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Hey,
I just thought I would try push my CPU a little further too pull a few seconds off the UT2k4 loading times, and maybe spang a couple of extra fps.... but my memory doesnt run at full speed with my motherboard, so I thoughtI would OC the CPU by putting up the multiplier.
I thought this would put the speed of the processor up, but it just stays the same and seems to make no change at all.... is this right, or am I just being a fool?
Cheers
Rufus
First off you'd better tell us your system specs so we have a clue what we are talking about esp
"but my memory doesnt run at full speed with my motherboard"
Do you mean you have 400mhz ram in a 333mhz board or the other way around?
I'm guessing that you either have an intel system or a recent athlon.... either way the system multiplier will be locked and you will have to oc using the fsb...
Sorry, I was in a rush when I posted the last message so I left out a lot.
MoBo: NF7-S V2
Memory: TwinMOS w/WinBond (400mhz)
CPU: Athlon XP2500+
I was recommended that ram for the motherboard, at least I thought I did, and as soon as I got the RAM up to full speed it dumped out of programs becuase of it, and I know its a RAM problem because I had the RAM timings up when I first OC'd and when I set them back to normal, the fsb would go a lot higher then before and be stable (apologies for bad wording, im kinda ill and not with it 100%). I later found out, that my memory has issues with the MoBo, and until I can afford to replace it I want another way around it.
If the multiplier is locked then is there anyway to up the fsb but keep the RAM timings down? Kind of answering my own question there, but is that possible, to take down the timings to compensate for the higher fsb?
Any advice on this one would be most appreciated.
-Rufus
What do you mean take the timings down to compensate for the higher FSB ? If you are upping the FSB then you up the timings ....
If you are only running the 400mhz mem at 333 then you can probably drop the timings on it for some performance gain.
But if I were you I would check the ram codes on that ram against this Nvidia Nforce2 approved list:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/nForce...patibility.asp
I have 2x512MbPc3200 (400Mhz) TwinMOS w/Winbond and the Ram codes are on the Nvidia nforce2 compatibility list. It works fine in MSI Nforce2 mobo. Maybe faulty Ram ? or, are you 100% sure its the Version 2 abit mobo ? As it wouldnt take 400Mhz FSB if it isnt.
Yeah we need to settle 2 things here - Getting your RAM running at 400 and sorting out your multiplier....
RAM - just to make sure - with timings lower is better and more demanding on the memory, higher is slower and more stable....these are times after all......just so we all know we on the same page. Just set these to 'By Spd' [This stands for serial prescence detect - not many people know that. I even heard one guy who thought it stood for speed!! what a loser]for now so that they are at defaults.....does the Ram run at 400mhz like this??
What speed have you got your FSB on? The 2500 defaults to 333mhz
MultiplierWhat week is your 2500+ ......if you dont know this ( its printed on the chip so if you didnt write it down before you installed it then too late :)) Then just tell us when you bought it. Athlon 2500's made after week 40 are multiplier locked so that you have to increase the fsb to overclock. If you bought this after around end of November then the chances are that it is locked....
Fsb Overclocking The fsb that the processor sits on and memory speed are independant..... You could crank the fsb up to overclock your processor while keeping the memory speed at 333 or 400 or whatever it likes.
There is a speed advantage to having the fsb and mem speed the same however, so what you really should be trying to achieve is setting the fsb:ram at 1:1 and then increasinf the fsb speed from 333 to 400. This will oc the cpu 1.8 -> 2,2 without you needing to use the multipliers. I guess we better try and get that RAM stable!
Get back to us about the above and we can see where we can go from there...
F
As funnelhead says, set it to 'By SPD' (By Serial Presence Detect, not By Speed though) and see if the CPU and memory run at a 200MHz FSB then. If not, you have something wrong as PC3200 is sold to run at at least 200MHz FSB (400MHz DDR) without any problems. Don't expect to get higher than 217MHz FSB though otherwise it would be sold as PC3500.
Saying that though, 2.2GHz (11x200MHz) is a pretty normal, yet good speed for a Barton XP2500+. :)
I set my RAM to By SPD and put my fsb up to 200, and it runs stable in windows, but chuck UT2k4 at it and within a short round against the bots it dumps out.... first time my machine just reset itself, second time I got a diagnostic window from UT2k4 with just a general protection error message.
My original question was, although I think I explained in a bad way (so jsut to clear up). Is there anyway to put the CPU speed up by upping the fsb and keeping the RAM speed down by other means then the fsb, to balance the effect of the fsb being raised.
I dont know if that was explained any better, I must post when I am a little more awake in the future. Thanks.
ok. are you asking if the fsb can be raised without raising the speed of the memory?? if not then im really not getting the question?? You want to lower the memory speed to compensate for speeding up the cpu??? eh??and this is one of my non-drinking nights :(
raise the fsb to 400 and set the divider to 6:5 to give you memory at 333mhz
Running your CPU at 200MHz FSB and your memory at 166MHz FSB will not be very beneficial... I'm surprised it wasn't stable at 200MHz though. What is your cooling like?
Try the whole system at 195MHz or 190MHz to see if they are stable. Won't give you 2.2GHz but it'll still be quite a bit faster!
Its definatley not a cooling problem, the cpu runs at a nice 42 when its been dumping out. I think the highest stable fsb I had before was 192 and even that got a little scratchy, just looks like I am going to have to run a little slower then planned, although im sure a difference of 10 in the fsb wont make too much of a noticable difference.
Do you think it could be a power thing, maybe the memory needs more power to run at 200 fsb?
Have you tried updating the BIOS? I heard that the earlier NF7-S BIOSs can be unstable at higher FSBs.
I wouldn't have thought it was the RAM since it is with Winbond (I heard somewhere that some TwinMOS RAM wasn't stable with nForce2 boards).
What PSU do you have?
PSU is a 450w antec, with the dual fans....
I'll try a BIOS update, any hints on that one before I try my hand?
i have twinmos and it wasnt 100% stable until i upped the voltage through it 1.6 -> 1,7.....
on the cpu or the chipset?
sorry i meant 2.6 -> 2.7 , and i mean on the RAM. Twinmos is rated to 2.6 +/- 0.2 v anyway.....
I played about with all the voltages slowly putting them up and bringing them back down when I lost my nerve, and had to reset my CMOS.... but I did buy that system to experiment on, so a couple of problems doesnt really worry me if I break anything, although it would be kind of lame....
I put the RAM voltage up from 2.6 to 2.7 and no extra stability came from it, should I try 2.8 or you think thats a bad idea? Either that or I should try updatinbg the BIOS, but it seems a little risky, I rather cripple the system manually then on an update ;)
what timings is the ram at... ie 2-2-2-5, i can't remember what the names 4 em are....
timings are set to optimal.... 8 3 3 2.5