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Curious OC results P4 2.6g DDR400; suggestions welcomed!



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 4th 04, 08:03 AM
Skid
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Default Curious OC results P4 2.6g DDR400; suggestions welcomed!


"Ken Fox" wrote in message
...
Cutting to the chase, I seem to be getting results beyond what I would
expect given the memory modules I'm using, but only to a point. I guess

my
major difficulty is understanding the BIOS settings on my mobo, and

getting
the CPU and the RAM to communicate at a reasonable rate.

The setup is an Asus P4P800 Deluxe mainboard with bios revision 080009.
Previously I was running a P4 2.2ghz 400FSB CPU with DDR266 Crucial RAM.
That hardware ran fine at a FSB of 460, a 15% OC.

Now, I've got two sticks of 512MB Corsair "Value Select" DDR400 RAM =1GB
running in dual channel mode. The processor is a new 2.6GHz P4c stock
cooling with 800FSB, installed this morning (had to wait until I was

fully
sober!) The RAM, which I mentioned in an earlier thread, was purchased at
Frys in San Diego on a rebate deal with the two sticks including sales tax
costing ~$130. Given prior posts on this board I had limited expectations
for the OC'ability of this RAM.

The RAM and CPU swap occured without incident and the system booted up

fine
on default bios settings. I then began to cautiously OC the system. I

must
say that the bios settings are confusing, and there does not appear to be

a
straightforward way with this bios to manually adjust the CPU:RAM FSB
ratio. The settings for the DRAM frequency are limited to 266, 333, 400,
and "auto." From what I can tell, changing this setting can diminish but
not improve performance, and does not effect the afforementioned CPU:RAM
ratio.

Each time I pushed up the CPU FSB setting the DRAM frequency rose the same
amount, confirmed (if I can believe what I'm seeing) with CPU-Z, Sandra,

and
whatever else I tried, up to a 10% OC. I nudged the voltage up a tad as I
went up, but
never set the vCore at above 1.575, although Asus Probe shows that it is
actually about 1.65 right now. When I got up to a FSB frequency of 230

(OC
of 15%), the CPU:RAM ratio dropped to 3:2, and I cannot get it to be

better
than that with everything I've tried so far.

Prior to going above 880 (220)FSB the ratio of CPU to RAM frequency

remained
at 1:1, but will not change from 3:2 when above 10% with anything I've

tried
to do with the timings.

Standard spd timings were 2.5, 4, 4, and 8. The system would not boot

with
a CAS setting of 3.0, but will boot with 2.5 and 2.0. The DRAM precharge
delay (last number in timings) can be reduced to 7 but it doesn't seem to

do
anything.

I have done some Memtest86 runs, got 7 passes without errors at a 10% OC
(FSB 220/880, CPU:RAM ratio of 1:1). I have not done any Memtests at

higher
frequencies because my suspicion is that the benchmarks will be worse with

a
CPU:RAM ratio of 3:2 even if the CPU is racing along at 3+GHz. if the RAM

is
slow is as molassas. Heat has not been a problem so far at any setting

I've
tried up to a CPU OC of 20% (3.120GHz).

I have not tried monkeying with DRAM voltage and maybe this would change
things but I'm reluctant to do that if it won't change the CPU:RAM
frequency. I thought the bios would have a straightforward way to adjust
the CPU:RAM ratio, but if it does I cannot find it!!

Any suggestions on how to get more performance out of this arrangement

would
be hugely appreciated!


Sounds like you're doing pretty well already. 220 mhz 1:1 with PC3200 is
quite an accomplishment.

I can't help you with specifics on your bios, but you should hit
www.rojakpot.com for general bios info, and a kind soul in another thread
offered this link specific to your mobo to show how to OC with manual
settings:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=255265


  #2  
Old January 4th 04, 03:30 PM
Ken Fox
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Default

"Skid" wrote in message
news:EUOJb.735767$Tr4.1972834@attbi_s03...


Sounds like you're doing pretty well already. 220 mhz 1:1 with PC3200 is
quite an accomplishment.

I can't help you with specifics on your bios, but you should hit
www.rojakpot.com for general bios info, and a kind soul in another thread
offered this link specific to your mobo to show how to OC with manual
settings:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=255265



Hi Skid,

Thanks for the link-----

The system appears very stable with a 220MHz FSB and 1:1 CPU-RAM ratio.
Temps are no higher than with the 15% OC on my old P4 2.2/DDR266 setup,
which is to say about 28C or even less, at idle, on the CPU. I'll run
another bunch of Memtest86 runs maybe, but with no errors after 7 passes
probably everything is stable. W2K runs fine without any issues I can find.

Maybe I should just settle for a 2.86 GHz. P4 with essentially PC3500 DDR
memory running in dual channel mode? After all, I did this upgrade from the
prior system for $130 (RAM) + $174 (P4 from Newegg) = $304 installed, not
bad for the outlay.

Thanks for all your help in this and other matters!

ken


  #3  
Old January 4th 04, 04:48 PM
Ken Fox
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Default

Addendum:

I've tried a few other things per some online reviews of my board, including
setting the bios for "Performance Mode=Turbo." Everything I've done extra
degrades performance because it results in a lousy CPU:RAM FSB ratio
(including the "Turbo" mode). Benchmarking shows the degredation clearly.

My best results appear to be with FSB=220 for both CPU and RAM, with which
the board, CPU, and RAM appear stable. I got 7 error free passes with
Memtest86 yesterday at this setting, but I'm going to run it a few more
hours now to confirm error free performance.

These results are not what I anticipated given the components I bought --
but in the end I think the performance is as good as I could have hoped for.

Ken


  #4  
Old January 4th 04, 05:50 PM
Thomas
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Default

Ken Fox wrote:
I've tried a few other things per some online reviews of my board,
including setting the bios for "Performance Mode=Turbo." Everything
I've done extra degrades performance because it results in a lousy
CPU:RAM FSB ratio (including the "Turbo" mode). Benchmarking shows
the degredation clearly.

My best results appear to be with FSB=220 for both CPU and RAM, with
which the board, CPU, and RAM appear stable. I got 7 error free
passes with Memtest86 yesterday at this setting, but I'm going to run
it a few more hours now to confirm error free performance.


Hi Ken,

Can't you use manual settings? With my PC3000 mem, and P4C 2.6, my 'sweet
spot' has turned out to be a FSB of 250, and a 5:4 mem divider, giving me
400 MHz on the old PC3000 mem, very stable too :-)

Thomas.


  #5  
Old January 4th 04, 09:11 PM
Ken Fox
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Default

"Thomas" wrote in message
news:xwXJb.25374$_x2.135528@zonnet-reader-1...
Ken Fox wrote:
I've tried a few other things per some online reviews of my board,
including setting the bios for "Performance Mode=Turbo." Everything
I've done extra degrades performance because it results in a lousy
CPU:RAM FSB ratio (including the "Turbo" mode). Benchmarking shows
the degredation clearly.

My best results appear to be with FSB=220 for both CPU and RAM, with
which the board, CPU, and RAM appear stable. I got 7 error free
passes with Memtest86 yesterday at this setting, but I'm going to run
it a few more hours now to confirm error free performance.


Hi Ken,

Can't you use manual settings? With my PC3000 mem, and P4C 2.6, my 'sweet
spot' has turned out to be a FSB of 250, and a 5:4 mem divider, giving me
400 MHz on the old PC3000 mem, very stable too :-)

Thomas.



Hi Thomas,

With the manual settings the one thing I can't change (at least from what I
have seen with this bios) is the CPU:RAM ratio. If you can tell me where
that is in this bios, as a changeable option, please do. I can't find it.
I have not tried to push the FSB up beyond 240; up to that point the CPU:RAM
ratio still showed 3:2, which gave pretty lousy benchmarks.

Right now, I've got a P4 2.6 running at 2.86 (not as good as I expected)
however the RAM, which is rated only at DDR400/PC3200, is running 1:1 with
the CPU at a FSB of 440 (220). In essence, the memory is running as if it
were PC3500 at rated speed.

If somehow I was able to get the FSB up to 450, that would give me a CPU
running at 3.25GHz. Even if I got the RAM to run at 5:4 at 450, that is an
effective memory speed of 360, minus whatever performance hit occurs from
having to arbitrate this 5:4 ratio. Right now, my RAM is running at 440,
22% (at least) faster than I'd get with the 5:4 CPU to RAM ratio. So,
assuming I could accomplish what you propose, my CPU would be running 13%
faster and my RAM 22% (or more) slower.

My best guess, not having gotten that setup (450FSB) to work nor having
benchmarked it, is that what I have now is at least as fast. FWIW, Sandra
shows a Maximum Bus Bandwidth of 7040MB/s, combined index of 10911, and a
Memory Bandwidth Benchmark Combined Index of 8067. I don't know how useful
these numbers are in comparing one system to another, but having run the
same board with an overclocked P4 2.2 plus PC2100 RAM, my current results,
as far as the memory bandwidth are concerned, are more than 50% improved.

I've now done 23 more passes of Memtest86 with zero errors, and board+cpu
temps are very very low. The system appears to be rock hard stable. Most
probably the better part of valour would be to leave well enough alone!

Best,

ken


  #6  
Old January 4th 04, 10:35 PM
Thomas
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Posts: n/a
Default

Ken Fox wrote:
With the manual settings the one thing I can't change (at least from
what I have seen with this bios) is the CPU:RAM ratio. If you can
tell me where that is in this bios, as a changeable option, please
do. I can't find it. I have not tried to push the FSB up beyond 240;
up to that point the CPU:RAM ratio still showed 3:2, which gave
pretty lousy benchmarks.


Hmm i'm using a DFI Lanparty 875Pro....

snip

If somehow I was able to get the FSB up to 450, that would give me a
CPU running at 3.25GHz. Even if I got the RAM to run at 5:4 at 450,
that is an effective memory speed of 360, minus whatever performance
hit occurs from having to arbitrate this 5:4 ratio. Right now, my
RAM is running at 440, 22% (at least) faster than I'd get with the
5:4 CPU to RAM ratio. So, assuming I could accomplish what you
propose, my CPU would be running 13% faster and my RAM 22% (or more)
slower.


Erm.... some calculation errors;

Standard FSB = 200 (CPU = 2600 MHz)
My FSB = 250 (CPU = 3250 MHz)

CPU/Mem ratio: 5:4 = mem speed for 200 MHz; 400 DDR.

So, I have the mem at 400 MHz, spec speed for your memory. Maybe you can up
the FSB even higher, making the mem perform a bit faster...

Thomas


  #7  
Old January 5th 04, 02:00 AM
Ken Fox
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Posts: n/a
Default

"Thomas" wrote in message
news:3G%Jb.29201$_x2.140823@zonnet-reader-1...
Ken Fox wrote:
With the manual settings the one thing I can't change (at least from
what I have seen with this bios) is the CPU:RAM ratio. If you can
tell me where that is in this bios, as a changeable option, please
do. I can't find it. I have not tried to push the FSB up beyond 240;
up to that point the CPU:RAM ratio still showed 3:2, which gave
pretty lousy benchmarks.


Hmm i'm using a DFI Lanparty 875Pro....

snip

If somehow I was able to get the FSB up to 450, that would give me a
CPU running at 3.25GHz. Even if I got the RAM to run at 5:4 at 450,
that is an effective memory speed of 360, minus whatever performance
hit occurs from having to arbitrate this 5:4 ratio. Right now, my
RAM is running at 440, 22% (at least) faster than I'd get with the
5:4 CPU to RAM ratio. So, assuming I could accomplish what you
propose, my CPU would be running 13% faster and my RAM 22% (or more)
slower.


Erm.... some calculation errors;

Standard FSB = 200 (CPU = 2600 MHz)
My FSB = 250 (CPU = 3250 MHz)

CPU/Mem ratio: 5:4 = mem speed for 200 MHz; 400 DDR.

So, I have the mem at 400 MHz, spec speed for your memory. Maybe you can

up
the FSB even higher, making the mem perform a bit faster...

Thomas


Calculation errors? Moi?
:-)

I got some more tips on the Asus ng about OC'ing this board; I will try them
soon, maybe even tonight if I have some time. Tomorrow's big project is
setting up a SFF box (an AMs e-cube) as a dual-boot Linux (likely RH, or if
not than Mandrake) and Win2K box. Primarily it will serve as a linux
self-teaching tool, however the Win2K ability may come in handy for such
unforseen problems as frying my components with all this relentless OC'ing
and other crap I subject my computer hardware to ----

Thanks,

ken



 




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