fsb strap to northbridge on Asus boards

[huggy bear]

Can anyone please explain what this does. I know it's something to do with the FSB and Ram frequency but I am not sure whether it's better to leave it on Auto when overclocking.

 

[cnumartyr]

The strap sets the base FSB speed as far as I know. The higher you set it the higher you can run the FSB when overclocking.

If you set it to 266 you might max out at 400 or so. 333 might max out at 500 or so.

I'm not 100% sure, but I do know on Asus boards it's just what the NB is set to run at by default. (I hate Asus.. know too many people who've had to RMA them at stock settings.)

 

[gomerpile]

Can anyone please explain what this does. I know it's something to do with the FSB and Ram frequency but I am not sure whether it's better to leave it on Auto when overclocking.

The northbridge has a series of straps. As you overclock, and the FSB increases the NB strap occasionally will change. What changes in the NB is the NB latencies. If you ever hit a wall and can not even overclock 1Mhz more then it quite possibly could be your NB strap. To get around this you could try a large jump of 10 or maybe even 20Mhz and see if your PC posts. If you are able to run your CPU and NB at a high strap with tighter timings, it is often times faster then running your CPU at a slightly higher clock. For example depending on the CPU, FSB, and multiplier a Core 2 Duo overclocked to 2.8Ghz may be faster than a CPU overclocked to 2.9Ghz.

 

[huggy bear]

Thanks for the info! Would you suggest it's better to leave on Auto or should I set it to manual and try the higher strap values?

 

[gomerpile]

well I do not like auto setting when overclocking and most overclockers feel the same, I do use auto when problem shooting situations arise by overclocking.
If you can go wiff a lower clock setting, tighter ram setting, and try a higher setting wiff the strap setting