Originally posted by: Lioness
Everything seems to be going well on my first build. The memory is expected in tomorrow. I have a few questions. I have two WD hard drives: 160gb; 80gb and a CD-RW. Common sense tells me to install each hard drive as master on it?s own IDE. Is that correct? If I do it this way do I need to install XP on each drive? CD-RW should be slave on the primary IDE? I have a slipstreamed disc of XPSP1 that should recognize the 160gb hard drive?
After bootup I immediately enter BIOS:
1. Check time/date and see if all drives are recognized
2. In Advanced BIOS: I set boot order. Set CPU speed if not correct to 2.8mhz? and FSB to what? Is this also where I enable PATA?
3. AI Overclock Tuner (standard)>>I change to manual. I?ll see CPU ext. freq: (Mhz) 2.8mhz and leave DRAM freq and AGP/PCI at auto?
4. CPU Vcore Voltage: auto?
5. DDR Reference Voltage: auto?
6. AGP VDDQ Voltage: auto?
7. I also enable hyper-threading
Mushkin site states: Important: The latencies can be set manually and we have been running the PC3500 without any problems at 2:2:2-6 in DDR400 mode with a burst length of 8 for highest bandwidth. At auto, the DDR voltage is already at 2.68V, the same was measured at the 2.55 and 2.65V setting. At the 2.75V setting, the board will supply 2.78V which is the highest we can tolerate without compromising the longevity of the DIMMs . The P4C800 overclocks easily up to 300 (1200) MHz FSB, however, beyond 301 MHz, a dramatic performance hit occurs. Currently, the P4C800 is probably the fastest board on the market
USER TIPS: ?The P4C800 uses a different DIMM slot layout than the P4G8X, keep in mind that for dual channel operation either the blue or the black channel need to be populated, or else, all four DIMM slots need to be filled with matching pairs in the blue and black channels, respectively.?
The P4C800 uses an AMI BIOS that does not correctly read the SPD and will, at DDR400 mode, automatically set the latencies to 2.5:4:4 (CAS: tRCD: tRP), at least with the current BIOS versions but an update may fix this.
Anandtech article says: In Dual-Channel mode on 875/865 motherboards, we find that 2-2-3 is the true speed rating. Mushkin has indicated they will be making changes to their web descriptions to describe better the performance of the PC3500 Level II. Mushkin PC3500 Level II (DDR433) ? 2 x 512MB DS Dimms Intel 875P Performance. Memory Speed, Voltage, Timings>>400@2.55V 2-2-2-6 or 433@2.65V 2-2-3-6
Computer you said: ?You can see all of them on this mobo when you set the memory timings area from SPD to manual.?
So I go to DRAM Timing by SPD: I disable this to allow manual settings of DRAM.
CAS latency: my choices 2.0; 2.5; 3.0 What do I set this at?
DRAM RAS: 4 clocks; 3 clock; 2 clock Do I change this?
DRAM RAS to CAS delay: 4; 3; 2 Do I change this?
Dram precharge delay: 8; 7; 6; 5
Does PATA and HT need to be enabled both on the mobo as well as BIOS?
Keep in mind I?m using the Intel thermal pad ( I don't have AS5) on the CPU and Intel HS&Fan. Since the BIOS is flashed to the latest do I need to install the Asus CD at all?
Thank you for all your help.
Here is what I would set to start with:
Advanced Tab --> Chipset:
Configure DRAM Timing by SPD. . . . . .[Disabled]
DRAM CAS# Latency . . . . . . . .2
DRAM RAS# Precharge . . . . . . 3
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay. . . 3
DRAM Precharge Delay. . . . . . .6
DRAM Burst Length. . . . . . . . . 8
Performance Acceleration Mode. . . . . .[Auto]
Put everything else to defaults except for your Graphics Aperture Size, set this to the max Value of your Video Card (i.e. 128 or 256 etc.)
I would start with these timings, especially if your planning to run 1:1. If you find that you can get all these settings set and run fine then you can start tightening the timings to 2-2-3-6, then 2-2-2-6 if it can run at these timings. If you find you can't run any of these timings 1:1 then I'd jump down to 5:4 and you should be able to run the tighter timings without a problem.
Advanced Tab --> JumperFree:
AI Overclock. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .[Manual]
CPU External Frequency (Mhz). . . [200] (This sets your FSB i.e. you may want to run this at 216 or so but I'd start at 200)
DRAM Frequency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [400] (This sets your divider i.e. 1:1, 5:4 and 3:2)
AGP/PCI Frequency (Mhz). . . . . . . [66.66/33.33] (This is critical to set, so that you lock down the Frequency)
CPU VCore Voltage. . . . . . . . . . . . [1.6]
DDR Reference Voltage. . . . . . . . . [2.85V]
AGP VDDQ Voltage. . . . . . . . . . . . .[1.6]
Performance Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . .[Auto] (to start with I'd leave this to Auto and once you determine that your stable, then change it to see if it works for you.)
Keep in mind this is just a baseline to start with. Once you know you can boot up and all is well, run Memtest-86 to see how the RAM is doing, then tighten timings and Enable Performance Mode as well as Performance Acceleration Mode (one at a time of course), then run MemTest-86 again. The idea is to keep it stable but at the same time allow yourself as much performance at the stock settings for both the RAM and the cpu since you want to run at stock configuration. You can bump up the 'CPU External Frequency (Mhz)' as well or start out at the desired 216, but I'd start with 200 just so you can make sure that it's not going to be to much and then bump it up. You'll want to slowly raise the FSB (bump it up 5 at a time) before you start tightening your timings on the memory, you'll find it's the best way to get as much out of your machine as possible and also determine it's limits in an orderly fashion.
I would set your smallest drive (80 Gig?) as the boot drive and install XP on it. The reason for this is because the smaller drive will have better access times in most cases. In fact, at some point you may want to consider going with an even smaller drive that's 10,000 RPM or better because it will increase the speadiness of the entire system.
Anyway I hope this helps give you some specifics to work with.
Take care,
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