Could someone advise me on the best bios settings for my new system :)

[Muskogeee]

Hello everyone,

I just put together my first new system in about 10 years, back then I knew how to setup the bios, but all the settings nowdays throw me for a loop.

My relevant specs are as follows:

GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H (REV. 3.1) Motherboard

AMD Athlon FX-4170 Black Edition (is there even a non black?)

8gb Gskill Ripjaws DDR3-1600


I was hoping some kind and gentle soul could take the time and enlighten me as to exactly what my bios settings should be to get optimal performance out of this budget rig. I don't need to push the overclocking to it's limits I just want a good balance of stability and performance.

I followed Gskill's guide to setting up the ram for black edition cpus here:

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=7688

but whenever I set the CPU NB frequency manually it won't post. Even if I set it to 2200 which is what the "auto" option sets it to. Other than CPU NB Freq I can change all of the other settings and it will boot fine.


All of my relevant bios options are as follows:


CPU OPTIONS

CPU Clock Ratio
CPU NorthBridge Freq.
Core Performance Boost
CPB Ratio
Turbo CPB
CPU Host Clock Control
CPU Frequency
PCIE Clock
HT Link Width
HT Link Freq
Set Memory Clock
Memory Clock

DRAM OPTIONS

DCTs Mode
DDR3 Timing Items
1T/2T Command Timing
CAS# latency
RAS to CAS R/W Delay
Row Precharge Time
Minimum RAS Active Time
TwTr Command Delay
Trfc0 for DIMM1
Trfc1 for DIMM2
Write Recovery Time
Precharge Time
Row Cycle Time
RAS to RAS Delay
Channel Interleaving
Bank Interleaving
DQS Training Control
Memclock tri-stating

VOLTAGE OPTIONS

DDR3 Voltage Control
NorthBridge Volt Control
SouthBridge Volt Control
CPU NB VID Control
CPU Voltage Control

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thank You.

 

[EvilJoker]

Are you setting the RAM timings and volts to manf. specs? ANd Your not tring to change the FSB all at once are you?(as in change alittle at a time)?

 

[storm-chaser]

Hello everyone,

I just put together my first new system in about 10 years, back then I knew how to setup the bios, but all the settings nowdays throw me for a loop.

but whenever I set the CPU NB frequency manually it won't post. Even if I set it to 2200 which is what the "auto" option sets it to. Other than CPU NB Freq I can change all of the other settings and it will boot fine.

VOLTAGE OPTIONS

DDR3 Voltage Control
NorthBridge Volt Control
SouthBridge Volt Control
CPU NB VID Control
CPU Voltage Control

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thank You.

1) FSB should be set to 200mhz
2) DDR3 should be set to 1600mhz (if supported) and timings set to manual you can download cpuz or aida64 to obtain proper timings for your ram

With the phenom II there are two real overclock ideals. A) cpu multi and B) NB speed. These are the two greatest factors in netting MAX throughput.
Your NB voltage should be in the 1.2-1.29 range
your CPU-NB should be in the 1.39-1.45 range
Once the CPU NB voltage goes up you should be able to increase your NB clock. I have my hexacore running the NB @ 3000mhz stable, fyi

edit: dont mess with the southbridge it doesnt effect performance, thus you should NOT have to change voltages for the SB. key is finding the sweet spot combining best NB and cpu clock and memory timings. Set them to XMP settings. Download CPU z to figure out the proper timings. or just google the pn on the ram. What Proc are you running anyway?

 

[Muskogeee]

The cpu is an athlon fx-4170.

I'm following the ram manufacturers guide to setting it up to the letter. I linked to it above.

It's only when I change the CPU NB Frequency that the system wont boot. All the other settings work fine.

I tried upping the voltage, btw is CPU NB VID voltage the same as CPU NB Voltage, cause the VID is the only option I have. I'm not sure how high it's safe to go.

 

[trents]

Please put your system info in your "Sig" so it travels with every post you make. This is a courtesy to those helping you on the forum as when the thread starts to get long its a hassle to try and glean the details from the various posts you make. To create a Sig, go to the top of the page and click on Quick Links and then click on Edit Signature. You have enough posts now to access the feature. You can refer to my Sig for an example of what we want included or to someone else's sig if you want.