Frontside bus question

[Guest]

I just built a new computer with an ECS K7S5A mobo, AMD Athlon XP 1600+ processor and I used some RAM from my previous computer. I was just doing some tests in 3DMark 2001 and it said that my frontside bus was 66MHz. Now I'm pretty sure this is the speed between the memory and the processor, correct? So in my case, since I'm still using SDRAM the speed should be either 100MHz or 133MHz right? I'm using one 128MB stick of PC133 and one 64MB stick of PC100 RAM so then shouldn't my FSB be 100MHz, not 66? If I bought some DDR RAM then would ths FSB speed be 266MHz? I'm not an expert on this so correct me if I'm wrong. I'm all confused.

On another note, I just remembered that when I first got my new system running, the clock speed of the processor defaulted at 1050MHz. I went into the BIOS and for the CPU speed there were two numbers. By default, it was running at "100MHz/100MHz". I switched it to "133MHz/133MHz" and from then on, my machine began to recognize the processor at its rated speed 1.4GHz (1600+ model). You could also set one to 100MHz and another to 133MHz, although I can't remember, off hand if it was the 1st number or the 2nd one. Could anyone clear up exactly what this means? The manual seems to be a little outdated in comparison to the BIOS the Mobo came with. A screenshot of the BIOS screen in the manual shows a "CPU Speed" setting and the example is "700MHz"
Well if anyone could clarify any of this information that would be great. Thanks.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by henryo11 on 03/18/02 06:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

3D mark probably refers to the AGP clock, not the actual Front Side Bus. 133/133 is the correct setting for your CPU, but because there is no autodetect method for AMD CPU's, you did the necessary thing of changing it manually.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[bront]

The first number is your CPU FSB, the second number is your memory FSB. Some of the older Athlons run at 100 FSB, but the bus is double pumped, so PC133 ram will still give the CPU Benifits.

I do not like it Tom you see,
I do not like green PCB.

 

[Guest]

So the newer athlons run at 133MHz FSB, I thought it was 266? Or did you imply that the speed is 266 because it is "double pumped"? And say if I decided to get DDR RAM, then would I have more choices in the BIOS for the different speed settings. You said the 2nd number was the speed of the memory, so would it say 266MHz for DDR RAM? I'm all confused about all this bus speed stuff.

 

[camieabz]

266 = 2 x 133, meaning two channels of 133 speed.

Its just a thought, but I've been sold 'PC100' and it turned out to be PC66.

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