fsb & multiple settings confusion

[lordsatan]

hello everyone,
I have been browsing the forums for a few weeks now since I made my switch of allegiance from intel to amd.(steep learning curve:eek: )
I have avoiding asking newbie questions by searching and reading as much as I can on the subject of FSB and MULTIPLYER settings.
I have have my fsb at 168(2 over default) and mutiplyer set at 13(default) giving me a speed of 2184.This has run and passed benchmarks etc with no problems whatsoever.
The problem is that this morning I put my Fsb up to 170 and kept the multiplyer the same(hoping for 2210) and I got the system failed memory test message.
Reset the cmos and rebooted setting the fsb to 170 and the multiplyer to 12.5 and I still got the memory test failed message.(even though this should be 2125 less than my stable settings from before)

I have my memory timings set at optimal so I haven't overclocked the ram.
What am I missing?
:confused: :confused:

[Gnufsh]

You are overclocking your ram, though not my much. Try increasing the memory voltage. You may also want to play with enabling/disabling Quick Post in yor BIOS to see if it does anything (I had a wierd problem with that once).

[lordsatan]

wierd I have just raised my fsb to 200 and set the multiplyer to 11 getting 2200 and it has booted fine and stays steady under benchmarking.
I am still learning what I can but dont understand this one

[Gnufsh]

I don't know your board well, but it could be that it's trying to run your ram at it's default speed (166MHz). When you try to run at 170, it doesn't have a divider to get the ram speed any closer to default, so it runs it at 170MHz. When you switched to a 200MHz FSB, it has a proper divider, and your memory runs at its default of 166MHz. I don't know if the A7N8X is even capable of this, however.

[hangten]

What bios u running and your board is it a rev2.0 or 1.4 . I had that happen with the 1006 and then resorted back to the uber1004 it ran the fastest and the setting didn't hic up like its seems thats whats happening.Try using one of these. Please back it up on a floppy as well. Just use the Asus update (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/)

[deeppow]

Overclocking an AMD has one additional step than an Intel setup. The Intel has the cpu multiplier locked but AMD isn't and can be more finely tuned regarding the memory speed and cpu speed. You might try this link (http://www.deep-powder.net/OC_Guide/Mem_Mobo_CPU_Overclocking_Guide.htm#mechanics) to work thru the tuning process. :cool:

[lordsatan]

thanks for your help people.
my motherboard is version 2.0 and I have the latest asus bios (1007 I think).
Is it dangerous using a modified bios?

[deeppow]

Originally posted by lordsatan
Is it dangerous using a modified bios?

Changing bios settings will not destroy the board. If the settings get too high (for example a very high fsb) then the board might not post or boot. In that case, you reset the CMOS (a pin connection on most boards) and start over. Resetting the CMOS returns the bios to default setting.

The other potential problem is setting too high a voltage for memory or cpu. A memory voltage of 2.7 or 2.8 is "normal" and you can run up to 3.0 but I would only do that testing and then drop it back. The cpu voltage can be a problem in that if you go too high in voltage the cpu will get hot. Good cooling is required for high cpu voltages. Typically cpu voltages up to 1.8 or 1.9 can be exercised with good air cooling. Watch you cpu temp under load when you raise the voltage.

[Gnufsh]

Originally posted by lordsatan
thanks for your help people.
my motherboard is version 2.0 and I have the latest asus bios (1007 I think).
Is it dangerous using a modified bios?

Well, it depends on the bios. It could be modified to make boing impossible, and that would be bad. You'd eiher have to hot flash or be out of a board. On the otherhand, I'm using slightly modified bioses on a couple of my boards without any problems right now (I even gave one to my mom).