OT? XP hardware...

[RJK]

....it's going to have a Windows platform stuffed into it soon ! i.e. that's
the tenuously flimsy excuse for asking a hardware based question in here
.... the reason being that all the best brains are in here, (...here's hoping
that flattery will get me everywhere) !

I haven't had much to do with building lately, and even though I regularly
have a good read about all the new hardware features, it's all a bit
different when there's a bunch of it on a workbench ...correction - after
it's come off the bench and is switched on !

I just slapped a socket 754 AMD Sempron 2500+ (cheapest cpu I could find),
onto a Foxconn 760GXK8MC, (cheapest motherboard I could find), and find I'm
suffering from a lack of knowledge. I've rummaged on the AMD site and gave
up - I think - but, am not sure, that this CPU has a 333mhz fsb. It was
advertised on my favourite site:- http://www.aria.co.uk as having 256mb of
level 2 cache, but since rummaging around the net, and AMD, trying to get
the spec's. (one would think that AMD would print them on the damned box ),
I'm left wondering if it's got only 128mb L2 cache, (64+64+128) ...I
wouldn't have bought it, if it is, I'd have scraped up a little more money
and bought a 64+64+256. ...there's seems to be two types of 2500+ one with
128mb L2 cache, and one with 256mb L2 cache, (ALLOWING for vendors that try
to make a cpu's L2 cache look bigger than it really is by adding L1 cache to
it !)

Delving into the bios there's a hyperthreading setting - set at 800mhz -
what's that all about ?
I can't find a setting for FSB frequency, e.g. to set it to 166mhz, or is
all that being set by the hardware somehow ?
The only (Phoenix) bios setting I can find to do with this is in:-

"Bios Features"

"Superspeed" label (What a STUPID meaningless label !!!!)
"CPU Clock" is set at 200mhz The range is 200 to 350 ...could this be
the fsb setting I wonder, are these figures the DDR rates, they're obviusly
not the mobo oscillator rates - so should I be setting this to 166 ...I
mean 333 ? It was set to 200 and seems to be working okay ...haven't put
Windows in yet. Oh ! I think I set SPD (Serial Presence Detect?) somewhere
else in this ridiculous bios... ! There's no multiplier setting anywhere -
at least I can't find one.

any pointers gratefully accepted !

regards, Richard

 

[Chas.]

...it's going to have a Windows platform stuffed into it soon ! i.e. that's
the tenuously flimsy excuse for asking a hardware based question in here
... the reason being that all the best brains are in here, (...here's hoping
that flattery will get me everywhere) !

I haven't had much to do with building lately, and even though I regularly
have a good read about all the new hardware features, it's all a bit
different when there's a bunch of it on a workbench ...correction - after
it's come off the bench and is switched on !

I just slapped a socket 754 AMD Sempron 2500+ (cheapest cpu I could find),
onto a Foxconn 760GXK8MC, (cheapest motherboard I could find), and find I'm
suffering from a lack of knowledge. I've rummaged on the AMD site and gave
up - I think - but, am not sure, that this CPU has a 333mhz fsb. It was
advertised on my favourite site:- http://www.aria.co.uk as having 256mb of
level 2 cache, but since rummaging around the net, and AMD, trying to get
the spec's. (one would think that AMD would print them on the damned box ),
I'm left wondering if it's got only 128mb L2 cache, (64+64+128) ...I
wouldn't have bought it, if it is, I'd have scraped up a little more money
and bought a 64+64+256. ...there's seems to be two types of 2500+ one with
128mb L2 cache, and one with 256mb L2 cache, (ALLOWING for vendors that try
to make a cpu's L2 cache look bigger than it really is by adding L1 cache to
it !)

Delving into the bios there's a hyperthreading setting - set at 800mhz -
what's that all about ?
I can't find a setting for FSB frequency, e.g. to set it to 166mhz, or is
all that being set by the hardware somehow ?
The only (Phoenix) bios setting I can find to do with this is in:-

"Bios Features"

"Superspeed" label (What a STUPID meaningless label !!!!)
"CPU Clock" is set at 200mhz The range is 200 to 350 ...could this be
the fsb setting I wonder, are these figures the DDR rates, they're obviusly
not the mobo oscillator rates - so should I be setting this to 166 ...I
mean 333 ? It was set to 200 and seems to be working okay ...haven't put
Windows in yet. Oh ! I think I set SPD (Serial Presence Detect?) somewhere
else in this ridiculous bios... ! There's no multiplier setting anywhere -
at least I can't find one.

any pointers gratefully accepted !

regards, Richard

"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything,
because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you
bought it to do.
The common law of business prohibits paying a little and getting a lot
- it can't be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the
risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."

John Ruskin, 1819-1900 English Author, Influential Critic, Philospher

The problem with many cheap components is the lack of documentation and
tecj support.

Chas.

 

[Galen]

In RJK had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

...it's going to have a Windows platform stuffed into it soon ! i.e.
that's the tenuously flimsy excuse for asking a hardware based
question in here ... the reason being that all the best brains
are in here, (...here's hoping that flattery will get me everywhere)
!
I haven't had much to do with building lately, and even though I
regularly have a good read about all the new hardware features, it's
all a bit different when there's a bunch of it on a workbench
...correction - after it's come off the bench and is switched on !

I just slapped a socket 754 AMD Sempron 2500+ (cheapest cpu I could
find), onto a Foxconn 760GXK8MC, (cheapest motherboard I could find),
and find I'm suffering from a lack of knowledge. I've rummaged on the
AMD site and gave up - I think - but, am not sure, that this CPU has
a 333mhz fsb. It was advertised on my favourite site:-
http://www.aria.co.uk as having 256mb of level 2 cache, but since
rummaging around the net, and AMD, trying to get the spec's. (one
would think that AMD would print them on the damned box ), I'm left
wondering if it's got only 128mb L2 cache, (64+64+128) ...I wouldn't
have bought it, if it is, I'd have scraped up a little more money and
bought a 64+64+256. ...there's seems to be two types of 2500+ one
with 128mb L2 cache, and one with 256mb L2 cache, (ALLOWING for
vendors that try to make a cpu's L2 cache look bigger than it really
is by adding L1 cache to it !)
Delving into the bios there's a hyperthreading setting - set at
800mhz - what's that all about ?
I can't find a setting for FSB frequency, e.g. to set it to 166mhz,
or is all that being set by the hardware somehow ?
The only (Phoenix) bios setting I can find to do with this is in:-

"Bios Features"

"Superspeed" label (What a STUPID meaningless label !!!!)
"CPU Clock" is set at 200mhz The range is 200 to 350 ...could
this be the fsb setting I wonder, are these figures the DDR rates,
they're obviusly not the mobo oscillator rates - so should I be
setting this to 166 ...I mean 333 ? It was set to 200 and seems to
be working okay ...haven't put Windows in yet. Oh ! I think I set
SPD (Serial Presence Detect?) somewhere else in this ridiculous
bios... ! There's no multiplier setting anywhere - at least I can't
find one.
any pointers gratefully accepted !

regards, Richard

Heh... Okay... Set the CPU Clock to the highest setting or 333 it will take
and still boot the diagnostics screen. No multiplier in most MOBOs these
days, look to voltage settings for such. A sempron? 2500+? Hmm... PC2700 and
333 MHz FSB is *about* all you *should* need to get it motivated. Beyond
that there's NOTHING you should have to play with. Reset if need be and
alter those two. You'll need to ensure the RAM suits - that's a big one -
and PC2700 is likely the max you'll get to take. You might be limited to
PC2100, what kind did you get?

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[Brian A.]

From everything I've seen/read on Foxconn mobo's that take a socket 754
Athlon/Sempron is grim to say the least. As the consensus goes, you're
going to need to flash the BIOS or you'll have trouble recognizing memory,
especially if it's 2 sided which won't work at all without the flash. Once
flashed you should be able to max out the 3GB with DDR 400 PC3200 modules.

For specs on the cpu:
http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/desktop/details.aspx?qsearch=true&opn=SDA2500AIO3BX

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Noel Paton]

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/products_motherboard_2.cfm?pName=760GXK8MC-RS<br>Also%20known%20as%20760GXK8MC-S

The board will actually take PC3200, Galen - as well as a CPU up to a 3700
Athlon.
I've had one of FoxConn's boards myself - and they should be fairly easy to
set up, as the board autosenses the CPU and RAM, so there's almost nothing
to do except check that it's got it right
To quote from the AMD blurb on the Sempron 2500+
L1 - 64kbyte 2-way Associative Data Cache
L1 - 64KByte 2-way Associative Instruction Cache
L2 -256Kbyte 16-way Associative ECC-Protected Cache
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/31805.pdf



--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's

 

[Galen]

In Noel Paton had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/products_motherboard_2.cfm?pName=760GXK8MC-RS<br>Also%20known%20as%20760GXK8MC-S

The board will actually take PC3200, Galen - as well as a CPU up to a
3700 Athlon.
I've had one of FoxConn's boards myself - and they should be fairly
easy to set up, as the board autosenses the CPU and RAM, so there's
almost nothing to do except check that it's got it right
To quote from the AMD blurb on the Sempron 2500+
L1 - 64kbyte 2-way Associative Data Cache
L1 - 64KByte 2-way Associative Instruction Cache
L2 -256Kbyte 16-way Associative ECC-Protected Cache
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/31805.pdf




Please read on how to post messages to

Thoughts on the FoxConn MOBO? Off-topic I guess but sort of on-topic. I
don't think I've seen one. You'd think that, by now, I'd have seen one but
no... I've read complaints about them but never even seen one to be able to
form any judgement on their qualities. (It seems we mostly see just the
complaints, few people take the time to post praise.)

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[Stanislaw Flatto]

...it's going to have a Windows platform stuffed into it soon ! i.e. that's
the tenuously flimsy excuse for asking a hardware based question in here
... the reason being that all the best brains are in here, (...here's hoping
that flattery will get me everywhere) !
any pointers gratefully accepted !

regards, Richard

So you are going XP (Xtra Problems) and you worry about hardware?
Are you sure that the "fleshware" is ready;^).

Good luck and have fun.

Stanislaw
Slack user from Ulladulla.

 

[RJK]

Hello all, much thanks for your thoughts, and Galen, I bought ddr pc2700
(166mhz/333performance with its' "double-edged" data carrying clock cycle).
Seeing as I set SPD, CAS latency other memory settings "greyed-out" after
setting SPD, then I suppose the ddr 166mhz setting is automatically set for
me.
I suppose the "CPU clock" setting must be the "core" frequency, and of
course that must be related to the 800mhz hyperthread feature, or "quad
pumped" something or other.
...didn't a cpu manufacturer do that years ago with 486 DX2/66mhz and
486DX2/100mhz chips ? ...wasn't there a DX4/something or other as well ?
....whichever way it goes, they were awfully slow.

....and Chas - your post outlines exactly why I usually buy major brand
boards - Asus used to be my favourite. But many people on the web have
praised the quality and "value" of Foxconn boards - so I thought I'd try
one.

Well it works, and it may not have a dual-channell memory controller !
....many years ago this was marketed on Socket 7 / Super Socket 7
motherboards, with 72 pin SIMM memory modules, as "page interleave / bank
switching" but, is now a wuuuuunderfullll "dual-channel" memory controller
! ...or did that go right back to the 30 pin SIMM type boards ?

Having a further rummage through the wonderful Phoenix bios there is a "Hard
Disc delay" setting, currently set to "6" ...I wonder if that's seconds, and
WHAT the b****y hell is that for ? I hope that's not responsible for the
delay as I worked through the motherboard driver installation cd.
At first glance I suspected it could be the "PC shuts down before hd has
written it's cache to disk" isue that was floating around a while ago.
Didn't MS produce a fix of some sort, to place a delay during Shutdown ?

....didn't have to reflash the bios brian but, then, I put 2 x 256mb pc 2700
on it.
....I should also mention that I slapped a 80gb Seagate hard disk in it, (who
are now owned by Hitachi i think), and my favourite hardware vendor,
(already mentioned in this thread, ...don't want to send too much trade
their way !), that has only a 2mb cache. I usually hold out for a 8mb cache
on hd's. They seemed to have a shortage of hd's with 8mb's cache.

So to complement the strangling effect of a cpu with 256k L2 cache, (instead
of the vastly preferable 512mb's), I've got a hafl strangle hard-disk in it
as well !

....I think I shall have to study the massive fold out glossy instructions
sheet ! ....or *.pdf manual that's usually on the cd !

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

regards, Richard

So you are going XP (Xtra Problems) and you worry about hardware?
Are you sure that the "fleshware" is ready;^).

Good luck and have fun.

Stanislaw
Slack user from Ulladulla.

 

[RJK]

Hello Brian,

I found several articles that praised Foxconn as sort of "good for what they
are" !!
....and it works !

I'd like to know what the "HD Delay" setting (default 6 seconds i think), is
for ?!!

regards, Richard

 

[Hugh Candlin]

Hello Brian,

I found several articles that praised Foxconn as sort of "good for what they
are" !!
...and it works !

I'd like to know what the "HD Delay" setting (default 6 seconds i think), is
for ?!!

regards, Richard

It gives a geriatric old hard drive extra seconds
to wheeze its way up to operational speed.

Otherwise, the system might just freeze.......

 

[RJK]

Huge thanks Hugh, after ans almost fruitless hunt on the web - was literally
in the middle of an email to Foxconn to ask what that setting does.
....also, the label in "Advanced Bios BIOS features" is "Delay for HDD
(Secs)" ...now that I have a better idea of its' function, I'll tweak it !

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

....again thanx to Hugh Chandlin for pointing out somewhere else on this
thread that the
Advanced BIOS Features | "Delay For HDD (Secs)" ...is to allow for older
hd's that wheeze !
....(may take a while to spin-up)

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

....and maybe a last quick word or several !
.....XP Home ed. SP2 in it

This is ridiculous, ...Sempron 2500+ (1.4ghz) / 256kb L2 on cpu cache /
166mhz ddram / 80gb Seagate 2mb cache ATA133 hd 7,200 ...(poss. running at
ATA100), POST screen goes by too fast, even after switching off in BIOS the
mobo feature "cache some boot-up bits and pieces of XP boot-up to CMOS (or
wherever), for faster boot" ....or whatever it was called !

It's beating the s**t out of my four or five year old "pride and joy" Socket
A / XP2600+ (1.91*ghz) / 768mb's ddr333, and making it look like a snail.
This cheapy Foxconn (not even a dual channel memory controller on it)
"Winfast" board / Sempron 2500+ thing boots (cold boot) 35 seconds /
restarts in 40 seconds / shuts down in 9 seconds. ...oh well, perhaps I
ought to sell something or other !

regards, Richard