Athlon 64 FX-55

Deadshade

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I have bought a system with Athlon 64 FX-55 and Leadtek's 6800 Ultra some month ago .
I noticed that , strangely , during the booting it mentioned the right model of CPU but gave 2400 Mhz for frequence and this seemed wrong because I believe the Athlon 64 FX-55 should be by 2600 Mhz .

But I dismissed that as only wrong display untill today when I downloaded PCMark04 to test my system .

To my surprise I got a low result of only 4523 and PCmark also correctly identified the CPU but put it at 2412 Mhz .

So now I am practically sure that that somehow my CPU is not running at the right frequence .
Can somebody advice me what to do and eventually what should be checked ?

When I am at it what kind of score should this system make on PCMark04 to be sure that it is about at its optimal performance ?
(beside the already mentioned CPU and GC I have also 1 GB DDR RAM and MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum MB)

Thanks .
 

mrwhipper

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What is your FSB set at? It should be 200.

They are our, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors. They are OUR TROOPS! Please support them.
 

Deadshade

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I don't know how to set FSB or where to see how it's set .
However if i remeber well , when it boots there goes a line saying FSB 200 . Will check
 

endyen

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Wusy, where is your head at? That chip should never run at 13*200, 13 is bad luck. The multiplier is fine at 12, he sould change the fsb to 218. Maybe 220 because it's a nice round number.
 

Deadshade

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OK so now you got me more confused than before .
One is talking about some multiplier , the second about some FSB setting and the third about RAM .

Please bear in mind that I am basically only a computer user .
I use them but don't mess with them .
That's why I'd like , if possible , to get an answer understandable by every average computer user who rarely if ever opens the casing .

You know , the kind - press this key or launch that application and set this parameter to that value :)

As far as the RAM is concerned , as it seems to be of interest , I have 2 x 512 MB DDR-SDRAM as already mentioned in my first post .
SiS is adding that it is "3.0-3-3-3CL 2CMD" RAM whatever it might mean .
SiS is farther saying that it is Corsair CMX 512 - 4000 module (PC4000U-344-360) .
It also mentions that the multiplier (whatever that may mean again) is at x 12 and the speed at 2x201 Mhz .

All of the above is Chinese for me but I hope it helps those who know how to get my computer to 2600 MHz to answer my question .

Thanks .
 

endyen

Splendid
Whoever set up your rig, built an OCers rig. I would guess that they set the multiplier to 12, but probably had the fsb cranked really high. The higher the fsb, the more memory band width you have. I dont have a copy of your mobo manual, so I cant tell you exactly what to do.
Try this. As you boot your computer, hold the delete key down. In less than a minute, you should be at the bios screen. Just look through all the dropdowns untill you see something listed on the right that looks like "12X". Cursor down to it, and then hit the + button on the right of the keyboard. This should raise it to 13. If not, hit the enter key. This should give you a dropdown from which you should select 13 (usually by the arrow keys)
Sorry about the kidding around.
me
 

Deadshade

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Thanks I did jusqt that .
Delete key , menus etc .
Found one dealing with frequencies and displaying following settings and informations :

Current CPU clock 2613 MHz (so that seems OK)
Current DDR clock 200 MHz

- Adjust CPU Ratio : This one was set on "Startup" and values ranged from 4 to 25 and this "Startup" option .
I suppose that it was this one you meant so I SET IT TO 13 instead of "Startup" .

- Adjust CPU FSB Frequency : ranged from 200 to 450 and was set up to 200 . DID NOT TOUCH THIS ONE

- Adjust AGP frequency : Set to 66 . DID NOT TOUCH THIS ONE .

Exited with saving settings and rebooted .
Results :

1) During boot only CPU model is displayed (Athlon 64 FX-55) but no more the frequency .
2) PC Mark still displays 2412 MHz CPU (but the right model)
3) SiS (Sisoft Sandra) is still displaying 2.4 MHz CPU (but the right model) , the "multiplier" stays at 12 .

So basically nothing changed .
There was no menu in Bios (and I looked them all up) showing a setting "x12" , the only one talking about the CPU ratios was the one I mentioned above and this one is set to 13 now .

But the CPU seems still be running with 2.4 MHz instead of 2.6 MHz .

What to do now ?
 

ChipDeath

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<A HREF="http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php" target="_new">Google is your friend</A> :wink:
CPU-Z is just software that displays CPU/System info. It's more accurate than many things, because it measures the actual speed. (many programs will just have a 'lookup table', and will decide that your CPU must be one in a list. If they don't have your CPU, then they'll be confused....)

<b>Just to clear up the bus/Multiplier issue:</b>
A CPU's actual running Mhz is a combination of 2 factors. The <i>Front Side Bus</i> Speed (200Mhz in your case) - which is usually also the speed that the memory is running at - and a <i>multiplier</i>. If you multiply the two together (FSB x Multiplier), you'll get the speed, which in your case <i>should</i> be 13x200Mhz = 2600Mhz or 2.6Ghz. It seems your multiplier is set to 12 somehow, giving you 2400Mhz instead.

So logically speaking, you can raise the speed of any CPU by <i>either</i> increasing the multiplier, <i>or</i> by raising the FSB (e.g. 12x220Mhz = 2640Mhz) the advantage of changing the FSB is that it also increases the speed of the RAM, so you end up with faster overall performance as it's not just the CPU that's faster then.

I should point out that the official specs for the numbers are what I listed above, but bus speeds are never that exact in real life. e.g. if it's set at 100Mhz then it might be running at 100.8Mhz or something. This is why you end up with 2412Mhz instead of a level 2400.

---
"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen
 

Deadshade

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Thanks for the clear explanation .

It seems your multiplier is set to 12 <b>somehow</b>, giving you 2400Mhz instead.
Indeed I supposed so much already .
The problem being in the "somehow" - I am sure that there are some people who have also the MSI Neo 2 Platinum MB so that they may explain this somehow .

If I go to the Bios setting at boot , like I already explained , there is a parameter : <b>CPU Ratio</b>

It may be set to any numerical value between 4 and 25 or to <b>Startup</b> .
Selecting <b>Startup</b> is supposed to get automatically the right value of this parameter upon start up - that's what was selected when I received the system 1 month ago .

The very strange thing is that when I select <b>13</b> instead of <b>Startup</b> , nothing happens and the utilities as well as the results of benchmarks are the same like it was before .

OK I will download this CPU-Z programm but ... "somehow" I suspect that it will show 2400 too .
 

Deadshade

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OK so I downloaded CPU-Z and it reports :

Core Speed 2411,8 Multiplier x 12 HTT 201 MHz .

The mystery gets more mysterious .
I wouldn't believe that making a CPU run at the frequency it was produced for , would make such a problem .

So what now ?
Apparently even if I put the multiplier in Bios at 13x , the CPU-Z still detects (as well as PCMark and 3DMark) only 2412 MHz .
 

Deadshade

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OK so with all I got it seems that it must be a MB problem .
After check the CPU is well a FX-55 able to run at 2600 .
Possibly it is something within Bios setting that prevents the MB to accept a change in the multiplier .
Whatever setting I choose , the CPU seems to run at 2400 MHz and x12 multiplier .

In that case my question might be in a wrong forum .

Anyway - is there anybody in here familiar with the Neo2 Platinum and aware of problems with CPU speed settings that don't do what they are supposed to do ?
 

ChipDeath

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OK, are you sure it is actually an FX-55?

What else does CPU-Z report? how much level 2 cache is reported? should be 1024Kb. if it's 512Kb then it's not an FX.

It simply sounds like your CPU has a locked multiplier, which FX chips <b>don't</b> have, IIRC.

Also it's default seems to be 12x, which is also wrong.

Just seems like a 3800+ or something. Where did you buy it from?

---
"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen
 

endyen

Splendid
It is sounding like it could be a bios problem. If you bought it locally, take it back and have them reflash the bios. If you bought it from an online store, you might try msi's online update prog. It wont hurt a bit.
 

Deadshade

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OK problem solved - as I was guessing , it was indeed a Bios setting problem :D

I have been playing with various settings in the Bios to see what it does untill I happened on one that did the trick .

It is the Cool and Quiet setting in the Neo2 Platinum MB !

It was on Enabled .
When I set it on Disabled , magically the CPU began to run at 2600 and x13 multiplier .
I reset it to Enabled and voilà - it ran again at 2400 and x12 .

I have not a clue why it does that but I am happy to have found where to click to get the frequency there where it belongs .
And yes , as I have said several times , the CPU was a FX-55 (I had the box , the cache numbers were right , the serial number was right etc) so the only question was how to make it run at the proper frequency .

So now I must try to find out why this Cool and Quiet setting does what it did but I guess that it will be much harder :)
 

ChipDeath

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I guess cool 'n' quiet uses it's own 'lookup table' to know what the proper operating speed of the current processor is. If the best chip in <i>that</i> list is an FX-53, then that's the settings it'll use...

I guess there must be a BIOS update for that one.

I'll try to remember that one for the future.

Well Spotted! (and sorry none of us were actually any use... :redface: )

---
"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen
 

ChipDeath

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..
or it could be a bug in the BIOS perhaps?

You could send MSI an e-mail. I suspect it's actually fairly simple to fix, assuming it's just a bug or addition to the BIOS.

---
"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen
 

Deadshade

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Thanks ChipDeath .

I did what you suggested but MSI didn't answer and I was not really able to get through the jungle of data that were needed for the form one gets when writing to MSI support (versions , settings , models , releases etc) .

However I found that my version of Bios was 1.2 while the last for this MB is 1.4 .
So now it is quite another question altogether because I am supposed to "flash" a Bios .

I never did it in my life and the only words I associate to "Bios flashing" is "apocalypse" or "dead computer" .
Besides the Liveupdate MSI utility asked me to create an emergency floppy (already scaring ...) and I have no floppy drive on my computer .

So I will have to learn now what this all Bios flashing business is and how to do it without floppy .

One always has something to learn :)
 

Deadshade

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OK Wusy .

That's the software I have been talking about - the Liveupdate utility from the MSI page .
It takes me through the flashing process allright but ...

1) It begins with a red warning that this process may disable the computer and destroy the MB .

2) In the one before last step it warmly suggests to create an EMERGENCY floppy or otherwise take the RISK to proceed .

It's when I arrived to 2 that I courageously clicked "cancel" .

But as you are the knowledgable one here and mean that it can't be screwed unless I get a power failure , when I come home this evening I will click "proceed" instead .

If I end up with a smoking , disabled , not booting computer , I'll make you eat my FX-55 on Monday :)