FSB Speed Questions
 

I recently rebuild my computer but being a novice at CPU optimization I wanted to plumb the depths of the Cellar's knowledge in this area. My CPU seemed to be running a little slower than expected so I ran a progam called CPU-Z to find the relevant configuration info.

My question revolves around the FSB speed and if it is correct for my current setup. I am told that the automatic configuration tends to be a little too cautious and I may be loosing out on some speed. My FSB is 200 MHz with a multiplier of 15x, out of a rated 800 MHz. This gives me an FSB : DRAM of 3:5.

Does this make sense? Am I doing it wrong?



-------------------------
CPU-Z version 1.47
-------------------------

Processors Map
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 2

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0
-- Thread 1


Processors Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 1 (max 1)
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name Intel Pentium 4 531
Codename Prescott
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Package Socket 775 LGA (platform ID = 4h)
CPUID F.4.9
Extended CPUID F.4
Core Stepping G1
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 3000.2 MHz (15.0 x 200.0 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 800.0 MHz
Stock frequency 3000 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, EM64T
L1 Data cache 16 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
Trace cache 12 Kuops, 8-way set associative
L2 cache 1024 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control no
Features


Chipset
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel i945G/GZ rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801GB (ICH7/R) rev. A1
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 333.4 MHz (3:5)
CAS# 5.0
RAS# to CAS# 5
RAS# Precharge 5
Cycle Time (tRAS) 15
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 21


Memory SPD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM #1

General
Memory type DDR2
Module format Regular UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Kingston (7F98000000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-5300 (333 MHz)
Part number 9905316-005.A04LF
Serial number 7E18CBE3
Manufacturing date Week 07/Year 08

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Nominal Voltage 1.80 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 200 266 333
CAS# 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 4 5
RAS# Precharge 3 4 5
TRAS 9 12 15
TRC 12 16 20

DIMM #2

General
Memory type DDR2
Module format Regular UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Kingston (7F98000000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-5300 (333 MHz)
Part number 9905316-005.A04LF
Serial number 7C18EEE3
Manufacturing date Week 07/Year 08

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Nominal Voltage 1.80 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 200 266 333
CAS# 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 4 5
RAS# Precharge 3 4 5
TRAS 9 12 15
TRC 12 16 20

Sorry...I got nuthin'. I could sit here and look at the specs and drool like an idiot, if you think that would help at all. :blush:

quadruple your virtual memory??? /scratches head

Before you can decide what to fix, first learn what is causing slowness. Task manager is one source of those numbers. Another program from Microsoft called Process Explorer written by Mark Russinovich can be helpful.

First learn what is the bottleneck. Meanwhile, FSB speed would be limited by hardware. Run it too fast and errors (failure) results. Choosen would be a number that maximizes the FSB speed for that motherboard design. Yes, the FSB can be run faster - and the computer may then crash more often. More often, the trivial amount of speed improvement causes a major increase in crashes. You don't like their number? Then (if possible) increase the FSB speed and test.

If slowness exists, then the number that defines that slowness should be located. Otherwise every suggested solution will be nothing more than wild speculation.

Autoruns would be good too
 

Tom,

Also, running Autoruns, also available from www.sysinternals.com, will give you an idea of what's running at startup, and will let you know what you should and should not disable to make your machine more efficient.

Thanks,

Mitch

Holy Cow mbpark!

That is awesome, thanks! I've spent a bit of time with filemon and procmon.... I'm delighted to add that tool to my kit.

Thank you very much.