Not up to potential

[Chris Martin]

I recently built a system:

Abit NF7-S V2, 2X512mb twinx duel channel 2700 corsair ram, amd xp 2500+
chip (barton), ati radeon 9700 pro, sb audigy2 zs platinum are the main
components (as well as a standard IDE western digital 40 gig hard drive).

Shouldn't I be able to get the memory to run at 400 duel channel? It only
goes up to 333, and I get problems if I try 400 (system instabilities).
Also, I can't use the bios to set the processor to 3200 (has preset as 2500
or 3200) without causing instabilities. Is know people who have a very
similiar setup or (don't mean this in a bad way) worse, but can still push
their computers.. is there something I need to know? I've tried checking
out the overclocking sites and I just don't quite understand them.

I would love it it someone could tell me I need to do "this this this and
this", but I understand sometimes that just isn't possible, but if someone
could at least tell me that they are sure my system will run with the duel
channel memory at 400 and the processor above 2500, at least I would know i
could keep trying different things.

Thanks in advance,

~Chris Martin

 

[kony]

I recently built a system:

Abit NF7-S V2, 2X512mb twinx duel channel 2700 corsair ram, amd xp 2500+
chip (barton), ati radeon 9700 pro, sb audigy2 zs platinum are the main
components (as well as a standard IDE western digital 40 gig hard drive).

Shouldn't I be able to get the memory to run at 400 duel channel?

No, it's PC2700 memory right? Plus you motherboard may be old
stepping of the nForce northbrige (I don't know, but NF7-S was
not guaranteed to be later stepping NB in earlier board
revisions, IIRC).

It only
goes up to 333, and I get problems if I try 400 (system instabilities).

Do you mean raising FSB speed too, so you're essentially
overclocking CPU, or just putting memory in asynchronous mode?
nForce2 is best left in synchronous mode, same memory and FSB
speeds, which for the Barton 2500 is DDR333.

Also, I can't use the bios to set the processor to 3200 (has preset as 2500
or 3200) without causing instabilities. Is know people who have a very
similiar setup or (don't mean this in a bad way) worse, but can still push
their computers.. is there something I need to know? I've tried checking
out the overclocking sites and I just don't quite understand them.

You might need more background info on overclocking before the
more advanced stuff starts to sink in... or maybe not, only you
can assess you skill level and what you're ready to do.

If you hadn't raised the CPU vcore, that is something to try,
providing you monitor temps and test stability of the
overclock... an instable o'c system isn't good for much.

I would love it it someone could tell me I need to do "this this this and
this", but I understand sometimes that just isn't possible, but if someone
could at least tell me that they are sure my system will run with the duel
channel memory at 400 and the processor above 2500, at least I would know i
could keep trying different things.

Not all Barton 2500 overclock to same level. If your isn't
locked (responds to bios multiplier changes) then you might try
changing the multiplier. Your bios should also have settings for
intermediate FSB speeds between 166 - 200 (DDR333 - DDR400) which
lock the AGP and PCI bus, so it's not essential that you choose
(166 or 200), one or the other but rather you can step up the
speed a little at a time and see if that works.

To get the max speed out of the CPU you might need raise vcore to
at least 1.7V, likely up around 1.8V for weaker specimens of
XP2500. Test stability extensively before relying on system,
including hours of running http://www.memtest86.com before ever
booting to OS the first time, and after every bios chage that
increases FSB or changes memory timings in any way. Make a bacup
of data on hard drive in case an instable system causes
corruption... typically the best way to go is to test overclock
and stability before using system to store important data or
relying on it for use at all, and not running it at max speed it
can do stabily but slowing it down a few percent from the ceiling
to maintain a margin.

 

[DaveW]

Your PC2700 Corsair RAM is only rated to run at up to 333 MHz. You need to
purchase PC3200 RAM if you want to run at 400 MHz.

 

[kony]

Sorry about that, guys, typo there, my memory is actually 3200 twinx
corsair. I've upped the external clock from 166 to 172 (with multiplier at
11), set the CPU FSB / DRAM ration from auto to 6 / 6, and changed the CPU
core voltage from 1.6 to 1.7. Is this good for a test change? Everything
is running stable at the moment, I was going to change the external clock a
bit at a time and then test it for stability. Is this the wrong way to go
about this?

Yes, that'll do fine. On the other hand if your target, final
speed is a lot higher you might choose a larger interval of jump
than 166 to 172, and the voltage probably didn't need raised to
1.7 just for that slight increase... 1.7V is probably enough to
get you past 2.0GHz, but YMMV.

Could someone please explain to me what the CPU FSB / DRAM ration is? It
has me confused on a mathimatic level. 1 / 1 is the same as 2 / 2, or 6 /
6, so it being called a "ratio" doesn't help me out.

It is just what it seems, FSB MHz ratio to Memory MHz ratio. The
nForce chipsets are best left at 1:1, sometimes this is called a
percentage instead, as 100% in some bios versions. E

There is a CPU Interface option... could someon explain this and tell me
what it should be set at and why?

It should be set at the bios default. You don't need to go
though each line item and question them unless the system wasn't
even stable at stock speed, and then most people would RMA parts.
If you set it to an aggressive value then you might get more,
other bios options enabled that could be changed, but the
important thing here is to NOT change a bunch of settings at same
time, isolate your changes to one or two variables and test the
FSB speed increase, it's stability at any given voltage.

The CPU Core Voltage. Since I'm overclocking I'm going to be drawing more
current.. that's the reason I upped it a bit.. honestly I couldn't tell you
why I upped it only 1 and I would not be able to determine at what time, if
any, I should up it again. I'm watching my temperature's and atm they are
fine.

Since you don't have a feel for voltage needs of your CPU yet,
don't "automatically" increase voltage, rather leaving it at 1.7
until instability causes it to be instable, and THEN consider
raising voltage, only if you can keep it cool enough. Generally
speaking, there is diminishing return from a voltage over
1.8-1.85 unless you had water or other advanced cooling measure,
not just a very good air-cooler.

Should my AGP frequency stay at 66MHz? Does changing it speed anything up
or do I need to keep it matched or in ratio with something else?

For the time being, it should most definitely stay at 66, do not
change a lot of settings simultaneously. In theory a higher AGP
speed can help very slightly in gaming, but only if you had the
CPU and especially video card muscle to take advantage of the
change. For most people it is best left at 66, especially until
you are done testing the CPU, FSB, & Mem. clock maximums,
extensively and can be sure they are approaching 100% stable.

Lastly, I understand how the CPU Internal Frequency is reached (clock X
multiplier).. but how come? 1 X 4 = 4, 2 X 2 = 4, and 4 X 1 = 4. Same
answer, different way's of getting to them.. is it better to change one and
leave the other alone for stabilities purposes? does one overheat the
system faster?

Chipsets and memory were limitations, each part has it's own
limitation on how fast it can go. Standardization is beneficial
to get a part to the masses so whatever speed the technlology
could produce in sufficient quantity during a short era was
determination of the speed, in addition to artificial bus speed
reductions not for technological reasons but to intentionally
reduce performance, creating different products for different
markets, prices... for example, Celeron and Duron have lower FSB
in addition to less L2 cache. Either difference would reduce
peroformance but extra measures were taken to reduce their
performance even more relative to their higher-priced alternative
CPUs.

This is not an overclocking newsgroup. You may be better served
by posting these and further questions to such a group.

 

[Chris Martin]

Sorry about that, guys, typo there, my memory is actually 3200 twinx
corsair. I've upped the external clock from 166 to 172 (with multiplier at
11), set the CPU FSB / DRAM ration from auto to 6 / 6, and changed the CPU
core voltage from 1.6 to 1.7. Is this good for a test change? Everything
is running stable at the moment, I was going to change the external clock a
bit at a time and then test it for stability. Is this the wrong way to go
about this?

Could someone please explain to me what the CPU FSB / DRAM ration is? It
has me confused on a mathimatic level. 1 / 1 is the same as 2 / 2, or 6 /
6, so it being called a "ratio" doesn't help me out.

There is a CPU Interface option... could someon explain this and tell me
what it should be set at and why?

The CPU Core Voltage. Since I'm overclocking I'm going to be drawing more
current.. that's the reason I upped it a bit.. honestly I couldn't tell you
why I upped it only 1 and I would not be able to determine at what time, if
any, I should up it again. I'm watching my temperature's and atm they are
fine.

Should my AGP frequency stay at 66MHz? Does changing it speed anything up
or do I need to keep it matched or in ratio with something else?

Lastly, I understand how the CPU Internal Frequency is reached (clock X
multiplier).. but how come? 1 X 4 = 4, 2 X 2 = 4, and 4 X 1 = 4. Same
answer, different way's of getting to them.. is it better to change one and
leave the other alone for stabilities purposes? does one overheat the
system faster?

Again, thanks for all the help.

~Chris