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DREDD
07-18-2002, 12:46 AM
I have been playing with my BIOS and I have 2 possible options for speed and stability.

My system is a Abit BD7-II Mobo with P4 2.26 (533FSB) and 512Mb Samsung DDR PC2700

So I can run my CPU at 400Mhz FSB with the core frequency at 135Mhz and memory at 3:4 for 2.35Ghz and DDR 356 at 3-2-2 timings

or i can run the CPU at 533Mhz FSb with core frequency of 155Mhz and memory at 1:1 for 2.26Ghz and DDR 310 at 3-2-2 timings


my sandra benchmark showes better overall memory bandwidth with the first option but severely lessened CPU score. The second option gives better FPS in games by just a few FPS not much. Sandra showes CPU scores boosted greatly and the memory score lessened.

I have another question. as for the CPU FSB if I set the DRAM ratio HW STRAP on my mobo (the mobo says this sets the ratio between CPU and memory controller I can set for 400 or 533) to 400 and run above 133Mhz sandra says I'm running at above 533Mhz for the CPU. is this correct? I'm a little confused about the P4's FSb settings. Could someone explain a little better what exactly 533Mhz FSb means? I assume 133Mhz x4, but if you run the TRAp at 400 which should set the CPU to 400Mhz FSb and overclock the FSb from 100 to 133 are you running 533?


to explain better the HW STRAP on the mobo allows different ratios for the Memory if I set to low for 400Mhz I can set 1:1 and 3:4 and if I set to high for 533 I can set 1:1 and 4:3.

I know alot of people are buying 1.6A and 1.8A P4 chips. When they move from 100Mhzx4 (400mhz FSB) to 133Mhzx4 (533Mhz FSB) does the CPU now run on a 533Mhz BUS? I thought that the 1.6/1.8A only supported 400?

As you can see I dn't know much about P4 setups other than the most basic needed to build a system.

Bires
07-18-2002, 06:52 AM
I'm assuming you're using RAMBUS memory. Abit mobos sure are cool, eh. Anyway, for my $.02, I would use the configuration with the faster memory bandwidth since the xtra cpu power is a drop in the bucket once you are over 2GHz but the memory bandwidth will allow your programs to task switch faster (load more, and have more programs activate faster when you switch between them).

DREDD
07-18-2002, 09:24 PM
that's exactly what i wanted to know. Thanks for your input.