USB and OC

[Arkaine23]

I can't get much above 150 FSB at any multiplyer, and I was wondering if a USB card or hub or both could affect my OC. Could they? I have a SIIG 5-port PCI USB card and also a 4-port hub. My memory works fine at really mean settings at 150ish FSB, but setting the timings down, cas2.5, and 2t command rate doesn't help me get any more FSB, so I figure the ram still has room to go. I tried OC'ing without my NIC (and with conservative memory timings), but couldn't get any higher that way either. So I'm wondering if my USB stuff might be causing the problem? I don't really need the USB card anymore (I got it because my old AK31's USB never worked). I'll take it out when I get home tonight. Anyone ever have OC trouble with USB cards or hubs?

 

[Monaco]

it's quite common for USB devices to crap out at high FSB speeds. The most common complaint is a high-FSB system whose onboard USB ports simply stop working past 150mhz or so.

In your case, since it's a PCI card, it's likely that it just can't handle the high PCI bus. Try taking it out and give it another try.

The hub shouldn't keep you from overclocking, just the PCI card.

 

[Arkaine23]

USB

Thanks for the advice... The problem is that windows won't load or I get a BSOD at too high of an FSB, not the USB crapping out, though. Maybe I just need to get more vdimm and vio voltages. But I'm gonna do some major stuff when I set up a 2nd HDD and reinstall dual win98se and win2kpro. So much work to do, so little time. I'll remove all my pci cards and test the system and the cards individually and see what happens. Just wish I had more time at home to do all this tweaking!

 

[Monaco]

I'll remove all my pci cards and test the system and the cards individually and see what happens.

yah that's what I would do, it's the easy way to narrow it down.


hope you get it taken care of-

 

[hoytron]

I doubt that it would be a USB device failing at higher speeds. The USB bus runs at 48Mhz regardless of other bus speeds, it's a standard. If the USB contoller is on the PCI bus then it may fail at high PCI bus speeds.

 

[Monaco]

ok, there are actually a couple different things that could be going on:

your mobo has a built-in USB root controller. On some motherboards, the controller will fail at high bus speeds(150mhz+). The USB bus speed is not affected, but the chipset is, and is unable to acces the USB hub. In this case, your USB ports just stop working while the rest of the PC is fine. This used to be quite common on VIA mobos of a few months ago, but for the most part it is fixed nowadays.

Or, your system has NO built in USB ports, so you go buy a PCI USB root card. Like any other PCI card, it's bus speed is determined by the PCI divisor*FSB. If it can't handle a certain bus speed, the card will lock and bring down the whole PC with it, most likely not even getting past POST.

thx, just felt like typing