Re: Asus K8V Cool'n'Quiet, problems solved
On Thu, Jan 12, 2006 at 04:38:50PM -0500, Homer Whittaker wrote:
> I have searched thru the various tech notes and papers specified below
> but am unable to find out HOWTO pick up the BIOS setting that are
> referenced in your posts.
> Can you be definitive in the exact settings (and where) for the AMD
> Athlon 64 Socket 754 version?
Are you asking how to set your BIOS to run at DDR400 (actually 200MHz, but
with two data transfers per clock, so ddr400) or DDR333 (166MHz), or whatever?
Some BIOSes have a setting for that directly, while in others you don't
specify the absolute memory speed, but rather at a ratio of some other
clock. e.g. in this old review of the K8V Deluxe
http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_k8v/7.shtml, they say the BIOS
had an Memclock to CPU Ratio setting. The BIOS will usually print out
somewhere what speed your RAM is running at, either in MHz or DDRsomething.
Probably more recent BIOS versions would present it as DDR something and
hide the ratio stuff from the user.
You can always boot memtest86+, and it will show you DDRsomething, and your
memory timings (e.g. 3-4-4-7 = CAS latency: 3, etc. I don't remember which
order they're in. see
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/04/bios_from_a_to_z/page11.html)
Then you can poke at settings until you get something that makes memtest
or the BIOS show you the speed you were aiming for.
On my Asus K8V, the BIOS has a memory clock option, and if I take it off
auto, I can set it to DDR333, which is what I do, because I have two
double-sided DIMMs, in slots 1 and 3.
At first I thought you were asking exactly where I found what speeds were
ok, so I'll answer that, too: In AMD's doc
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26094.PDF
the table for socket 754 CPUs using unbuffered DIMMs is on pages 175-176.
I guess x8 double rank = double sided, while x8 single rank or x16 means
single sided memory modules. Earlier pages go into a lot of detail about
timings (e.g. CAS latency), and tradeoffs vs. clock speed. e.g. the BIOS
should go on memclock step slower if that lets it go one whole CAS latency
faster. e.g. prefer DDR333 CAS 2 to DDR400 CAS 3, but not DDR333 CAS 2.5.
(The docs says that tidbit of info was based on performance testing.)
If none of that makes any sense, you should look on hardware review sites
like tomshardware or anandtech for some bios settings guides. Or you should
accept the fact that electronics are complicated, and just use AMD's table
of settings as best you can without spending huge amounts of time learning
electronics.
--
#define X(x,y) x##y
Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cor , des.ca)
"The gods confound the man who first found out how to distinguish the hours!
Confound him, too, who in this place set up a sundial, to cut and hack
my day so wretchedly into small pieces!" -- Plautus, 200 BC
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