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SETI - CPU/Bus Speed more Important than RAM

B

BadThad

Lifer
I've been playing around with my nForce2 Rig trying to squeeze out a little more work. I found out that blazing ram speed is out gunned by pure cpu speed.....which surprized me!

Athlon 1600+ CPU
nForce2 chipset in dual channel mode
(using CPU-Z for data)

I had been running the system with 2 x PC2100 Micron modules:

CPU @ 1586 MHz (151 fsb)
RAM @ 302 MHz 2-2-2-5

SETI Avg = 3:01

With 2 x PC3700 OCZ Gold

CPU @ 1513 MHz (144 fsb)
RAM @ 432 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (won't run at faster timings on this mobo, dunno why)

SETI Avg = 3:11

The SETI avg is culled from wu's with the SAME angle range. As you can see, by running the core 73 MHz slower and the ram a blazing 130MHz faster, my times INCREASED by 10 min. I figured that for sure the increase in RAM speed would more than make up for the minor difference in core speed and I'd end up with faster times. SURPRIZE!

(Now, don't go asking questions about my overclocks. I spent 2 hours on it last night and these are the fastest speeds (core/ram) this system would let me run. For some reason the stupid AOpen/BIOS engineers think they know better and the system refuses to run at or above 400MHz with faster RAM timings....even though this ram will easily take it.)

The bottom line: CPU core/bus speed are more important to SETI than blazing RAM speed.
 
I would try lowering the bus to 400 & speed up the timings, unless it doesn't matter how low you go with that ram you can't get faster timings?

On my 8RDA+ mobo I have my ram set at 210fsb (420ddr) and timings of 2.0 - 2 - 2 - 3 and I get average seti times around 2:05

If I raise the fsb any higher I have to lower the timings and I get slower WU times.

So for mine the sweet spot is the highest fsb I can attain while leaving the timings as fast as possible.

This is also true on my other Nforce2 system with the Asus A7N8X Deluxe. A 175 fsb (350ddr) with timings of 2.0 - 2 - 2 - 6 gives me better seti times that 185 fsb (370ddr) with 2.5 - 3 - 3 - 7
 
This CPU won't take 400 fsb (200 Mhz), the mult is locked. This mobo refuses to post when the ram is set to even 2-3-3-7 at 400 MHz. Apparently, the engineers know better than me, lol. What I'm doing it leaving the ram ratio at 2x and increasing the fsb as far as this cpu will take because I know the ram is not holding me back. It's currently at 152 fsb and 1597 MHz. With the ram mult at 2, it will allow me to set the timings to 2-2-2-5 and keep it. If I set the ram mult at auto or anything higher, it overrides my timings automatically to 2.5-3-3-7.....AOpen knuckleheads!
 
Another thing....this mobo is a PITA to OC. When a setting fails, you have to freaking move the clear CMOS jumper to recover! Well, I didn't buy this board for it's OC features, I got it from a trader brand new, unused for $60....which was a great deal 6 months ago for the features it has.
 
Right, I have to remember that I have two mb's that are easier to OC.
The 8RDA+ is a dream come true 😉 Gotta love those two hour WU's with a 1700+ overclocked to 2.2ghz 😀
 
personally, I'd leave the memory at the spd settings with that processor anyway, not likely the proc will use that much bandwidth, my 1700+ OC's to 12.5x147=1837.5Mhz and is a good 15-20min. faster runnig that way than when I run it at 11*166=1826 I'm just using Kinston value ram pc2700 on an msi kt4vl(kt400) at stock speed with all the memory controller features maxed out. with timings set to spd.
 
Also running in dual channel mode there is a lot more memory bandwidth to play with ,so the slower RAM speed doesn't effect SETI so much.
Another factor is that the Nfrc2 chipset runs faster with FSB & RAM synch'ed (lower latency).

Though I never would of guessed that it would be slower with RAM at 130MHz faster!:Q

Inccidently ,why not sell that XP1600 & replace it with a dirt cheap 1.4GHz Duron with the Tbred B core (yeah that,s right!🙂),you'd have unlocked multipliers & a core that would overclock to hell!😀.The upgrade would cost you almost nothing!😉
 
LOL Assim1! I think I'm going to just pick up a barton 2500+ eventually, they're pretty cheap and have a huge bang/buck factor. The memory result I got was very surprizing to me as well.
 
Lastnight I got a 1.4GHz Duron to o/c to 2.17GHz!😀 ,that CPU was £27 the XP2500 is £65 ,though of course its faster clock for clock😉
 
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