What is the bottle neck in over all system speed / performance?

[Kevin O'Connor]

My understanding of over all system performance is that the max system speed is determined by the slowest component or data link device in the system. Meaning if I installed a new HD like a Maxtor 40 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA 133 8.5ms 2MB Buffer Hard Drive on a system that uses a 66MHz FSB, would the data transfer rate still only be as fast as the FSB speed? I'm guessing that the "ATA 133" in the description of the HD means 133MHz Front Service Bus speed.

I have an old HP Pavilion that runs a 600MHz Celeron CPU with a 66MHz FSB speed, which I want to upgrade. The HP web site stated that I can only upgrade to a 733MHz Celeron CPU. I believe I can upgrade to a Pentium III ?MHz because it will fit the same 370 pin ZIF socket although the FSB speed for this CPU is 100 or 133 MHz.

- Will my mother board run a Pentium III ?MHz CPU?
- If the FSB speed is rated at 66MHz ( and can not be changed) then all other faster running devices will not perform at their max rated speeds. Is this a true or false statement?

Thanx, KO.

 

[Cromewell]

Changing the BUS speed to 100/133 should be possible. This was why the Celeron became an overclocking favourite, someone would get PC100/133 and run their Celeron at 100/133 FSB and get relatively large overclocking results out of them.

Usually the FSB and the other system BUSes run at different speeds but usually everything read from the HDD will end up in RAM at some point, so to a certain extent speed will be limited by the 66MHz

 

[Kevin O'Connor]

Interesting, so I can change the speed of the FSB with out changing any components? If this is correct how is this accomplished? Can a beginner do this safely?

Although, I'm planning on upgrading some components like the CPU, HDD and Memory. I'm going to upgrade the memory to the max 512Mb and replace the HDD with a 7200RPM unit. My current HDD has issues and I'm sure it's an economy model. Not really looking for larger capacity but the computer store people said I may not be able to go above 80Gb anyway, so 40Gb works fine for me.

Next is the CPU swap, which I talked to you about in another string. Will just swapping a Pentium III, ?MGz in place of a 600MGz Celeron change the FSB speed from 66MGz to 100/133MGz?

 

[Cromewell]

that board is just old enough that it may have connected BUS speeds instead, with out knowing what it is there isn't any way to tell. If they are seperate or aren't it's not overly dangerous to adjust the settings, the most likely worst case is the computer becoming unstable or just not booting. The only way to really damage components is when you run too much voltage through them and overheat them

To change the FSB from 66 to 100/133 there will either be jumpers to move or BIOS options

 

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'm going to open the case tonight, install the new faster HDD and max out the RAM. I should notice an improvement in over all speed. At this time I'll look for the make and model of the mother board. Is this info located in a special place? Is it etched in to the board some place?

 

[Cromewell]

sometimes you can find it printed on the motherboard, unfortunately there isn't a standard spot for it

 

[Kevin O'Connor]

The install of the ram (now 512Mb) and HDD went well. I was looking aover my MoBo last night trying to find some Manufacture Info or model number on it. All I noticed is something that looking like a brand name (CUW-AM). I did notice some small printing that looked like a chart to set jumpers or dip switches for the FSB speed but I could not find the jumpers.

How do you change the FSB speed? Is it done with software like in the BIOS Setup or with switched / jumpers on the mother board?

Thanx for the help.

 

[Cromewell]

that chart should be by the jumper/dip switches. try looking in the bios for these settings but it most likely is a jump or dip somewhere

 

[Kevin O'Connor]

When you say look at the BIOS do mean go into the BIOS set up at the beginning of the boot up process? If so, I don't see anything in there that talks about changing the FSB speed.

As for jumpers on the board, are they like the jumpers on a HDD to select master or slave? If so, I don't see anything like that. Could they be on the under side of the mobo?

I'm starting to believe that I can not play with this setting on my mobo. It will either change the FSB speed automatically once I install the new 850MHz P3 CPU (100MHz FSB) or it will stay a 66MHz for ever. At least the BIOS setup screen shows the FSB speed so I will know if it changes.

Thanx, KO.

 

[pentium III @ 1000 mhz]

It will either change the FSB speed automatically once I install the new 850MHz P3 CPU (100MHz FSB) or it will stay a 66MHz for ever. At least the BIOS setup screen shows the FSB speed so I will know if it changes


it should if the fsb is automatic, other wise you'd betta start lookin' for a bunch of jumpers in one spot

 

[Cromewell]

being an HP the FSB selection could be automatic, if not, as pentium III @ 1000 mhz said look for a group of jumpers together somewhere near the cpu socket. better yet, if your computer came with a manual check there

 

[Praetor]

When you say look at the BIOS do mean go into the BIOS set up at the beginning of the boot up process

Yes

If so, I don't see anything in there that talks about changing the FSB speed.

And odds are you wont. Boards old enough to have DIP OCing wont really feature BIOS-level OCing

It will either change the FSB speed automatically once I install the new 850MHz P3 CPU (100MHz FSB) or it will stay a 66MHz for ever

Or it could just stay at 66 until you change it manually.