Multipier???

[adambeazley]

Ok everyone keeps telling me to mess with the multipier but I can figure out where it is. Im guessing it is somewhere in the bios but i didnt see it, looked all through the manual but nothing about multipier. I have a Gigabyte 7GA-VAXP and an AMD 2500 barton that im trying to over clock.
Please help
Adam

[georgelogy]

Unfortunately, I don't think the Gigabyte 7VAXP has an option to cange the multiplier.

You might want to check for a BIOS update, maybe they added that feature.

Source: AnandTech Review (http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1721&p=4)

[adambeazley]

Well I found something called CK_RATIO (clock ratio)its an onboard setting that you can change the CPU speed. There are many different option here I will list a few:
5x
5.5x
6x
all the way to
12x
>=12.5x

And there is another on board setting for CPU CLOCK
100mhz
133mhz
166mhz

can I do anything with these settings to up the CPU speed??

thanks
Adam

[StinkBreff]

Finally, we take a look at the overclocking "features" the 7VAXP offers; unfortunately, there are hardly any convenient overclocking options. Besides the voltage tweaks available (which are pretty good for the most part, considering you can adjust AGP, Vcore, and VDIMM with slack), there are no intriguing overclocking features. The maximum attainable FSB through the 7VAXP's BIOS goes only as high as 165MHz, or if you enable the DIP switches, 166MHz-200MHz. In addition, there are no PCI divider or multiplier adjustment options in the BIOS. The board itself does contain jumpers that would allow multiplier options to be turned on, but nothing too flexible. Overclockers should be turned off by this point, which is somewhat of a disappointment since Gigabyte was actually becoming more enthusiast/overclocking friendly for a while.

Stable DDR400 Timings
(all banks populated)

Clock Speed: 200MHz
Timing Mode: Normal
CAS Latency: 2.5
Bank Interleave: 2-bank
Precharge to Active: 3T
Active to Precharge: 5T
Active to CMD: 3T
Command Rate: 1T
You can problably run cas 2 also.. If you go with 200 fsb , drop the multipler to 10x for default voltage overclocking
There is also a F14 bios , might help .. Might not ..

[Gnufsh]

Well I found something called CK_RATIO (clock ratio)its an onboard setting that you can change the CPU speed. There are many different option here I will list a few:
5x
5.5x
6x
all the way to
12x
>=12.5x

That would be the multi...


And there is another on board setting for CPU CLOCK
100mhz
133mhz
166mhz

and the FSB


can I do anything with these settings to up the CPU speed?


Yes. CPU speed is given by FSB x multiplier, so increasing either one increases your CPU speed. Make sure you know all the risks involved before begining the overclcok. You may just be able to bring the FSB up to 200MHz, if your RAM can take it and get the same speed as an XP 3200+, but you may need better cooling and a voltage bump to stay stable.

[adambeazley]

Ahh thanks man, I figured that out after I wrote this, but as you can tell im a little new to the whole overclocking scene. Anyway in regards to your statement, I will have a water cooled rig so cooling shouldnt be an issue. As far as ram goes, im about to get 1 Gig of that Kingston Hyper X 3200 ddr400. That should sufice for quite a while.
Now for a few more questions, being that you seem to know all about this stuff. What steps should I take when doing this? Should I first step up the FSB in small steps and see if I can get it to 200 without it freezing up? And when will I mess with the multiplier? In other words, if you were in my shoes what steps would you take and in what order?

Also do I need some special software to run test on my system while doing all of this to check for stability?

thanks
Adam

[adambeazley]

sorry i forgot to mention that my motherboard only has settings that go up to 166FSB and 12.5x multiplier.
Adam

[Gnufsh]

Well, unless your CPU is one of the newly locked bartons, here is what I would do:

I'd lower the multiplier and see if you can do 166MHz on the FSB (you probably can). I'd also make sure that the RAM is set to run in synch with the FSB (1:1). Then, I see how tight the timings would stabily go (you can use memtest86 to test memory stability). After that, I'd work up the multiplier and see how high I could get the CPU stabily (with a little voltage bump if it starts being a little unstable). Not having the 1MHz FSB setting makes Overclcoking more difficult, you can't quite tune in that perfect maximum CPU speed as eaisly. Befre you start overclcoking, you should understand the risks involved. I recomend reading a lot of archived articles and guides on the overclcokers.com page, and browsing these forums for a while until you have a good idea of what you're doing. There is also an AMD ocing guide here:
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=376
that may be helpful.

166x12.5 gives you a maximum overclocked speed of 2075 MHz, eaisly doable with a good stepping Barton. The stock speed of a 2500+ Barton is about 1826MHz, so that would "only" be about a 249MHz overclock.

[adambeazley]

Thnks again man,
That was a great article you gave me at TweakTown.com it has really increased my understanding of OCing. I appreciate your directions too, i will definently take your advice. Im realising now that my Gigabyte 7GA-VAXP isnt all that in terms of OCing potential. But quite frankly I was only planning on attempting a very modest Over clock. I was shooting for 2100 but that doesnt look doable with my Moboard.
Anyway thanks for the help
Adam
PS do you recomend that hyper x ram? or is there better stuff out there at around the same price?

[unreal]

yeah gnufsh is right.