XP-M 3000 Question and some PC mess ups

[Athlongamer]

I recently upgraded my rig a little bit....but i'm having some difficulties and i'm still in the middle of a huge learning process so any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

I have a DFI Lanparty Ultra B mobo with an XP mobile 3000 cpu. 512 of Corsair XMS PC3200, 512 of Corsair Valueselect PC3200, and 1 stick of 256 Buffalo PC3200.

I Currently have my FSB at 206 or something like that and my Multi. at 12.

In windows it reads my system info as Unknown CPU type but it runs alright, although i get an occational freeze while playing CS: Source.

Any advice as to how to OC this CPU and RAM or fix a problem i might have???

Thanks, Jordan

 

[imported_fatih]

load default settings of your bios.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Athlongamer
I recently upgraded my rig a little bit....but i'm having some difficulties and i'm still in the middle of a huge learning process so any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

I have a DFI Lanparty Ultra B mobo with an XP mobile 3000 cpu. 512 of Corsair XMS PC3200, 512 of Corsair Valueselect PC3200, and 1 stick of 256 Buffalo PC3200.

I Currently have my FSB at 206 or something like that and my Multi. at 12.

In windows it reads my system info as Unknown CPU type but it runs alright, although i get an occational freeze while playing CS: Source.

Any advice as to how to OC this CPU and RAM or fix a problem i might have???

Thanks, Jordan

Firstly, with those three sticks you're running an unbalanced DC config. How unbalanced depends on which sticks are in which slots.

First thing I'd do is pull the 256MB stick. I say that cuz I think 1gig is enough, I doubt the extra 256 can really help much and will likely impeded you OC results.

The manual says with three sticks only FSB 166/333 is suopported. Many peeps have no trouble w/3 @ 200FSB or higher, but most run a balanced 3 stick DC config (2 x 256 and 1 x 512MB).

Regarding the "unkown CPU type", ignore it that's normal. There are some mobo's offering new/modded BIOS that will correctly show the CPU but meh, I really couldn't care less about that anyway.

OCing with Corsair VS is luck of the draw. Some won't get more than around FSB 206.

What timmings are you running?

For kicks you might try and see how high you get the FSB with just the stick of good Corsair XMS, for surely (or most likely) the VS is holding you back.

As far as 2.4ghz for the CPU, that's not not to far from the top on air anyway. What's your vcore and temps? Maybe you can reach 200 x 12.5 (if the half multi works OK on your mobo, not all do. Seems to depend on the BIOS version etc.) Be interesting to see if it cound handle 200 x 13 too

Anyway, in general my preferred method is to first focus on OCing the ram, running memtest overnight etc. Upping vdimm as needed. I usually keep the cpu multi at 10 to take it out of the equation.

When I find my ram's FSB limit I move to the cpu and up the multi. I run P95 to test for stabilty and up the vcore as needed. Just watch the temps.

Fern

 

[Athlongamer]

Finally i get my hands on some great help

Thanks Fern i really appreciate that post because now i actually have goals, and a set way to go about this.

So how do i go about OC the RAM.......do i just change the timmings and the vdimm as needed?

If so.......i don't know how far down or up to change the timmings or even what timmings to change to OC the RAM

???

Jordan

 

[Athlongamer]

UP UP UP

Changed my settings to 200 fsb x 12 and i'm at 2.4 but every now and then when i'm gaming it will auto restart cuz i guess it can't handle it.

Can i do anything to my RAM to be able to run this same speed but keep it from restarting.....err make it more stable??

What should i do lol

 

[Fern]

Two ways to approach the ram.

1) Back off the timmings first (what are you at now?) and then go for high FSB. Up vdimm if it fails Memtest overnight. Retry, if it passes raise the FSB again. Rinse and repeat.

Or

2) Leave timings tight (or as they are now) and only back off after raising vdimm as much as you dare in attaining high FSB.

I'd go with #1 cuz I haven't found tight ram timings to have any noticeable affect on gaming (first person shooters) performance.

Re: current instability issue- You must pinpoint the cause of your instability or your efforts will be to willy-nilly raise voltage and play with settings. An organized approach is always much better IMHO than just "picking " some settings and hope it works (although the latter approach is much less consuming if you get lucky).

Again, set your CPU multi to "10", work on the ram first as I have suggested in the above posts (when I say work on your ram I mean raise the FSB. Your mobo is reputed to rather easily attain a high FSB speed. Accordingly any failure/instability can be attributed to ram, not the mobo.) My mobo tops out at about 220FSB, wouldn't matter if my ram (or cpu for that matter) could handle more.

Sugestion, if your ram timings are 2-2-2-11, switch to 2.5-3-3-11 b4 trying to max out FSB.

Here are examples of helpful sites discussing parameters of the various ram, and chips used therein.

SITE #1
SITE #2
SITE #3

Some ram responds very well to high voltage, other do not. Thus if you can identify your ram chips etc you can determine whether to jack up the vdimm. No ned to fry your ram if it's one of the kind which doesn't improve with big vdimm adjustments. BTW: as long as you have decent case cooling I wouldn't be afraid to go at least 2.8v.

After finding you highest stable FSB setting and ram timings (if you set 'em real loose, after finding top FSB you could try tighting a bit see if it's still stable. But agin prolly a waste of time imho cuz it doesn;t seem to affect games) start rasing your cpu multi, test with Prime95. If it fails, raise vcore and retest. Rinse and repeat etc.

Hope that helps

Fern

 

[Athlongamer]

BUMP

 

[Fern]

Jordan

Run memtest overnight to see if it is the ram which is causing instability.

If it is, up the vdimm maybe. It would be helpful if you listed your ram timings. Only then can I suggest how to adjust them looser.

Also, take out the 256MB stick if you haven't already