Stain

Distinguished
Jun 28, 2002
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My bios has this "Clock Spread Spectrum" setting in the same area as FSB settings, voltage, etc. The options for it are 0.5% 1.0% 2.0% and disabled. Default is disabled and in the manual all it says about it is when overclocking always set it to disabled. I have tried all of the settings and I can't notice it having any effect.

Does anyone know what this is and what it does?
 

phsstpok

Splendid
Dec 31, 2007
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Microwave? H*ll no! Just TV and Radio. The feature was added so that computer manufacturers can meet certain computer emission guidelines like those by the FCC. (It would be very bad if a computer made it impossible for the whole neighborhood to listen to radio or watch television).

Supposedly, Broad Spread Spectrum doesn't degrade performance but one wonders if it is intended to reduce noise emissions then why isn't the feature a default.

In the USA the FCC classifies computer equipment as either a Class A or Class B computing device. (Other countries probably have similar regulations). I'm not sure of the FCC details other than one has stricter requirement than the other. One is intended for home use (strict) and the other for business use (less strict). I'm not sure about this but I believe what the FCC allows for the legal limit of emissions for a business intended device at a distance something like 25 feet is only allowable at 3 feet for a home intended device. This means a device for the home should emit far less noise.

I don't think these guidelines are enforced but rather voluntary (but I could be wrong). Maybe they only apply to complete products like OEM computers and printers but not to components like motherboards, add-on cards, etc.

If you want to try to test the setting place a radio just outside of 3 feet from your computer, which should have a closed case, and see if different settings make any difference to the sound from the radio. I don't know which radio frequencies are most likely to be affected.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>
 
G

Guest

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If you can't meet FCC requirements you can't sell your product in the US. In Europe it's CE. The FCC requirements are actively enforced. If a person is recieving interference from some unknown source, tell the FCC and theoretically they will investigate to see if it is caused by some rule breaker. They are the US equivalent of airwave cops.

Besides emissions, FCC tests for immunity (if I'm not mistaken). In other words they try to get your product to fail with legal amounts of externally produced emissions concentrated right at some vulnerable spot on your device.