Upgraded CPU to AMD 2500+ - Questions RE RAM Configuration

XyphusXyphus South Bend, Indiana
edited May 2004 in Hardware
Just upgraded from an XP2000+ Tbred to an XP2500+ Barton on an Abit NF7S-2.0 board. I am running with 1 stick of PC2100 512MB and 1 stick of PC3200 512MB. This was fine with the old configuration since the FSB was only at 266MHz. The old CPU was overclocked to 2GHz by increasing the multiplier, but I find that the new CPU is clock locked, so I can only step up the FSB speed. It is currently running at 190 (380MHz effective) and I have my RAM at a 5/4 setting which comes out to around 304MHz (if I remember correctly).

My question is should I pull out the PC2100 stick so that the PC3200 stick can run at it's full speed, although I would be losing the benifit of having 1GB RAM running in dual channel mode, or stick with the RAM speed settings I have (both sticks are Samsung, and seem to be happy running at the 304MHz)and just keep the dual-channel 1GB of RAM?

I've overclocked CPUs plenty in the past, but the RAM fiddling is a bit new to me. I'm not sure if I'm really hurting performance since the CPU and RAM are not 100% at the same speed settings. I know the 2500+ is designed for a 333MHz FSB speed, and 304MHz for the RAM is as close as I can get to 333 without it going over (385 was the next setting for RAM I believe...)

Any suggestions or helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

I'm planning on hunting down a Barton clock-unlocking FAQ, but I'm pretty sure you get more performance by upping the FSB over increasing the multiplier. And currently, the 11x190=2090MHz seems pretty snappy.

Thanks again for any helpful advice.

Comments

  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited May 2004
    Athlons are faster with CPU:Mem at a 1:1 ratio. Pull the PC2100 stick and either run a single PC3200 512MB stick or buy another (preferably identical) PC3200 512MB stick.

    A Athlon XP Mobile 2500+ would have been a better choice. They are multiplier unlocked and will run at 2.3-2.4ghz @ v1.65 and up to 2.6ghz overvolted (if you're lucky) with air cooled heatsink
  • XyphusXyphus South Bend, Indiana
    edited May 2004
    Omega65 wrote:
    Athlons are faster with CPU:Mem at a 1:1 ratio. Pull the PC2100 stick and either run a single PC3200 512MB stick or buy another (preferably identical) PC3200 512MB stick.

    A Athlon XP Mobile 2500+ would have been a better choice. They are multiplier unlocked and will run at 2.3-2.4ghz @ v1.65 and up to 2.6ghz overvolted (if you're lucky) with air cooled heatsink


    Unfortunately, locally, they did not have mobile 2500+ CPUs... That, and I only had $100, so I had to buy what I could afford.

    Anyway... I've run into another snag... I seem to be able to get the CPU to run at XP3200 speeds by upping the FSB to 200. However, it seems that my DDR400 Samsung RAM doesn't like that. If I leave the CPU and RAM at it's default settings, the RAM clocks itself to 333. (as expected), so I change the RAM settings in BIOS to allow the RAM to run at 400MHz, and it's happy. CPU running at 333, and RAM at 400MHz. Of course, that means that it is still async. Now the odd part. If I bump up the FSB with the PC3200, all I get is a black screen, and sometimes two long "beeps". However, if I put the PC2100 in, bump the FSB up to 200MHz, and run the RAM at 400MHz (I've tried 3:3, 4:4, 5:5, and 6:6, not sure the difference between them really... they all give a 1-1 ratio... can anyone explain?) the system will boot, and then run okay for a while until heat makes it unstable.

    I can NOT get the PC3200 to run at a 1:1 ratio with the FSB bumped up.

    I am running stable currently with my FSB at 192MHz, and a 6:5 (320MHz) with both sticks of RAM in place. If I pull out the PC2100 leaving only the PC3200 and then go with say, a 6:6 ratio (384MHz) to make the 1-1 ratio, the black screen and beeps again.

    I would think that the RAM should run fine at 384MHz since that is still below the 400MHz that it is rated at.

    I have tried moving the ram to another slot (tried 3, 2, and 1 with all the same results...)

    I just find it extremely frustrating that I can not get that ram to cooperate with my system. Why would the board allow me to put the PC2100 in at 400MHz by itself and boot, put the PC2100 and PC3200 in at the same time at 400MHz and boot, but will NOT allow me to put the PC3200 in by itself and boot at 400MHz.

    Are there any tricks or settings I need to change to make the ram happy?

    I thougt it might be bad RAM, but after trying a friends PC3200 (which is a known good stick running fine in his machine at 400MHz) with the same results, I am just pounding my head on a wall now.

    I know the CPU will run at 200MHz FSB with the RAM at a lower speed. (I bumped the voltage up a few ticks on the CPU and was able to play a bit of UT2K4 for a good 45 minutes before it freaked out due to heat I am assuming)

    But the RAM just won't seem to cooperate.

    I know that at 192 MHz the system is stable with the ram at 320MHz. I would be happy to get the PC3200 to run at 384MHz just so I could run at a 1:1 ratio.

    But for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out what I need to do to get it up and running at those settings.

    I just downloaded the most current BIOS and will flash it once I post this message. Maybe it will help. But if not, does anyone else who has the NF7S-2.0 have any suggestions?

    I'd really hate to have to run this setup on a 333MHz bus. My old XP2000+ would be running faster then... :(

    Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited May 2004
    Next time ask about CPU models before you buy. A number of us here could have sold you an XP-M 2500+ for less than $100 shipped (I have two in fact just sitting around)

    Also is your CPU Unlocked? If not it may not beable to run 11x 200mhz = 2.2ghz @ v1.65. It is possibly crapping out at 192mhz (~2.1ghz) You may have to bump the vCore to 1.7 or 1.75

    Either set your mobo to 6:6 or Auto

    Clear CMOS and intall ONLY the Samsung PC3200 stick (in the single offset memory slot) Set your memory timings to Optimal (??), bump up your Memory Voltage to 2.6 or 2.7 and then set your FSB to 200 or whatever you like.

    Also PM Geeky1 or Thrax. They're Abit NF7-S v2 gurus (among others)
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited May 2004
    Besides what Omega65 has posted, I would bump up the ram voltage all the way to 2.8v; it won't hurt the ram. That is some strange behavior out of that board though. My NF7-S 2.0 has no problems at all running 1 stick of PC3200 Corsair XMS at 208 fsb.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited May 2004
    muddocktor wrote:
    Besides what Omega65 has posted, I would bump up the ram voltage all the way to 2.8v; it won't hurt the ram. That is some strange behavior out of that board though. My NF7-S 2.0 has no problems at all running 1 stick of PC3200 Corsair XMS at 208 fsb.

    His Samsung PC3200 may be marginal or defective
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