configuring bios for asus a7n8x with athon 2600 and 2700 ddr

Not personally familiar with the board, but considering it's an nf2 u400,

first thing's first. What core is your 2600+ is it barton or tbred?

In the event you have a barton
you want to set your front side bus speed to 166 (166 x 2) = 333 fsb

In the event you have an tbred,
you want to set your front side bus speed to 133 (133 x 2) = 266 fsb

depending on your RAM, you should set CAS to 3-3-3 if you're playing on the safe side. but if your memory is rated for lower cas settings, you can use those safely. often, these settings are printed on the label of the stick. If you have mismatched pairs, use the more conservative of the two settings (higher numbers).

The motherboard's manual should come with instructions on how to do all this in the bios.

Some things to note:
Short of server level hardware, there generally are no guarantees of stability.
if you have a barton, you can safely use the tbred fsb setting, but you will be throttling the chip.

It sounds like you have the Barton cpu, which has a multiplier of 12.5 and FSB of 166 to give you a cpu speed of 2.083GHz.  This matches the PC2700 RAM you have, but you can check by running Everest: http://www.lavalys.com/index.php?page=product&view=1&subpage=5
You should also check your IDE controller in the BIOS and in device manager, to make sure it is set to DMA transfer for maximum performance.

Thank you both for your comments.  As soon as I get back to my studio, I'm going to look at these possible answers.  I need to map your comments back to actual settings in my bios.

What exactly does CAS represent?  I'm an it professional, but I work in the BI arena and am not as familiar with these acronyms as I'd like to be.
 
Thanks again.

-John

John Need more info. What Memory Exactly brand speed Latiency written on stick. What CHIP Barton or Tbred also what Stepping on chip example those little numbers on chip. 2 more things what case are you using how are you cooling it and what HSF Heatsink fan. If you can give me these I will give you settings to make that computer superfast and stable as a rock. CAS is a memory Timing but it is much much more involved than that there is also RAS, TRAS, Cas to ras latiency kind of hard to explain here. Get me that info and I will give you bios settings. Also What REV1.4 or 2.0 of the motherboard.

http://www.lostcircuits.com/memory/twinmos/ here is an article that will give you an idea about current memory. Very good site BTW.

Thank your Dynamic1.  I will look at the chips and jot everything down as soon as I'm able.

I'm using an Antec server tower (I'll get exact model).  Using Thermaltake silentboost heatsink/cpu fan, and two rear mounted Thermaltake 80 mm exaust fans.  PSU is Antec Truepower480.  Exaust fans are connected to PSU fan connectors.  I will gaze/(or glaze, at this point in the day) at the website you're pointing me to.

Thanks again.

John

Great power supply and choice of case make sure you put the 4 Fans in the Antec tower this will be very inportant in keeping it cool = stable. Silentboost is great also. Make sure you get this thermal paste and use these instructions http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm . When you give the ram and chip ill give ya some timings and settings.

I did use a silver based thermal paster on the h/s.  You're suggesting I get an additional 2 fans for the front of the case?

-John

If the cas rating isn't on mentioned on the memory, you can use a tool like sisoft sandra to get the CAS setting supported by the memory as reported by the memory (spd?) itself. Have my own memory (2*PC-3200, rated Cas 2.5) running stable at 333Mhz, Cas 1,5 and 400Mhz, Cas 2,0 on an Asus a7v8x-x.
Sure, anyone can suggest settings for your fsb, multiplier and memory settings, but no garantee they will work; the only sure way is to do a burn-in test (simulating heavy system load while monitoring stuff like system/cpu temp, and canceling when system gets too hot). I always Sisoft Sandra myself for tuning/tweaking/oc-ing. I don't know if the burn-in test module is available in the freeware version though. Use incremental steps and run a burn-in test after each change...

download sisoft sandra @ http://download.guru3d.com/sandra/ 

good luck finding the fastest/most stable settings, and remeber; the only way of keeping a computer perfectly stable is putting it in a box and never use it ;-)

Blue Rishi

Yes definetly those 2 front fans keep the hard drives cool and make that case one of the best airflow cases around. I suggest this  http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-999-051&depa=0
Get 5 of them free shipping 5.99 each. I have used hundereds of them and they make case front have a nice glow.

Blue the a7v8x-x is a totally different board and not even in the same ballpark as the a7n8x as far as stability goes. From what I have read on this post so far he is not looking to overclock the everliving hell out of his machine just wants a speed boost and stability. Easily achivied with his hardware so far. ALL he needs if good ram. If it is good brand name ram and not generic It will have latiencies on it or a part number to look them up.

Dyn, As far as stablility goes, I agree: the a7v8x-x doesn't isn't stable even when underclocking (not the memory though, just some strange voltage/psu problems, maybe a damaged board...). Have an Abit nf-7 also, with nforce chipset which is way more stable. As for the rest of my post...just putting in my $0,02. Why open the pc if a program can provide the same info as a sticker (if there even is one) ? I understand that he isn't looking to oc his system, but even tuning it may require some testing/trial and error to garantee stable system operation at high system load...

B_R

Again, thanks to all.

OK.  First, I may have been unclear.  I don't wish to o/c at all.  Just want the stock setup for my bios.

I don't want to pull the computer up from under the table again, and the h/s / fan is over the cpu, but here's what I've got.

CPU = Barton, 333mhz fsb; 512 l2 cache
oem version =  axda2600dkv4
I think stock multiplier is 11.5 (i think, said i)

ram = corsair vs1gbkit400
pc3200 (sorry 'bout the mistake earlier) 2x64x64

John

Oh, I'm looking for revision number

I think it's 2.0 as i just got it yesterday.  I'm looking

John

your memory is rated for 400Mhz, but running it sync with the fsb (333Mhz) is usually faser. For absolutly safe and fast settings just use the 'by spd' option to control the dram timings...(think will set this cas 2.5 but will run 2.0 also, as it's brand mem).

B_R

I know you do not want to overclock. But you machine will do 11*200 without breaking a sweat. 2200MHZ which is XP 3200. Btw there are no differences in the 2600+and 3200+ except bridges set on the cpu by AMD. If you set on stock Run the Memory @ 2,2,2,6 as it will do this no problem 1 beacuse it is corsair 2 beacuse it is ddr 400 not ddr 333. SO best bet run the memory with tight timings 2,2,2,6 @333. This should give you a solid machine. But being that you bought all overclocking parts you could run it at 11*200 2200 or the equivlent of XP3200 without breaking a sweat. Personally I have an A7N8X-E Deluxe and an NF7S both with barton Mobile 2600s running 200 something frontside bus 2.9GHZ is the most I can hit so far on both boards Air cooled Zalaman Both are Prime stable at that speed which would be like XP4200+ if there was such a thing also I have been playing doom3 with no problems but I am looking to break that 3 GHZ Barrier mabye when it gets cooler summer in NY here.

Agreed, You've a nice oc-able system there! If u don't mind a little oc-ing, the system will run (a lot) faster on 400Mhz, while still staying on the safe side. Some windows tweakin' and tunin' might give your system even more speed/stability. You can use programs like Tweak XP, http://www.tweak-xp.de/ or X-teq X-setup (http://www.x-setup.net/).

B_R

Thanks much to Dyn1 and Blue.  I guess that I can only choose 1 individual as the solution.  Both of you have been very, very helpful.

Again for the neophyte -
I did look into what I was buying before I bought it.  So, if I can safely o/c to 400, how exactly what I set the bus speed and multiplier, etc. in the bios?  is that what 11*200 means?  Do I set the freq at 200 and the mult at 11?

Also,  when you say 2,2,2,6 @333, what exactly do you mean?

-John

Hi Jd you can share points with blue I am not exactly sure how I have not posted a question in over a year a moderator can tell you how. 11 is the CPU multiplier you set in the bios 200 is the FSB so your memory is ddr 200 or DDR 400. SO 200 times 11 is how they get 2200MHZ or the eguivlent of AMD 3200+. You have to set bios CPU and memory settings to Manual then from top to bottom is the easiest way to explain For memory 2,2,2,6. Here is a diagram with bios screenshots it will make it much easier to explain. http://www.hightekpc.com/reviews/a7n8x2.html Enjoy your computer.

JD they unlocked the Question so you can split now. Enjoy the computer goodluck with it.

LOL I went from accepted to assisted with that split. Dont worry about it just glad you got your computer working :>)

Dynamic1. Sorry, I must have done somebody wrong :-).  Actually, I meant to do it the other way around.  Did you get the 350 points?

John

JB yeah you did it backwards but do not sweat it. I am just glad you got your computer going the points are not a big deal. How did you finally make out with the machine.

JD also did you check out those fans from newegg. They will make a nice glow from the front of your pc not to bright either. They will also keep your PC super cool. I usually order them 40 at a time and have yet to have one go bad. Great deal.

Yes, I did look at the coolmaster fans.  I'm trying to find a little time to look at the specs.  My main goal:  QUIET.  Often, I have to record in the same room with my computer.  Thank you for the suggestion.

And yes, my machine is running really well.  I'd been using w2k before, obtained through an msdn membership that I no longer have.  Therefore, the os wasn't upgradable and I had to spring the 300 to buy xp.  Ouch!!  Oh well.  I now have a totally legal machine.  I've followed all tweaking suggestions on www.musicxp.net and www.pcaudiolabs.com.  The machine is blazing (at least to me).

Thank you again.
John

Blue dont sweat it no problem just glad all worked out well. Thanks anyway.

Request to CetusMOD.  Yes, could you please re-distribute points, 250 to Dynamic1, 250 to Blue?  Or simply unlock, and I'll do it (more carefully).  I do want to tell you that I feel this is a GREAT service, well worth the small cost.

Dynamic1 and Blue:  You have both been extremely helpful.  A great, great service.  Again, I apologize for the mistake(s) on my part.  I would have never been able to tune my machine to this degree without your help.  Thanks again.

John

Thanks Dyamic1.  I'm ordering 6 of 'em.

Cool does not pay buying them 1 at a time. They will also make your front of case have a nice glow goes good with a recording studio.