bios info needed!

T

Thomthus

Geek Trainee
Hello,

Well in a n00b really and looking wnat to know what this stuff will do if i change it on my pc.

my Spec
Athlon 2200xp
epox 8k5a+ - been told this is a decent mobo. Is it?
Ati Radeon 9800 pro @430/390
512mb pc2700 unbranded ram
shitty 40 gb hdd 7200rpm
shitty 300 watt psu (gonna get a 450 soon)

Stuff i want help with

Advanced chipset features > Dram clock/drive control
In here there are various things i would like help with.
System Performance - Normal, Fast, Turbo
mines at normal
What thell hell does this do???

Advanced chipset features > Dram clock/drive control
Dram clock - 133, 166
Mines at 133
What does this do? Is it sumthing to do with FSB?

Advanced chipset features > Dram clock/drive control
Dram timing
Whats this do?

Advanced chipset features > Dram clock/drive control
Dram burst length - 4, 8
Mines at 4
Whats this do?

Frequency/ voltage control
Cpu clock speed
mines at 133
This sounds promising but whats it do?

Frequency/ voltage control
spread spectrum
ive no idea at all bout this

Frequency/ voltage control
Cpu ratio - x6 x6.5 etc
Is this the mulitplier???


With all these tings whats the best for me to use? whats for best performance? what sould i do with them? will i break anything? what else can i change for better performance?????

TY tom
 
Epox really sucks, IMO. Both boards I've used from them had memory issues, and one crapped out about two weeks after purchase. I think it was the attempt to OC on their boards that did them in (oh, the irony). I know some people love them, but they've been nothing but trouble for me and I won't buy them again. 2nd, that's a Via KT400 board, and that will really limit how far you OC. Ultimately, how the PCI cards handle is the big issue.

System Performance.--Not sure, but it likely tightens some memory timings. W/o knowing your RAM, I'd leave this as is.

DRAM clock. Since you have PC2700, you can change this to 166MHz since that will match your memory speed (DDR333=2x166).

DRAM timing. Adjusting these values can eke out a little extra performance, but not all RAM is built for this. I would look at the CAS setting and see if you can adjust that to 2 instead of 2.5. If you don't overclock on the FSB, you may be able to use this. Again, the RAM you have can play a factor. Most of the stuff in this sectionwill give you extra performance, but don't expect a huge difference. I'd leave it alone unless you know the capabilities of your RAM.

DRAM burst length. Can't think of this one off the top of my head. I think 4 is what you want, but I'm not sure.

CPU Clock speed. Sounds like this adjusts the FSB. Keep in mind that if you want to OC with your RAM, have that set to 133MHz before you OC here.

Spread Spectrum. I had a definition of this at one time, but I forget this too.

CPU Ratio: This is the multiplier. I'm not sure of your CPU core, but if it's a T-Bred or Barton, I think the board will automatically unlock it, but I'm not 100% sure.

As far as overclocking, this is something that's going to take awhile to figure out. Some CPU's OC better than others...same with RAM---especially when you start fooling around with the timings. It's a game.

Prime 95 is a nice utility to help determine if the CPU is stable. If you run the tourture test for 24 hours or more without any kind of error, the CPU is okay. Memtest is good for checking your RAM, and can be burned to a CD now.
 
oh and 3d mark 2001 says my chip is a T-bred p.s how do i oc the fsb then? lower multi and higher fsb ? or just a higher mulitplier gives better speed correct?
 
It's more of finding the sweet spot. If you can hit 166MHz, you should have a PCI divider that will put the PCI and AGP busses back to 33MHz and 66MHz respectively.

Overclocking the FSB will not only up the CPU speed, but the RAM speed as well. Ideally you want to increase the speed of the CPU, but you can also run it at 2200+ speeds and drop the multiplier while upping the FSB to 166. You'll stay in spec, and have a faster CPU at stock speed.

Basically, play with it. Overclocking is playing around till you find what works. You'll be limited by the RAM and the chipset as far as FSB goes, but you've got a more precise speed than going up in chunks with the multiplier which adds an extra 133MHz, or whatever your FSB is, to the CPU speed. Find out the fastest you can push the chip and then finding the happy medium between the FSB and multiplier is the way to go.
 
right im gonna change my dram to 166 ok?
i will change my cpu clock speed to 166 and my multiplier to 12 this will give me 1992 is this too bigger step? if i put my dram speed to 166 do i need to change my cpu clock speed to this to oc properly?
 
to oc, what I would do is drop the multi very low and up the FSB in small increments(5mhz) and see where it brings you.
When you hit the ceiling, you can up the voltage by one step and repeat the steps, but watch your temps. You wanna' keep it under 45C at idle (at least that's my rule).
I suggest you do some tests between each steps. A little Prime95, a little 3dmark, a little Memtest86, play some games for a while. Once you think it's stable, you can go up.

Now you know the max FSB you can do. With your mac FSB, you can try upping the multiplier in 0.5 increments. Repeat the tests until you find your max Core speed.

After that, you can find the sweet spot between the core speed and the FSB.
For instance, I can either do 220*10.5 or 225*10. This is the ultimate oc my hardware can handle.

I chose 220*10.5 which gives me a lower FSB but a higher core speed. I prefer the 60mhz in core speed than the 5mhz in FSB.

things to always look for:

- Your temps
- Stability of the system

Once you think you have reached the limit, drop it down a little and run Prime95 for 24 hours. If it passes, then you can keep the oc. If you wanna' be sure, you can run a 2 hour loop of 3dmark at the same time.
you should always run your memory in sync with the FSB.
After that you can start playing with the timings or you can loosen the timings in the hope of getting a better FSB, but that doesn't always work, although some memory have a "magical" setting which allows them to oc a lot. this is the luck of the draw.

Don't expect a huge oc though since you have a VIA chipset. The nforce2 is king in that domain.
 
oi pal. i just lowered my multi to 6 (low as u said) and upped my fsb to 135. AND MY PC WUDNT START!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR does this mean my mobo or cpu wont take it??? Anyay i had to clear cmos via the jumper on the mobo which i just learned in time Phew!
 
ohh i just tried increasing fsb a min ago. WORKED got 100 mhz increase from taking it from 133 to 140 but i started to run 3d mark 2001 and it turned off?? is this an error saying ive rercahed my limit? goddammit 7 mhz fsb increase? i shud get more than that shundnt i? ive put it up 2 mhz now and it see,s to be stable
 
My guess is the pci bus can't take it.

As for your first try, I think it was due to the fact that the cpu is locked so you may not be able to change the multiplier.
 
yeh i think it is locked. But only a 2 mhz increase of fsb? surely i can get more, should i increase voltage to summt? maybe i shud wait to getting a new MORE THAN 300watt psu before eh?
 
yeh ive heard increasing voltage will able you to get fsb higher. also im only at 45 C at that and i rekon up to 55 is safe so there is rooom for fsb ocing. WHICH VOLTAGE SHULD I INCREASE AND HOW MUCH? shudnt i be able to get it higher because my ram is 166? HELP!
 
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