How to get the max out of a p4 2.8c

[devren]

I just built my first system.
Intel P4 2.8 GHZ 800 FSB
Asus P4c 800 Deluxe
1GB HyperX 3500 (in two 512mb Dims)
ATI 9700 Pro
WD hard drives totaling 200GB
Antec True Power 430
In a Antec 1080 Performance Plus with 4 Fans

I want to make sure that I did everything correctly and that I am getting Everything I can out of my system. Obviously it is running as I am writeing this message. But I was curious if there were any diagnostics that I could run to make sure everything is set up correctly and or tell me what if anything is wrong with the system.

Also How do I check to make sure that I am running at DDR 400 Speeds?

Thanks alot guys.
Devren
Ps if you have any suggestions on what I should do please feel free to leave them. thanks.

 

[Xenius]

I don't know the answer to your question, but would like to hear it from others here.

BTW, what temps are you getting in that system? My case will have 4 fans. I'm wondering if it will be kept fairly cool.

--Xenius
-non computer guru

 

[devren]

CPU is approx 33C
and MB is approx 23-27C depending on the tempature of my room. What about you?

Also are there any free versions of 3dmarks or something like it so that I can make sure I'm running at 800mhz fsb?
Thanks

 

[devren]

Oh and one of those fans is an intake which is blowing air over my 2 hard drives. and there is a slot for one more fan that is just open right now.

 

[xeenrecoil]

Heya Devern;

You bought an Asus Excellent Choice!

Ok lets get down to buisness.
Here are some tips on tweaking the settings in your BIOS to get the Maximum performance out of your computer Core.

Get into your BIOS by pressing delete when your computer starts.
Then goto the [Advanced] Tab, once there select> [CPU Speed]:Manual.

Then select> [CPU External Frequency]: 215Mhz

Then scroll down and go into the Chip Config Menu, once there select> [SDRAM Config]: Manual and set your timings to 2.0-3-3-6. If however the system becomes unstable then reset the [SDRAM Config]: By SPD, and it will resolve the issue.

Then select>[Memory Turbo]: Enabled.

Save Settings, and exit.

This will give you a nice performance boost, you will be happy with the results.

I hope this Helps.

XeeN

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by xeenrecoil on 06/19/03 12:53 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[LtBlue14]

SiSoftware Sandra gives you lots of diagnostics for your computer
the memory benchmark tests will probably give around 5GB/s (a score of about 5000) if everything's going well
as for stability testing, 3dmark01 and 03 are both available for free download and benchmarking. you don't get ALL of the goodies that you would if you paid, but you get the essentials. Prime95 is good for cpu stability testing. some run it for 3 hours and call a system stable, others run 24. personally i think you're fine at 3, especially since you're not overclocking, and there's no reason to think your system WOULDN'T be stable
get sisoft sandra <A HREF="http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_x86&langx=en&a=" target="_new">here</A>
<A HREF="http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm" target="_new">prime 95 here</A> (run "torture test" for the stability test)
<A HREF="http://www.futuremark.com/download/" target="_new">3dmark01 and 03 here</A>

congrats on the new system btw =)

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[mixerman]

I am looking for these programs as well.. now tell me, from looking at the Prime95 site, that looks like this program is some sort of CPU sharing program with some server, but is says that it doesn't take much of your system resources at all so you wont' even know it's there.. .now how is this going to "Torture Test" your CPU ? And why do you have to connect to some server to get information on finding Prime Numbers.. I am confused..


My system:
P3 850mhz (100fsb), 512 Micron PC133, Abit SE6, IBM Deskstar 75gxp (60 gig @ 7200rpm), Hercules 3D Prophet 2 GTS (64 meg), SB Live MP3, Pioneer 16x DVD, Asus 45x CD-Rom

 

[devren]

You guys are AWSOME! First Off I want to thank everyone for helping me figure out what I wanted to buy and second now for helping me tweak and confirm that everything is running perfectly!

Ok now about
"Then scroll down and go into the Chip Config Menu, once there select> [SDRAM Config]: Manual and set your timings to 2.0-3-3-6. If however the system becomes unstable then reset the [SDRAM Config]: By SPD, and it will resolve the issue."
Maybe I need to upgrade to the new 1.7 beta bios but i upgraded to the 1.6 and the best I can set my ram to is 2-3-3-8 the only other option for the ram that is close to what you said is 2-3-3-4. I did have to manually set the ram howerver as when I put the ram in and try to boot without altering the bios it gives me the voice message system failed due to cpu overclocking. I can get around that if i take the memory out and put it in the other bank then downgrade it to 2-3-3-8 rather then set by spd.

For now I'm going to dowload all the programs mentioned and recourd my scores then either follow your inscructions and reaserch overclocking for a bit and perhaps add a bit more as I inted to get this baby running at atleast 3 ghz as thg artical said they got it up to 3.2 ghz without the 3500 ram. And i'm running with 4 fans so I should be golden. and ya right know I know almost nothing about oc as I have been spending all my time researching what to buy.

Anyway thanks again guys and if you have any other suggestions please let me know.

 

[devren]

Oh do you think I will notice any instability for setting the fsb to 215? Because if you don't think it will be an issue changeing that then I'll probobly just go ahead and do that then learn all about overclocking.
Thanks
Devren

 

[Xenius]

Ok, first off, I have yet to build my own system. I will be doing so in a matter of days.

I've been researching like a sunuvabitch and as far as I know, setting your fsb shouldn't cause instability. With the "c" p4's having a fsb of 200 Mhz (800 quad pumped) an increase of 15 shouldn't give you trouble. But, I haven't yet gotten to try for myself.

Oh and your fan setup sounds nice, My lian-li that I just ordered tonight has 2 intake fans blowing accross the HDD's 1 exhaust fan on top and 1 exhaust fan in back. Should be a cool running box.

Oh, and another question. When you got your p4 2.8, did it have some thermal material on the hs/fan? I remember someone asking about something like that. I'm trying to remember if the response was to remove that material and then use thermal grease, or if that material took the place of thermal grease. Thanks.

--Xenius
-non computer guru

 

[VelocityPimp]

i know the 3.0c bemo box i built from intel came with compound, i threw it away and used ceramique from arctic silver. I don't know what heat sink the 2.9c comes with, but i was very impress by the retail 3.0c hs/fan. the heat sink is divided like an X with fins in the directions, straight through the center, is a solid copper core. Temps ran a little high about 40, but the case only had 2 fans, and the power supply only had 1. I was just checking out stability in our standard case. Running impressively through a 24 hours stress test that takes the cpu to 100%

 

[LtBlue14]

whew, a lot of n00b questions here =)
let me take them one at a time:

for prime95, tell it you don't want to connect to the server and all that, don't sign up for any of that stuff (unless you're interested in helping out their cause, but that's not part of the stability procedure).
just run the torture test and see if it keeps running for a few hours without problems. as for the overclocking 15mhz, you ought to be able to do it without a problem, but no guarantees. first move it up 12mhz, because that's what your RAM is rated to do. the stock intel HSF should be able to get you there, but again i'm not sure. as for not being able to set your ram to 2-3-3-6, it sounds like the BIOS just didn't include that as an option (which i find strange...you may want to update to 1.7 beta. i'd read up in some forums specific to that motherboard to find out if that update is working for people first). running at 2-3-3-8 shouldn't yield too much of a performance difference - nothing that would be noticeable in anything but sandra benchmarks, which will lose a few dozen points maybe. as for the thermal interface material (TIM), the stuff on the bottom of the stock intel heatsink is OK, but for best performance, remove it, clean the base of the heatsink with rubbing alcohol, and apply a THIN even layer of arctic silver 3, or the arctic silver ceramique.
instructions for applying arctic silver 3 can be found <A HREF="http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm" target="_new">here</A>, for the arctic silver ceramique, <A HREF="http://www.arcticsilver.com/ceramique_instructions.htm" target="_new">look here</A>

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[devren]

There was a black material on the heatsink. I called and talked to a local hardware store and asked them about thermal paste and they told me that you dont use it for p4 that you only use it for "the older box type processors" And when I had my amd board i ended up haveing to call about 16 differant places before I found a place that had any and that was what they told me. But as long as you buy the retail version of the p4 you should be fine. as it comes with a fan and heatsink with the black stuff on it lol.
I hope that helps
Oh and I didnt use any thermal paste and im running fine
Usually around 33C and after playing about 6-7 hours straight game play it was only at 42C So I would say your safe.

 

[devren]

Sorry didnt notice the second page, I would go with his advice lol.

 

[xeenrecoil]

Heya Devren;

As far as setting your ram timings goes, only the best of the best ram will set to 2.0-3-2-6, with this in mind i would try 2.5-3-3-6, most modules worth a damnn can handle that timing setting.
This is the setting i reccomend unless you have super high quality ram designed to run at Cas-2.0

As far as the CPU External Frequency goes, boosting your frequncy by 15Mhz is completely safe you wont have any trouble with instability because of this setting with factory cooling, it will remain stable and as a byproduct your CPU core frequency will increase.

In response to the Thermal grease argument, You will notice on the mating surface of the factory Intel Heatsink there is a square foil strip, REMOVE IT, if you dont remove it you wont get a proper seat and your CPU will run Hot and Possibly overheat and die, Avoid this at all costs because not removing the Metal foil will void the warranty.

Under it is the thermal grease, this will insure proper thermal disipation between the CPU and heatsink.

In my oppinion, the person at the hardware store is an idiot, without thermal grease you can not ensure proper thermal disipation.

I hope this Helps.

XeeN

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by XeeNRecoiL on 06/20/03 09:53 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[devren]

"In response to the Thermal grease argument, You will notice on the mating surface of the factory Intel Heatsink there is a square foil strip, REMOVE IT, if you dont remove it you wont get a proper seat and your CPU will run Hot and Possibly overheat and die, Avoid this at all costs because not removing the Metal foil will void the warranty.

Under it is the thermal grease, this will insure proper thermal disipation between the CPU and heatsink."

Ok now I'm a bit worried. When I put the cpu and heat sink in I saw no square foil strip, there was a black semi sticky square that when I toched it with a cloth to see what it was left a resadue on the cloth, I then assumed it was a thermal bad of sorts, installed the chip and the system seems to be running fine.

Now I did take the heatsink off because of what you said and when i did there is now black resadue on both the top of the cpu and on the heatsink. and when i put it back on (with the black stuff still there) it still seems to be running fine.
I did buy the retail version not the oem, perhaps the foil is only on the oem version?

If anyone else knows anything about this please let me know, or if you can give me a bit more info.
Thanks
Devren

 

[LtBlue14]

if your comp's workin fine don't worry about it
the black stuff is what you're supposed to see

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[devren]

Ok cool thanks

BTW I used <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm=1364845" target="_new"> PCmark2
CPU Score 6872
Memory Score 8664
HDD Score 926</A>
and <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=935377" target="_new"> 3DMark3 5139</A>(click the links for the details)
I'm not sure if these are good or not *is a total newb*. Well if you guys have any suggestions for me I'm all ears. As for now I'm going to play a few games then up my fsb.
Thanks guys
Dev

 

[devren]

I just upped the fsp to 215 and my system seems to be running fine. Though i am getting temps of the low 50s in celcius. I'm pretty sure thats fine. But if not please let me know.
Thanks
Dev

Edit- Oh and the new <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm=1364958
" target="_new"> PCMark2 </A>
I am a bit confused though, Why are the memory benchmarks lower for some things and higher for others now?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Devren on 06/20/03 11:37 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[devren]

Ok I upped the FSB to 215 but now my ram will not run at 400 or even 433 instead its running at 266. I altered the ram to run by spd and it didnt fix the problem. You suggested useing "Then select>[Memory Turbo]: Enabled." but there is no turbo mode. If i go into [advanced]>[Jumper free...]> I can then select the ram and set the speed at 266, 333, or 400. Should I change this or will that possible damage my ram?

 

[xeenrecoil]

Heya Devren;

Sorry i didnt get back to you sooner.

Ok i assumed that you had a pheonix Bios i know i shouldnt do that but, ya know...hehe

So im thinking that i dont have a clue why your Bios decided to underclock the ram like that, perhaps it has something to do with the ratio 4:3 etc etc, if your BIOS supports this feature, i would suggest 1:1 ratio if it does.

If you are able to manually select your ram frequency while at the same time overclocking the CPU core frequency then you may NOT have overclocked it on the EXTERNAL cpu frequency, but instead overclocked the cpu CORE frequency by mistake...confused yet, i know i am heheh

sigh...Bios am teh suck....

Check the settings and make sure your overclocking your External cpu frequency (also known as front side bus, or Ram), and Not your Internal (Core) cpu frequency directly.

I hope this helps.

XeeN

 

[devren]

I belive its the FSB as when I check it in the benchmarks from futuremark it says I have a fsb of 215, but it also says i have alittle over a 3 ghz cpu. Does that sound right? And ya I'm confused. Maybe Ill just downgradeback to the standard and reasearch everything then reoverclock.
Thanks.
Dev

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya Devren;

yeah that sounds right the core clock will increase as a by-product of overclocking the external frequency.

if you are overclocking your external frequency i dont see how the ram can run at 266mhz being that your manually setting the fsb to 215x4 which equals 860fsb and a memory frequency of 415mhz (I think this is right. maybe its 430mhz, i havent had my coffee yet hehe), leave that other setting alone its for manualy setting the frequency as static, and you cant overclock it.

I hope this helps.

XeeN

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by XeeNRecoiL on 06/23/03 11:25 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[devren]

Thanks