What are FSB and AGP Spread Spectrum? (Update: They're bad! Disable them!)

[Ilmater]

I have no idea. Please help me out.

 

[crypticlogin]

The spread spectrum option is to make the clock less "regular" so the board satisifies some electromagnetic interference standards. That is, instead of (say) the PCI clock running at exactly 33.3MHz, it runs anywhere between 33.0-33.7* MHz so the interference is spread out over a larger frequency range.



* i made up these numbers just for my example

 

[fkloster]

Wow cool...I was wondering that too! Thanks

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: tenchim
The spread spectrum option is to make the clock less "regular" so the board satisifies some electromagnetic interference standards. That is, instead of (say) the PCI clock running at exactly 33.3MHz, it runs anywhere between 33.0-33.7* MHz so the interference is spread out over a larger frequency range.



* i made up these numbers just for my example

Interesting. Does this make the board any more or less stable? More or less overclockable? Or does it just not interfere with components around it as much?

 

[Ilmater]

Whoops. Nevermind. I just found a site that says that they're bad. They're only there if you have BAD EMI problems, and even then, they'll really hinder performance.