Raising FSB to 200 Mhz -> WinXp Blue Screen

[charlestek]

I've got an Epox EP-8RDA3+ Pro motherboard (Nforce 2 Ultra) running WinXp Pro.
Previously I was using two 512MB ddr 333 memory sticks with my FSB running at 166Mhz,
and the computer was working fine.
I recently purchased a pair of 2GB Corsair XMS matched PC3200 sticks.

When I raised the FSB to 200Mhz in the bios, my WinXP system became unstable and I got blue screens. I was using conservative auto memory settings. I thought the motherboard was designed to operate at this speed properly, considering I now have memory that will handle that speed.

I'm using the latest bios. My only other thoughts are maybe that my PCI bus or AGP video card can't handle this.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Shorter]

The main possibility here is probably that the processor is multiplier-locked. If the multiplier is locked at 11.5x (for instance) bumping up the FSB from 166 to 200 MHz will mean an increase of 33 MHz x 11.5 = 379.5 Mhz. I'm not sure if you can put an extra 380MHz on it w/o good cooling. Also you're right, the PCI bus clock is a fraction of the system bus clock so you have to think about that as well.

[Chai]

By raising your FSB to 200MHz, did you reduce your multiplier? Because if you don't you are seriously overclocking your CPU. If your CPU is a 1833MHz, by increasing to 200MHz FSB, it's going to run at 2200MHz, which is a lot!\

Edit: LOL, someone's faster than me.

[Echolac]

Is there any setting in your BIOS whereby you can set the pic/agp clock speed??
if no then i am afraid your mobo does not have pci/agp speed lock...once you raise from 166 to 200 the pci/agp clock speed will be raised too..i suspect your HDD could not handle the increased speed which cause the instability..anyway those are my opinions

[Chai]

Doesn't NF2 have AGP lock?

[charlestek]

Sorry,

I forgot to mention that I'm using a Barton Athlon Xp 2600.

Shouldn't be any reason that it can't handle the 200 FSB I think?

[Shorter]

Originally Posted by charlestek

Sorry,

I forgot to mention that I'm using a Barton Athlon Xp 2600.

Shouldn't be any reason that it can't handle the 200 FSB I think?

It's too much to ask of standard cooling. Maybe if there was a serious cooling system on it, maybe. But on standard, putting an extra 300+ MHz on it would be a miracle.

[charlestek]

I never said I have a cpu temperature problem.
I'm using a huge Zalman CuAl cooler anyway.

I'm not overclocking a cpu that was meant to be able to run with a 200 mhz FSB.

[Chai]

Barton 2600+? I think it's multiplier locked. No point overclocking unless you can get it stable.

[Shorter]

Originally Posted by charlestek

I never said I have a cpu temperature problem.
I'm using a huge Zalman CuAl cooler anyway.

I'm not overclocking a cpu that was meant to be able to run with a 200 mhz FSB.

Um.. the 2600+ runs on a double-clocked 166 MHz system bus. The OPN will state a 333 MHz bus, but in actual fact it's a dual-clocked 166 MHz bus. Because of this the correct system bus setting should be 166 MHz.

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/hank/answer.php?file=564

This is from the AMD FAQ :

How do I know what System-Bus speed my processor supports?

AMD AthlonTM XP and AMD Athlon MP processors support a System-Bus of 266MHz, 333Mhz or 400MHz. In general the last letter of the OPN denominates the maximum System-Bus speed; the letter B = 200 MHz, C = 266 MHz, D = 333 MHz and E = 400MHz. The frequencies shown are virtual frequencies and are the effect of transferring data twice per clock cycle instead of once per cycle (called DDR technology). As such, motherboard manufacturers may specify the base frequency, which is 100MHz, 133MHz, 166MHz and 200MHz respectively instead of this virtual frequency.