OT: AMD cpu - multiplier etc.

[RJK]

Hardware expert please

I have new Asus motherboard and other parts, for a new system box, winging
their way to me, as I bought a Phenom II x4 965 cpu a couple of weeks ago,
(965 is on the cpu support list for mobo).

After casting an eye through mobo manual, it seems that the maximum cpu
multiplier setting is 15x ,
....how does this work with the 965's 3.4ghz spec. ?

.....will "Auto" settings in bios do the job ?

TIA

regards, Richard

 

[philo]

Hardware expert please

I have new Asus motherboard and other parts, for a new system box, winging
their way to me, as I bought a Phenom II x4 965 cpu a couple of weeks ago,
(965 is on the cpu support list for mobo).

After casting an eye through mobo manual, it seems that the maximum cpu
multiplier setting is 15x ,
...how does this work with the 965's 3.4ghz spec. ?

....will "Auto" settings in bios do the job ?

TIA

regards, Richard

Normally "auto" is fine.

I never saw the point in trying to squeeze a tiny bit more bit of
performance out of a machine and experiment with over-clocking

 

[SC Tom]

Hardware expert please

I have new Asus motherboard and other parts, for a new system box, winging their way to me, as I bought a Phenom II
x4 965 cpu a couple of weeks ago, (965 is on the cpu support list for mobo).

After casting an eye through mobo manual, it seems that the maximum cpu multiplier setting is 15x ,
...how does this work with the 965's 3.4ghz spec. ?

....will "Auto" settings in bios do the job ?

TIA

regards, Richard

I agree with Philo that Auto should work just fine. I've run AMD CPU's on Asus MB's for quite some time now and have
used Auto on all of them. The only thing I've "tweaked" recently is my new Phenom II x2 555 that I've unlocked to make
an x4. Other than that, the CPU and memory timings are set to Auto.

 

[RJK]

Hardware expert please

I have new Asus motherboard and other parts, for a new system box,
winging their way to me, as I bought a Phenom II x4 965 cpu a couple of
weeks ago, (965 is on the cpu support list for mobo).

After casting an eye through mobo manual, it seems that the maximum cpu
multiplier setting is 15x ,
...how does this work with the 965's 3.4ghz spec. ?

....will "Auto" settings in bios do the job ?

TIA

regards, Richard

Thanks 'philo' and 'SC Tom' for your replies,

I didn't mean that I want to overclock it, (my fault for not thinking about
my question enough!), I've never overclocked cpu's, ...far too expensive !!
...though current cpu is at 3% overclock in Asus bios ...ooops !

I was simply interested to know how the board would get cpu up to 3400mhz,
or thereabouts when the manual lists a maximum multiplier of 15x. I lost
track of quad-pumped fsb speeds, and cpu internal multiplier speeds etc, a
long time ago !

Board that's on it's way to me will have 2 x 4gb 1333mhz ddr3 modules on it,
....
1333mhz / 4 = 333mhz ? ...memory actually runs at 333mhz on board, or
maybe actually 166mhz ?

If I cpu-z my current old Athlon 64 x2 6000, it's showing AMD's
"Cool'n'Quiet" is throttling it between:-
1031.2mhz and 3094mhz ! x5, x9,
Bus speed 206.3, 386.7
If I wanted to manually set actual fsb:cpu speed, I could set in bios 15x
ddr400(200mhz/ddr400mhz) and cpu would be set to 3000mhz,

....so am guessing that new Phenom II x4 965 3.4ghz cpu, fsb would end up set
to 226.6 * 15 to get cpu frequency of 3399mhz ?

regards, Richard

 

[SC Tom]

Thanks 'philo' and 'SC Tom' for your replies,

I didn't mean that I want to overclock it, (my fault for not thinking about my question enough!), I've never
overclocked cpu's, ...far too expensive !! ...though current cpu is at 3% overclock in Asus bios ...ooops !

I was simply interested to know how the board would get cpu up to 3400mhz, or thereabouts when the manual lists a
maximum multiplier of 15x. I lost track of quad-pumped fsb speeds, and cpu internal multiplier speeds etc, a long
time ago !

Board that's on it's way to me will have 2 x 4gb 1333mhz ddr3 modules on it, ...
1333mhz / 4 = 333mhz ? ...memory actually runs at 333mhz on board, or maybe actually 166mhz ?

If I cpu-z my current old Athlon 64 x2 6000, it's showing AMD's "Cool'n'Quiet" is throttling it between:-
1031.2mhz and 3094mhz ! x5, x9,
Bus speed 206.3, 386.7
If I wanted to manually set actual fsb:cpu speed, I could set in bios 15x ddr400(200mhz/ddr400mhz) and cpu would be
set to 3000mhz,

...so am guessing that new Phenom II x4 965 3.4ghz cpu, fsb would end up set to 226.6 * 15 to get cpu frequency of
3399mhz ?

regards, Richard

Just because the max multiplier is 15 doesn't mean that the board is using 15, it just means the max YOU can set it at
is 15 My Asus M4N68T-M V2 MB also says that max=15, but in CPU-Z, it's at 200.9MHz x16 for a core speed of
3214.8MHz. My DDR3 1333MHz RAM has a DRAM frequency of 669MHz with FSBRAM 3:10. So that's why I say Auto is just fine.
I wasn't trying to imply you were overclocking; it's just that when it comes to manually setting any of this stuff, you
can get yourself into real trouble. Fortunately, the newer Asus boards have CPR (CPU Parameter Recall) that will get you
out of any major settings problems you may bring down upon yourself (not you in particular; "you" as in anybody).
I gave up trying to figure most of this stuff out after my 486 50MHz. It was a true 50MHz, not 25MHz x2 (internal to the
CPU) but the FSB (IIRC) was still 12.5MHz or so. Well, duh, never mind ;-) I give up. . .
If the MB is set to Auto and doesn't crash, that's good enough for me now

 

[RJK]

Just because the max multiplier is 15 doesn't mean that the board is using
15, it just means the max YOU can set it at is 15 My Asus M4N68T-M V2
MB also says that max=15, but in CPU-Z, it's at 200.9MHz x16 for a core
speed of 3214.8MHz. My DDR3 1333MHz RAM has a DRAM frequency of 669MHz
with FSBRAM 3:10. So that's why I say Auto is just fine. I wasn't trying
to imply you were overclocking; it's just that when it comes to manually
setting any of this stuff, you can get yourself into real trouble.
Fortunately, the newer Asus boards have CPR (CPU Parameter Recall) that
will get you out of any major settings problems you may bring down upon
yourself (not you in particular; "you" as in anybody).
I gave up trying to figure most of this stuff out after my 486 50MHz. It
was a true 50MHz, not 25MHz x2 (internal to the CPU) but the FSB (IIRC)
was still 12.5MHz or so. Well, duh, never mind ;-) I give up. . .
If the MB is set to Auto and doesn't crash, that's good enough for me now

Many thanks SC Tom, for brilliant reply ! Itching to get new hardware put
together and see what it's doing on "Auto"
Things were so much simpler, in some ways, with my first 8086 8mhz cpu |
640kb RAM (I bought the 128kb upper memory RAM chip so that I could spend
many happy hours tweaking QEMM386.exe and arranging things in upper memory
etc. .
.....I suppose things have improved, ...looking back.

....I suspect I'll be doing what I've done for decades now:-
Build new system box, play with it now and again, ...tweak it around all
over the place, keep returning to current 2009 faithful, robust, M3N78
hardware and XP Home edition software box, for when I need to do some real
work, (without having to first spend hours problem solving something on the
bloody thing !!)
....occasionally glancing over to new box, ...thinking "you are lovely, and
one day you'll be my main PC!"
etc. etc.

BTW there is a significant improvement in those hundreds and hundreds of
fractions of a second response times, whilst at the PC,
when I have my old Crucial Ballistic PC2-6400 memory timings set to
4-4-4-12-24 2.0V and a 3% cpu overclock, ...when lots of what I've read
seems to pertain to this giving a gaming boost (...don't do gaming). Quite
a few times in the past I've tried setting the thing back to standard "auto"
settings, as I've never liked the idea of "overclocking," but, keep
returning to the aforementioned mild overclock !

regards, Richard

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Many thanks SC Tom, for brilliant reply ! Itching to get new hardware put
together and see what it's doing on "Auto"
Things were so much simpler, in some ways, with my first 8086 8mhz cpu |
640kb RAM (I bought the 128kb upper memory RAM chip so that I could spend
many happy hours tweaking QEMM386.exe and arranging things in upper memory
etc. .
....I suppose things have improved, ...looking back.

We're probably in the same age category then. My first IBM PC was an
8088-8MHz XT clone. I overclocked that to 10MHz. I then upgraded the
guts of that from an 8088 to a 386-25MHz, and then kept changing
components constantly throughout the years, to the point where it's now
a Phenom II X3-2.6GHz. I already purchased the next upgrade for this
system, a Phenom II X6 Black Edition-3.3GHz-base/3.7GHz-turbo.
Everything from hard disks, to cases, to motherboards, processors, RAM,
power supplies have been changed to the point nothing is original. But
it traces its roots back all of the way to the original 8088.

BTW, I was a big-time Qemm386 and Desqview user too. Multitasking on
lowly old MS-DOS, those were the superpower days. For ages, multitasking
on DOS through Desqview was faster than multitasking on Windows.

Yousuf Khan

 

[SC Tom]

We're probably in the same age category then. My first IBM PC was an 8088-8MHz XT clone. I overclocked that to 10MHz.
I then upgraded the guts of that from an 8088 to a 386-25MHz, and then kept changing components constantly throughout
the years, to the point where it's now a Phenom II X3-2.6GHz. I already purchased the next upgrade for this system, a
Phenom II X6 Black Edition-3.3GHz-base/3.7GHz-turbo. Everything from hard disks, to cases, to motherboards,
processors, RAM, power supplies have been changed to the point nothing is original. But it traces its roots back all
of the way to the original 8088.

BTW, I was a big-time Qemm386 and Desqview user too. Multitasking on lowly old MS-DOS, those were the superpower days.
For ages, multitasking on DOS through Desqview was faster than multitasking on Windows.

Yousuf Khan

I first worked with computers in the mid-60's in the Air Force, but really didn't do anything in the computer line after
I got out.

My first PC was a TI-99/4a that I bought in 1981 or so. I was a manager at K-mart, and we got a number of them in for
blow-out ($35) after TI decided not to make them any more. Saved all my programs on a cassette deck. Great little
learning tool!
After that, I got a Franklin Ace 1000 from my brother since he had moved up to an IBM-compatible. It was similar to the
one Richard had (which also happens to be my brother's name ). That one had 64K of RAM and two (2!) 5.25" floppy
drives; one for the OS and the other for data. It was Apple II, IIc, IIe, and somewhat IIs compatible. Had great
graphics, though.
The first IBM-compatible I had was a 80286 12MHz with 128K (IIRC) RAM. I got it on sale at a local computer store for
~$1100 in 1989. It included a 20MB HDD, 3.5" and 5.25" floppies, a color monitor, and the cheapest 9-pin dot matrix I
have ever seen since. Then I put 1MB of RAM in it (~$350), a 60MB HDD, and a math coprocessor. Let the upgrades begin!
Now I'm running a Phenom II x2 555 Black Edition (Callisto) with 4 cores unlocked, an Asus M4N68T-N V2 MB, 4GB GSkill
RAM, and two 500GB HDD (I know, not much, but more than I've ever needed; I still have 50% + free). I have an Nvidia
GT240 512MB DDR5 video card, which is kind of old, but runs well with Bioshock, Far Cry, and MW2. If I ever get a newer
game or program that it won't handle, I guess I'll have to upgrade it, too. I should have a PC garage sale, but I don't
think much of my older stuff would be worth anything to anyone else but me.

 

[YKhan]

I first worked with computers in the mid-60's in the Air Force, but really didn't do anything in the computer line after
I got out.

My first PC was a TI-99/4a that I bought in 1981 or so. I was a manager at K-mart, and we got a number of them in for
blow-out ($35) after TI decided not to make them any more. Saved all my programs on a cassette deck. Great little
learning tool!
After that, I got a Franklin Ace 1000 from my brother since he had moved up to an IBM-compatible. It was similar to the
one Richard had (which also happens to be my brother's name  ). That one had 64K of RAM and two (2!) 5.25" floppy
drives; one for the OS and the other for data. It was Apple II, IIc, IIe,and somewhat IIs compatible. Had great
graphics, though.

Well then I guess you predate me by quite a few years then.

First computers that I used at school were Commodore PETs and
SuperPETs. At home, my first home computer was a Commodore VIC-20,
which was basically an economy version of the Commodore 64. People
with the C64 were the "power user" crowd to me.

I had to get out of the Commodore line, once I entered university and
was told to get an IBM-compatible. Been in PC's since then, like just
about everybody else.

The first IBM-compatible I had was a 80286 12MHz with 128K (IIRC) RAM. I got it on sale at a local computer store for
~$1100 in 1989. It included a 20MB HDD, 3.5" and 5.25" floppies, a color monitor, and the cheapest 9-pin dot matrix I
have ever seen since. Then I put 1MB of RAM in it (~$350), a 60MB HDD, and a math coprocessor. Let the upgrades begin!
Now I'm running a Phenom II x2 555 Black Edition (Callisto) with 4 cores unlocked, an Asus M4N68T-N V2 MB, 4GB GSkill
RAM, and two 500GB HDD (I know, not much, but more than I've ever needed;I still have 50% + free). I have an Nvidia
GT240 512MB DDR5 video card, which is kind of old, but runs well with Bioshock, Far Cry, and MW2. If I ever get a newer
game or program that it won't handle, I guess I'll have to upgrade it, too. I should have a PC garage sale, but I don't
think much of my older stuff would be worth anything to anyone else but me.

I just upgraded my system to the Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition
yesterday, upgraded form the previous PmII X3 710. I'm now trying to
overclock it but it's not getting very far, only a few hundred MHz so
far, I'm hoping to get it upto 4GHz from the stock 3.3GHz.

My video card is also ancient, more ancient than yours, mine is an
Nvidia 8600GT. I might upgrade to an Nvidia GT560-level card in the
near future though. Not that I have anything against AMD cards, but I
like to keep my component purchases spread out.

Yousuf Khan

 

[RJK]

<snip>

Going back to my old 8086 mhz machine, that came supplied woth MSDOS and
DRDOS ! (preceded by (Sinclair ZX81 - the one with posh / not rubber
keyboard keys! ...and cassette deck storage)), it had 2x360k floppy disc
drives ...upgraded them to 2x1.2mb 5 1/4" floppy drives, ....then ...heavens
above ! ...fitted a Seagate 10mb hard disk on an ISA card !
.....then across the next few years the dustman regularly collected, (every
few months), 80286 x 2 / 80386 x 4 / 80486 x 3 motherboards, ...within a
year, the only part left from a Viglen 808286 based desktop in 198? was the
monitor !
....enough history !

....seeing as all new innards arrived but, new midi tower case got stuck in
Exeter, set up new Asus board on the bench, so that I could have a look
around the bios, and the cpu multiplier manual setting goes way higher that
15x

Have had to resist puliing M3N78 out of my main workhorse in Antec Solo case
!

Whilst waiting, played an LP in fully stripped and rebuilt 1983 Sharp
VZ-3500
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/heatsink
regards, Richard

 

[SC Tom]

<snip>

Going back to my old 8086 mhz machine, that came supplied woth MSDOS and
DRDOS ! (preceded by (Sinclair ZX81 - the one with posh / not rubber
keyboard keys! ...and cassette deck storage)), it had 2x360k floppy disc
drives ...upgraded them to 2x1.2mb 5 1/4" floppy drives, ....then ...heavens
above ! ...fitted a Seagate 10mb hard disk on an ISA card !
....then across the next few years the dustman regularly collected, (every
few months), 80286 x 2 / 80386 x 4 / 80486 x 3 motherboards, ...within a
year, the only part left from a Viglen 808286 based desktop in 198? was the
monitor !
...enough history !

...seeing as all new innards arrived but, new midi tower case got stuck in
Exeter, set up new Asus board on the bench, so that I could have a look
around the bios, and the cpu multiplier manual setting goes way higher that
15x

*** I was going to mention that. I went into my BIOS and looked at the multiplier setting and it was something like 32
max? I don't know where the manuals get off on that "15 max" statement. Must be a hold over from previous MB manuals

A friend of mine had the Sinclair with the little plastic chiclet keys. Anyone who could type with any speed on it could
probably text up the ying-yang today

 

[SC Tom]

Well then I guess you predate me by quite a few years then.

First computers that I used at school were Commodore PETs and
SuperPETs. At home, my first home computer was a Commodore VIC-20,
which was basically an economy version of the Commodore 64. People
with the C64 were the "power user" crowd to me.

I had to get out of the Commodore line, once I entered university and
was told to get an IBM-compatible. Been in PC's since then, like just
about everybody else.


I just upgraded my system to the Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition
yesterday, upgraded form the previous PmII X3 710. I'm now trying to
overclock it but it's not getting very far, only a few hundred MHz so
far, I'm hoping to get it upto 4GHz from the stock 3.3GHz.

My video card is also ancient, more ancient than yours, mine is an
Nvidia 8600GT. I might upgrade to an Nvidia GT560-level card in the
near future though. Not that I have anything against AMD cards, but I
like to keep my component purchases spread out.

Yousuf Khan

I like Nvidia cards. They've seemed to be the most consistent and stable of any I've ever used (Diamond Stealths were
probably the worst). But then, I haven't bought an ATI card in forever. My laptop has one (dedicated GPU), and it's ok,
but lacking in some settings. But that may be because it's a mobile GPU. I had a 9600GT before the GT240, and the only
reason I got rid of it was that it was so long, it covered 2 SATA ports on my old MB, and I needed one of them for a new
optical drive. I had an 8800GT before that, and if the fan hadn't quit on it, I would probably still have it installed.
That was a nice card with a small footprint, similar in size to the GT240 I have now. Not having it anymore for
comparison, I'm not sure it wasn't just as fast as my GT240.