Question

Multiplier and Front Side Bus (FSB)

Asked by: itnifl

I have a ASUS M3A32-MVP DELUXE motherboard. I have understood that clock speed = multiplier x FSB. But how practically does the Front Side Bussen affect clock speed, where is this multiplier coming from ? Is it better to have a high FSB and low multiplier or is it better to have a low FSB and high multiplier? What effect does this have on the memory speed?

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Asked On
2009-11-06 at 03:18:21ID24877503
Tags

Multiplier FSB

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Miscellaneous Hardware

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Computer Motherboards

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Computer CPU Processors

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Answers

 

by: xtreminatorPosted on 2009-11-06 at 05:07:38ID: 25758728

clock multiplier tech-nick was first introduced in intel 80486DX2 as a "clock doubling " technology..

according to this... processor speed is set to double of speed of system (FSB) bus...

for simple : this processor performs two processor clock cycle per bus cycle..

as time passing every new coming processor got improved clock multiplier technology..


when u increase multiplier..ur actually increasing processor clock cycle ,which performing per FSB clock ..

multiplier 4 (x 4) = 4 CPU clock cycle per FSB cycle


well this is such overclouding technique to adjust multiplier and FSB speed..

increasing multiplier / FSB more than CPU speed will "unlocked" cpu

u can either increase multiplier or FSB ( will give same result,but should not more than CPU speed)

 

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2009-11-06 at 06:34:00ID: 25759392

The FSB affects everything connected to the bus, including the NorthBridge and RAM.  A higher FSB is preferable, and we have seen Intel release their last cpus with 1333FSB in the the Wolfdale family.  If you increase the FSB, the RAM will run at the faster speed.  The multiplier is set in the cpu, with some power-saving chips able to dynamically adjust it when the cpu is not being used (Intel's SpeedStep and AMD's Cool'N'Quiet).

The new Nehalem i7 cpus avoid the FSB completely and using a direct point-to-point architecture, intead of a bus.  QPI (Quick Path Interconnect) has a much higher bandwidth and takes advantage of faster DDR3 memory.

 

by: sparkmakerPosted on 2009-11-06 at 06:36:10ID: 25759405

The multiplier is the clock rate that is generated in a CPU, using PLL-based frequency multiplier circuitry. In essence, the FSB clock rate is applied to the CPU and the frequency multiplier increases the internal clock rate of the CPU.
 The FSB really applies to the motherboard circuitry and the rate at which it transfers data, this is probably the area where overclocking is the most finicky because it involves all the components in a computer motherboard. Multipler overclocking only involves the CPU clock rate.
When overclocking, FSB is usually used because in can be increased incrementally. This allows for minute changes that are taking advantage of the clock rate overhead that most components have before they become electrically unstable.
(think of it as a safety factor to ensure stability)
Multipliers on the other hand increasing the Clock rate of the CPU substantially each increment it is increased.
a FSB of 200 x10 multiplier results in a CPU rate  of 2000 where a FSB 200 x11 multiplier is 2200.

 

by: itniflPosted on 2009-11-06 at 11:20:01ID: 25762202

Seems like to me that some people mix up the Front Side Bus with the memory speed, or am I mistaking? I have the memory speed set at 1066, but the FSB is set at 200. It doesn't go higher then 600. So what is best, a high multiplier or a high FSB?

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2009-11-06 at 15:42:07ID: 25764070

You won't be able to push your FSB that high, because together with the multiplier, it determines your final cpu speed.  Most cpus won't overclock 50%, so if your current FSB is 200, 300 would be excessive, and you would have to make sure your PCI and PCIe buses stayed at 33MHz and 100MHz.  Here, someone was able to push their FSB to 350: http://img186.imageshack.us/i/1195025370xpatyinke971lxt0.png/

As I said before, a higher FSB will give you faster memory access - this has been a known fact since the Pentium was invented.

 

by: sparkmakerPosted on 2009-11-06 at 16:31:06ID: 25764332

A FSB of 200mhz actually is running the equivalent of 800mhz as the data is being signaled on the rising and falling edges of the wave form of the electrical signal as well as at two intermediate points between them. I essence 4 bits of data per clock cycle also known as quad data rate.

 

by: dbruntonPosted on 2009-11-06 at 17:26:40ID: 25764536

 

by: itniflPosted on 2009-11-08 at 00:56:04ID: 25769855

Sparkmaker:
I now understand why my motherboard set my DRAM speed at 800 when I set it at auto, the FSB was at 200. But what happens if I set the FSB at 200 and lock the DDR speed at 1066? I guess I could set the FSB to 266, but then I would have to set the multiplier to 9,39849 to reach around 2500 Mhz clock speed. I think I can only set the multipliers to clear numbers without a decimal.

 

by: sparkmakerPosted on 2009-11-08 at 11:57:50ID: 25771634

This depends on what CPU you have and what FSB it requires to get to its proper clock rate. Not all will allow a change in the multiplier which is why FSB overclocking became popular.
Since this is an AMD CPU motherboard with hyper transport, the system should actually allow separation of the FSB and memory bus rates in order to acquire the proper rates for each on there own.
You have to remember that upping the FSB effects the other bus rates for the PCI and PCIe slots. This can have a great effect on the components installed on those slots. The PCIe does have a setting in BIOS to change the clock rate but not the PCI slots.
All in all, when your BIOS is set to the  AUTO positions, the system should recognize the components correctly and set the correct clock rates. Perhaps by manually setting these attributes you are handcuffing  the system from applying these proper settings.

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2009-11-08 at 14:17:31ID: 25772219

In general, having the memory run at a different speed than a multiple of the FSB is not a good idea, because that can cause the cpu to introduce wait states to sync up with the RAM.  If you can't lock the PCI and PCIe buses, then changing the FSB is not a good idea, because those buses don't take overclocking very well.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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