GA-7VA Memory Bandwidth

markodude · Feb 27, 2003

Ok so this is a reasonable board, I just built a system for a mate using one....
I have it running with a 133FSB 2400+, ATM I cant find any multiplier adjustments so I have the FSB at 133 and DDR at 200(400).
I did a memory bandwidth benchmark and Sandra shows it as running 200FSB DDR400 on RAM, and 133FSB CPU, but memory bandwidth is only 1500Mb/s, I expected nearer 3000. Is this because of the bottleneck between FSB and RAM?
Can the multiplier be changed on this board or would I have to mod my 2400+? It was unlocked on my KT333 board with limited multis available but I thought a KT400 board would give me them all!

Ben Cole · Feb 28, 2003

Multi adjusts by dipswitches next to cpu.

markodude · Feb 28, 2003

That CK-Ratio dsw is not on the 7VA which I am talking about, just the 7VAX and 7VAXP unfortunately

Ben Cole · Feb 28, 2003

My mistake...sorry I thought the VA/X/P were all basically the same.

markodude · Feb 28, 2003

lol, so did I when I bought it, except dual BIOS and on-board LAN I thought it was the same board, if I had known there was no multi adjustment I may not have bothered.
I also forgot KT400 boards dont have the fixed AGP/PCI bus option, which really sucks, being used to P4 overclocking I take it as a standard function...nForce2 for my next AMD chip I think, even though I have heard of some problems, unless KT400A will allow Fixed AGP/PCI and support Dual channel (which I hear it doesnt) then there is no other option....

Jinxter · Feb 28, 2003

It's really easy to add your own multiplier control to the 7VA, I've done it on mine, let me know if you want details, you don't need to mod the CPU, just the board. I get the same bandwidth drop when setting mem to 400Mhz, it's because you need to run @ FSB of 200Mhz to get the benefit, stick with 133/166 for the time being until you can lower the multiplier, not all chips will run at 200 tho, and I don't know what happens to the AGP/PCI dividers at 200 either on this board. The lack of a 66/33 lock really sucks.

markodude · Mar 1, 2003

Wow cheers Jinxter if it was my board then I would not hesitate, but it is a mates board and Im not too bothered about it (well not so much as to get the soldering iron out and void his warranty!)

If I buy myself an Athlon system, Ill probably go nforce2 and 2100+ anyway.....

Jinxter · Mar 1, 2003

Ok, no probs, you should go for a 1700+ TBred "B" instead of a 2100+, the 1700+ is a demon overclocker

adelphia83 · Mar 3, 2003

And so is the 2100+... It will do 2.4 ghz which is 3000+ speeds, and often goes much higher.

I just built a system for my friend (who's main goal was stability) and I was able to get 2.4ghz no problem (1.70v) with the 2100+ chip..

As far as I know the highest average speed is 2.2ghz for the 1700+... but then again it's 40$ cheaper.

On the bright side, the 200mhz makes a BIG difference on the Athlon processor.

Jinxter · Mar 4, 2003

Yes I think the (stable) limit for the 1700+ B is around 2.2Ghz, but I'm going to try for 2.3-2.4 and see if it does it, the 2100+ is a bit expensive for me at the moment, but prices will come down, they always seem to.

floricelu · Mar 20, 2003

Jinxter said:
It's really easy to add your own multiplier control to the 7VA, I've done it on mine, let me know if you want details, you don't need to mod the CPU, just the board. I get the same bandwidth drop when setting mem to 400Mhz, it's because you need to run @ FSB of 200Mhz to get the benefit, stick with 133/166 for the time being until you can lower the multiplier, not all chips will run at 200 tho, and I don't know what happens to the AGP/PCI dividers at 200 either on this board. The lack of a 66/33 lock really sucks.

Jinxter,

I'm interested in mod 7VA in order to have multiplier!
Thanx!

Fever · Mar 22, 2003

You shouldn't run your RAM faster then your CPU's FSB, all it does is creat latency which actually hinders performance. Keep it in sync.

GA-7VA Memory Bandwidth

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