- Dec 1, 2006
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I have an older machine that I'm working to squeeze just about every last ounce of power out of it that I can. Here are my specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Holy) Toledo @ 2.0GHz (stock)
2 GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS 184-pin DDR400 (PC 3200) 2-3-3-6
ABIT AV8 Socket 939 Motherboard
PowerColor X1950Pro AGP 256MB
Windows XP Professional SP2
I'm taking a break from overclocking my processor, since my last runin with overclocking was only useful from the standpoint that I learned a lot from it. My old Athlon 64 3500+ is still running at stock speeds (inasmuch as it's no longer in the socket) and has been replaced by an X2 3800+ that I nabbed for $80. I will, at some point, try to get the new processor at least up to the clock speeds I had with the 3500 (2.2GHz), which I have read is possible. I have also read that 2.4GHz is easy for this chip with air cooling, and I may try that in the future.
But today, I'm puzzled by my RAM's behavior. I've noticed that the timings on my RAM, when I set my motherboard to auto-detect, consistently set to 3-3-3-8 at 166MHz. Given that I have DDR400 memory and not DDR333 memory, I went into the BIOS and set my tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS to match up with spec, and also set the speed to DDR400 (though many options, both higher and lower, were available to me). I saved my settings and exited the BIOS.
The systems POSTs fine, and gets just up to the Windows boot, but cannot initiate. There was an error that said that system files were missing and Windows could not be started, and it recommended that I try using the recovery console. Being a wily type of guy, I instead reset the DRAM to Auto, at which point the system boots just fine.
So is there something I am missing? Is setting RAM timings not as simple as just... well, setting your RAM timings?
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Holy) Toledo @ 2.0GHz (stock)
2 GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS 184-pin DDR400 (PC 3200) 2-3-3-6
ABIT AV8 Socket 939 Motherboard
PowerColor X1950Pro AGP 256MB
Windows XP Professional SP2
I'm taking a break from overclocking my processor, since my last runin with overclocking was only useful from the standpoint that I learned a lot from it. My old Athlon 64 3500+ is still running at stock speeds (inasmuch as it's no longer in the socket) and has been replaced by an X2 3800+ that I nabbed for $80. I will, at some point, try to get the new processor at least up to the clock speeds I had with the 3500 (2.2GHz), which I have read is possible. I have also read that 2.4GHz is easy for this chip with air cooling, and I may try that in the future.
But today, I'm puzzled by my RAM's behavior. I've noticed that the timings on my RAM, when I set my motherboard to auto-detect, consistently set to 3-3-3-8 at 166MHz. Given that I have DDR400 memory and not DDR333 memory, I went into the BIOS and set my tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS to match up with spec, and also set the speed to DDR400 (though many options, both higher and lower, were available to me). I saved my settings and exited the BIOS.
The systems POSTs fine, and gets just up to the Windows boot, but cannot initiate. There was an error that said that system files were missing and Windows could not be started, and it recommended that I try using the recovery console. Being a wily type of guy, I instead reset the DRAM to Auto, at which point the system boots just fine.
So is there something I am missing? Is setting RAM timings not as simple as just... well, setting your RAM timings?