EPOX 8KTA2 == 8KTA3 ???

[tdc]

Just a silly thought...

I have the EPOX 8KTA2, now this is supposedly a KT133 board..?

Well, why then it has FSB settings up to 166? I mean, no normal 100DDR cpu will run 166, right (or even above 120, for that matter)? So why even include speeds so high?

Unless.. does it mean, perhaps, that I will be able to run 133 DDR processors with it? (Btw the specs for the 8kta2 and 3 are _very_ similar actually..)

P.S I also have this "spec" (??) setting together with the FSB/PCI, it can be set to -.5, -.25 etc.. (example "100/33/-.5") Does anyone know what is it?

Thanks guys

 

[proze]

yup, it is a kt133-based board, but no, it's not the same as the kt133a-based 8kta3.

i think you're a bit muddled on the fsb issue. with the kt133-based boards (asus a7v, abit kt7, epox 8kta, 8kta2), the chipset was (and is) the limiting factor in fsb overclocking. the processors themselves will run happily at speeds over 140mhz as many people have shown on the newer kt133a based boards (asus a7v133, abit kt7a, epox 8kta3). the kt133a chipset can happily chug along at fsbs well over 140mhz, whereas you're very lucky to hit 110mhz stably on a kt133 board. why the manufacturers insist on providing all those unnecessary settings they only know..

hope that clarifies things...

 

[OpenFriday]

Whoa i didnt know that thanks proze, i would have happily bought the 8KTA2 juts because i thought it could to 133+, well im going to the the 8KTA3 once some money finds its way to me.

btw tdc whats your name mean? Ive got a clan in CS called -=TDC=-. Just wondering.

 

[wild_andy_c]

To straighten - it is not the CPU's that won't go over a certain fsb's but the northbridges and clock generators.

The KT133 is flaky, and as such so were a lot of the cheap and nasty clockgens that shipped with them to compliment the necessary range of FSB's.

The spread spectrum option as I know have it stops ringback and cross wave within the processor that can occur when trying to overclock past the limit of the chip. It is a great way of getting an overclock to take to a chip, or for a chip to taqke to an overclock.

I don't know how much you have done on sinal waves and frequency path distribution, but there becomes certain speeds when a wave can cross polate and interfere with an adjacent wave and cause a crash. Spread Spectrum alleviates this.

 

[tdc]

Thanks guys,

Proze, that's kinda what I thought already... I just really wondered why on earth would they include FSB's up to 166 on the kt133. Thanks for clarification.

OpenFriday, "tdc" - in no relation to any clan.. It used to mean something, but it was long ago and sounds silly now, so it's just "tdc" without meaning

wild_andy_c, I've really just begun my studies (2nd semester) so I really have no clue what are the things you're talking about
If you could briefly explain some of them (spread spectrum, ringback, cross wave, frequency path distribution, cross polate..) that'd be great. (Cause I'm really interested in the inner-workings of things as well)

 

[tdc]

Thanks guys,

Proze, that's kinda what I thought already... I just really wondered why on earth would they include FSB's up to 166 on the kt133. Thanks for clarification.

OpenFriday, "tdc" - in no relation to any clan.. It used to mean something, but it was long ago and sounds silly now, so it's just "tdc" without meaning

wild_andy_c, I've really just begun my studies (2nd semester) so I really have no clue what are the things you're talking about
If you could briefly explain some of them (spread spectrum, ringback, cross wave, frequency path distribution, cross polate..) that'd be great. (Cause I'm really interested in the inner-workings of things as well)

 

[wild_andy_c]

All of those things are born from what i've been reading on oscillation of waves in different places around the web.

I just searched on spread spectrum and started reading - big time!!