k in my bios i came across a ram setting timming and the options were byspd,turbo,ultra

so u put it to turbo and instead of timming of 2.5,3,3,7 i have 2,3,2,6 so then u tried ultra but it wouldent get past xp boot screen, so i kept it at turbo and it runs stable but i cant put my fsb up, i was wondering if i put my dram voltage up would i be able to put it at ultra or be able to change fsb again.. and another question are 2,3,2,6 timing good ?

2,3,2,6 is rather good...not the best, but definitely good for the type of RAM you're using.

Raising the memory voltage to the max setting (should be 2.7 or something close to that) may do the trick, just try it and see what happens. Over volting memory shouldn't be an issue, most chips will handle that just fine.

Don't bother using the Ultra setting, it's just going to cause stability problems.

When you're raising your FSB, what are you raising it to?

my fsb stock is 166 and even if i put it to 167 it wont get into windows, it use to run at 13X172, but not with mem timming it only can run at 166.. i guess its not that stable.. anywho any sagestions ? ooh and im tried putting up voltage on cpu and memoy, no go

Quote: Abit AT7-MAX2 Amd Athlon XP 2800+ @ 3000+ [Barton] 512mb PC2700 DDR MSI Geforce 4 Ti-4800 2x Maxtor 20G Lite-on 48x16x48x CDRW LG 16x DVD-ROM

Quote: my fsb stock is 166 and even if i put it to 167 it wont get into windows, it use to run at 13X172, but not with mem timming it only can run at 166..

Drew, I want tyou to get a look at something, it's sorta the big picture and it's sort of a balance thing as well, like chinese kung fu.

I have the AT7-E, slightly older mobo then yours, an XP2100+, definitly older chip, but some XMS3000 RAM in it, handles higher speeds then your PC2700.

Ok, here is the part to understand. On these motherboards, your not going to get past 166mhz very easy at all. This is because when you raise the H-Clock, (FSB), you also raise the signal/frequency of the PCI and AGP buses. They have a limit of what they can take, and there is a setting called AGP/PCI Divider in the BIOS and yours should be set to a 5/2/1/ or anyway, it has a 5 in it. Essentially it divides the 166 by 5, and sets a base freq of 33.2 for the PCI bus, and 66.4 for the AGP. Now this can be pushed as high as 40/80, but then your going to be running the risk of data corruption on the HD, video card problems, probably even at stock speeds on the card, much less overclocking it too.

Now this part is about you system as a whole.

You have a nice fast CPU, on a solid if not the best mobo, with older RAM. Now you can push this RAM to a higher FSB, but only by loosening the timings, and to tell you the truth, your system will run faster at tighter timings, then with a high frequency in many cases. You see, chances are your CPU is waiting on the RAM alot anyway, that is a nice new CPU. I would back off the OC, set those RAM timings agressively, then bump up the OC as far as you reasonably can to maintain stability and bench it hard recording the results. Do the same benchmarks before you change anything though, see if your gaining or loosing.

By being more reasonable with your H-Clock/FSB adjustments, you will maintain the ability to OC the Video Card seperately, and run your RAM at fewer wait-states. The system can run at a lower voltages reducing heat and wear.

See where you get, write down the changes and adjustment, make a book of it. Run your AGP aperature as low as possible. Leave it at this setting until you are happy with all others. Then play your favorite games. If you every video-lag hard, and you notice major HD activity, then raise the AGP Aperature to 64MB and see if it stops, then 128MB if needed. But remember this will impact your overall performance and leaving this setting low, and backing off the video prefs in the game may help out. If your going to adjust the game, you want to back off settings that effect texture sizes, resolution, texture details, etc.

Good luck, tell us how it goes. Sorry this is so long

um thx alot for this, but i jsut realized sometihng im an idiot.. i always thought agp aperture size was jsut howmuch ram was on the video card.. :S wow im an idiot i jsut went and foudn that out threw google that it wasnt man i feel dumb.. i would keep it at 128 cuz i have 128mb of ram on video card.. wow im dumb anyways so your sayign i should try it at 32..then 64.. then 128.. then 256.. and becnh every one and ee which one is the best ? on a site i was on it says to set it half of the amount of ram i have so half would be 256.. anyways wow i jsut learn something.. thx alot ill try that out when i get home, but what exactly is agp aperture ?