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8K9A3+, DDR400, and Bartons (333FSB)

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Wa11y

Senior Thread Hijacker
Joined
May 17, 2001
Location
Six inches to the right.
I just plopped down a sizeable chunk of money on a new PC, and am having an issue getting it to work. The processor is an XP 3000+ Barton with the 333FSB (166x2). I'm using two 512MB sticks of Crucial DDR400 (PC3200) and the Epox 8K9A3+. Fresh out of the box a few hours ago. I have yet to update the BIOS, so it's currently running on the 02/12/2003 BIOS, and in my research I've found that some think the February BIOSes are crap.

There's the back story, and here's the problem I'm having:

The mobo has a jumper to set the CPU FSB to 100 or 133. I've got that set to 133. Then I go into the BIOS, under Power BIOS features, and set the FSB to 166. That takes away the option to force the RAM to DDR400, but only gives me By SPD, and DDR333. If, however, I leave the FSB at 133, I can force the RAM to DDR400. If I leave it at By SPD, it autodetects it as DDR400.

If I set the FSB to 166, it correctly shows that the processor is an Athlox XP 3000+, but the RAM only shows up at DDR333 (PC2700). If I set the FSB to 133, the RAM shows up correctly as DDR400 (PC3200), however the processor shows up as Athlon XP 1733MHz.

So how can I set the Processor FSB to 166 to get my XP 3000+ to show up correctly, while getting my RAM to correctly show up as DDR400? According to the EPOX website, this board supports both 333FSB for the CPU, and DDR400. As found here.
 
Just found out the 2/12/03 BIOS is the latest. Which means flashing the BIOS probably won't do much. Anyone got any constructive suggestions?
 
hay guy, wahts goin on :cool:

Does the BIOS have DRAM clock dividers/ratios? Like, 150%, 100%, 83%, 66%, etc. Mine does, and that's how you set it to run at 400mhz manually if your bus is at 166. I've got a 8RGA (nForce2) but it's an Epox DDR400 board so some things will be similar.

Anyway, there's no point in running memory faster than processor FSB. Just sayin...
 
donny_paycheck said:
hay guy, wahts goin on :cool:

Does the BIOS have DRAM clock dividers/ratios? Like, 150%, 100%, 83%, 66%, etc. Mine does, and that's how you set it to run at 400mhz manually if your bus is at 166. I've got a 8RGA (nForce2) but it's an Epox DDR400 board so some things will be similar.

Anyway, there's no point in running memory faster than processor FSB. Just sayin...
Thanks for the reply. I was starting to think people had forgotten about me and all the joy I brought all of you with Yatta!;)

Anyhoo, I'll have to check, but I'm not sure if it does. I know it's got a place where I can set my RAM speed, but as stated above, if I set my FSB to 166, I can only set my RAM to 333. Which kinda negates the point of buying a board and RAM that can run at 400.

And it may not make much difference, but it adds some girth to my e-pdue. And that's all that's important![/sarcasm]
 
I just checked, and no, I don't see any RAM divisors. Nothing that'll let me change it beyond the option of "RAM Speed" either By SPD or forced to DDR333.
 
I dunno then. What about if you set the FSB jumper to 100? That might kick in some hardware governed divisor independent of BIOS, but it's a stretch. I'm kind of confused as to why Epox wouldn't allow you to manually change anything to anything in BIOS. They usually do.
 
Which is exactly what confused me, especially since the board is listed as able to do both 333FSB and DDR400. I may try and drop the jumper to 100FSB (which was another point of confusion: why a jumper that does 100 and 133, but not 166?) and try that.
 
KT400 boards CAN'T run 166FSB and DDR400 mem, this was removed from the spec of the KT400 near the first week of release.

The KT400A adds the abillity to run DDR400 as well as a 166FSB.

So basically you will never be able to run DDR400 and a 166FSB with a KT400 mobo as it is hard wired so it can't be done.

It's a strange thing I know, why you can runn 100/133FSB and DDR400 but not 166 is anyones guess.

Eitherway its not a great loss as running DDR400 on a KT400 board async gives slower performance than running DDR333 in sync with the cpu @ 166FSB.

EdIT - as for epox listing the board as supporting 333FSB and DDR400, this is true, however they can't be run at the same time.
 
HeXaDeCiMaL said:
KT400 boards CAN'T run 166FSB and DDR400 mem, this was removed from the spec of the KT400 near the first week of release.

The KT400A adds the abillity to run DDR400 as well as a 166FSB.

So basically you will never be able to run DDR400 and a 166FSB with a KT400 mobo as it is hard wired so it can't be done.

It's a strange thing I know, why you can runn 100/133FSB and DDR400 but not 166 is anyones guess.

Eitherway its not a great loss as running DDR400 on a KT400 board async gives slower performance than running DDR333 in sync with the cpu @ 166FSB.

EdIT - as for epox listing the board as supporting 333FSB and DDR400, this is true, however they can't be run at the same time.
Wow, it's like the KT133 all over again. Gah! So annoying! And I feel I was mislead by Epox, but that's not something that need be discussed here. Thanks for the info, HeXaDeCiMaL. That was exactly the information I needed.

I've been out of the loop WAY too long, and should have done some more research. Fool me once, shame on me.
 
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