Need Noob Help with OC on ABIT IT7-MAX2(ver2)

[Squisher]

Well, let me say that I'm new to Pentiums and this Mobo has a lot of bios settings that are new to me also. I'm trying to follow pastorjay's blueprint using a 2.4b(C1) for an OC that he tells about in this thread. I'm a bit lost as to a lot of the bios settings for a OC. I thought I'd try here before I PMed pastorjay.

Ext. Clock:
I assume by choosing User Define that I will then be able to set the fsb.

PCI Bus Frequency:
My guess is that out of Ext. Clock/3, Ext. Clock/4, 44MHz(fixed), 37MHz(fixed), and 33 MHz(fixed) that I would pick 33 MHz(fixed) unless I would want to OC PCI devices.

Multiplier Factor:
This is locked with Pentiums, isn't it? It'll be 18 on a 2.4b, right?

DRAM Ratio H/W Strap:
Options are Low(for CPUs with 400MHz FSB), High(533MHz), and By CPU. Hmmmmm, here I am lost.

DRAM Ratio (CPU: DRAM):
Options under Low(DRAM Ratio H/W Strap) are 1:1 or 3:4 under High(DRAM Ratio H/W Strap) are 4:5 or 1:1 or you can choose By SPD. This is another setting that I'm totally lost on.


Any help will surely be appreciated.

 

[Duvie]

ext clock: ???? I don't know...

pci bus frequency....go with the locked 33mhz (fixed) unless you have an oc'd vid card or an radeon 9700pro then go with the 37mhz (fixed)...that is not much stress on HDD's and most modern pci 2.1 compliant cards handle that...NIC cards can be testy though...

multiple factor: Yes it should be locked (unless you have engineering samople), and yes it should be 18 if you have a 2.4b...a 2.4a and it would be 24...

DRAM Ratio H/W Strap: set this to 533fsb if you have the 2.4b chip as it often unlocks ram ratios you can only get with 533fsb chips....ie 4:5 and some others that may disappear on the 400fsb setting past a certain fsb set...


DRAM Ratio (CPU: DRAM): at any beginning point in ocing use 1:1 with the high above and keep the ram set to spd (rated specs as read from the dimm modules themselves by the mobo)...


Other important things to do are....

1)only install minimal essential pci cards...no sound at this point....
2) if you have multiple sticks test with one initially
3)at each step watch the voltages an temps, they tell you a lot...

 

[Squisher]

Thanks.

Another question. Should I consider any failures to run Prime95 as a CPU being OCed beyond it's limits?

 

[Duvie]

any failure in prime95 in conjunction with 10pass memtest should be considered unacceptable....make sure prime can run at least 5 hours....peace of mind security stuff!!!

 

[maxSe]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Ext. Clock:
I assume by choosing User Define that I will then be able to set the fsb.

Yup.

PCI Bus Frequency:
My guess is that out of Ext. Clock/3, Ext. Clock/4, 44MHz(fixed), 37MHz(fixed), and 33 MHz(fixed) that I would pick 33 MHz(fixed) unless I would want to OC PCI devices.

That's correct. Personally, I use 37MHz fixed. No problem whatsoever..

Multiplier Factor:
This is locked with Pentiums, isn't it? It'll be 18 on a 2.4b, right?

Are you sure you need help?

DRAM Ratio H/W Strap:
Options are Low(for CPUs with 400MHz FSB), High(533MHz), and By CPU. Hmmmmm, here I am lost.

DRAM Ratio (CPU: DRAM):
Options under Low(DRAM Ratio H/W Strap) are 1:1 or 3:4 under High(DRAM Ratio H/W Strap) are 4:5 or 1:1 or you can choose By SPD. This is another setting that I'm totally lost on.

Like Duvie said, this basically give you options to run your memory at higher speed for more bandwidth. Depending on how much you chip and memory can overclock, you have an option of going with either high or low HW strap (since you have a 533-bus chip, you have both options).

For example, say you have a DDR400 memory. If your chip can only do 150fsb, then you will want to set the strap to "Low" and choose "3:4" ratio so that you can still run your memory @200fsb (400DDR). If your chip goes up higher (most likely ), you may want to set it to "high" and go with "4:5" ratio so that the memory is not "too" out of spec... (my rig would be an example of this scenario)

As for SPD, I'd set it at "manual" especially if you're oc'ing... It'll give you better control of oc'd rig. Depending on your oc, you might want to either "tighten" or "relax" the memory setting for overall performance.