It all started when I bought a used computer really really cheap. It arrived as somewhat a basket case---infected with over 4000 pieces of malware and running bad. After patiently getting rid of all the malware, I discovered that the motherboard drivers were not even installed. After correcting all this, I had a stable computer with no more BSOD's, that seemed to run a little slow for the hardware. And a download of cpu-z showed why---it was running its 768 MB of pc3200 ram at less than PC2100 speeds.---and now I am trying to correct this and find this strange new world of overclocking--and please do not let any familiarity of jargon fool anyone---I have been trying to read up but am woefully short of any practical experience.
But to get to the system spec which will not make anyone here green with envy.
Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 MB, socket 754 sempron 64 bit 3000+ cpu, running XP pro OS---with valid coa, 80 GB sata harddrive, bios updated to ver 1.3, and 768 MB ram in a board with only two ram slots capable of PC3200 DDR---and its my understanding that a socket 754 makes ddr2 not an option. With a geforce 6100 on board video chip sharing anywhere from 64-128 MB of ram.
Ram slot one=corsair vs512mb400----cpu-z reported spd of 2.5-3-3-8
ram slot two=nanya NT256D64S88B1G-5T which cpu-z reports spd's as a trispeed stick---showing timings as 2-2-2-6@pc2100, 2.5-3-3-7@pc2700, and 3-3-3-8@pc3200. ( on the bright side---repeated runs of memtest86 show ram no errors at any speed I have run them on thus far.)
But leaving my bios on all auto memory settings results in cpu-z reporting my memory frequency is something on the order of 124.1 Mhz and not the ideal
200 it should be. So to just get standard settings I have to overclock. And have been trying to do for the past few months with spotty and only temporary results.
And reading the stickies here get me confused on a few points (1) My motherboard manual clearly states--to over clock I should take memory off auto and select cpu,pcie/Async. (2) I am somewhat confused about cool and quiet---but at idle my 1.8 GHZ processor runs at a multiplier of 5x200 and smoothly throttle up to a multiplier of 9x200 under load. Given the fact my system runs very cool now with no reported temperatures above 100 degrees
F, should I leave cool and quiet as is or disable power savings?
But speaking of temporary---right now--I have the memory running at a frequency of cpu-z reported 201.4 Mhz, fsb dram cpu/5, @ 2.5-3-3-7 @2T,
bank cycle of 10, and a dram idle of 16. ( and strangely the bios does not allow me to select the more logical timings of 3-3-3-8 ) But been there done that---it seldom stays and seemingly after a random number of reboots I am suddenly back to a frequency of 124 MHZ---and the other speaking of temporary, I have finally located a brand new stick of corsair vs1gb400 really really cheap--so in a day or so the nanya stick will be history. But will still be dealing with a slight spd mismatch--because the 512mb stick have a cas of 2.5 and the 1gb stick only comes in cas3.---but the other timings of 3-3-8 are the same.
So my long preamble leads up to the questions---once I remove the nanya stick in slot 2, replace it with the 512mb stick from slot one, and then add the
1GB stick in slot one, what can I do to (a) Insure it runs at at least PC3200.
(b) Insure that after a number of reboots it won't reset to some slower setting. (c) If I still have trouble should I just remove the cas 2.5 chip in slot 2 and run the 1GB stick by itself? (d) As as somewhat a joker question--would you push for more if you owned the system?---and I should explain I am not a gamer---have no heavy current memory needs---but it sure feels slow at pc2100 and I might at some future date upgrade this to vista---and might even consider replacing the sempron with faster athlon 64
with a bigger cache.---but you should know by now---I gotta find it really really cheap.---and I have more time than money.
Any replies appreciated. ( I do note that this evening I edited out a minor typo on mobo designation )
But to get to the system spec which will not make anyone here green with envy.
Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 MB, socket 754 sempron 64 bit 3000+ cpu, running XP pro OS---with valid coa, 80 GB sata harddrive, bios updated to ver 1.3, and 768 MB ram in a board with only two ram slots capable of PC3200 DDR---and its my understanding that a socket 754 makes ddr2 not an option. With a geforce 6100 on board video chip sharing anywhere from 64-128 MB of ram.
Ram slot one=corsair vs512mb400----cpu-z reported spd of 2.5-3-3-8
ram slot two=nanya NT256D64S88B1G-5T which cpu-z reports spd's as a trispeed stick---showing timings as 2-2-2-6@pc2100, 2.5-3-3-7@pc2700, and 3-3-3-8@pc3200. ( on the bright side---repeated runs of memtest86 show ram no errors at any speed I have run them on thus far.)
But leaving my bios on all auto memory settings results in cpu-z reporting my memory frequency is something on the order of 124.1 Mhz and not the ideal
200 it should be. So to just get standard settings I have to overclock. And have been trying to do for the past few months with spotty and only temporary results.
And reading the stickies here get me confused on a few points (1) My motherboard manual clearly states--to over clock I should take memory off auto and select cpu,pcie/Async. (2) I am somewhat confused about cool and quiet---but at idle my 1.8 GHZ processor runs at a multiplier of 5x200 and smoothly throttle up to a multiplier of 9x200 under load. Given the fact my system runs very cool now with no reported temperatures above 100 degrees
F, should I leave cool and quiet as is or disable power savings?
But speaking of temporary---right now--I have the memory running at a frequency of cpu-z reported 201.4 Mhz, fsb dram cpu/5, @ 2.5-3-3-7 @2T,
bank cycle of 10, and a dram idle of 16. ( and strangely the bios does not allow me to select the more logical timings of 3-3-3-8 ) But been there done that---it seldom stays and seemingly after a random number of reboots I am suddenly back to a frequency of 124 MHZ---and the other speaking of temporary, I have finally located a brand new stick of corsair vs1gb400 really really cheap--so in a day or so the nanya stick will be history. But will still be dealing with a slight spd mismatch--because the 512mb stick have a cas of 2.5 and the 1gb stick only comes in cas3.---but the other timings of 3-3-8 are the same.
So my long preamble leads up to the questions---once I remove the nanya stick in slot 2, replace it with the 512mb stick from slot one, and then add the
1GB stick in slot one, what can I do to (a) Insure it runs at at least PC3200.
(b) Insure that after a number of reboots it won't reset to some slower setting. (c) If I still have trouble should I just remove the cas 2.5 chip in slot 2 and run the 1GB stick by itself? (d) As as somewhat a joker question--would you push for more if you owned the system?---and I should explain I am not a gamer---have no heavy current memory needs---but it sure feels slow at pc2100 and I might at some future date upgrade this to vista---and might even consider replacing the sempron with faster athlon 64
with a bigger cache.---but you should know by now---I gotta find it really really cheap.---and I have more time than money.
Any replies appreciated. ( I do note that this evening I edited out a minor typo on mobo designation )
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