Problem with XP 3200+

[gaigebacca]

I recently purchased an XP 3200+ with 400 FSB and all that good stuff and mated it with a Soyo KT600 Dragon Plus and 512 stick of PC3200 400DDR RAM, and I used my old HDD and software and such, with Win XP Pro, and it all started up just fine, but as soon as I tried to run an application that used higher CPU processing power, it either crashed the program or rebooted the comp. So I tried to think of everything, I was currently plugged into an older power strip, so I thought maybe it was getting bottlenecked by that, so I plugged it into the wall directly, and still same problem. I down clocked the CPU to a 2500+ and it ran everything completely fine, so I slowly began to clock it back up. I could clock the FSB up to about 195 or so and have it still run stable at right around 2160 MHz, but that measley 40 MHz made it throw a tempertantrum, and I realize 40 MHz is like so what, no big deal, but its just kind of like a little itch I cannot scratch, and it bugs me, so if anyone can think of anything, I am more than welcome for ideas, and I am using a 400W PSU, my only other thought may be that that little 40MHz is just enough to push it over its power limits, I dont know, any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks a-bunch
-Gaigebacca

 

[mechBgon]

Check the ratio between your CPU bus speed and your memory bus speed. In this case, you want a 1:1 ratio. Do not let your KT600 board get out into the no-man's-land between its "home" frequencies (100, 133, 166 or 200MHz) because that pushes your PCI and AGP frequencies out of spec and can result in All Sorts Of Bad Things Happening To You?. Bad sectors on your hard drive, for example.

For your KT600 Dragon Plus, that setting should be in the SOYO Combo Feature menu in the BIOS. You want the CPU and RAM to end up at 200MHz (or DDR400), the AGP at 66MHz, and the PCI at 33MHz. While you're in there, set the memory voltage to 2.6 volts at a minimum.

 

[gaigebacca]

I have checked all of the voltage settings and all are correct and the memory is set at 200 MHz, but when I set the CPU to equal it, thats when it throws a tempertantrum. All over a stupid 40Mhz, lol.

 

[rogue1979]

Slow down your memory timings, raise the DDR voltage one notch.

Also check you cpu temps and your voltages in the bios.

 

[gaigebacca]

The bios doesnt let me change voltage, and I want it all running at full speed, I dont want to have to lower anything, and I have a Volcano HSF on it with a solid copper core, it runs at like 50-55 degree Celcius, its not the heat, I have checked that a million times, as thats what I first thought it was.

 

[Assimilator1]

If your concerned that the PSU isn't upto the job then check the line voltages with a multimeter (don't relie on the bios readings).

If I recall correctly you are allowed a max of 5% voltage variance on all the '+' lines
[edit]I've checked the ATX12v PDG pdf & I was right

Btw re PCI bus frequencies ,you only really need to worry about that when the PCI bus exceeds 37MHz

 

[gaigebacca]

But ok, could that extra little boost, cause that kind of problem from the power supply? I mean just that little 40MHz be enough to push it past its limits?

 

[Assimilator1]

Unlikely I suppose ,but you can't be certian ,maybe at 2160MHz its already exceeding tolerances but it manages to run anyway?

Only way to be certain is to do it ,that'll will eliminate one possible cause
I suppose you could try unplugging eveything else except cpu fan,grx card & system HDD to reduce the PSU load & then see if you can hit 2.2GHz.
Multimeter would be easier though