thanks for the reply's so far guys... and nice work Caveman!
is there an accurate way to monitor temps from within Windows? seeing how Speedfan is not, which software will actually monitor correctly?
here's my Voltage specs and timmings:
FSB @ 310mhz w 10x multi (3.1ghz)
CPU voltage @ 1.43v
RAM: 5-5-5-18 @ 2.1v (934mhz - give or take I'm not in front of my machine)
Now, what do you guys think i should do about the RAM? Should i try for 4-4-4-12? will that make a significant gain in performance? and 2.1v is stock for Ballistix no?...if I'm wrong PLEASE correct me.
and also, If I was to get a new Cooler, which one is best in the $30 range, and is the extra 200-300mhz really worth it??
thanks brotha's!
Hey JD, nice choice and good job! If I'd have chimmed in earlier, I would have reccommended the path you took
As for your current setup, your doing great, but I've heard that the 15 degree variance in Speedfan only effects some CPUs. To find out, go into your BIOS for a couple of minutes and watch you CPU temps...then go load Windows/Speedfan and let it idle for a few minutes, the temps should be about the same. If Speedfan shows 12-15 degrees less than the BIOS, you can modify your readings in Speedfan to show the accurate temps (+15 degrees).
I think you could probably get a lot higher with a good cooler, but my advice is not to waste $30 on a cooler that will just "work" well for your current CPU. If you plan to upgrade your CPU to a newer model within the next year, plan ahead and get one that will OC your next CPU well too, that way you won't have to upgrade the cooler again later.
With RAM performance, generally speaking DDR2-800 @ 4-4-4-12 and DDR2-1000 @ 5-5-5-15 are about equal in overall performance. I also have DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix (4x1GB) and have mine stable at 900MHz @ 4-4-4-12, however I was less successful OCing with 5-5-5-15 timing, only reaching about 1100MHz. The good news for me is I am able to run my 900MHz @ 4-4-4-12 with only 2.05V so I am not so worried about them dieing on me (as many people have experiance with 2.2-2.3V).
To get your RAM at 900MHz, you could try one of the following settings:
FSB @ 300MHz x10 = 3000MHz RAM @ 2:3
FSB @ 338MHz x9 = 3042MHz RAM @ 3:4
FSB @ 360MHz x9 = 3240MHz RAM @ 4:5
FSB @ 375MHz x8 = 3000MHz RAM @ 5:6
FSB @ 450MHz x7 = 3150MHz RAM @ 1:1
As far as you L2 cache question - certain apps see lots of improvement (especially games, 5-10% with twice the cache), others don't see any at all. That is where you FSB comes into play, the are two arguments for higher FSB speeds, the obvious one is saturating the avalible bandwidth with too much data (ie multitasking with a quad core). The other is to increase communication between the CPU and the memory, this becomes more important the less L2 cache you have. Because the less L2 you have, the more the CPU needs to access the main memory...and the faster it can do it, the less negative impact your small L2 cache will have.
Based on that, my reccommendation would be to run the last config I listed above. Most P35 boards have no trouble running these types of settings, you'll probably have to give the FSB & MCH a little voltage bump in the BIOS, but other than that it should be alright. Just make sure you stress stest your rig with your desired settings before accepting them for 24/7 use.
Good Luck!
