I'm really stuck. I've recently bought a new PC setup and I'm really happy with it (it's the same as the recommended Budget build in the November buyers guide). However I have the problem that the RAM I have, is faster than the 'out of the box' speed of the motherboard. I have: AMD Athlon II 250 3Ghz CPU MSI 770-C45 motherboard 4GB DDR 1600 RAM Now the MSI motherboard as standard, doesn't support RAM over 1066, however the RAM recommended is 1600 as the motherboard will overclock to support it (it even says so on the box and in the manual). My issue is that I don't know how to do this. I've gone through the BIOS options in the Cell Menu, and there are so many options that I'm unsure which to use for the RAM. I've tried to read up and find out what to do, but I feel like I need someone to explain in easy English what settings to play with etc. Should I be overclocking the motherboard, or does the CPU also need messed with to match? Apologies for the retarded question but I've come from using a Mac and I feel my IT brain power has been sucked out of me. Last time I overclocked stuff, there were about 3 options to do so in the BIOS...
The way to get 1600mhz memory would be to overclock the HTT above the default 200. This will increase the CPU frequency as well as the RAM freq. Check out the overclocking stickys on here and around the web for basic overclocking of AMD systems as a start. any problems just post it up and can help ya with any specific issues your having.
Ah right, because I had already turned that up from the standard 200 to between 240 and 250 (I think it was 246) and although the BIOS reported that the memory should therefore run at 1600, I'm almost certain it claims on the initial boot screen to be at somewhere around 1200? Is that the only setting that would be needed?
no The memory is linked to the HTT via a set of ratios. not sure on the exact setup cause it varies with mobo to mobo but you can alter the ratio between the HTT and RAM freq. look for 1 or 2 settings that alter the RAM speed without altering the HTT. you should be able to alter so RAM speed unless you are already at the highest you can achieve
Cool, obviously the CPU settings are clear... should I be changing anything else? - CPU FSB is adjusted to 250MHZ (by me) - FSB DRAM Ratio set to Auto Now the other settings I have are (all set to Auto): HT Link Speed CPU VDD Voltage CPU-NB VDD Voltage CPU Voltage CPU-NB Voltage DRAM Voltage NB Voltage HT Link Voltage Spread spectrum: Enabled
manually set the FSB ratio to which ever is closest to 1600mhz. careful of the HT speed as increasing the FSB also increases the HT too which can cause instablilty. oo also CPU- voltage should be set manually and spread spectrum off.
The HT Link Speed is x1, x2 etc... is the higher the number more likely or less likley to cause instability?
Not sure if it helps, but this is how mine is set up: (with 1600 DDR3 as well, but an X3 720 CPU) default clocks were: 2800mhz for the CPU 200mhz for the CPU FSB 2000mhz for the northbridge 2000mhz for the HT link i dropped NB and HT multipliers from the default 10x to 9x to keep them a bit closer to usual speeds, and raised the memory clock rating up to 6.66x to run the ram at roughly it's max rated 1600mhz speed. a tiny voltage boost on the CPU NB and RAM and it's rock stable
