Clueless Newbie Question

[Bobbarry]

I am a complete newbie and have assembled my first computer with the following:

Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X (MB NFORCE2 A7N8X-UAY 400Mhz ASUS RT)
CPU: AMD 2600/333 ATHLON XP BARTON R
Memory: CORSAIR 512MB TWINX512-3200C2 RT
Video Card: VGA ATI RADEON 9600XT 128M 8X
Hard Drive: Western Digital 80GB WD 7200RPM 8MB WD800
Disk Drive: Sony CDRW/DVD CRX300E/A
Floppy: Alps 1.44MB DF354H068F
Operating: Windows XP Home w/SP1a

After assembly, turned on the power and everything worked fine. I then installed Windows XP without any problem. I did set the "CPU External Frequency" to 166 which for this board translates to FSB 333. Other than that I have not changed any of the BIOS settings except time and date.

To have my system run at its designed speed, is there something else I should be doing? I am not interested in overclocking, if I understand the term correctly. For example, when looking under System (in Control Panel), Windows says I have an AMD processor running at 1.14GHz. Is this an accurate number or just a number they put in based on the chip installed? Actually my first question should be how do you tell how fast the system is running?

I have noted the following settings in BIOS
SDRAM Active Precharge Delay 4
SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay 2
SDRAM RAS Precharge Delay 2
SDRAM CAS Latency 2T

The system has been running steady as a rock, so I am reluctant to jump in and start changing things. Also, in general, I have no clue what I am doing .

 

[adams828]

Can you tell us what the multiplier setting in the BIOS is? Your memory settings are fine, but your chip should be running at 1.9GHz. As far as I know, windows should report the proper speed. What does the screen say the chip speed is when you first turn it on? (as it first boots up) It should say something about the processor as well. Two programs that will give you CPU info are CPU-Z, and aida32.

 

[dnuggett]

Check the FSB again, make sure the setting @ 166 was saved. Other than that up the multi.

 

[TGHI]

That's not right. The barton 2600 should be running at 1.91Ghz. Nice timings on the RAM, though, I would be careful because I have the same memory and got different stabilities with different OSes - meaning that if the timings 'work' in XP - it still might not actually be stable.




TGHI

 

[TGHI]

That's not right. The barton 2600 should be running at 1.91Ghz. Nice timings on the RAM, though, I would be careful because I have the same memory and got different stabilities with different OSes - meaning that if the timings 'work' in XP - it still might not actually be stable.




TGHI

 

[TGHI]

That's not right. The barton 2600 should be running at 1.91Ghz. Nice timings on the RAM, though, I would be careful because I have the same memory and got different stabilities with different OSes - meaning that if the timings 'work' in XP - it still might not actually be stable.




TGHI

 

[TGHI]

That's not right. The barton 2600 should be running at 1.91Ghz. Nice timings on the RAM, though, I would be careful because I have the same memory and got different stabilities with different OSes - meaning that if the timings 'work' in XP - it still might not actually be stable.




TGHI

 

[TGHI]

That's not right. The barton 2600 should be running at 1.91Ghz. Nice timings on the RAM, though, I would be careful because I have the same memory and got different stabilities with different OSes - meaning that if the timings 'work' in XP - it still might not actually be stable.




TGHI

 

[TGHI]

Shiaaat, sorry about the zillion posts...stupid connection.

 

[Bobbarry]

Thank you for your help. I got CPU-Z, the results:

Name: AMD Athlon XP
Code Name: Barton
Specification: AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Core Speed: 1531.0
Multiplier: x11.5
FSB 133.1 MHz
Bus Speed: 266.3 MHz

I am confused since the chip I ordered is 2600+ (the box says 2600+)

 

[dml54]

You need to change the fsb to 166 not the 133 you have it at

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: dnuggett
Check the FSB again, make sure the setting @ 166 was saved. Other than that up the multi.

 

[Bobbarry]

 

[Bobbarry]

Thank you gentlemen: You are correct...got setting to 166 and Windows now says 2600+ @ 1.91 GHz 7-3-3-2T.

Unless there is something else I should be doing, It's time to stop playing with the settings and enjoy.