Problems with xp 1500 and 3dmark2001

[sk240]

First time posting here, hope my post doesn't stray too much from the forum guidelines... I recently got an XP 1500+ with a volcano 6 (very loud) on K7S5A on a 4 yr old atx case (I had a celeron 400@500 on it previously). Several questions...for the o/c bios, I noticed there is a bios for no lan, lan, and fastwrite. What is the difference between the 'lan' bios and 'fastwrite' bios and how do I determine which bios to d/l? Just check the cmos and see it'll allow me to enable 'fastwrite'?

Second question, while running 3dmark2001 SE I ran into several problems. According to the sys. info in 3dmark, my exteral fsb is 66mhz, but the cmos reads 133/133. Any explainations? Is it possible that the 66mhz is due to running pc133 and not ddr?

In addition, 3dmark freezes while benchmarking. I've tried both Win 98 & Win XP and problem presists. I'm using the same vid card (Asus geforce3 ti200) that I have used in my cel 400 (which ran the program just fine). Anyone else experiencing this problem? Could it be that the cooling on my old case just isn't enough to handle the Athlon? I'm getting 50C reading at idle according to cmos.

I apologize in advance for the lengthy post.

 

[flounder43]

Second question, while running 3dmark2001 SE I ran into several problems. According to the sys. info in 3dmark, my exteral fsb is 66mhz, but the cmos reads 133/133. Any explainations? Is it possible that the 66mhz is due to running pc133 and not ddr?

Re: your second question, quoted above. I believe that "external fsb" that you refer to is the speed of the pci/agp bus according to 3dmark.

 

[flounder43]

In addition, 3dmark freezes while benchmarking. I've tried both Win 98 & Win XP and problem presists. I'm using the same vid card (Asus geforce3 ti200) that I have used in my cel 400 (which ran the program just fine). Anyone else experiencing this problem? Could it be that the cooling on my old case just isn't enough to handle the Athlon? I'm getting 50C reading at idle according to cmos.

I apologize in advance for the lengthy post.

RE: your third question, quoted above, 50 does seem high. What kind of HSF (heat sink and fan) are you using?

 

[sk240]

Oh...if thats the agp running 66 hz, then it shouldn't be a problem but I did see other people on madonion's database with the external fsb at 133. I did, however, manage to run pcmark2002 and it gave me a cpu score of 3900, seems along the lines of other xp 1500+...I'm running a thermal take volcano 6...would lapping the heatsink lower the temp significantly? what is an acceptable temperature for the athlon? If 50C is way off where the normal temp should be and assuming that I put the hsf on properly then perhaps its my case? If thats the case...no pun intended...then should I get a bigger case fan or just get a new case?

 

[james.miller]

3dmark alway reports as 66mhz for k7s5a's. its a known bug. i have the same problem
oh and its is the speed of the fsb,not agp. dont worry about it.use sandra if you want to know your real speed

 

[sk240]

Thanks for your help regarding the bug, thats one less thing for me to worry about.

 

[PDL]

Welcome to the forums. You're right on target with the guidelines.
Concerning the 4-yr-old case, you may want to consider the power supply. When you OC it takes more than the standard and the TCO is also important. Look through the FAQs in the ECS section, they will explain a lot of issues.
The LAN and NON-LAN are of course dependent on which board you have. Fastwrites I don't know much about.
Last, if you didn't lap the heatsink and use a thermal compound instead of the 'pad' that comes with some of them, I'd suggest doing both as it does help to cool the processor.

Again welcome and don't worry about lengthy posts...you should see some of mine!!

 

[sk240]

Thanks for all the help, turns out I fixed the freezing problem with 3dmark by installing the Rivatuner's refresh rate fix, which I obtained from 3dguru.com ... I guess I'm fortunate that it is not overheating that was causing the program to freeze..

Regardless, I guess I still should fix the 50C temp since I plan to do at least minor overclocking on the athlon...as for the power supply, I had bought a 300W Sparkle power supply, I can still return it for a 400W version but it cost about 30-40 bucks more...hopefully the 300W will not be the bottleneck. As for the hsf, I am using the thermal compound that came with the hsf kit but I have not yet 'lapped' it. What kind of temp decrease can I expect from 'lapping'?

 

[sk240]

I'm trying to d/l the bios now...according to Rivatuner, I do not have fastwrite enabled, so I guess I'll d/l the 'lan' version. However, what would happen if I d/l the 'fastwrite' version? Would I in turn be able to use fastwrite for my vid card or probably just screw up the mobo?

 

[sk240]

Umm...nevermind, the refresh rate fix didn't stop 3dmark from crashing. I think I was able to run the whole benchmark once w/o crashing was that I had just turned on the computer. I tried to run it again later and it froze again. However, I now think that the freeze in 3dmark is related to heat since when I lay the computer on its sides as opposed to upright and leave the case open, 3dmark did not crash and my idle temperature was 43C, which was 7C lower than when I had the case open in the upright position. I guess until I can obtain sufficient cooling, I'll just leave the computer on its sides w/ the case open when I run benchies. Stupid Volcano 6 (loud and hot...guess the name is fitting) and old computer case...

...oh yeah, I somehow managed to o/c to 148 fsb and got pcmark and 3dmark to run...

 

[james.miller]

i get totally the opposite effect. my temps go sky high when my case is on its side