• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Need some help / advice OCing an MSI KT4VL

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

none1

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2002
Location
Chicago, IL
OK, I'm new to MSI, and am trying to push the OC. Many of these questions are more windows software based, rather than MSI specific, that's why I'm here and not in the MSI board.

BACKGROUND
$80 for a KT400 board with good features, and nice OC options. It has options for agp, vcore, and memory voltages. It has a FSB options of 100 to 280. The memory speed LOOKS like it can be set INDEPENDENTLY of the FSB. So no matter what FSB I select, I can choose memory speeds of 200,266,333, or 400. I have an agoiaY amd 1600 XP, LOCKED.

I decided to get one really good stick of DDR ram, to try out in some of my other boards too, to see if FSB issues in general are memory or other related. I got:

CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 256MB 32MX8 PC-3200C2 With Heat Spreader OEM
Specifications:
Speed 400MHz
CAS Latency 2-3-3-6-T1

QUESTIONS

1) How can I tell what freq my memory is running at in windows? I can't find this in sandra. I'm suspicious of the bios saying the memory really is independent of the FSB. If so .... WAY COOL, but I want to see numbers in windows that show this.

2) How can I tell what speed my PCI bus is running at? I do not see this ANYWHERE in the bios. My ASSUMPTION is that this board only has a 1/5 divisor, that the there is no 1/6 divisor at 200, and that the 1/5 divisor automatically kicks in at FSB = 166.

On other boards, when I change the FSB, I can usually at least see what the PCI and AGP are running at in the bios. SO, I'm running nervous at 166, is my PCI REALLY at 33, or up at 41??

Again, I can't find this in sandra.

3) What are some recomended ram timings up around 400 DDR?
Ya, I know I can try setting the CAS to 2.5 instead of 2, but do I need to worry about slowing down the other memory timing issues too?

4) Bottom line is, Prime is having issues at 166 FSB. Is it a divider / PCI issue? (should not be) is it a RAM speed issue? (should not be) 166*10.5= fsb 1743 It might be a CPU issue, but temps are not high ....

SO, should I start jacking the mem / CPU voltages, or go unlock the CPU and run at a lower multi?

5) DOES IT EVEN MAKE SENSE, to unlock the CPU, if the memory really can run at 400 DDR independent of the FSB? I mean, usually, we would UNDER multi the CPU, to get the FSB higher, for better memory bandwidth ... but if the mem runs at 400 even with a FSB of 150, no need to unlock the proc, right?

Thanks much.
 
1) sandras benchmarks DO tell you, compare it to memory of the same speed
2)i think your assumption is right
3) you need to unlock your cpu... same here... its the only way to get the correct FSB (200mhz) youlnotice that when you first post, the bios says in big, bold letters what the ram is at.
4) no
5)see #3
if im wrong here, someone else with a kt4 correct me...
 
1) Sandras bench's DON'T tell me. I can't find memory speed or PCI bus speed ANYWHERE.

Can someone point me to exactly where I can see this?

2) With FSB set at 133, the memory comes up a big bold 333 when booting up. One would expect 133*2 = 266, but it says 333 ......

SO WHY WOULD I EVER NEED FSB = 200? If the memory can go 400 DDR without FSB = 200 (the same way it can go 333 at 133 FSB) AND, the CPU is maxed out at say 10.5 *166, why would I ever need to go more FSB? Why need to unlock the CPU?

Thanks,
 
jacheatamobits said:
greater bandwidth.

OK, tell me more.

OPTION 1, FSB = 166, CPU = 10.5*166 = 1743, RAM = DDR 400, at 400.

OPTION 2, FSB = 200, CPU = 8.5 * 200 = 1700, RAM = DDR 400 at 400.

In both cases, the RAM is running at 400 mhz, and CPU is essentially the same speed. So where / how does option 2 give greater memory bandwidth? How do I calc bandwidth?

Thanks much,
 
Back