A7V8X-X settings unclear for AMD XP 2800+

Ps you wont get the promise 2700 mb/s from your 2700 memory chip it
always lower at best from 5 to 10 % lower from the manufacturers spec.

with the a7n8x-x and ddr 333 i would get around 2300mb/s

also as your cpu is lock your multiplier should be set to 12 for 2
ghz. anyway even if you set the multiplier to 15 or more you wont get
any higher frequency and will run at stock speed because the cpu is
locked.

But if you leave the fsb at it's stock speed and raise the fsb to the
stock speed of your memory speed your system could run at:
200x12=2.4ghz. IE: my [email protected] could run at 2.3ghz at 200fsb.

Ps: an xp Oc to 2.4ghz would run faster than a [email protected] 64bit Venice
core in mostly all situation.

But all this depend if your heat sink support that speed with air
cooling.

Then you should experience better memory bandwidth because of your
higher setting speed. Also regular memory chip like value ram or else
are known to act like what's your experiencing. It because of it's
high timing... Lower memory timing could help like those who are sell
ed at 250$ Canadian for a 2x512mb. then you will get the extra 300mb/s
if you have the money to buy that.

but crucial come with its ballistic memory chip, and they come very
cheap. I've read that they have 2,2,2,6 in memory timing and are sell
around 100$ Canadian for a kit of 2x512mb, Maybe you should look for
it if your a gamer.

cya.

 

Hi all -

I am new to this group and I hope to be wellcome.

I have an ASUS-A7V8X-X board, an AMD Athlon-XP 2800+ cpu
and 2x512MB RAM PC3200.

In the Advanced screen of the BIOS I can set the frequency to
2083MHz which gives (greyed out) a factor of 12.5 and 167MHz.
There is (in red) a warning at the right side that the RAMs
should be able to handle at least FSB=333MHz which is okay
with PC3200-RAMs, I think. Higher frequencies are not accepted.

The benchmark with the test program AIDA32 gives about 25%
lower RAM speed than 2700+ computers of their data base.
I know that these benchmarks often don't give good results
but
is my BIOS setting okay?

Could somebody give me hints how to change the settings
to an optimum?

Regards Udo

 

Get a copy of CPUZ and check the settings while you are
running Windows.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-131.zip

Paul

 

Yes, I verified it with other multipliers.

I followed your recommendation and raised the speed of the FSB
in the BIOS to higher values which works fine. Nevertheless, the
full speed of my PC3200 RAM was not working. I got faults when
I raised the FSB to 200MHz which should be possible with PC3200.
But FSB=190 works fine since yesterday.

I cannot compare to such a CPU but the speed enhancement is
remarkable because I started my manipulations with a FSB of 133MHz
which now gives more than 40% better values. FSB=190MHz now gives
a CPU frequency of 2375MHz instead of 1667MHz at the very beginning
when I installed the mainboard.

The heat sink obviously manages it: The temperature of the CPU is 56C
which is reasonable.

For me a question still remains: As I know AMD CPUs don't use the
speed for which their name stands which in my case would be 2800MHz.
Instead my 2375MHz seem to be something like overclocking!?
What is the speed they are designed for?

Thanks for your comments. Regards Udo

 

Thanks for the links. It is a nice program and shows now
that the Athlon-XP-2800+ CPU is running with 2375MHz at
a FSB of 190MHz. 200MHz were not possible because of faults
when windows started.

Regards Udo

 

maybe when idle but under load that may do some trouble and affect the
stability of the system.

Amd atlhon xp are "with the number they are refer to" compare with
intel pentium 4 if i recall well.

You mention that your cpu was a 2800+ so my guess is that your cpu is
a 333 fsb. like amd web site tells me :
http://www2.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/1,,30_182_869_4348^7923,00.html?1091063312

So the multipliyer should be 13.5 x 166 to get 2250 mhz at default.
Whats your doing whens using the full capacity of the 200/400 memory
chip is overclocking to 200x13.5= 2700mhz. Knowing that your cpu
maximum speed is 3000mhz(maximum speed by desing), that is normal that
your cpu can't work at a speed of 2600 and more on air cooling,
because the c.o.p. protection prevent damage on the cpu by analising
the temperture in the bios. And this is why people are getting water
colling system, just to get the most out of the cpu with is a waste of
$$$. Because spending 300$ on a cooling system just to spare few
minutes in video encoding or gaming is irrelavent.


hope it help you out...

 

If the memory clock is set to the same speed as the CPU clock,
then at 190MHz, that is FSB380 and DDR380. That would be the
best settings for RAM. Adjust timing on the RAM to suit the
clock rate - since the RAM is PC3200, the timings at the
PC3200 speed should be applicable at DDR380 without changing
them. If the RAM is 2.5-3-3-8 at PC3200, then keep those
settings for DDR380.

In section 1.3.1 of the manual, FSB333 supports DDR333 operation,
and that is the combination you want. Then, lifting the FSB
to FSB380, automatically takes the RAM to DDR380 as well.
That is called synchronous operation, and is the most
efficient interface combination. Asynchronous operation
invokes addition resynchronization registers, and slows
down transfers.

Note that the manual says "PC3200 maximum to 2 banks".
What that tells you, is as you approach DDR400 using your
two DIMMs (total 4 banks), the RAM will become less stable.
Test your system thoroughly in Windows, using Prime95
"Torture Test" (mersenne.org), to make sure whether you
can safely keep your 190MHz setting, as it may need to
be reduced a bit for stability.

Paul

 

I will test it under load.

I tried the multiplier 13.5 but only 12.5 is accepted. I can see
this with the frequency of the CPU displayed.

Yes, I fully agree. My intention is not to overclock but to use
the optimum. Thus, because 12.5 as multiplier is locked (13.5 is
not accepted) I could go to 12.5x200=2500MHz which does not work.
I will change the FSB to about 170 or 180 which seems reasonable
with my air cooling. Testing under load will follow.

Yes, it did. Thanks and regards Udo

 

The RAM (data from SPD) is 2.5-4-4-8 but CPU-Z shows under
"Memory" that 2.5-5-4-9 is used.

Yes, I saw. It is the data of the VIA KT400. I will go
near this value.

Okay, this is necessary.

Thanks and regards Udo