Overclocking and Ram?

[Dethred]

Ok, so I am starting to wonder if my FPS issue is my RAM.

I have my CPU running at:

220mhz FSB (2.42Ghz)
11x multiplier
1.45v

DDR400 (200mhz)
Generic "High" voltage settings for the Ram
4x HTT


Is there something that could be either overstressing my RAM or making it run too slow? I am almost positive its the ram because the game stutters and other games like Farcry, which are more CPU dependent are running better after the Overclock.

Options please!:)

[Flanker]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

4x HTT is the LDT multiplier?

Can your RAM do 220MHz?

Run Memtest86+, if there are no errors after the test, then your RAM is fine.

[Neat_Hedgehog]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

Do you know what your PCI latency is, btw? What kind of stutter is it? Do your controls stick, or does the FPS just chug? Does it actually slow down, or just skip?

Also, what is HTT and LDT? I can't believe I've never heard the terms before.

[mrbucket]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

When you overclock your FSB your Ram has to follow if your running 1:1. Chances are your ram cant handle the new setting. Try setting your multiplier on your cpu, or running 5:4. Some ram can overclock very well and do it with ease. Some RAM, especially no name, are unpredictable. Some no name are excellent, some are not.

[Dethred]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

4x HTT is the LDT multiplier?

Can your RAM do 220MHz?

Run Memtest86+, if there are no errors after the test, then your RAM is fine.

No, its the 4x equivalent, (800MHZ)

The ram was at 200, no option for 220. I turned it down to DDR333 to see if that fixes anything

[Flanker]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

Do you know what your PCI latency is, btw?

Also, what is HTT? I can't believe I've never heard the term before. I probably know, but I've just forgotten.

Athlon 64s don't have a FSB. They have the HTT as the internal clock and the HyperTransport Bus as the system bus.

[Neat_Hedgehog]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

Agh, no wonder I didn't know. I have no personal experiance with A64s.

I edited my above post with a few questions about the exact nature of the FPS problem, btw.

[Flanker]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

No, its the 4x equivalent, (800MHZ)

The ram was at 200, no option for 220. I turned it down to DDR333 to see if that fixes anything

I still don't get the 4x part.

If you set the HTT to 220, then that means that the RAM also went to 220MHz. If you set the speed to DDR333, then you set a 5:6 divider. That means that the memory will run at a 5:6 ratio to your HTT. So if your HTT is 220, then your RAM is running at 183Mhz.

Run Memtest86+ to rule out your memory.

[Flanker]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

Do you know what your PCI latency is, btw? What kind of stutter is it? Do your controls stick, or does the FPS just chug? Does it actually slow down, or just skip?

Also, what is HTT and LDT? I can't believe I've never heard the terms before.

The LDT multiplier is used to determine the HyperTransport Bus speed. The HyperTransport Bus is like the FSB on Pentium 4 systems. You take the HTT (FSB) and multiply it by the LDT multiplier to get the HyperTransport Bus Speed. Thing is, when you overclock, the HyperTransport Bus speed changes. 200HTT x 5 LDT Multi = 1000Mhz HyperTransport Bus. 225HTT x 5 LDT Multi = 1125Mhz HyperTransport Bus. The HyperTransport Bus shoudl stay as close to 1000Mhz as possible so as soon as you go over 200Mhz HTT, you have to lower the multiplier to 4x;

250MHz HTT x 4 LDT Multi = 1000Mhz HyperTransport Bus.

[Neat_Hedgehog]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

Sounds pretty much like the setup with the old FSB and everything. I can't believe I'm gonna have to learn this stuff all over again.

[Dethred]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

Ok now my BF2 goes to a grey screen after the intro movie, my Farcry has blocks instead of letters, and same with my Live for speed install. Could this be a glitch from the higher clock speed?

[SuperDaveVIII]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

What timings are you running at? Games can be very sensitive to this. Generic RAM is generic because they generally run at much looser timings (2-3-3-8 or similiar) instead of more premium RAMs (2-2-2-5 or similar). Sometimes a BIOS will also screw up the SPD settings, I know an old set of Corsaid value select defaulted on my board to 4-4-4-10, when it was actually rated at 2-3-3-8 and gave me some real performance troubles until I fixed it.

EDIT for new post:

I'd look into your video card drivers (I recommend using Driver Cleaner, though be sure to read and follow the instructions to the letter). If that doesn't help, check out THIS for a very good guide to thorough stability testing.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

I'd bet on your ULi chipset being the problem.

[imported_Wasp]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

You have done the right thing in setting the Hypertransport speed down to 4X. If you keep it at 5x and overclock you might end up being unable to load Windows. I'm not shure I understand what you mean by "stuttering". If you increase your FSB to 220 then the RAM will usually follow that setting so that your ram speed should now be 220 or 440Mhz. The PQI ram should be decent but be aware that the memory timings doesn't change if you increase FSB and you might get to a point where the timings will cause problems. I recommend Prime95 as a test of CPU and RAM. Go to options -> Torture test -> blend and let it run through the first 10 tests. If that goes ok then your system should be stable. You could try to increase memory timings just a little bit to see if it helps in BF2.

If the standard timings for the PQI memory are 6-3-3 CL 2.5 you could try 7-3-3 CL 2.5. When you overclock you might also have to consider increasing voltage on the memory and CPU. With 220 FSB you are probably close to the limit of what your memory can handle at default timings but your CPU should be ok.

[Dethred]

Re: Overclocking and Ram?

1st off its not the Chipset, others have overclocked successfully.

I am gonna clean out the video drivers too...


My Bios has the timings on Auto... might be an issue? I forgot what the individual timings are called. Can you type them out and give me a safe timing set?