Fsb

[SHOGUN]

Hi all,

Just bought a Gigabyte GA-7NNXP nForce2 Ultra400 chipset M/B.

Was wondering about the FSB on this thing, supposed to be able to go up to 400? but from what I can see (if I am lookin in the right place in BIOS ) is that the highest setting is 200....I currently have it on 166 - the default......can anyone offer any advice as to what is the highest setting it should go up to and that I could use with my processor?

CPU = AMD Athlon 2800+
Mem = 2x Corsair 512's (400) - dual channel enabled.

I see a lot of PC's with FSB266 and was wondering if mine was set to slow..........
I also see a lot about how fast this thing 'should' run, but I had a look on the tuning application for windows which it comes with, and it doesn't let you alter anything but the voltages (maybe I shouldn't even be playing around with it after asking these questions - just want my system to run at it's best....)

Thanks!:

 

[Didou]

The FSB is set to 200 because that's what its' running at. It works in DDR mode so at 200mhz, it's equivalent to a 400mhz. Mainboard makers will write 400 all over the box because it helps sell. People always think bigger is better.

The 800mhz FSB on the P4 is actually set to 200 but works like a 800 because it is quad pumped.

The big difference between EV6 and GTL+ in the minds of those that first hear about it seems to be the operating frequency of EV6. The beauty of EV6 is that it takes advantage of the same technology that is behind the accelerated graphics port, or AGP in that it allows data to be transferred on both the rising and falling edges of the clock. This allows the memory bus to operate at 100MHz while delivering 200MHz (1.6GB/s of bandwidth) between the chipset and CPU because it delivers twice as much information, by transferring data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock. This allows for 1.6GB/s of bandwidth available for a single Athlon processor, but that's not where the beauty of EV6 ends.

Taken from Athlon Preview @ Anandtech

 

[SHOGUN]

...Thanks.

Just been looking around the forum and have discovered from the 'identify your amd' page, that having the clock set at 166 is the correct setting for my CPU (I found that it is an AMD Barton 2800+ as it has 512kb of L2 cache).

So having the clock set at 166 gives me 333Mhz FSB (which is the highest it supports apparently).
By selecting 200 clock speed, the FSB would be 400Mhz which would fry it - correct?

Oh well, still better than my old XP1800+

 

[snowman]

it wouldnt fry it really. it would be an overclock. i wouldnt suggest overclocking though considering you saying it would be fried. which tells me you dont know much about the overclocking and such. i dont know what the multipliers on the 2800's are set at but it would raise the fsb to 200 and the clock speed up some and also up the speed of your memory. and if you have stock cooling definately dont try it because it would get too hot and possibly fry it. but if you want to look into the overclocking read the thread in this forum about overclocking and read some guides.

 

[JimShady23]

More Options

If you want to access more options in your bios. Once you are in there hit F1 and more options will pop up (Gigabyte like to hide stuff) That should give you all you overclocking features, but yeah read into it before you play with the settings. The 7NNXP is a very powerful board for overclocking and is very feature rich. Good choice on that.

And to boost you performance to the max without oc'ing, after you hit F1 there will be a selection that says "High Performance"
If you enable that it gives you a slight overclock. I think it bumps up your FSB and memory timings a hair. Basically overclocking for dummies without any conciquences

 

[SHOGUN]

lol, yeah, your right...I don't know much about overclocking .
Like I say, I just wanted it to run as quick as is safely possible.

Noticed in BIOS that there is a choice of preset selections for Performance, turbo and advanced (where you can select your own memory,clock and CPU timings). Which I assume is what you mean.

Also got this software which came with the board called 'easytune 4 which lets you play with the voltage and frequency settings in windows and gives you a visual indicator of the new speed in Ghz, but at the moment it only lets me alter voltage settings - which is something that I am not going to touch.

This board has dual BIOS which from what I hear is for newbie overclockers like me....but havent read much about it yet so that is also something that I am leaving alone...hahaha.

 

[agissi]

If you had proper cooling, the CPU would take a 200/400MHz FSB clock just fine It just comes down to the RAM. If you have PC2700/DDR333, that runs at 333MHz stock, and you'd be OCing that to 400MHz. Your ram probably cant take that oc (staybly) but if you had DDR400/PC3200, which runs at 400MHz stock, the ram will take it, and your CPU will take it. That'll make a successful OC, as long as your mobo supports it, which by the sounds of it, it does

 

[SHOGUN]

Hi

Tried to put the clock up to 200, but the system just refuses to startup (blank screen - no run through BIOS or a memory check), so am I to assume that it does not like that speed? or is there a way around it?

 

[NoisySilence]

That is not how you OC. You have to up the FSB mhz by mhz & every time, use the PC for a while to see if it's stable, if not, only then you raise the VCore a little bit ( watch those temps very closely ).

You don't raise the FSB from 166 straight to 200 in one go.

 

[JimShady23]

Press F1

When you go into the main bios, you know, boot your machine and press "del". When you get to the main bios press F1 and a new selection will come up. That is were all your overclocking tweaks are.

 

[agissi]

Originally posted by NoisySilence
That is not how you OC. You have to up the FSB mhz by mhz & every time, use the PC for a while to see if it's stable, if not, only then you raise the VCore a little bit ( watch those temps very closely ).

You don't raise the FSB from 166 straight to 200 in one go.

Nah untrue. Thats how most people would reccomend you to go about OCing, but thats only so you dont fry anything and you know exactly what your max mhz is thats stable. if you know your system will take an OC right off, its fine to OC it to whatever in one go. You dont have to go mhz by mhz.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by SHOGUN
Like I say, I just wanted it to run as quick as is safely possible.

Don't you think that would mean default speed then?

 

[Didou]

Originally posted by ---agissi---
Nah untrue. Thats how most people would reccomend you to go about OCing, but thats only so you dont fry anything and you know exactly what your max mhz is thats stable. if you know your system will take an OC right off, its fine to OC it to whatever in one go. You dont have to go mhz by mhz.

Well if it's the first time he overclocks his parts, he doesn't know how far it will go. That's when doing it step by step is necessary. Bumping the FSB by 20% straight away ( especially if you don't lower the multiplier to compensate ) is very risky.

 

[SHOGUN]

Re: Mict. ...More emphasis on speed than safety I think (within reason).

Thanks for all of your comments though. Really appreciated.
With regard to overclocking....does raising the FSB have more effect than..say...raising voltages? Is the FSB really that important when we talk about computer speeds?

Isn't it a bit dodgy running the processor on more voltage than it was manufactured for....haha...I suppose that goes for anything that you overclock.... , there's just something that seems very crude - or even brutal if you like, about raising voltages on the CPU

I have heard however that there are tweeks than can be made, safely without major consequences, such as memory timings etc.......any thoughts?

 

[agissi]

Originally posted by Didou
Well if it's the first time he overclocks his parts, he doesn't know how far it will go. That's when doing it step by step is necessary. Bumping the FSB by 20% straight away ( especially if you don't lower the multiplier to compensate ) is very risky.

Yes it would be risky, and it would be a good idea to go step by step, but I was just trying to say, its not "nessary". You dont absolutly have to, its not like the hardware cant go right up.

@SHOGUN
Raising the voltages will not improve performance at all. Raising the FSB will big time (if you raise it enough). The reason people do up the vcore .1v is for stability. When your OCing, some cpus may need an extra .1v, for better stability. You can also OC the actual CPU, instead of the FSB, if the multiplier isnt at its highest or is unlocked. There is a multiplier and an FSB. The FSB is the front side bus, the clock at which everything on the mobo (almost anyways) runs at (when i say it runs at, i mean the speed their data runs at.. how fast it can be transfered). To get the MHz of the CPU, you take the CPU's multiplier and "times"/x/multiply it by the FSB. So you can increase the FSB, which at the same time would also OC your cpu. Some people will dramatically increase the FSB of their cpu, but lower the multiplier, so their CPU doesnt OC as much but the FSB is super high, which is fast(er). If you dont want to OC the FSB or cant OC the FSB, you can raise the CPU's multiplier. However if its already at its highest (cant go above 12.5 unless your cpu is unlocked) you have to either unlock the CPU so you can raise the multi past 12.5x or go back to the FSB. The MAX the multiplier can be is 12.5, unless the cpu is unlcoked. Example:

FSB of 200MHz.
Muiltiplier of 12.5
CPU's Frequency = [200x12.5] 2500MHz, ala 2.5GHz.

You may not be able to OC the FSB, if your ram wont OC. When you OC the FSB, your OCing the ram too.. unless you do what many do, and get say a 333MHz FSB CPU + a mobo that will take an FSB up to 400MHz + 400MHz RAM. Then the ram will take the front side bus at 400MHz, becasue thats what it runs at stock.

Hope this helps

 

[SHOGUN]

Nice Post

Nice one!

All of a sudden things seem so much clearer....haha.

My multiplier is 12.5, my FSB is 166, which gives me the 2075@Mhz which is what my CPU is running at!.........cool.

So if I wanted to go for a slight overclock, I could set the FSB to the next selection (200) but I would need to lower the CPU multiplier......

That was a brilliant post, a lot of thought, effort and time went in to writing that....IT IS APPRECIATED!! . It hit the nail on the head as I didn't really understand what the FSB was all about to be honest.

I see a lot about AGP, CPU and Memory timings, and it seems really easy for guys like me to screw things up - dual BIOS and all!! but how else are we supposed to learn!!

 

[wicka_wicka]

Going step by step IS neccesary; you can't just read a review and assume that it will go that high (we all know what happens when you assume) because they're all different chips...

 

[agissi]

when you say its nessary, you make it sound like its what the hardware supports, only tiny bumps at a time. and it doesnt, it can go right up to whatever (the settings anyway!).

Im glad that cleared some dust up shogun I senced you didnt exactly understand things, as I didnt not so long ago! That post did take a long time to write But im glad it was worth it!

 

[wicka_wicka]

It can go right up, but it's an *****ic way to do it, because you don't know what your chip can handle.

Agissi, you've never OC'ed a CPU in your life...

 

[SHOGUN]

Well.......

Sorry m8,

Gonna have to come to agissi's defence a little......

Let me just say that anything that is manufactured in a quality environment (like at AMD), to certain quality standards, has to be able to pass certain tests to enable it to leave the factory and be sold mainstream....that's what quality standards are for.
I am guessing that if AMD, or indeed anyone that has had a particular type of processor and tested it at a certain speed...it would be relatively safe to assume that 99.9% of those type's of CPU can do the same.
OK, you will get that 0.1% that won't because they have slipped through the quality net and/or have imperfections.
So it's safe to 'assume' that if one CPU can do it, with the same setup...so can another CPU of the same make/model.
From what I can gather though, overclocking is a risky business anyway, and I do see your point , it is the sensible option. Agissi is merely mirroring what the CPU testers (proffesional and amature) say. I think!!

I don't think that there is any need to cast aspertions on the guy's ability with PC's though....it's just his opinion.....

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

SHOGUN got the answers about fsb, this thread is now closed to avoid more flaming.