Spread Spectrum

[Akumajou]

In my Asus P4P800 BIOS, there's a Spread Spectrum setting in Chipset section with options of Enabled and Disabled. It's listed just below Graphic Adapter Priority and Graphics Aperture Size. Does the same rule of Disabled apply to this setting as the various Spread Spectrum (AGP Spectrum, CPU Spread Spectrum, FSB Spread Spectrum, etc) settings mentioned in BOG? Those in BOG have various % options, Disabled, but no Enabled option though.

[Adrian Wong]

The Enabled setting merely means you do not have any control over how much of a "jitter" is introduced to the frequency.

[Akumajou]

So what's the recommended setting?

[g0tanks]

Spread spectrum continuously changes the frequency on which your components work with ±5%. This is to lessen the interference on an individual frequency. Though this will give you lower stability and higher power usage. You can try and disable it to see or there will be any problems (doubt it), if not just leave it disabled I guess.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Akumajou

So what's the recommended setting?

Did you read the guide???

Here's a quote from CPU Spread Spectrum :

In most conditions, frequency modulation via this feature should not cause any problems. However, system stability may be compromised if you are overclocking the front side bus. Of course, this depends on the amount of modulation, the extent of overclocking and other factors like temperature, etc. As such, the problem may not readily manifest itself immediately.

Therefore, it is recommended that you disable this feature if you are overclocking the front side bus. The risk of crashing your system is not worth the reduction in EMI. Of course, if EMI reduction is important to you, enable this feature by all means. But you should reduce the clock speed a little to provide a margin of safety.

If you are not overclocking, the decision to enable or disable this feature is really up to you. But unless you have EMI problems or sensitive data that must be safeguarded from electronic eavesdropping, it is best to disable this feature to remove the possibility of stability issues.

[Akumajou]

Yes, but as I indicated in my original post, I wasn't sure if this setting is related to any of those listed in your BOG because of it's slightly different name and options. This setting is called exactly "Spread Spectrum" with nothing in front of it such as AGP, CPU, etc and doesn't have any percentage options as those in your BOG. When selected, it's referred to as "clock generator spread spectrum" in an info column.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Akumajou

Yes, but as I indicated in my original post, I wasn't sure if this setting is related to any of those listed in your BOG because of it's slightly different name and options. This setting is called exactly "Spread Spectrum" with nothing in front of it such as AGP, CPU, etc and doesn't have any percentage options as those in your BOG. When selected, it's referred to as "clock generator spread spectrum" in an info column.

Okay, can you tell me more about the available options? How about a screenshot?

The idea behind spread spectrum is the same. It's just a matter of what it's being applied to.

[Akumajou]

Just Enabled and Disabled.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Akumajou

Just Enabled and Disabled.

Then it's impossible to know what it's being applied to.

That depends on the motherboard manufacturer.

[g0tanks]

Maybe there's something in the user manual?