Real Newbie with a GA-7VAX looking to do some tweaking

Hi there, Im a REAL Newbie to PC Building and System Modding. I have some questions for you guys if you have the time and patience.

Right now, Im running a
Athlon XP 2400 (266FSB, Default Speed)
GA-7VAX Mobo (not sure of revision, but I have access to 166FSB switch)
512 MB of Samsung PC3200 DDR RAM
Geforce 4 Ti 4200 w/128 DDR, AGP 8x
500W PS
Its air cooled, running around 28-30 C during use.

Any suggestions as to where I should begin?

I know I cant change the CPU multiplier in the GA-7VAX BIOS, but I notice I have free reign over the FSB b/w 133 and 200.

Some dumb questions.

If DDR400 is supposed to run at 400mhz, why does it always rate as 200mhz? Same goes for all RAM types. Is this just a redundancy in terminology, or its upper limit if you increase the FSB to 200mhz?

Whats the 1/5 divider?

Thank you all soo much for your time.

The DDR400 runs at double 200MHz, DDR stands for Double Data Rate.
1/5 divider is the means of getting the correct PCI/AGP speeds when the FSB is set to 166. ie 166/5=33. Same goes for 1/4 when at 133 and 1/6 for 400.

What I would suggest you do is the wire trick and get the multi down to 12.5x (dips on mobo) and then set the SW1 to 166 and your DDR to 333(166). When you have done that the CPU wont be OCed but the DDR will be in sync and the extra FSB will give a big performance boost. You should manage to get the FSB up a fair bit higher than 166 but you may have to increase the VCore slightly (depends on CPU stepping) You should manage 180FSB easily. Remember that the temps will increase dramatically when you increase the VCore so keep an eye on them. Also there is always a risk of damaging hardware by OCing, but with the new XP's and modern hardware its not that great a risk.
Any more questions just ask, but answer will be later as im off to bed now, its 2:05am here.
Hood

BTW you will see how to do the Wire Trick here or alternativly you could join the 5th L3 bridge with conductive paint.

Would the higher FSB keep the CPU running at the same speed at that lower Mult?

And what are the benefits of Syncing the RAM over keeping it Async?

And thank you soo much

IT would actually be 12x that would give about the same speed, your default is 15x 133=1995MHz and at 12x it would give 12x 166=1992MHz.
Getting the DDR and CPU running the same bus speed(synchronous) will stop one or the other being a bottle neck. eg if the CPU is on 266 bus and DDR is on 400 bus then your DDR would be waiting for the CPU to catch up.
Hood

Cool, thank you.

How high could I get the FSB before the AGP/PCI buses become a problem?

And on a side note, do you know how Hypertransport technology will affect our ability to push FSBs even higher?

You should manage the FSB to atleast 180 and more than likely a bit more, it will just depend on your hardware. Remember you may have to either drop the multi or increase the VCore to get the FSB higher.
As an example of how getting the FSB higher for a given CPU speed gives better performance.
I had my CPU running 2525MHz 14x180FSB and got a SuperPI 1 meg score of 45Seconds, I am now running the CPU at a slower MHz (2400 now) but have the FSB at 218MHz and the multi at 11x, my SuperPI has dropped 3 seconds, which is a big jump. That just goes to show that having the CPU and FSB in sync on as high a FSB as possible gives better performance, even if the CPU is running at 2400 rather than 2500.
Hood

Oh BTW sorry dont know anything about Hypertransport technology. Never done any reading up on it.
Oh and just another thing I better say is that I have a NForce2 mobo and thats the reason I can get the FSB so high.

Alright, Makes a lot of sense.

From what I understand the Nforce Mobos allow you to lock your AGP/PCI rates correct? So you just have to worry about Vcore and Heat dispersion when you push the FSB correct?

In Sync with the RAM, is this very specific? or is it also based on Multiples?

For instance if FSB 266 with DDR266 is in sync, does that mean that FSB 133 is also in sync with DDR266?
Or in theory that FSB 532 is also in sync with DDR266?

I checked out your website and the Wire trick. Does the wire need to be stripped of the rubber insulation first?

Also, does this unlock the Multipliers, or just allow you to access the lower Mults than what the Chip is already set at?

I tried to just change the Mult on the Mobo without the wire trick and the system wouldnt even POST, is that normal when you try to alter the Mult on a locked chip?

No sync means that the FSB and DDR are at exactly the same MHz.
If you have the FSB at 166 then to be in sync your DDR should be set at 333(actually 166 x 2) so both are actually on a bus of 166. Same would go for 133FSB then the DDR would be 266(2x 133) to be in sync.
Hope you follow.
And yes you are correct about the NForce2 mobos, the PCI is locked and the AGP can be set manually or left locked at 66.
Hood

Haha crossed posted,
Yes the wire should be stripped bare of the insulation, and the wire trick just defaults the CPU to the 5x to 12.5x range.
It is also correct that your CPU wouldnt post when setting the dips to anything other than Auto. This is because your CPU uses the 13x to 22x multi range by default. Also it is worth mentioning that technically the wire trick doesnt unlock the CPU as it is already unlocked, or rather it has never been locked in the first place. What the wire trick does is change the multiplier range, many people call this unlocking but I feel it just confuses people and prefer to refer to it as Range Changing. Maybe a bit picky but it can cause a lot of confusion.
Hood

Excellent. Thank you soo much for your time. You have been a huge help.

though Im not cashing in my Mobo just yet, I also know a lot more about what to look for in the future.

No problems and if I can help any further just ask, may not know the answer but if I do I will certainly help.
Hood

OH also dont know if you are aware, but for extra memory timings amongst other things you press Ctrl+F1 when on the main BIOS page and then when you go to some of the other pages you will see extra options.
Hood