RAM Performance

[essenbe]

This is your bios -CPU frequency

 

[seekermeister]

The deeper I dig, the darker it gets. On mine, it is called the CPU Frequency Multiplier, but I changed that from 16 to 17...no change. I then changed it from 17 to 18...no change. Then I changed it from 16 to 18 in Overdrive and the CPU frequency went from 3200 to 3600, but the RAM speed remained exactly the same as before. There is still something that we are missing.

 

[essenbe]

The deeper I dig, the darker it gets. On mine, it is called the CPU Frequency Multiplier, but I changed that from 16 to 17...no change. I then changed it from 17 to 18...no change. Then I changed it from 16 to 18 in Overdrive and the CPU frequency went from 3200 to 3600, but the RAM speed remained exactly the same as before. There is still something that we are missing.

No, not the multiplier the CPU frequency. Change that from 200 to 240. Leave the multiplier at stock.

 

[seekermeister]

Okay, the multiplier is back to default. I assumed that you were talking about the CPU Frequency under the Overclock Mode, which I changed from auto to manual, which did change those values from gray to blue, yet when I tried to hit the enter key with the CPU Frequency selected, nothing would happen. It would not let me change it.

 

[essenbe]

Your manual will tell you how. Sometimes it is with the + key, sometimes you just type in the number. Different boards function differently.

 

[seekermeister]

You were right about using the + & - keys (despite the fact that neither the manual or the BIOS side notes said anything about it) to adjust the frequency, but that didn't work out very well. At first, I changed it to 240 as suggested, but the computer failed to display even a BIOS screen on reboot. I checked the Dr. Debug code, which was d5, but checking in the manual, it doesn't even show that code. I then restarted it twice more, before it finally displayed the BIOS screen, which had a note about having failed to boot, and gave some options, but I went ahead and let it go to Windows. After reaching desktop, the system froze solid after several System Tray icons appeared, so I tried a forced boot. I then decided to try 220, but after an unusually long delay, it continued in what appeared to be a normal fashion, but of course Windows displayed the Boot Startup Menu. I let that go for a normal boot, but it hung at the Windows Logo screen. I then returned it back to the default value of 200, and finally got a normal boot. All of t his has somewhat discouraged me from trying that again, unless there is something more that should be done first.

 

[essenbe]

I'm not sure what to say. It should have worked, no problem. That's what I did to mine. I don't have a black chip which will OC easier. I have a 1055T which is locked. So, I think some other setting is wrong. BTW, I forgot to mention to disable turbo. at 240 and a multiplier of 16 you will be at 3840, you sure wouldn't want turbo to kick in. I was running 1600 ram with 7-8-7 timings. The boardset it at 1333 9-9--9-24. I manually set the timings, set voltage at 1.6 and increased he FSB. Put me at a 20% OC. or running at 3360 from a stock 2800. nless something else isset wrong, it should have worked.

 

[seekermeister]

I decided to try a different route and just used the Easy Overclock to increase it 5%. This did increase the CPU frequency to ~ 3570 and the RAM frequency to ~ 700, but that is still far short of the RAM speed desired. I will probably try higher overclocks in that fashion in steps to see what happens. Right now, I'm running the stability test in AOD, before trying anything else.

EDIT: Another factor that you might be able to help with is the fact that when making changes such as this, the computer shuts down, before restarting, and then flashes every light on the front of the case, while making a loud racket that sounds like the floppy drive. The only thing that I found in the BIOS was to just disable the floppy, which I did, but even then it continues to make the floppy racket on reboot, and the floppy LED lights up. I remember in my old motherboards BIOS, that there was not only a setting to disable the floppy, but also the floppy controller, yet I didn't see the latter. Does it exist?

 

[seekermeister]

I had decided to stop the AOD Stability test early, to experiment some more, but when AOD closed, it caused an 0x101 BSOD. When I rebooted, it again hung while the System Tray icons were appearing. The next boot seemed normal, and I took a game break. After playing Halo for some time, the entire system froze again during the game. I then reset the overclock to default, and it booted okay. I then Googled 0x101 and from the sound of it, the possibilties covers the gambit. Curiously, I found an MS article that said that it was probably caused by a clocking problem between multiple processors, but since I only have one, that seems unlikely.

I'm beginning to believe that one of my major components is faulty, but do not know how to pinpoint which. I tend to least suspect the RAM, since it did pass 6 Memtest86 runs. That leaves either the motherboard or CPU, but I see just about as many things pointing at either of them.

 

[pparks1]

I decided to try a different route and just used the Easy Overclock to increase it 5%. This did increase the CPU frequency to ~ 3570 and the RAM frequency to ~ 700,

Yes, with a 3400Mhz stock clock (3400 x 1.05) is 3570. And the stock 1333Mhz RAM (1333Mhz /2 = 666.5. 666.5 x 1.05) is 700mhz. So you are making progress.

but that is still far short of the RAM speed desired.

Well, 1400Mhz versus 1600Mhz....isn't really that big of a difference. It's not the 14.28% improvement that 200Mhz/1400Mhz would seem to indicate. In actual day to day usage, you are probably looking at 0.5% to a 1.0% performance difference.

EDIT: Another factor that you might be able to help with is the fact that when making changes such as this, the computer shuts down, before restarting, and then flashes every light on the front of the case, while making a loud racket that sounds like the floppy drive.

Shutting down and flashing lights is normal, but I've never heard sounds similar to a floppy drive grinding away when changing BIOS settings. That seems very odd to me.

I remember in my old motherboards BIOS, that there was not only a setting to disable the floppy, but also the floppy controller, yet I didn't see the latter. Does it exist?

Yeah, usually you can usually disable the floppy drive entirely. I almost universally do that as I haven't had a floppy drive installed in a machine in years.

 

[essenbe]

I agree with pparks1, Almost anytime you change the clock speed the computer has to shut completey down to readjust. But, just like him, I don't know what would be making noise. It has to be some component in the computer because I don't know of anything in the motherboard that would make noise.

I also agree that the difference in clock speed would probably make very little if any noticable difference. You can gain about as much by running it at 1333 and lowering the timings slightly. Instead of 7-7-7 try thr ram at 1333 6-7-6. If it would run like that, it would be about the same as 1600.