Hardware pr0n...w00t!

[GepperRankins]

read


CPU	Motherboard	Chipset	Memory	Read Speed
This Computer	Gigabyte GA-K8NS	nForce3-250	PC3300 DDR SDRAM	3090 MB/s

CPU	Motherboard	Chipset	Memory	Read Speed
This Computer	Gigabyte GA-K8NS	nForce3-250	PC3400 DDR SDRAM	3138 MB/s



write


CPU	Motherboard	Chipset	Memory	Write Speed
This Computer	Gigabyte GA-K8NS	nForce3-250	PC3300 DDR SDRAM	 1217 MB/s

CPU	Motherboard	Chipset	Memory	Write Speed
This Computer	Gigabyte GA-K8NS	nForce3-250	PC3400 DDR SDRAM	 1218 MB/s



latency


CPU	Motherboard	Chipset	Memory	CL-RCD-RP-RAS	Latency
This Computer	Gigabyte GA-K8NS	nForce3-250	PC3300 DDR SDRAM	3-4-3-8	54.7 ns

CPU	Motherboard	Chipset	Memory	CL-RCD-RP-RAS	Latency
This Computer	Gigabyte GA-K8NS	nForce3-250	PC3400 DDR SDRAM	3-4-3-8	58.4 ns

befores and afters respectively

[clocker]

Hmmm.
Not a real kick in the pants is it?
Write is slightly better and latency is worse.

I wonder if it's possible to tighten down the RAM timings and still boot.
Might have to add a tenth or so of voltage to the DIMMS.

[lynx]

Even pushing it up a few hertz can cause massive ammounts of extra heat, thats how people fry parts, they go up from say 200 to 210 then 220 then 230 and everything is fine so they wack it up to 270 and parts get fried, be carfull, push them up at no more 10 on your clockspeed and use your BIOS to check temps, if they look good turn on Windows and fire up a graphically intense game (HL2 will do) if the game starts to look fucked with wierd shit happening then you have gone to far.

Not entirely true.

The heat generated by raising clock speed is roughly proportional the speed increase. But the rate of heat dissipation is proportional to the temp above ambient. The consequence is that a 25% increase in clock speed does NOT result in a 25% increase in temp above ambient for example.

That said, in order to achieve higher clock speeds it is usually necessary to increase the voltage. In this case the increase in heat generated is proportional to the square of the increase in the voltage. Add a clock speed increase too and that's when the damage is done.

@Clocker: Sorry, mine's a Via chipset. It wasn't stable @ 2.2GHz, but I don't know if that was the cpu or the memory running at 245MHz. I haven't seen any way of running the memory at a different speed yet. The temp was creeping higher than I wanted so I didn't bother checking anyway. I'm now back at 9x235 (or maybe 236, can't remember).

@Gepper, I assume you are running on a single memory stick, otherwise those timings suck.

[Virtualbody1234]

Well, it gets Sprocket all wet anyway....

New parts arrived yesterday, it was like Christmas in April except for the lack of decorations and insipid music.
Pictured above are the motherboard (Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9), 4x512MB Patriot HP RAM(2,3,2,5 @1T), Athlon 64 3500+ CPU (90nm Winnie) and an Arctic Freezer 64 HSF.
Not shown are the XFX 6800GT (PCI-e) or the Plextor PX-17SA Dual layer DVD-RW.

Oh boy.

Tomorrow (Wed.) is my day off so I can begin the transformation.
First I have to strip out the Chaintech 754 setup from the Silverstone case and build it into a new box- my brother has bought Sprocket's guts for his boys new PC.
I hope to have all that up and running by tomorrow night.
Then I can begin to reassemble my baby in her new glory.

The first build will be pretty quick and dirty cause I have some more changes in mind- the new Antec P-180 case looks very interesting and I'm teetering on the edge of watercooling again, so I can't (won't) really tart up the wiring till I decide what to do ( the Antec has a completely different layout than my current TJ-06).
The watercooling is more for noise prevention ( which is the entire point of the Antec case) than performance (see no point in OCing this setup really), so the Freezer 64 is just a (temporary) experiment.

Updates will follow as time allows.

How you have changed in such a short time...

[GepperRankins]

yes i am

[clocker]

How you have changed in such a short time...

Forgive me VB, for I have sinned.
Anyway, what's a few hertz among friends?
It's hardly as though I've taken this PC by the neck and strangled every last cycle from it's body now, is it?
All I've really done is tighten her up a bit...a "tune-up" if you will.

A theoretical question...
If stock speed is 2.2GHz, achieved with a 200x11 combination, is 220x10 considered overclocked?

If Sprocket crashes out of Prime and I'm not there to hear it, is there any sound at all?

Why is there air?

[Virtualbody1234]

A theoretical question...
If stock speed is 2.2GHz, achieved with a 200x11 combination, is 220x10 considered overclocked?

If Sprocket crashes out of Prime and I'm not there to hear it, is there any sound at all?

Why is there air?

Yes. The 220 overclocks some parts of the system.

Yes. It makes a crashing sound.

For air cooling of course.

[GepperRankins]

i turned my RAM voltage up yesterday and got no improvement, i decided i wouldn't bother changing it until next time i restart.

this morning i got up to find my pc reset itself. i hope it's not dead

[clocker]

Minor tweakage update.

_I have yet to discover any set of circumstances that will allow POST using 1T memory command.

_nForce 4 chipsets don't seem to respond to higher tRAS settings as the earlier 2/3 versions did. Changing from 5 incrementally up to 11 gave no significant reproducable gains.

_Upping the RAM voltage by .1v did result in a consistent latency drop ( now under 46ns), but this may only hold true for my combination.

Within the next day or two I'll be able to test 2x1GB sticks in place of my 4x512MB (same Patriot EP modules) just to see what happens. If nothing else, this would free up some breathing room around the DIMMs, possibly resulting in lower RAM temps (although I have no idea what the current temps are and have no way to monitor them).

We have had severe compatability issues with 1GB sticks on nForce 2 & 3 boards so this a more out of curiousity than anything else....I don't expect any significant change in performance.


I have a new build that the customer had specced for 2GB of RAM. I installed 4x512MB of the same Patriot that I just bought.
He was horrified when he saw the machine...
"Now I can't upgrade to four GB if I want to!"
"Why do you need more than 2GB?"
"I don't know, but I want the option".

So I'm bringing in two 1GB sticks, which is OK since I'll get to try them out first.

All of our 939 builds have had a minimum of 1GB RAM and the last three (mine included) have run 2GB.
The 90nm Winchesters installed on a nForce4 board with 1GB+ of RAM is a wonderful combination.
It'll crunch through your email in no time flat.....

[clocker]

Well, I've been a bad, bad boy.
Flogging away at the ole PC...made some progress too, it seems.
Many, if not all, of the preconceptions that I was dragging into this from my socketA days were flat out wrong.
Anyway, here's some results....

This is a shot of my entry into the Bit-Tech SuperPi Challenge.
Near as I can see I should be in either 3rd or 4th place overall (1st place for an air cooled rig).
Here are the Everest memory tests...






All this (16% increase in clockspeed, 11% decrease in latency, 24.4% increase in write and 20.3% better read) and the temps have hardly budged...


Can't say I trust this monitor too much, but it's consistent with BIOs for whatever that's worth.

Just for grins, here's the Systems Comparison from PCpitstop.

They are having a TopDog Competition in which 1st place wins a big Raptor.
Me wants it, but I have a ways to go to be in the hunt.
Then again, I haven't even begun on the video card...there is a lot of room to bump that score.