, there is even a patch for the Linux kernel out there, which let's the CPU idle when it gets too hot.
But maybe you'd prefer the VIA C3 [viatech.co.jp] processor.
Passive cooled, up to 866MHz, combined with VIA Apollo CLE266 [via.com.tw] chipset with integrated graphics, hardware support for MPEG2 decoding, integrated networking and audio, it might do the trick for your set-top box.
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
http://www.soekris.com/
It works great as my router. I know you said you didn't want an SBC, but I think that you probably just don't know that you really do want one
~GoKR
Use an ARM chip instead? (Score:2)
Phillip.
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Boxer PC [saintsong.com.tw] dual Ethernet, 11cm x 16.5cm x 22cm.
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
Re:Underclocking, anyone? SpeedStep? (Score:2)
I have to admit, I never considered underclocking a 1GHz chip to, say, 200 MHz. That might be worth a try.
Also, ARM chips have been something I've been wondering about, especially for multimedia set-top use (they seem to work okay for Rios and (I think) TiVo). The Via board's kinda cool, as is that little 3-port SBC (I forget what it was called), though I'd have to use a PCI card on it for wireless (I want to keep that on its own DMZ, not actually "in" the net).
Thanks, all -- you took a one-off, "hey, anyone got any ideas" post that was actually vaguely offtopic, and saved me the trouble of putting together an AskSlashdot item.
david.
A pint or so... (Score:4, Funny)
You work for Nasa?
overclocking story every month (Score:2)
Server NOT slashdotted (Score:4, Funny)
DANGER!!! That is NOT nitrogen vapor, it's water! (Score:3, Informative)
Unless you live in the sahara desert or another place that has incredibly low humidity. This is incredibly dangerous to the motherboard. Those whisps that you see coming from the Liquid Nitrogen is not Nitrogen vapor. It is water!! Nitrogen vapor is not visible. The fact of the matter is, that the air around us has a lot of water in it, and when you start to cool it suddenly to -160 and below, you create a lot of water vapor. Now doing this with a computer will likely leave a nice little pool of water on the motherboard when you are finished. So unless you are willing to take that risk. I do not recommend doing this.
There is even a pic there where it should the frozen water buildup on the outside of the containing device they built. Can you imagine what the motherboard would've looked like after a while of this?
Having working with Liquid Nitrogen, and knowing how dangerous it can be even without electronics. I don't recommend this as a friendly try with buddies experiment.
Re:DANGER!!! That is NOT nitrogen vapor, it's wate (Score:2)
As for the condensation issue I wonder if it would be worthwhile to make a dewer vessel chassis for the motherboard with the ports/power supply connector the only (sealed) connections to the outside. Put the board in, connect the ports, bolt it shut (with a low temp gasket seal), then fill it with LN. Problem here would be having to constantly vent the gas boiled off by the heat of the board and having to always add more. Sudden thermal contraction might also crack circuit board traces or even ICs.
Re:DANGER!!! That is NOT nitrogen vapor, it's wate (Score:2)
Oh, let's not get wimpy! You can pour (a bit) of LN2 into your palm, quickly turn it over, and not get frostbite. Tiny drops are no big deal, just shake them off quick. You are to some extent insulated by the gaseous N2.
Safety goggles OTOH are probably a really good idea. Aprons are good too (I once had a bit of LN2 go down my pants into my crotch - it gets ya jumping!)
Re:DANGER!!! That is NOT nitrogen vapor, it's wate (Score:2)
Actually, I've used water in the past to clean low-voltage electronics, such as keyboards. As long as you ensure there is no liquid remaining when you put it back together, and ensure that actual components aren't saturated, the keyboard will run like new for another few years(before someone spills beer on it again.
Isn't that near the temp for superconductors? (Score:2)
Re:Isn't that near the temp for superconductors? (Score:2)
Translation of Muropaketti article (Score:4, Informative)
There are probably more than enough articles about the Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, so standing out from the crowd with some LN2 overclocking tests is a good thing.
For the tests, we ordered 10 litres of liquid nitrogen from Porin Hitsauslaite Oy and Messer (well known for [his|its] good service) supplied a 20 litre tank at the same price.
As a test bed, an Asus P4T533-C with an i850E chipset (which had been found to be satisfactory) was used. Samsung PC800 RDRAM modules were used for memory. The motherboard had TurboPLL, Vcore and Vmem modifications, which are better documented here [muropaketti.com].
This was the first LN2 test with this processor, so we started off by trying to get a feel for how the CPU behaves at low temperatures and what sort of results to expect in the future. For this reason a PNY GeForce 4 MX 440 display adapter was used, which has been found to tolerate very high bus speeds. Later, we'll do some ATI Radeon 9700 Pro tests and try for a new 3DMark2001 record.
Below a series of pictures describing the events and some general pictures of the [assembly|system].
[lots of pictures]
The tests didn't start easy, even though the system did agree to start Windows XP at 3913MHz. The Pifast test didn't complete at all. After testing for a hour we started to get a grip on the situation. The CPU didn't tolerate really low temperatures. The tests started running noticeably better, when the bowl wasn't frozen solid.
[more pictures]
At the end of the first day of testing, I managed to run the Pifast test at 3917 MHz and reach a new record of 24.17 seconds.
Finally, I managed to complete the Superpi test at 3998 MHz at 39 seconds, which is the current record on the Superpi ranking list [big.or.jp] maintained by [the|some] Japanese.
I also ran the SiSoft Sandra CPU and Memory benchmark tests at 3920MHz (21 x 186MHz). The results speak for themselves.
Sandra's CPU tests says the bus speed is 145 MHz, because a TurboPLL coupling was used on the motherboard. A 18.43 MHz crystal was used, from which the correct bus speed can be derived:
(18,43MHz / 14,3MHz) * 145MHz = 186,55MHz
Finally, we checked how high we could go and still get the CPU to wake up.
[POST picture]
The system managed to POST at 4339 MHz with a bus speed of 206 MHz. Let's hope we break the magical 4 GHz boundary in our next test. In other words, there's more to come...
Re:just picked up a pint of liquid nitrogen (Score:4, Funny)
Re:just picked up a pint of liquid nitrogen (Score:4, Informative)
By the way, no one has made mention of the price of such a setup. OK they had 15 minutes of excitment for the price of a _really_ expensive CPU, custom motherboard, not to mention the nitrogen-cooling gear, the voltmeters and other lab equipment they use.
For the moment I'll stick to that 1.5Ghz processor which barely produces any heat & is so damn quiet:)
You can dip your fingers in LN2 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:You can dip your fingers in LN2 (Score:2)
Yeah, I used to dip my hands in hydrochloric acid. It's perfectly safe, and it amused the people who came by my lab.
Once Upon A Chemistry Class... (Score:4, Funny)
Appearently he used to fill on of the fingers in a latex glove with hamburger, then put his hands in the glove. Careful to conceal his deception, he would stick stick his false finger into a some liquid nitrogen, while telling the class about how if one just left a finger in there it would shatter if struck. He then proceeded to demonstrate this by smashing the false and frozen finger with a hammer.
The way he tells the story, he was forced to discontinue this irregular practice when a bit of frozen hamburger hit a girl in the front row, causing her to faint.
And a styrofoam cup with a piece of what appears to be copper pipe, held together with duct tape and dreams, while it might be cool, doesn't rise to what I would consider "gear".
Re:Once Upon A Chemistry Class... (Score:2)
This must have been funny as hell :) I can just about imagine the look on people's faces then!
Re:just picked up a pint of liquid nitrogen (Score:2)
I never did it, but I saw others put their fingers in the container, and splash liquid nitrogen around on the desk, etc. As long as you're quick, it's perfectly safe.
Also, as for the cost, back then I remember being told that liquid nitrogen, bought in sufficient quantity, is about the same price as milk, so I imagine that theirs didn't cost them that much; probably no more than most people would spend getting drunk. They wouldn't have cooled the nitrogen themselves, just bought a container of it precooled.
Cheers,
Tim
Re:What's next ??? (Score:4, Interesting)
Fingers (Score:2)
As it flash evaporates from the heat of your hand, it forms a protective layer that slows the heat loss quite a bit.
I did it back when I was in high school, and visiting a collage physics lab. It feels strange, like a cold wind blasting your hand.
Re:Fingers (Score:3, Informative)
YOU SHOULD NOT TREAT LIQUID NITROGEN AS A TOY. YOU CAN CAUSE SERIOUS HARM TO YOUR BODY.
I'm speaking from the hindsight of a lawsuit from Johny can't count to 21 with out taking off his pants. (Check out my web site listed in the URL.)
Re:Fingers (Score:2)
Re:Faster than 3.917 (Score:2)
If you read the english summary, it says that they managed to run the CPU at 3998 MHz, but had to knock it down a notch to keep it stable.
Re:Faster than 3.917 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Hmmm, 145MHz FSB, 21x Multilier = 4Ghz - eh? (Score:5, Informative)
We have modified TurboPLL-module on Asus P4T533-C motherboard which allows us to use higher front side bus.
Thanks to this module, when we set 145MHz from BIOS, the FSB is actually 186MHz.
You can check out the pictures of modified motherboard here [muropaketti.com].
Re:Thermal Stresses (Score:5, Informative)
CPU still works fine and actually we are already planning for the next test with liquid nitrogen
Earlier we tested Pentium 4 2,4GHz CPU with liquid nitrogen over 20 times and it's still kicking
We dry the components very carefully after the test with compressor.
Re:Thermal Stresses (Score:2)
*ahem* branch prediction?
Re:Apple, catch up. (Score:2)
And the most interesting part is that Mac users (like myself, love my Titanium Powerbook) are very happy we have sufficiently powerful non-wintel CPU's which consumes only a small amount of energy. Imagine putting one of those P4 2.8 in a laptop...
Re:Apple, catch up. (Score:2)
Re:Anyone know... (Score:2)
Maybe it's protesting because you haven't got a liquid nitrogen-cooled P4 in your machine.
Maran
Re:I Betcha (Score:2)
>>>>>>>>>>
You're obviously not a real man. How long are you? 3"? Seriously, this is
Re:I Betcha (Score:2)
Chemistry Teacher Throught Liquid Nitrogen at us (Score:2, Informative)
Liquid Nitrogen is very cold but it cannot survive in the extreme heat of room temperature. When the Liquid nitrogen was on the surface of our lab tables it acted like water on a top of a 600 degrees frying pan. It danced wildly then evaporated. A cup of nitrogen should be no problem unless one of these guys dipped their hands in it.
Re:Liquid Propane for Overclocking (Score:2)