You really need to try this

[DreadCthulhu]

Note - you can have RAM - DDR PC2700 that is capable of running at 333mhz(actually, it runs at ~166mhz, but since DDR sends two bits per cycle, you get Double the Data Rate) , but if you use if with certain processors - like the AthlonXP 2000 ainwood and I both seem to have it will run by default at the slower CPU speed of 266 mhz.

Now, you could try and over clock the FSB to make the RAM and the processor to run faster - I myself have gotten my FSB up from the default 133mhz to 140mhz - remember this is DDR RAM, which means the equiv of going from 266mhz to 280mhz, which upped my RAM speed to the same, and my processor from 1.67ghz up to 1.75ghz. Now, it might me possible to run an AthlonXP at with a 166mzh(333mhz equiv) FSB, especially if you have one of the newer Thoughbred B cores - if you didn't change the multiplier in the bios, your CPU would be running at over 2ghz, which is a very nice overclock indeed.

I have done some futher checking, and it seems that Powercolor did in fact sell a Geforce4 MX card with a crippled 64 bit memory bus; that alone could probably account for RealGoober's performance problems. I really reccomend people stay away from Powercolor, they are the Yugo of video cards.

 

[IceBlaZe]

AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.33Ghz
Micron 512MB DDR 266Mhz (PC2100 IIRC)
MSI Geforce FX 5900 128MB
1 WD 20GB HD at 7200RPM (Windows Installed)
1 WD 80GB HD at 7200RPM with 8MB Cache (AquaMark Installed)

Running in the background:
PC-cillin Antivirus
eMule

24,974

A better CPU and a compatible memory to go along would kick this system beyond 30,000 for sure.

No need to upgrade, though, as I won't have much time to play the computer anyway in the next 3 years (military service).

 

[ainwood]

Originally posted by Comraddict


PCI (IDE?) bus master is for DOS.
Your DDR is running at 333MHz, but CPU at 266MHz. Memory cannot be delivered faster to CPU than 266MHz.
In other words, it is useless and of sync to run memory faster than CPU. I suggest you to run in sync, at 266MHz. Then there is no lost cycles because synchronization. Maybe it is already set that way. Either way you can test and see if I am right.

Good point - its the FSB that sets it. I can't configure the ram speed to be independent of the CPU speed, but I can tweak the latencies (If the memory can run at 333 MHz, does this mean that I could reduce the CAS even further???)

I tried overclocking the FSB, but can't get much benefit out of it. My CPU runs quite hot (idles at around 52 - 55°C, depending on how hot the day is ). AM looking at a new fan and heatsink for it, which should help.