System Instablities are driving me Nuts

[Guest morbeious]

Ok Change the setting mve the memory to slots 1 & 3, change the jumper on the SATA drive to v 1.5

 

The following setting were not in my bios under the Genie Menu

 

DRAM Response Time............................ - 6.0 ns

 

The follow were, but i didnt know what to set them at so I left them on auto

 

Dram Freq Set (Mhz) = Auto

Write CAS Latency (twcl) = Auto

 

System seems to be alot faster, but Mem test built into the bios still shows up garbled, and just keeps rebooting, I'm going to try the mem test ISO found here in these forums next.

[Maarek_Stele]

DRAM Response Time............................ - 6.0 ns

 

That should be Read Preamble Time or something similar

 

Dram Freq Set (Mhz) = Auto

Write CAS Latency (twcl) = Auto

 

Dram freq set should be 200mhz (or ddr400), altough you might try only at 166 for troubleshooting, so as command per clock disabled (2T)

If everything was ok, you would be able to run ddr400 and command per clock enabled (1T).

write cas latency is 1, but auto will set to 1 too.

 

Note that default

R/W Queue Bypass at 8x and Bypass Max at 4X is less agressive than 16/7 that give maximum bandwidth

 

I highly recommend you to run memtest from a boot disk or iso, in www.memtest.org you'll find binaries to make either.

[Guest morbeious]

DRAM Response Time............................ - 6.0 ns

 

That should be Read Preamble Time or something similar

 

Dram Freq Set (Mhz) = Auto

Write CAS Latency (twcl) = Auto

 

Dram freq set should be 200mhz (or ddr400)

write cas latency is 1, but auto will set to 1 too.

 

 

Sorry,

 

DRAM Response Time............................ - 6.0 ns

6.0 was a typo I set it to Auto, and

 

Read Preamble Time = 6.0

[Maarek_Stele]

I'm a little confused, IIRC "dram response time" is only available in some nf4 bios (options are fast and normal, or something similar). In this bios you only have Max assynch latency and read preamble time, which are the ones that were recommended to be changed above to 8 and 6. Wevsspot just made a small mistake because those bios settings were from a nf4 bios list.

Also note that dram "data drive strenght" doesn't exist in this bios, you can only change "drive strenght" from 1-4 (in nf4 you have more settings from 1-8, even are normal, odd are weak). In this bios, 1 and 3 are weak values, 2 and 4 are normal too. I'd guess those sticks prefer 1 or 3 rather than normal settings, but you should try what seems to be best.

[wevsspot]

Maarek, thank you for the clarifications in the BIOS differences between the NF4 and NF3 boards. That will definitely help out.

 

Thanks again.

[Guest morbeious]

Wow, completed all the changes and now the system seems to be running, SWEET!!... the temps even dropped.. lol.. from 49C to 38C. I guess I should have never used the AUTO settings for memory. Now the next steps is figuring out what the settings should be for my AMD64 3000, at the moment I have them on Auto. When running WinMark06, the system crawls during the CPU test, I'm wondering if the auto settings have anything to do with it..

if anyone has any ideas please advise..

 

Again, thanks for the Memory setting Help..

 

Thx,

[wevsspot]

Specifically what "auto" settings are there in your NF3 bios for the cpu? Let me know what they are, what they are currently set at and I'll make recommendations. The MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum I referenced above is also running an AMD 3000 Venice core. Mine's clocked crazy (300 X 9 = 2.7ghz)

[Guest morbeious]

Wow, 2.7 Ghz.. thats .7 overclocked.. One-day I hope to get my CPU to go that far, on this board.. I thought about getting the MSI at the time I was purchasing the DFI obviously I didnt get it.. lol.. I'm in the process of copying all the setting down, when completed I will post.

 

Thx,

[wevsspot]

Well I've heard several old timers in here say that the DFI LanParty NF3 board is one of the most bullet proof m/b's ever manufactured. In fact, if I recollect even Happy attributed a similar statement at sometime in the past. I believe you'll be happy.

 

I believe the primary challenge for most DFI first time users is that DFI boards are engineered so "tight" that very seldom do "auto" settings work for BIOS or memory settings. You've got to research, research and do more research, find a bootable starting point and start tweaking from there. And of course, with high performance motherboards and high performance components comes the need for a high quality high performance power supply. One area where way too many users try to skimp.

[Guest morbeious]

Ok, Heres the settngs there all set at defaults.. as i stated before systems seems to be running great now that I got the memory undercontol. But when I run WinMark06 on the CPU test, it goes to slow motion.. so i figure the auto setting have somthig to do with it.. so here they are.. I'm hoping to understand what each setting really does, so that i can OC one day later..

 

 

CPU Internal Cache = Enabled

External Cache = Enabled

 

 

FSB Bus Frequency = 200

AGP Bus Frequency = 66

Clock Spread Spectrum = Disabled

LDT Downstream Width = Auto

LDT Upstream Width = auto

LDT/FSB Frequency Ratioo = Auto

CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio = Auto

K8 Cool'n'Quiet Support = Disabled

 

Cpu Core Voltage 1.51V

Chip Set Voltage 1.59V

AGP Slot Voltage 1.51V

Dram 2.5V Voltage 2.63V

 

CPU VID Control = Auto

 

 

AGP Aperture Size = 256M

AGP 3.0 Speed = 8x

AGP 2.0 Speed = Auto

AGP Fast Writes = Disabled

AGP Sideband Address = Auto

CPU Thermal-Throttling = 50%

Special I/O For PCI Card = Disabled

System Bios Catchable = Disabled

[Maarek_Stele]

do some stability tests just to make sure, either with memtest and prime in blend mode (stress prime is easier to use for torture tests http://sp2004.fre3.com/)

>Try a superpimod (http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/) 1M test, if you are doing something like 44-46s, your cpu speed is normal for stock.

 

CPU Internal Cache = Enabled >yes

External Cache = Enabled >yes

 

 

FSB Bus Frequency = 200 >default is already 200, go up for overclock

AGP Bus Frequency = 66 >default is 66, for overclock set to 67 for safety to ensure lock

Clock Spread Spectrum = Disabled >i'ts only to reduce EMI, keep off

LDT Downstream Width = Auto >auto is 16bit, keep

LDT Upstream Width = auto >auto is 16 bit, keep

LDT/FSB Frequency Ratioo = Auto >4x for 200mhz,3x for more, always keep under 800 fsbxldt ratio

CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio = Auto >max for your cpu is 10x, same as stock

K8 Cool'n'Quiet Support = Disabled >always disable

 

Cpu Core Voltage 1.51V

Chip Set Voltage 1.59V

AGP Slot Voltage 1.51V

Dram 2.5V Voltage 2.63V

 

CPU VID Control = Auto >your stock is 1.500v if that's a newcastle

CPU VID Secial = none/auto if stock, this setting lets you go over max 1.55v in previous setting (be careful that here you can fry your cpu), let's say 1.450 in the setting over, and 110% here conduces you to 1.595v

Chipset = default is 1.5v, bumping it might help with overclocking, needs to be bumped for high fsb's, but going over 1.7v shoudn't be done with stock cooler

agp = stock is 1.5v

dram voltage = it all depends on what you need to get it stable

 

Everyone has it's own limits for vcore, amd will tell you 1.550v for stock operation, for an overclocked 24/7 cpu, I woudn't go over 1.60-1.65v, but these limits are almost personal and everyone has it's own take at it.

 

AGP Aperture Size = 256M >some cards like 64,128 others 256... se if it solves stutters or let's you gain some marks

AGP 3.0 Speed = 8x >keep

AGP 2.0 Speed = Auto >keep

AGP Fast Writes = Disabled >only enable if you don't get 6800 stutters (black/garbled screens during gaming that can last some seconds)

AGP Sideband Address = Auto >keep

CPU Thermal-Throttling = 50% >some people swear by it disabled when they overclock, I keep it as a protection for my cpu

Special I/O For PCI Card = Disabled >disable

System Bios Catchable = Disabled >disable

 

there are lot's of good overclocking guides around here with detailed info on each setting.

Your usual first step will be to find a good cpu setting, by upping fsb, cpu voltage (and bump chipset a little), droping htt multiplier to 3x, and setting a mem divider too keep it at or under 200mhz to make sure it's not your bottleneck. Of course, never do this before knowing that your stock is 100% stable.

[chapas]

Hmm, I read that you were running Norton Internet Security. I uninstalled it from a friend's computer that was running and trashing like crazy. Now the computer runs very fast. Try uninstalling it, not just disable it. Norton Internet Security memory and CPU footprint may be ruining your computer's performance as it did to my friend's.