Overclocking by %

[Fndr7070]

My BIOS has an option to overclock by 5%, 10%, 15%, etc, etc. Since I don't really understand how to overclock manually (setting the multiplier, voltages, etc). I tried this. Did 5%, then 10%. My P4 3.2 wen tot 3.5. No noticible effects, temp is fine, etc, etc.

I checked my board info with SiSoft Sandra, and It said my RAM was PC3200 running at 450 Mhz. I turned the OC off, and then it detected my RAM as PC5400 at 667Mhz (which is correct).

What gives? Why did the overclocking slow the RAM? If I want to overclock and keep the RAM speeds, am I going to have to do it manually?

 

[p8ntslinger676]

Ok first of all it didnt slow your ram in any way, what it most likely did was cange the latency timmings so that you ram in effect would run faster, and in order to do this, you frequency has to be lowered in order to keep it stable so it will not crash.

 

[Fndr7070]

makes sense. any utilities I can use to check the timings? or is that in the BIOS?

 

[MadModMike]

My BIOS has an option to overclock by 5%, 10%, 15%, etc, etc. Since I don't really understand how to overclock manually (setting the multiplier, voltages, etc). I tried this. Did 5%, then 10%. My P4 3.2 wen tot 3.5. No noticible effects, temp is fine, etc, etc.

I checked my board info with SiSoft Sandra, and It said my RAM was PC3200 running at 450 Mhz. I turned the OC off, and then it detected my RAM as PC5400 at 667Mhz (which is correct).

What gives? Why did the overclocking slow the RAM? If I want to overclock and keep the RAM speeds, am I going to have to do it manually?

When you use "AUTO" in the BIOS, it changes your RAM speed and voltages to the lowest, I don't know why, but it's like that. Use CPU-Z from Here to see RAM timings. Not sure wtf slinger was mentioning, but don't use "AUTO" in BIOS, it's g4y.

~~Mad Mod Mike, fixin' the world 1 rig at a time

 

[Fndr7070]

Well, my overclocking settings are either auto, manual, or profile (the percentages). auto is the default.

anyway, I ran cpuz, and all it did was confuse me more

Without any overclocking, it's detecting my cpu core speed at 2.8ghz. Why is it not running at 3.2ghz like it's supposed to be? Then when I did the overclock by 10%, it went up to 3.0ghz? The BIOS and Windows both detected it at 3.2ghz without OC, and 3.5 with OC.

It detected my timings as 5-5-5-15. It's supposed to be 4-4-4-12 according to the specs on newegg. When it was OC'd, I didn't get any timing readings.

One thing that does make sense is the memory frequency ( I think) Cpuz reports it as 333mhz... but since it's DDR (i.e. dual channel), you double that, right? so 666mhz (or 667... which is what my memory is rated at). right?


this is what happens when a programmer ventures into hardware. none of this makes sense (yet). I should stick to software.

 

[powerbaselx]

Well, my overclocking settings are either auto, manual, or profile (the percentages). auto is the default.

anyway, I ran cpuz, and all it did was confuse me more

Without any overclocking, it's detecting my cpu core speed at 2.8ghz. Why is it not running at 3.2ghz like it's supposed to be? Then when I did the overclock by 10%, it went up to 3.0ghz? The BIOS and Windows both detected it at 3.2ghz without OC, and 3.5 with OC.

Can you post here a screenshot of CPUz window with those values?

It detected my timings as 5-5-5-15. It's supposed to be 4-4-4-12 according to the specs on newegg. When it was OC'd, I didn't get any timing readings.

Sometimes when you don't specify mannually the memory latency values in BIOS, it uses higher latencies (probably more stable). In CPUz you can check the SPD information about this detail. I bougth a Patriot kit CL2.0 that in auto mode uses CL2.5 instead!

One thing that does make sense is the memory frequency ( I think) Cpuz reports it as 333mhz... but since it's DDR (i.e. dual channel), you double that, right? so 666mhz (or 667... which is what my memory is rated at). right?

No. You can have single DDR or DDR2 slots with no dual channel. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, the explanation you're looking for.
Then you have Dual Channel that allows a different memory management between two identical memory modules (that's why memory vendors sell Dual Channel Kits).

this is what happens when a programmer ventures into hardware. none of this makes sense (yet). I should stick to software.

There's always a beggining for everyone... welcome! :-D

 

[chuckshissle]

Well try overclocking it by setting the memory speed 667-500mhz and raise the cpu frequency to 20% and see if thats stable. Don't do any voltage increase on the cpu, ram or fsb. I'm pretty sure you can do it as I have done my cpu overclocked to 20% stable. After overclocking it is very important to watch the temperature. You need to first work with overclocking without increasing or decreasing any voltage at first. For if the cpu is not stable then it won't boot but there's no harm on it as you can use the jumper to clear the bios and start over again. Working with the voltage wise its not that safe as overheating can cause due to higher voltage. As for the timings it usually change automatically during the overclocking process but you can set it manually through the expert mode. There's two choices of ram during overclocking the cpu and its lowering the frequency or loosening the timings of the ram. However it is better to have tighter timings than higher speeds during overclocking. My ram has 533 and now 400 from 3-3-3-8 to 3-3-3-6 timings. Notice the timings became tighter and the rams frequency became lower, but in return my cpu is overclock from 3.2 to 3.840Ghz stable. I have done it, without changing any voltage at all and it's running fine with little increase to temperature running at 45c idle and 55c full load on air cooling.

As for CPU-Z you cant trust what it says, for it can be mistaken and the only way for sure to know your settings is through the bios.

 

[pswenne]

I have a mobo close to yours a P5nd2-sli and I have the same settings for overclocking ( auto, manual, and profile). The way Asus made the bios is a little tricky since it doesn't do just what you asked itto do.

For exemple:

In manual you have multiple choice: you can change just the fsb of the CPU, both CPU and Ram, and 2 other I never used so don't remember

I overclocked a P4 2.8 to 3.4 by changing the FSB from 800 to 970. At first the computer wouldn't post so I wen't back in and saw that the ram FSB had changed also, which I didn't asked it to do.

I only have 533mhz ram ( nothing fancy) and I saw it when up to 700 for some reason which of course the ram can't take ( samsung generic ram 2x 512). I changed the option from CPU to CPU and Ram and then changed the ram fsb back to 533mhz. Since then the computer is pretty stable and I have the same reading in the Post, Windows and CPU-Z.

I wouldn't recommend you to use the % overcloking ability of the board because it is not clear as to what you will do, what optoin will be used to overclock the computer and what exactly is the end result. ( they calculate the 5% based on what specs? CPU speed? FSB? ram timming? Ram fsb? ... )