ABIT NF7-M questions

[Gish]

Hi guys-

I'm new to building computers and just assembled a machine with:
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton Core)
ABIT NF7-M motherboard
512mb Kingston PC2700 memory
60gb Western Digital HD

Everything is working fine but I want to be sure I'm getting maximum performance out of the equipment. (Although I'm NOT interested in overclocking yet)

Specifically, in the BIOS, should I put the Onboard VGA Chip Frequency setting to its maximum, or does this strain the hardware? Also, I noticed that the CPU External Clock setting in the BIOS is 166mhz... can somebody explain what this setting means?

I appreciate any help you guys can offer.

Andrew

 

[Tom (25)]

(Gish) wrote:

Hi guys-

I'm new to building computers and just assembled a machine with: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton Core) ABIT NF7-M motherboard
512mb Kingston PC2700 memory
60gb Western Digital HD

Everything is working fine but I want to be sure I'm getting maximum performance out of the equipment. (

Andrew,
I hope you got 2 x 256mb memory sticks instead of one 512mb! -=tom=-

 

[Lester Piglet]

Yep, 2 sticks of ram in the appropriate slots to enable dual channel. 166mhz is your front side bus (333ddr).

 

[Gish]

I'm aware of the dual channel, but I got a single 512mb stick for now, because I want my total to be 1gig.

But, about the FSB, even though the processor can go higher (I forget whether it said 333mhz or 400mhz) is 166mhz a pretty standard speed? If so, what is the difference between processor fsb and mainboard fsb?

 

[Jef Norton]

"Gish" wrote:

| I'm aware of the dual channel, but I got a single 512mb stick for now, | because I want my total to be 1gig. | | But, about the FSB, even though the processor can go higher (I forget | whether it said 333mhz or 400mhz) is 166mhz a pretty standard speed? | If so, what is the difference between processor fsb and mainboard fsb?

Hi Gish -

The Front Side Bus of the board is 133/166/200 MHz, Double Data Rate (DDR). This means that a 133 Front Side Bus speed of 133 supports a 266 MHz processor, a 166 FSB supports a 333 MHz processor and a 200 FSB supports a 400 MHz processor.

Jef

 

[- HAL9000]

See below.

Forrest

Motherboard Help By HAL web site:
http://home.attbi.com/~hal-9000/

On 7 Jul 2003 19:08:52 -0700, (Gish) wrote:

I'm aware of the dual channel, but I got a single 512mb stick for now, because I want my total to be 1gig.

But, about the FSB, even though the processor can go higher (I forget whether it said 333mhz or 400mhz) is 166mhz a pretty standard speed?

Yes, this is the speed rating (set by AMD) of your Barton. Higher speeds are universally common though.

If so, what is the difference between processor fsb and mainboard fsb?

They are exactly the same.

There is some confusion though about "data rate" and "clock rate" (clock rate sometimes referred to as FSB "frequency") in a DDR memory setup though. Don't let it confuse you. The DDR "data rate" speed is always twice the speed of the FSB "clock rate" speed. That is, PC2700 memory = 333 FSB data rate = 166 MHz FSB clock rate. Note that I left off the units in "PC2700" and "333 FSB" as it is not correct to express them in units of MHz. It is appropriate to express the units of a "clock" in MHz.

Other values scale proportionately.

You can set the clock frequency of your memory to something lower than your FSB clock rate in the memory setup area of the bios - if your memory is to slow for the cpu fsb.

Hope this helps...

 

[ZR]

I don't have an answer to your question but since I am planning to buy the same board, could you please advise me where did you buy that NF7-M and what was your expertience with them ?

Thnak you

ZR

On 7 Jul 2003 12:34:50 -0700, (Gish) wrote:

Hi guys-

I'm new to building computers and just assembled a machine with:
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton Core)
ABIT NF7-M motherboard
512mb Kingston PC2700 memory
60gb Western Digital HD

Everything is working fine but I want to be sure I'm getting maximum performance out of the equipment. (Although I'm NOT interested in overclocking yet)

...