Athlon 64 5000+ Black Edition Overclocking

[Kjølen]

Hey, I recently bought an extra 2GB of RAM (Which my 32-bit Windows was quick NOT to fully recognize beyond 2.75GB) as well as the processor in the title. As you might have heard, it has completely unlocked multipliers up to 25. The default settings are 200x13 for 2600Mhz, and I rammed it up to 200x16 for 3200MHz. Now, the BIOS reports the full speed and when I look at the computer properties in Windows, it also reports about 3.2GHz. However, CPU-z, 3DMark06, and AMDClock all report it as 2600MHz, still. I've noticed that if I change the FSB, all these programs recognize the change, by not the multiplier. I THOUGHT it might be a power saving option where it keeps the multiplier down until the processing power is needed, but even during the benchmarks and gaming, it stays at 2600MHz. Any ideas would be great (Also, if you know of any way of getting Windows to let go of some of that reserved memory without reinstalling any new operating system, that would be great, too).

ASRock ALiveNF6G-DVI Motherboard
Patriot 2x1GB DDR2 800 SDRAM
mushkin 2x1GB DDR2 800 SDRAM
(4-4-4-12-2T)

 

[SHAWN]

For the memory issue you can try 2 things. In your boot.ini add the following switch /PAE . If that does not work, delete the /PAE and add /3GB. Hope this helps with 1 of your issues.

 

[Kjølen]

I heard that boot.ini thing didn't work in Windows XP SP2. If I can I suppose I'll try it. Just add the text on a new line right at the end?

 

[SHAWN]

Worse case senario - switches don't cause XP to recognize the memory in which case remove the switches and upgrade to x64

 

[Kjølen]

I can't seem to find my boot.ini file. I know it's a hidden system file in the C:\ directory, but all I see is a backup file my firewall made, boot.ini.comodofirewall. If I try to rename it, it tells me that boot.ini already exists. Of course, I have hidden files shown, yet it is another level of hiddenness. Any ideas on the processor thing, though?

 

[SHAWN]

Open my computer. Tools>>folder options. View hidden files, show extensions, and uncheck hide windows system files. Your boot.ini should show in c:\.

 

[Kjølen]

Ah, "hide protected operating system files." Yeah, both of the switches didn't work, though.

 

[SHAWN]

Try disabling your pagefile. You shouldn't need it with 4GB of RAM anyway :\.

Back to your other issue. Download Everest and check. Everest is usually very accurate for me. Other than that I would be out of ideas on that one.

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Found this reply on the net. I couldn't say it better:

Windows XP Professional 32-bit is limited to 4GB of address space. If you have 4GB of RAM installed, it will not show 4GB within Windows. What you'll probably get is the size of your pagefile subtracted from the 4GB.

Some of this address space is reserved for hardware and the OS... so you'll never have access to the full 4GB anyway. If you want to access 4GB+ of RAM... your best solution is to pick up XP Pro 64-bit... but that will only work if your P4 CPU has EMT64

 

[Kjølen]

I KNOW that Windows won't recognize all 4GB, but it should at least recognize 3GB or 3.5GB like it's supposed to. Also, it seems like you didn't read... any of my post.
1) I'm aware that a 64-bit operating system needs a 64-bit processor
2) Why would I want a Pentium 4 with EMT64 if I have an Athlon 64 5000+?
3) Upgrading my OS is not an option at the moment