Drakon

hey gang, i got 2x 256 mb corsair xms pc2700 ddr ram + 1x 512 mb corsair xms on an asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 mobo and an athlon xp 2700+. Now after reading these forums for a while, i've seen the term "dual channel" mentioned from time to time. First off what exactly is dual channel? does my mobo support dual channel? right now my system performs ok, but i feel that it would have been better had i done more research when i bought certain components. would my system perform better if i used a dual channel memory setup instead of my current setup? also i have also noted that a lot of people use pc3200 ram. is it worth switching to pc3200? would the performance gains be worth it? i think my cpu/mobo/memory combo seems to be limiting my performance in games and such (3d mark 01 score seems pretty slow). also how do i enable the 400 mhz fsb on my mobo? sorry for all the ?'s, but these have arisen from reading these forums for a while and viewing other's systems. So can anyone provided the answers i seek?

Dom

Dual channel effectively doubles the amount of bandwidth that can be transferred to and from the RAM.

Yes, it does, but it may or may not make a big difference.

Yes, in my opinion, it's worth it.

Well, I assume your CPU's FSB is either 133 or 166, so, you'd have to overclock it...

Drakon

Thanks for the info, Dom. I hope the others will reply...

Well i checked my bios and saw that the CPU External Freq. is set to 166 mhz. Is the external freq. the same as fsb? i also noted that it gave the option of setting it to 200 mhz...

Nacht

if I were you....and it turns out your mobo doesnt support dual channel...do what I did and get a mid level mobo and p4 combo from newegg.

Drakon

thanks for the suggestion, rob, but i am sticking with amd... anyways i'll ask around to see if it does indeed support dual channel, which i believe it does...

blade5545

Yes the motherboard does support dual channel I know beacuse I have the same board, now look at your motherboard your going to have two ram slots together and one will be alone, the two that are together starting from the one closesest to the processor is 1 and 2 and the one alone is 3 prettey much the numbering is from left to right. Now in order to enable dual channel you have to install the ram in the following sequance socket 1 and 3 or socket 2 and 3 or socket 1,2 and 3. Just remember this the sticks of ram that are in the double channel sequance have to be the same size stick for example 2 x 256mb ram or 2 x 512mb ram, the third stick can be anything else. And one more thing make sure they are the same brand of ram, double channel is very sensitive to diffrent brands of ram or inferior ram.

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Drakon

ok, thany u very much for the info, blade. i currently have 2x 256mb corsair xms pc2700 ddr + 1x 512mb corsair xms pc2700 (1gb total). so what order should i place my current ram? i think i got the 512 in socket 1, and the 2 sticks of 256 in sockets 2 and 3 respectively... can't really remember
also do u think switching from pc2700 to pc3200 is worth it? does it give a noticeable performance gain with using pc3200 ram?

Dom

Slot one: 256
Slot two: 256
Slot three: 512
(From CPU outward.)

But I'm not sure if all three slots can have RAM in them for dual channel.

Dom

Same thing.

Setting is to 200 would overclock your CPU, but there is more to overclocking than just the FSB, so don't change it unless you know what you're doing.

Drakon

thanks dom, i will try to look more into it... oh i forgot to ask, if i do decide to get pc3200 memory running at 400 mhz, would it work perfectly with the fsb set at 166 mhz?

mkk

It would work, but without also raising the FSB to 200MHz the performance gain will be practically nil. AthlonXP systems does not gain nearly as much in practical performance from dual-channel as P4 systems do, and even less so from running the RAM at a higher clock than the FSB. I haven't read everything in detail in this thread, but I don't think it's meaningful spend a lot of money getting faster memory unless you also plan to use that to overclock the CPU (rasing the FSB to 200).

Drakon

Ahh ok, so what else needs to be done to overclock the CPU? Dom mentioned that raising the fsb isn't the only thing to do. i am not going to oc the cpu, but i do wanna understand the relationship the cpu, mobo and memory have with each other when using certain combos...

Dom

Things to consider when overclocking.

• Core Voltage - Raising your CPU's will probably be needed to allow increasing of its frequency.
• RAM Voltage - Your RAM may also need more voltage too, as it will also be overclocked.
• RAM Timings - Your RAM's timings may need to be lowered.
• Cooling - It is crucial to have proper cooling when overclocking. Better cooling will allow better overclockability [in most cases].
• AGP Frequency - Should be locked at 66MHz.
• PSU Wattage - Since overclocking draws more power from the PSU, the PSU's wattage and quality may be an issue.
• CPU - Overclocking is not a given. Whether or not you CPU is a 'good overclocker' or will overclock at all has a lot to do with luck.
• Motherboard - It's important to have a good, quality motherboard. Some motherboards will overclock better than others.
• Stability - Overclocking can compromise system stability. (Running stress tests is a good way to make sure your system is stable.)
• Temperatures - Overclocking will increase your CPU's temperature. It's not recommended for your CPU to run above 50C at full load. (Better cooling may help.)
• Warranty - Overclocking will void your CPU's warranty.
• Adjusting - A lot of adjusting will be done (via BIOS) when overclocking. (Testing various settings to achive the best overclock may cause your system not to boot. Clearing the CMOS will reset the BIOS settings to normal).
• Data Corruption - Since overclocking makes your system run 'out of spec', hard drive corruption may occur.

Drakon

well thank u for all ur help, dom, as well as the others. i do have one or 2 more questions. What exactly is a bottlneck as far as pc components r concerned and what causes them?

Dom

I believe it's when a componet can't overclock any further than it is, hindering overall overclockability of a system.

Judas

The term Bottle neck is pretty aparent when you think about say a Pop bottle.... if you wanted the entire contents of the bottle all at once... the neck of the bottle would need to be removed.... or expanded beyond that of the base of the bottle.... If it's expanded beyond.... you would have more room for say let passed more then what is orginally in it..... If this confused you... ignore it ... Basically.... If you have say 15 Rocks in @ point A and you can only carry 5 at one time.... and you need to get all 15 to Point B.... YOU yourself would be the bottleneck.... if you could replace yourself.. upgrade.... to say be able to carry 15 or even 30 or more..... you would no longer be the bottle neck as you would be able to accomidate the requirements..... if you go beyond the need... you would not be consider a bottleneck at all at anypoint... In turn POINT A and POINT B would be the bottle necks... they would have to be upgraded to 30 rocks....

With computer components...

Usually the hardrives are one of the major bottleneck .... CD-DVD's are even worse if you plan on running media off those disks....

No matter what anyone does.... there will always be a bottle neck somewere.... it just so happens that you can balance out the bottle necks.... trying to match everything up best as possible..

Say having a Barton 3200+ with the FSB200 (400mhz) coupled with PC1600 DDR (100mhz FSB ram {rated for 200mhz})... would leave you with your memory being the bottleneck as the memory would be taking ages to do some work... while the cpu just sits back in frustration watching the memory take it's time..

If you were to say have a Radeon X800 PCI-EX XT variatn with PC4000 DDR ram (extremely fast) and a T-Bird 1.2ghz Athlon.... you Athlon (cpu) would be the bottle nect as the memory would be able to provide to much information, and would have to actually slow down and take it's time for the cpu... and the Radeon x800 would be able to move vary quickly... however... if the CPU isn't supplying the video card with the nessary information quick enough.. you could see pretty terrible preformance from it....

Hope this really explained bottlenecks better

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Drakon

yes it does, judas. thank u very much... I wish i knew what exactly is the bottleneck in my system:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 mobo
Athlon XP 2700+
1GB Corsair XMS 2700 DDR ram (2x 256mb + 1x 512mb)
HIS IceQ Raedon 9800 Pro
SB Audigy2 Zs
20 GB Segate Barracuda HD
80 GB Segate Barracuda HD
LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM
HP 12x CD-RW

i think everything seems to be balanced, but then again i am not very knowledgeable with pc components...

Vampyromaniac

it is a decent upper mid-range computer
I'd say you should hang on to it for a while (6-8months) before upgrading.
you'd get a more substantial boost, then.
but, I am rather conservative in that respect

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Judas

well if your running in FSB 166 (333) and the memory is running 166 (333).... you'll be balanced there.. is the 2700+ a Barton?

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Drakon

well i am not really sure, Judas. it might be one, but i dunno...

Drakon

yeah i was thinking of keeping it for another 6 - 8 months, maybe a year if i am lucky. after that i may buy a new rig... btw, do u think my rig should be able to handle doom3 and hl2 pretty well?

Vampyromaniac

I'm sure those games will have several levels of eye candy for computers that can't handle full-blast. Only time will tell though.

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