Advice for my new AMD XP 2600 Barton :)

Hi all

Just got myself a XP 2600 Barton today, my old cpu being a XP 2000 palamino.
I am looking for a little advice on what to do with it apart from cranking up the fsb.

My old xp 2000 was on a 133 = 266ddr fsb, so obviously I cranked up the fsb to 166 = 333 ddr.

However I was expecting it to be over 2gb of cpu power on standard 166 = 333 ddr fsb, but its not its around the 1800 mark, which was a surprise and a dissapointment to me.

However I cranked up the fsb another points to 168mhz which took the 2600 to 1936, so thats not to bad for now.

Thing is though, I have only ever played around with the fsb as far as oc'ing goes. So I would like some advice on what to do with the
CPU Ratio Select (2x5-pin) jumpers on my board, also the DRAM Timing Settings. Both of which I am aware can be used to boost oc performance in some ways, but of which I have zero knowledge on.

My CPU Ratio Select at present is set on auto, so it set it's self at 11.5.

My DRAM Timings Settings are set to - BY SPEED.
By Speed being in this case as follows...
x RAS Active Time 7T
x RAS Precharge Time 3T
x RAS to CAS Delay 3T
CAS Latency 2.5T
Bank Interleave 4 Bank
DRAM Command Rate 2T Command
DRAM Que Depth 4 level


I no from listening to someone try and explain a few things to me, that those x RAS settings in that list above, can be played with to get little perf point jumps.

And also that the CPU Ratio Select can be played with to get perf point jumps also.

Can anyone give me any advice on what to play with, and what to leave alone?

My DDR is Elixir type, so I don't no for certain if it's playable with or not.

Any advice guys/girls ???

007

Read through this thread
Lots of good information in there that probably pertains to your situation.

I'm sure that can help some of your questons.

I have read that thread, and other like it, BUT being fairly new to this, even though I have been a member for a while now, I don't no what numbers like this = 2.5-3-2-8 mean, or whether they are prevelant to my ram or not.

007

those numbers you're referring to are the ram timings.... and they can impact on performance.... depending on how you set them you may be able to overclock the ram higher. It would help if you know what the ram you have is rated at and what timings are recommended.

At the moment I no this much about my ram.

Its called Elixir, and CPU-Z gives it the title
Nanya Techology DDR-SDRAM PC2700 - 512MB

CPU-Z shows the memory as this after I have simply upped the fsb a few notches.

Frequancy 171.8 MHz
FSB-DRAM 1.1
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks.
Cycle Time (Tras) 6 clocks

I would also like to no what I should do -as far as experimenting goes- with the CPU RATIO SELECT jumpers on my board.
At the moment it is on auto and set it's self to 11.5, but it can go up to 12.5.

However I don't no what that will do, or if up or down is better as far as that jumper set goes.

I have my VCore set at 1.70V and am monitoring temps via Winbond Hardware doctor

My temps are a little high at the moment, despite the fact I have the SIBAK coller setup on the new cpu. Maybe I should bye a better one, haven't decided yet.

I guess I am just a tad confused about those ratio select jumpers, and what to do with those memory settings.
On manual I can mess with the
x RAS Active Time 7T
x RAS Precharge Time 3T
x RAS to CAS Delay 3T
CAS Latency 2.5T
Bank Interleave 4 Bank
DRAM Command Rate 2T Command
DRAM Que Depth 4 level
settings like I said, or I can choose either the Optimized, Stable or By Speed settings.

Just looking for advice really

I cant find out any further details about my ram, other than the details on this page ..
link below....
http://www.nanya.com/e-htm/D-E-HTM/e/products/DDR_SDRAM.htm
Remember what I said about what CPU-Z said about my ram, and then look at that page, you cant really make an informed guess as to which ram is mine on there.


007

I was able to bump my PC2700 up to 200mhz, but it was CORSAIR branded ram. Set the RAM 20 6-3-3-2.5 and leave the voltage alone then bump it up 3-5mhz and if it boots into Windows then run PRIME95 on it and SANDRA memory benchmark and see if it passes or locks up. If you're not satisfied with the speeds at the point to where it starts to lock up then you can try to up your voltage, but I wouldn't go over 2.9

the Monster ok thanks, but one question

What does the 20 6-3-3-2.5 relate to in the following on my board ?
x RAS Active Time = which of those numbers?
x RAS Precharge Time = which of those numbers?
x RAS to CAS Delay = which of those numbers?
CAS Latency = which of those numbers?
Bank Interleave 4 Bank
DRAM Command Rate 2T Command
DRAM Que Depth 4 level

I think the ram is holding up fine as far as upping the fsb a few notches each time.
It hasn't given me any problems at all so far.

As for the VCore I can monitor that and the temps of off it, if I need to up it some.

007

2.5 - Cas# Latency
3 - ras to cas delay
3 - ras precharge
6 - cycle time (tras)

if you decide not to overclock the ram you should be able to run the timings at 2.2.2.6 or 7 or 8 at 166mhz (unless of course it's really cheap ram)

HousERaT thanks for advice.

In essence however, if I am going to overclock my fsb to boost my cpu up some, then I will of course have to take the ram along with it.
Why?
Well because my ram isn't 200Mhz 400MHz ddr but only pc2700 333MHz ddr, sowhen I up the fsb it puts extra pressure on both the cpu and the ram, no?

What I should of done last week, is thought more clearly about what I was doing with my upgrade, and gotten 400MHz DDR instead of 333MHz pc2100

Anyways I can do that next month maybe the shop will take the new 333 512 dimm in as trade seen as how it' will only be 2 weeks old when I goto them again

007

i use pc2700 ram and can get my fsb over 200 so wouldnt touch the ram till you start getting trouble, when your increasing your fsb your ram may go up with it,

007 said:

HousERaT thanks for advice.

In essence however, if I am going to overclock my fsb to boost my cpu up some, then I will of course have to take the ram along with it.
Why?
Well because my ram isn't 200Mhz 400MHz ddr but only pc2700 333MHz ddr, sowhen I up the fsb it puts extra pressure on both the cpu and the ram, no?

Click to expand...

You are correct however, as geeman74 said "some" pc2700 ram can do outrageous clocks. Best thing do is try..... I've got some Apacer pc2700 and it won't do much more than like 10MHz over spec. Best thing to do is get some pc3200 or pc3500, that way you will know that the ram is not the limiting factor.

push it push it push it!!! Like I said my DDR2700 will go 200 and then some....

HEH :0 Yeah I will push this ram some for the next few days and see what I can get out of it.

I don't think I need to go for the ram this week and I would much rather get a better more quality hsf like an Cool Master Aero 7 and also some round ide cables instead of the flat grey crap that block half the air-space in the tower lol.

007

i use the aero 7 they are good but id get the new jet 7 insead there supposed to be better, dont get me wrong im happy with the aero 7 it does keep my cpu cool enough