Helpful Information
 
 
Category: CPUs
OC / tweak question...

Ok, first the important part:
MSI K7N2 Delta-L (400MHz FSB)
AMD(?XP?) 2400+ (2000 MHz)
Corsiar 512MB DDR 3200
Gainward GForceFX 5600 256MB
XP pro
(point of reference) Morrowind w/ bloodmoon installed

now my question:
I want to know why my BIOS says that the FSB is running at 133 MHz, instead of somthing like 200/400 MHz.

I would also like to know if (1) I realy need to mess with the CPU to allow the use of the 10.0x mult setting so I can bump the FSB to 200 and run my ram at 400MHz... or (2) what should I do to get better preformance out of my system/games w/o OC.

The reason I am asking is because (1) I am a gamer that is tired of >15 sec loading screens when I know they should be <= 5 sec. and (2) crappy framerates, <=30 fps on a good day, my old system could do better (sub 1GHz).

Ok, first the important part:
MSI K7N2 Delta-L (400MHz FSB)
AMD(?XP?) 2400+ (2000 MHz)
Corsiar 512MB DDR 3200
Gainward GForceFX 5600 256MB
XP pro
(point of reference) Morrowind w/ bloodmoon installed

now my question:
I want to know why my BIOS says that the FSB is running at 133 MHz, instead of somthing like 200/400 MHz.

I would also like to know if (1) I realy need to mess with the CPU to allow the use of the 10.0x mult setting so I can bump the FSB to 200 and run my ram at 400MHz... or (2) what should I do to get better preformance out of my system/games w/o OC.

The reason I am asking is because (1) I am a gamer that is tired of >15 sec loading screens when I know they should be <= 5 sec. and (2) crappy framerates, <=30 fps on a good day, my old system could do better (sub 1GHz).

The bios says that because the 2400+ tbred has a fsb speed of 133 MHz. Your mobo may support 400, but 133 is the default for that processor. Changing your multiplier would probably boost performance, since you want the fsb as high as possible. Depending on how old/used your computer is, defragmenting could help a bit, or you could look in to oc'ing the cpu and/or graphics card for a little extra performance

thanks for the quick response...

I found a link to a page in an AMD newsgroup that gives the specs fo all the processors from Model 6 to Model 10...

Here (http://139.95.253.214/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=13,E=0000000000141540400,K=4622,Sxi=9,Case=obj(1224))

(It's an "ask AMD" response) anyway It says that the 2400+ can run at 266MHz but the mult needs to be like 7.5x for ~2000MHz, my bios allows for mult less that 13x but I am not sure if my proccessor is unlocked and can't afford to smoke it, I was thinking that if I set the FSB to 200 then i could set the mult to 10 and run my DRAM at 2:1 (i.e. 400 MHz); However, :confused: :mad: Any time I make a little change to my FSB, DRAM ratio, CPU Mult, or any other OC type modification my machine will not boot an I have to reset the bios...

Any thoughts... oh, by the way I built the system less than 6 months ago.

got to go, Thanks :D

Are you saying that you want to lower your multiplier so that you can raise your FSB, keeping the CPU speed the same?

yes, for now... ;) but as stated in my last post, any changes I make to either the FSB or the CPU Mult result in my computer not booting up...

I guess I could ask, would the computer boot if CPU were locked and the BIOS atempted to change the Mult?

yes, for now... ;) but as stated in my last post, any changes I make to either the FSB or the CPU Mult result in my computer not booting up...

I guess I could ask, would the computer boot if CPU were locked and the BIOS atempted to change the Mult?

One thing from your earlier post, you said it should be running at 266. 133x2 (for DDR)=266, so you are actually running exactly on track, as I said earlier. Don't know where you got the 7.5 multiplier thing, since there are no specs with that multiplier. To have 2000Mhz with a 7.5 multiplier would be 267FSB, or 267x2=528Mhz, if you want a direct comparo. You won't be getting up anywhere near that.

As for the not booting, it wouldn't boot if the cpu was locked (which it is), but the nForce2 chipset (which you have) is supposed to automatically unlock the multiplier. Have you tried getting the latest BIOS update?

Also, if you leave the multiplier alone, can you up the FSB and still work?

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethowto&howtoID=43 tutorial on amd ocing

OK... for the moment, I'll assume that the Bios will take care of the Mult and I will not need to remove my CPU again.

You referenced my DRAM Ratio like it was the bus speed of the CPU; However, my Bios (recently updated/flashed) *allows* me to change the FSB speed (either in 33MHz or 1MHz increments,) my DRAM Ratio (1:2, 1:1, 2:1, etc,) and the CPU Mult (in increments of .50) independently. So I *should be able to* set the FSB to 200MHz and the CPU Mult at 10.0 then the DRAM Ratio 1:2 and end up with a FSB of 200MHz, DRAM Clock of 400MHz, and a CPU Clock of 2000MHz without overtaxing any of my components, right? Not!!

I also tried to set everything low, like leaving my FSB at 133 and lowering my CPU Mult to 10 just to see what would happen... same thing, would not boot, so my assumption now is that there is a lower bound to what the computer as a whole can operate at, and of course the upper bound. This (for my computer at least) is anything other than what it’s at right now.

your thoughts...

some new info has come to my attn.

forum thread (http://forums.amdmb.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=237991) on nForce memory timings...

Ok, for now I've given up on the CPU mult...

I realized that the DDR doubles the speed displayed in the BIOS, good thing to know... :o that said, I was actually trying to run my RAM at 800MHz :eek: (no wonder it wouldn't boot :rolleyes: ) and I have been able to get my 2GHz AMD to a 2.25GHz :cool: by running my FSB up to 150MHz w/o affecting my RAM (or CPU temp :D )... and have adjusted my memory timings to their most efficient level... what’s next in the pursuit of SPEED? :confused:

Ok, for now I've given up on the CPU mult...

I realized that the DDR doubles the speed displayed in the BIOS, good thing to know... :o that said, I was actually trying to run my RAM at 800MHz :eek: (no wonder it wouldn't boot :rolleyes: ) and I have been able to get my 2GHz AMD to a 2.25GHz :cool: by running my FSB up to 150MHz w/o affecting my RAM (or CPU temp :D )... and have adjusted my memory timings to their most efficient level... what’s next in the pursuit of SPEED? :confused:
Did you look at the link I posted earlier? You first see how high you can go on FSB, then how high on the multiplier, then try to combine the two to get as high as possible. Then you either increase your cooling and keep trying, or turn your attention to the video card

Did you look at the link I posted earlier? You first see how high you can go on FSB, then how high on the multiplier, then try to combine the two to get as high as possible. Then you either increase your cooling and keep trying, or turn your attention to the video card


Actually the link you posted helped me out with my memory timings :) ... however, bad things happen when I change my multiplier :( , so until I have a spare CPU laying around, I think I'll hold off on mess'n with it... mmmm... new video card... (Wipes drool off chin) can't yet afford that one.

On another note... (this may be the wrong forum for this) I've gotten about 2x the frame rate out of my game but It still slows to a crawl at times and I think it is either a lack of memory (I've got 512MB) or the game is using the hdd/CDRom a little too often... any suggestions on speeding either of these up... I'll look in to getting the virtual cdrom software but that still leaves a bottleneck at the hdd...

specs for my drive config are:
System/OS on 30GB Maxtor (master IDE0)
Game on 30GB partition of WD 60GB (Slave IDE0)
Memorex DVD+-RW combo (Master IDE1)

Not sure if it is a good idea to move the WD to the IDE1 channel since that would slow it down to the DVD drive's speed... Maybe if I swapped the DVD drive with the WD, my game's performance would improve (at the expense of OS performance)

Thoughts or comments?

I meant oc the video card, not replace it ;)
As for the game performance, Morrowind is a big and detailed game, so it might just be the way things are. The video card would improve things probably, defragmenting might help, more ram could definitely improve things, make sure you aren't running too many apps in the background. Did you do the biggest install you could? if you didn't put everything on the hdd, that would really slow you down.

I meant oc the video card, not replace it ;)
As for the game performance, Morrowind is a big and detailed game, so it might just be the way things are. The video card would improve things probably, defragmenting might help, more ram could definitely improve things, make sure you aren't running too many apps in the background. Did you do the biggest install you could? if you didn't put everything on the hdd, that would really slow you down.


There was an app that I got from nVidia that I had installed once that automatically over clocked my video card but I can't find it now :confused: I defragged last week w/ no noticeable improvement, I think I will get an other 512MB of ram next week (spring break) since that will bring me up to 1GB. I never run any non-critical apps during my game play :D and I always do the maximum install possible (may explain why I can only fit 6-8 games on my 30GB drive...)

My conclusion, due to the rate of decay of performance vs. time, is that Morrowind may have a mem leak somewhere, or as you said it's just the way things are... So now I can't wait until UT2004 comes out so I can test the system's performance on a high end game...

Another thing I've noticed is that I can no longer run anything at 800x600, Is that a normal side affect of over clocking? If so, how do I get around it?

Maybe I just missed it, but I didn't know you were talking about decay in performance with time. That is just how Morrowind is, at least when I had it as well. Over time it got slower until you quit and restarted. Don't know how much you can fix that.
The 800x600 problem shouldn't be b/c of ocing, but if you are, and you stop, does that fix it?

Ah, overclocking AMD athlon XP's .... my first OC experience was with a XP 2700+.
I had no idea what i was doing at the time and completely fried the processor LOL.
Though if i remember right, i got tit to about 2.2Ghz before it went *POP-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE*

Digging up this old thread serves no purpose so I'm locking it. If anyone has any issues with this, please don't hesitate to PM/email me.










privacy (GDPR)