Might seem stupid but...

[NandN124]

Hello all! Just joined the forums and im new to this. I just recently purchaces and EpOX V8ATI motherboard because my Gigabyte boards IDE plugs stopped working. Using the same components, processor, case, graphics card and what not. I put a fresh copy of windows XP with sp2 in there and ii check my computer, right clicked it that is, and it shows for the description of "MY COMPUTER" as AMD k7 Processor 2.00 GBZ 1 gb of ram. Now, i searched the forums for the same problem or a fix, but how do i change the AMD K7 to read as my AMD athlon XP barton core 2800? I downloaded the CPU id that someone suggested in one thread and it lists it as a Barton core, specification "AMD k7 Processo" the same wording on My computer. Now, i have the FSB at 133.0 MHZ and the bus speed it lists as 266.0 Mhz I have the multiplier at 15.0 and my memory speed, corsair pc3200, running a frequency of 200Mhz, cas latency 3.0. Soo can anyone PM me or e mail me some info on how i should go about setting it up? I don't know wheter im overclocking or underclocking my cpu. The temp right no in the rig is 87 degrees F. roughly around 30C. Anyone help pleaseeee with figuring the right speed of my comp and the correct listing of my processer on "My Computer". I'm not looking to overclock, and on the gigbabyte MB i had it running at a 2.0 Ghz with an average of 80 F / 28 C. Thanks for the help, really apprecated!

[NandN124]

29 views in this post and no one replied?

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

30 views.

I didn't know the answer then and still don't know now. Sorry.Give the boards a day or so. It's only been 8 hours. CPU or someone will stop by and flash their mojo.

Welcome to Zeropaid.

[DwarfBaby]

Go by 133 MHz which would give you 15 as the multiplier like you said. The Athlon running at 2 gigs is rated as a 2800 which is just a code name but it isn't running at 2800 mhz. I don't know if this helps but I don't fully understand what your asking.

[NandN124]

if i set it at 133 and the multiplier at 15, it seems to be unstable. My screen keeps glitching and the computer sorta...hiccups when i open programs and run it. Thanks for the inptu and sorry for the rush...just trying to fix the problem. Again, its an Epox MB V8TAI with a 2800 athlon xp, 333

[DwarfBaby]

First of all try running your memory with the front side bus. 133/266 as opposed to 166/333. Yes, I realize it's slower but since the bus cannot take advantage of the extra bandwidth you are better off with faster timings. A.K.A. 2.5 CAS which may be possible if you slow down your ram. This may also solve all your problems so give it a try. If you have corsair pc 3200 like you said you might be lucky enough to get 2.0 CAS but I wouldn't push it since you are already having problems with stability. In the bios their should be a stability setting or a default setting of some kind which means it uses conservative timings which may solve your problem. If you have old 266 ram lying try plugging that in to see if the situation improves. As a last effort try updating your bios if motherboard permitting or reseting the bios using the proper jumpers which you can find in the manual.

Also a note Via chipsets for the K7 has had problems with certain memory configurations although Corsair is very good brand in general. I'm not sure if that board contains a Via chipset but it’s worth a look.

[NandN124]

it is a VIA chipset, thanks for the advice.....i'll try it asap tomorrow. But your asking me leave the setting at 166 cpu frequency X 15 right? But have the DDR settings speed set to 133? For these motherboard, or this one in particular, it lets me set my cpu frequncy and multiplier to overclock, but like i said, im afraid i don't know whether im over clocking the cpu or underclocking it

[DwarfBaby]

No not at all. You said the FSB on the CPU was 133 which means a 15 multiplier will run 2.0 GHz. If your front side bus is running at 166 then with a 15 multiplier your CPU is running 2.5 GHz obviously way to fast for your chip.

I think your getting the speed of your ram mixed up with your FSB speed. They are two different things. The ram on many K7 boards can run faster then your front side bus. It's called an asynchronous bus. But there is little if any benefit to doing so. Better timings are better in your case.

If your CPU has a 133 bus then run the multiplier at 15. If your CPU has a bus speed of 166 the multiplier will be 12.

[NandN124]

thanks dwarf.....well i ran the cpu fsb as 166, SINCE its fsb is 166. The multipier is 12.5, which should be the original multiplier for this amd athlon xp barton. I ran my memory frequency at 166, ig uess to sync it. I powered the rig up and next thing you know my screen is flickering and im getting major lag in openeing and closing programs. Not stable?

[DwarfBaby]

Unfortunately many things may cause this problem. Are you getting errors or is it just slow and flickering? How much RAM do you have? What graphics card do you have?

Get the proper and newest drivers particularly for you graphics card network card, or modem. Get the drivers directly from the manufacturer. If you have a printer like HP's all-in-one, uninstall it and unplug it to see if this helps. Windows XP is rather good at finding drivers for devices but sometimes it gets it wrong. If you are using the default window display drivers this may be your problem. You may even wish to re-install Windows with a minimum amount of devices hooked up to your computer (last resort maybe).

And of course since we’re not there the more information you can provide for us the easier it will be to help. Is there a lag with the pointer when you move the mouse or type on the keyboard or is it just when you open new programs? If you close down a program and then re-open it again does it load faster or the same?

On the hardware side make sure you are using an approved heat sink and fan, usually the bigger and faster the better. Make sure the heat sink was properly attached and the grease covered the whole die or the processor.

You said you used many of the same parts from the old computer. Did this include the power supply. New systems require much more power then older systems. I would go with no less then 350 watt power supply although 300 might be OK. If you had an underpowered power supply this may have caused the problem with the original board.

[NandN124]

Wells, to asnwer your questions. Im not gettin any errors, just a lot of flickering. I have 1 GB of ram, Corsair XMS Platinum series and a MSI GeForce 6600GT card. These are all probably 4 months old? I did a clean install of XP when i put the board in, everything on the harddrive, which is a WD 160 GB, also 4 months old. I installed the drivers of the graphics card from the Nvidia website and from the drivers disk it came with. It's all updated, i even tried finding a bios update for the card, but there isn't any.

As for the lag, its the pointer and programs. I tried moving the pointer around and it would stop in its place and then a few seconds later move. At one point it took almost a minute for the mouse to move across the screen. I shut the computer down and put the reg. settings i had it at, which was a FSB of 133 X 15. The computer seems to run smooth with no lag at all with that setting but still, it shouldn't be at that setting since its normal multiplier is 12.5 with a FSB of 166. The heatsink is a thermaltake silent boost heatsink....i just questioned that because it seems like its overcrowding the cpu. Theres capasitors next to the cpu and the heatsink is really close to the capasitators (spelling unsure), like probably a mm away?

The grease covered the whole die....and maybe alittle bit on the processor, shall i redo it, clean the processor and put the grease back on the heatsink?

As for the power supply, its 550 watt blue demon....the other board was new as well....sigh ionos whatsup with the rig!

[DwarfBaby]

As long as the heat sink isn't touching the capacitors you should be ok. Re-installing the heat sink might help, just make sure the grease is enough to cover the die but not ooze out the side too much.

The difference in performance between the two different bus speeds is always less then %5 percent and in some applications the slower bus is slightly faster due to the fact AMD had to increase latency on the bus to accommodate the faster speed. Basically if it runs stable at 133/266 run it at 133/266 the difference is minimal.

I realize this isn’t the answer your looking for but the only other thing I can tell you is the motherboard simply isn’t handling the 166/333 bus speed or is incorrectly calculating the speed of the PCI bus. The PCI bus should run at 33mhz regardless of whether your FSB is at 133 or 166. If the motherboard is clocking the PCI bus faster when running your FSB at 166/333 then try to set it back to 33mhz. Worst case scenario you may need to take your motherboard back and get a different one. The K7 boards were a little tricky as they didn’t always work with every CPU often replacing the CPU also meant replacing the motherboard. Short sighted design only seems to benefit the short sighted companies.

I wish cpugenious was around as he is better at hardware related issues then I am.