BIOS settings & CMOS - a little help required

[MAX Chase]

Hi

Although not new to computing, I am a little stuck with a problem I have.

My system...

Epox 8RDA3i
Athlon XP 3200 Barton
1 GB Corsair XMS 3200 RAM
nVidia Ti4600 Graphics

My BIOS can't be right as it is reading as an 1100mhz processor.

I guess this is something to do with the FSB settings and the multiplier.

I am really not sure what to set everything at.

I have tried changing the FSB to 200mhz (using a multiplier of 11 x 200) but this makes the computer unstable, specifically when playing games (America's Army, moreso than any other - it freezes the game up for long periods of time).

I guess I am looking for someone to provide me with a walkthrough of BIOS/CMOS settings so that I can get the best out of my computer - without overclocking.

A friend of mine has suggested that I can flash thr BIOS - I just wonder if this might be a little extreme.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[boshuter]

Hi MAX Chase...... welcome to AT

You may find this link helpful, it's a bios optimization guide that does a great job of explaining most, if not all settings you may run across... Bios Guide

Take a look and if you have more questions; just come back and ask :thumbsup:

 

[MAX Chase]

Thank you for the link, although having had a quick look through it hasn't answered all my questions.

Given that I have an XP 3200 Barton chip what should the multiplier be? 200mhz x 11 seems sensible, although when I do this the computer becomes unstable in games. Is this right, or should it be something different?

I have a feeling that the SDRAM CAS Latency is set at 2.5 I will try to set this at 2 and see what happens.

 

[boshuter]

I really can't help you with your particular settings. When I'm testing an oc on a new system, I set the ram to run with a divider and use very slow timings to eliminate it as the limiting factor. Once I have found the limit of my cpu I start working on the ram speed and timings. You may have a completely different problem with your bios reporting the wrong speed. Maybe you can find someone else running the same board in the mb section, or try looking on the Epox web site. Another good source is PCperspective, I belive they have a section of their forum dedicated to Epox mb's.

Good luck!

 

[MAX Chase]

Just to let you know, I have managed to change the BIOS settngs so the comp shows me the correct info on POST.

It looks like the stability problem in games is related to the Graphics card - in particular the fan - the game is making the card work really hard and the fan doesn't appear to be doing what it should.

Many thanks for you help.