Re: Optimal bios settings? cpu external frequency settings? etc

[Mothra]

Hi

I have got an Asus A7N8X deluxe, XP2600+, and Crucial PC2700 ram. I
don't want to overclock the system, just run it at the speed it should
be running at! Am I right in believing these should be my settings?

CPU External Frequency - 166Mhz (default seems to be 100Mhz?)
CPU Frequency Multiple Setting - leaving it alone as it says 'auto'
CPU Frequency Multiple - leaving it alone as it seems to suggest its
for overclocking
System Performance - does this actually change anything or just allow
me to change things?
CPU Interface - Optimal
Memory frequency - was going to increase this to get 166Mhz in
'resulting freq' setting?
Resulting Frequency - was going to try and get this to 166Mhz

Are there any other settings I should change to optimise my system?

Thanks for any help given
Dave

When you boot your operating system, does it show your CPU speed as
2.08GHz? That is the correct clock speed for an XP 2600. You can also
check your CPU in your Device manager (if you're running windows). it
should read "Athalon XP 2600" (or similar). If it just says "Athalon",
then your CPU hasn't been properly detected.

It's really easy to sort out - in your BIOS you need to change your CPU
external frequency to 200MHz and make sure the multiplier is set to 12.5,
as the Asus motherboards do not correctly detect the XP 2600 settings.

Leave your RAM settings as they are - it says 166MHz because it's DDR RAM
- the 333MHz transfer rate applies to when your using two or more RAM
sticks (put them in slots 1 & 3 or 2 &3 - NOT 1 & 2!).

 

[Mothra]

sorry - I actually meant 166MHz with 12.5 multiplier for an XP 2600+!

 

[Stone Free]

When you boot your operating system, does it show your CPU speed as
2.08GHz? That is the correct clock speed for an XP 2600. You can
also check your CPU in your Device manager (if you're running
windows). it should read "Athalon XP 2600" (or similar). If it just
says "Athalon", then your CPU hasn't been properly detected.

It's really easy to sort out - in your BIOS you need to change your
CPU external frequency to 200MHz and make sure the multiplier is set
to 12.5, as the Asus motherboards do not correctly detect the XP 2600
settings.

Leave your RAM settings as they are - it says 166MHz because it's DDR
RAM - the 333MHz transfer rate applies to when your using two or more
RAM sticks (put them in slots 1 & 3 or 2 &3 - NOT 1 & 2!).

I have bought some Crucial PC3200 memory, but I am not sure if it is
working properly, the BIOS says it is running at 200Mhz, dual channel mode.
Does this mean it is working properly ? I know PC3200 memory runs at
400Mhz but I assume you are meant to double the fequency listed if it says
dual channel mode.

SiSoft Sandra does not seem to rate my memory near PC2700 yet alone PC3200

 

[Tim Auton]

Stone Free

I have bought some Crucial PC3200 memory, but I am not sure if it is
working properly, the BIOS says it is running at 200Mhz, dual channel mode.
Does this mean it is working properly ? I know PC3200 memory runs at
400Mhz but I assume you are meant to double the fequency listed if it says
dual channel mode.

Not quite, you are meant to double the frequency listed if it's double
data rate (DDR) memory. Which it is. So it's working right.

You have two double-pumped, 200MHz memory busses. Each runs at an
effective 400Mhz (thanks to the double pumping) and in total you have
an effective 800MHz (thanks to the dual channels).

This explains it a bit more:
http://www.cadimensions.com/requirements3.htm


Tim

 

[Stone Free]

http://www.cadimensions.com/requirements3.htm

Bugger having read that it seems that the fact I went for a Barton 2500+ XP
chip means that buying PC3200 memory is actually harming my memory
performance until I upgrade to a 400Mhz FSB.

 

[Doug Ramage]

"Stone Free"

Bugger having read that it seems that the fact I went for a Barton 2500+ XP
chip means that buying PC3200 memory is actually harming my memory
performance until I upgrade to a 400Mhz FSB.

But the Asus A7N8X dx supports 400Mhz FSB - although you may need a BIOS
upgrade.

A Barton 2500XP should be clocked at 1.83Ghz, so a FSB of 200 + multiplier
of 9 or 10 should be OK - probably higher, if you wish.

My 2100XP clocks at 2.25Ghz (180 x 12.5), and I am using PC3200 RAM.

 

[Tim Auton]

Stone Free

Bugger having read that it seems that the fact I went for a Barton 2500+ XP
chip means that buying PC3200 memory is actually harming my memory
performance until I upgrade to a 400Mhz FSB.

You can always clock it back to 333 in the BIOS. But I'm not convinced
by a system running slower with 333FSB and 400DDR RAM. Not really any
faster I could see, but actually slower I find hard to comprehend. I
think the site is wrong (sorry for the link!).

I benchmarked my Athlon XP1900+ (266 FSB) system with some DDR333 RAM
running at 333 CL2.5, 266 CL2.5 and 266 CL2. 333 CL2.5 won, though not
by a huge ammount.


Tim

 

[G.B. Langer]

Hmmm, I checked in my WinXP device manager and my P4c 2.4GB is listed twice.
Is it supposed to be that way? Thanks.
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[Eric Witte]

Leave your RAM settings as they are - it says 166MHz because it's DDR RAM

- the 333MHz transfer rate applies to when your using two or more RAM
sticks (put them in slots 1 & 3 or 2 &3 - NOT 1 & 2!).

The 333 Rating has nothing to do with running them in dual channel
mode. The actual figure is 166Mhz. They classify it as 333 because it
works during the rise and fall of the signal. In other words each
stick can do 2 jobs during each clock cycle instead of one.

Eric

 

[Len]

With Hyperthreading enabled, yes...

Hmmm, I checked in my WinXP device manager and my P4c 2.4GB is listed twice.
Is it supposed to be that way? Thanks.
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