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#1
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
It has a XP 3000 CPU, and two Corsair XMS 512 mb ddr 3200 (400 Mhz)
SDRAM (operating single channel). Initially it was set for "optimal" (slowest). I think it said CPU speed was 1050 Mhz. I changed to custom (I think it ws called). I bumped the FSB to 220 (more or less) and bumped up mulitiplier to 12.5 (the highest you can select). Now when it boots, it STILL says the CPU speed is 1050 Mhz and the RAM speed is 100 MHz. I thought the CPU speed was supposed to be 12.5x 220 which is 2750 Mhz. Whats up with that? Shouldn't I be able to get a lot more than 1/3 of the rated max CPU speed? I have experienced a couple of blue-screens in the two days since doing this, so perhaps it is at the max. The core voltage is set to 1.75, BTW. THe CPU has a hefty Volcano 9 on it. What max performance should I be able to get out of it? |
#2
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
"geronimo" wrote in message ... It has a XP 3000 CPU, and two Corsair XMS 512 mb ddr 3200 (400 Mhz) SDRAM (operating single channel). Initially it was set for "optimal" (slowest). I think it said CPU speed was 1050 Mhz. I changed to custom (I think it ws called). I bumped the FSB to 220 (more or less) and bumped up mulitiplier to 12.5 (the highest you can select). Now when it boots, it STILL says the CPU speed is 1050 Mhz and the RAM speed is 100 MHz. I thought the CPU speed was supposed to be 12.5x 220 which is 2750 Mhz. Whats up with that? Shouldn't I be able to get a lot more than 1/3 of the rated max CPU speed? I have experienced a couple of blue-screens in the two days since doing this, so perhaps it is at the max. The core voltage is set to 1.75, BTW. THe CPU has a hefty Volcano 9 on it. What max performance should I be able to get out of it? The clock speed of that cpu is about 2167MHz. I think that should be about 13 X 166MHz. I wouldn't expect it to run at all if you crank up the FSB to 220. But that still wouldn't explain why the CPU is showing 1050MHz at POST. Clear CMOS settings and then load default. -Dave |
#3
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
geronimo wrote:
It has a XP 3000 CPU, and two Corsair XMS 512 mb ddr 3200 (400 Mhz) SDRAM (operating single channel). Initially it was set for "optimal" (slowest). I think it said CPU speed was 1050 Mhz. I changed to custom (I think it ws called). I bumped the FSB to 220 (more or less) and bumped up mulitiplier to 12.5 (the highest you can select). Now when it boots, it STILL says the CPU speed is 1050 Mhz and the RAM speed is 100 MHz. I thought the CPU speed was supposed to be 12.5x 220 which is 2750 Mhz. Whats up with that? Shouldn't I be able to get a lot more than 1/3 of the rated max CPU speed? I have experienced a couple of blue-screens in the two days since doing this, so perhaps it is at the max. The core voltage is set to 1.75, BTW. THe CPU has a hefty Volcano 9 on it. What max performance should I be able to get out of it? Clocking a processor, should be done like "sneaking up on it". You make changes in small steps, then observe the results and work from there. Selecting a ridiculous overclock level will result in the board crashing in the BIOS. Asus has an overclocking recovery feature, which will return the settings to safe defaults, so you can enter the BIOS and make more adjustments. When you see the low frequency values, that is what has happened. The board crashed, and has recovered automatically for you. (My board has failed to recover from an overclock only once, forcing me to clear the CMOS. So the automatic recovery feature seems to work pretty good.) There are two Barton 3000+ processors. You have the 200MHz one (the top one here). Barton 2100MHz (3000+) OPGA 200 512 10.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W Barton 2167MHz (3000+) OPGA 166 512 13x 1.65V 85oC 58.4W If the clock after the crash recovery is 100, and the multiplier is the 10.5 default, then the observed value of 1050MHz is correct. You need to move the clock from the crash recovery value of 100MHz, up to 200MHz in small steps. You can start by trying 133MHz, and see if it survives that. Check that the core voltage setting is in the correct range (1.65V setting, 1.69V or so measured). When idle, the motherboard will overvolt by a tiny bit, which is normal for Asus boards, and is part of their interpretation of the correct load line. When you are finished, you should be at 200 x 10.5 . That would give the correct nominal value of 2100MHz. And it should say 2100MHz in the BIOS. Changing the multiplier in the BIOS works, if you have an old processor. Processors after a certain production date are locked. Mobile processors (I have one in my A7N8X-E) also allow the multiplier to be set in the BIOS. If you change the multiplier value, and are still seeing the effects of the 10.5x nominal multiplier, that should be a hint to you that the processor is locked. In terms of other potential issues, be aware that Nforce2 is picky about the RAM. I had problems with the first RAM I had in the board, and after a lot of testing, it turned out the RAM had a bad location. After I put a couple sticks of Ballistix PC3200 CAS2 in the board, it was rock solid. And remains that way to this day. Using "good RAM" compensates for the barely adequate performance of the I/O pads on the Nforce2 Northbridge. If you are having trouble with your RAM, go into the BIOS and set the memory to "Manual". The speed settings offered should be percentage values. A value of "100%" is the same as operating synchronous with the FSB. If you select a value of "83%", that is usually enough to bring stability. If you still experience crashes, try cranking the RAM down to 83%. If you want to run at 100%, that may take some "good RAM". And be careful with that memory setting. Do *not* use 50% or 200%. There have been failures after doing that. So don't go near the extremes. Like the CPU clock, try small deviations from 100% and see how it goes. Paul |
#4
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
THe maximum FSB setting I could get out of mine was only 172 with 10.5 multiplier. If I go to 173 or higher, after the desktop has been dispalyed for about 1 minute, the computer completely shuts down. This is really lousy. I have a 3 gig CPU, but it will only do 1800 in my system! My CPU is not lockedat least, it is reporting 1806 mhz on the POST. I thought surely that Corsair XMS 3200 was in the "good" if not "best" category! SO I guess I should try backing down from 100% memory speed...but if I have to back that down to 80% in order to go up 14% (to 200) on the FSB speed, have I really gained anything in performance? Thanks much...that was just the info I needed! Geronimo On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:18:00 -0500, Paul wrote: geronimo wrote: It has a XP 3000 CPU, and two Corsair XMS 512 mb ddr 3200 (400 Mhz) SDRAM (operating single channel). Initially it was set for "optimal" (slowest). I think it said CPU speed was 1050 Mhz. I changed to custom (I think it ws called). I bumped the FSB to 220 (more or less) and bumped up mulitiplier to 12.5 (the highest you can select). Now when it boots, it STILL says the CPU speed is 1050 Mhz and the RAM speed is 100 MHz. I thought the CPU speed was supposed to be 12.5x 220 which is 2750 Mhz. Whats up with that? Shouldn't I be able to get a lot more than 1/3 of the rated max CPU speed? I have experienced a couple of blue-screens in the two days since doing this, so perhaps it is at the max. The core voltage is set to 1.75, BTW. THe CPU has a hefty Volcano 9 on it. What max performance should I be able to get out of it? Clocking a processor, should be done like "sneaking up on it". You make changes in small steps, then observe the results and work from there. Selecting a ridiculous overclock level will result in the board crashing in the BIOS. Asus has an overclocking recovery feature, which will return the settings to safe defaults, so you can enter the BIOS and make more adjustments. When you see the low frequency values, that is what has happened. The board crashed, and has recovered automatically for you. (My board has failed to recover from an overclock only once, forcing me to clear the CMOS. So the automatic recovery feature seems to work pretty good.) There are two Barton 3000+ processors. You have the 200MHz one (the top one here). Barton 2100MHz (3000+) OPGA 200 512 10.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W Barton 2167MHz (3000+) OPGA 166 512 13x 1.65V 85oC 58.4W If the clock after the crash recovery is 100, and the multiplier is the 10.5 default, then the observed value of 1050MHz is correct. You need to move the clock from the crash recovery value of 100MHz, up to 200MHz in small steps. You can start by trying 133MHz, and see if it survives that. Check that the core voltage setting is in the correct range (1.65V setting, 1.69V or so measured). When idle, the motherboard will overvolt by a tiny bit, which is normal for Asus boards, and is part of their interpretation of the correct load line. When you are finished, you should be at 200 x 10.5 . That would give the correct nominal value of 2100MHz. And it should say 2100MHz in the BIOS. Changing the multiplier in the BIOS works, if you have an old processor. Processors after a certain production date are locked. Mobile processors (I have one in my A7N8X-E) also allow the multiplier to be set in the BIOS. If you change the multiplier value, and are still seeing the effects of the 10.5x nominal multiplier, that should be a hint to you that the processor is locked. In terms of other potential issues, be aware that Nforce2 is picky about the RAM. I had problems with the first RAM I had in the board, and after a lot of testing, it turned out the RAM had a bad location. After I put a couple sticks of Ballistix PC3200 CAS2 in the board, it was rock solid. And remains that way to this day. Using "good RAM" compensates for the barely adequate performance of the I/O pads on the Nforce2 Northbridge. If you are having trouble with your RAM, go into the BIOS and set the memory to "Manual". The speed settings offered should be percentage values. A value of "100%" is the same as operating synchronous with the FSB. If you select a value of "83%", that is usually enough to bring stability. If you still experience crashes, try cranking the RAM down to 83%. If you want to run at 100%, that may take some "good RAM". And be careful with that memory setting. Do *not* use 50% or 200%. There have been failures after doing that. So don't go near the extremes. Like the CPU clock, try small deviations from 100% and see how it goes. Paul |
#5
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
I should have added that I have two sticks of 512 mb ram. THis board doesn't operate DDR. I have been told. I think that leaves one mem. slot open? If it is picky about location, then I should try moving the ram sticks, too? On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:18:00 -0500, Paul wrote: geronimo wrote: It has a XP 3000 CPU, and two Corsair XMS 512 mb ddr 3200 (400 Mhz) SDRAM (operating single channel). Initially it was set for "optimal" (slowest). I think it said CPU speed was 1050 Mhz. I changed to custom (I think it ws called). I bumped the FSB to 220 (more or less) and bumped up mulitiplier to 12.5 (the highest you can select). Now when it boots, it STILL says the CPU speed is 1050 Mhz and the RAM speed is 100 MHz. I thought the CPU speed was supposed to be 12.5x 220 which is 2750 Mhz. Whats up with that? Shouldn't I be able to get a lot more than 1/3 of the rated max CPU speed? I have experienced a couple of blue-screens in the two days since doing this, so perhaps it is at the max. The core voltage is set to 1.75, BTW. THe CPU has a hefty Volcano 9 on it. What max performance should I be able to get out of it? Clocking a processor, should be done like "sneaking up on it". You make changes in small steps, then observe the results and work from there. Selecting a ridiculous overclock level will result in the board crashing in the BIOS. Asus has an overclocking recovery feature, which will return the settings to safe defaults, so you can enter the BIOS and make more adjustments. When you see the low frequency values, that is what has happened. The board crashed, and has recovered automatically for you. (My board has failed to recover from an overclock only once, forcing me to clear the CMOS. So the automatic recovery feature seems to work pretty good.) There are two Barton 3000+ processors. You have the 200MHz one (the top one here). Barton 2100MHz (3000+) OPGA 200 512 10.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W Barton 2167MHz (3000+) OPGA 166 512 13x 1.65V 85oC 58.4W If the clock after the crash recovery is 100, and the multiplier is the 10.5 default, then the observed value of 1050MHz is correct. You need to move the clock from the crash recovery value of 100MHz, up to 200MHz in small steps. You can start by trying 133MHz, and see if it survives that. Check that the core voltage setting is in the correct range (1.65V setting, 1.69V or so measured). When idle, the motherboard will overvolt by a tiny bit, which is normal for Asus boards, and is part of their interpretation of the correct load line. When you are finished, you should be at 200 x 10.5 . That would give the correct nominal value of 2100MHz. And it should say 2100MHz in the BIOS. Changing the multiplier in the BIOS works, if you have an old processor. Processors after a certain production date are locked. Mobile processors (I have one in my A7N8X-E) also allow the multiplier to be set in the BIOS. If you change the multiplier value, and are still seeing the effects of the 10.5x nominal multiplier, that should be a hint to you that the processor is locked. In terms of other potential issues, be aware that Nforce2 is picky about the RAM. I had problems with the first RAM I had in the board, and after a lot of testing, it turned out the RAM had a bad location. After I put a couple sticks of Ballistix PC3200 CAS2 in the board, it was rock solid. And remains that way to this day. Using "good RAM" compensates for the barely adequate performance of the I/O pads on the Nforce2 Northbridge. If you are having trouble with your RAM, go into the BIOS and set the memory to "Manual". The speed settings offered should be percentage values. A value of "100%" is the same as operating synchronous with the FSB. If you select a value of "83%", that is usually enough to bring stability. If you still experience crashes, try cranking the RAM down to 83%. If you want to run at 100%, that may take some "good RAM". And be careful with that memory setting. Do *not* use 50% or 200%. There have been failures after doing that. So don't go near the extremes. Like the CPU clock, try small deviations from 100% and see how it goes. Paul |
#6
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
geronimo wrote:
I should have added that I have two sticks of 512 mb ram. THis board doesn't operate DDR. I have been told. I think that leaves one mem. slot open? If it is picky about location, then I should try moving the ram sticks, too? The A7N8X-X is the board that doesn't run dual channel. I think all the rest do support dual channel. All boards of that family use DDR (dual data rate) memory. (The Nvidia chipset that is single channel, is Nforce2 400. I think the Nforce2 Ultra 400 is still dual channel.) That board operates relatively independently, of which slot is left open. Each of the three slots, has a private address bus. And that is what allows independent operation. If I had to make a choice, while using two sticks, I'd do it like this. These two sticks are sitting next to the termination resistors. ------ ------ --- Put one stick here ------ --- Put one stick here I've thoroughly tested the operating conditions for that chipset. The chipset "resists" any config that gives performance, if your RAM is not to its liking. For example, if you plug the memory in a single channel configuration, it will allow a higher clock value. But single channel doesn't give quite as much bandwidth. It can also be made stable, by selecting "83%" in the BIOS for the memory, but that too also robs you of performance. You can also use a hacked BIOS (I've used Trats BIOS for example). Using a Command Rate 2T version of the BIOS, allows 35MHz or so more clock to be used. But, as you would expect, Command Rate 2T also subtracts the very same 35MHz worth of performance. So there is no getting around a memory problem. Paul |
#7
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
geronimo wrote:
THe maximum FSB setting I could get out of mine was only 172 with 10.5 multiplier. If I go to 173 or higher, after the desktop has been dispalyed for about 1 minute, the computer completely shuts down. This is really lousy. I have a 3 gig CPU, but it will only do 1800 in my system! My CPU is not lockedat least, it is reporting 1806 mhz on the POST. I thought surely that Corsair XMS 3200 was in the "good" if not "best" category! SO I guess I should try backing down from 100% memory speed...but if I have to back that down to 80% in order to go up 14% (to 200) on the FSB speed, have I really gained anything in performance? Thanks much...that was just the info I needed! Geronimo Check the heatsink. The stock heatsink can mount two ways. One way is a 180 degree rotation of the other way. The "contact patch" on the bottom of the heatsink, is offset. When installed the wrong way, part of the silicon die is exposed to the air. That can lead to the worst kind of overheating for the die (overheating plus a temp differential across the silicon die). Asus motherboards of that era, have thermal protection. A small eight pin Winbond chip, senses the temp diode on the silicon die of the processor. If the processor gets too hot, the Winbond chip is suppose to shut off the computer. So recheck your heatsink mounting. Make sure there is sufficient thermal paste, that the heatsink is parallel to the board, and that the heatsink is rotated the right way (so the contact patch is centered over the silicon die). If you are lucky, it'll stop switching off. Also make sure that the amount of Vcore voltage, is not out of line for your processor. Paul |
#8
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Advice on optimizing my A7N8X-dlx
Well, Sounds like you're right that the winbond chip is shutting the PC down from overheat, as I wasn't getting crashes, the PC would just with no warning shut down about when the desktop was finishing boot-up. SO I took the Volcano 9 fan/heatsink off. ( have added one of those clear elbow ducts on top of the fan, BTW) and checked out alignment. The bottom copper surface on the Volcano 9 is many times bigger than the copper CPU die, and the die is very near centered. ALso from the way the grease was squished down on the heatsink I could tell that it was in contact with the entire surface of the die. Its not Artic silver paste, but it is a GC white colored grease that is supposed to have very high thermal conductivity. So it doesn't seem that there was any mechanical problem with the heatsink/fan that was causing a problem. I reinstalled Asus Probe, and checked what the temp is with the PC idling at desktop. It is 107 CPU and 98 deg. mobo temp. I think this is very good....so why is it behaving like it is an overheat shut-down? On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:53:01 -0500, Paul wrote: geronimo wrote: I should have added that I have two sticks of 512 mb ram. THis board doesn't operate DDR. I have been told. I think that leaves one mem. slot open? If it is picky about location, then I should try moving the ram sticks, too? The A7N8X-X is the board that doesn't run dual channel. I think all the rest do support dual channel. All boards of that family use DDR (dual data rate) memory. (The Nvidia chipset that is single channel, is Nforce2 400. I think the Nforce2 Ultra 400 is still dual channel.) That board operates relatively independently, of which slot is left open. Each of the three slots, has a private address bus. And that is what allows independent operation. If I had to make a choice, while using two sticks, I'd do it like this. These two sticks are sitting next to the termination resistors. ------ ------ --- Put one stick here ------ --- Put one stick here I've thoroughly tested the operating conditions for that chipset. The chipset "resists" any config that gives performance, if your RAM is not to its liking. For example, if you plug the memory in a single channel configuration, it will allow a higher clock value. But single channel doesn't give quite as much bandwidth. It can also be made stable, by selecting "83%" in the BIOS for the memory, but that too also robs you of performance. You can also use a hacked BIOS (I've used Trats BIOS for example). Using a Command Rate 2T version of the BIOS, allows 35MHz or so more clock to be used. But, as you would expect, Command Rate 2T also subtracts the very same 35MHz worth of performance. So there is no getting around a memory problem. Paul |
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