MSI K8N Neo Platinum (MS-7030) Performance on 3000+ (socket 754)

Question

I want to thank many guys for their help on various posts on these forums. I found out many useful tips on my newly built system but seems I have missed something somewhere...
The problem is that my system seems to perform a bit low. On the following I will provide my system configuration as it is generated by 'cpuz' program:
CPU-Z Report
CPU-Z version 1.28.6.
CPU(s)   
Number of CPUs: 1
Name                               : AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Code Name                       : NewCastle
Specification                     : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
Family / Model / Stepping   : F C 0
Extended Family / Model     : F C
Brand ID                           : 4
Package                           : Socket 754
Core Stepping                   : DH7-CG
Technology                      : 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets: MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, x86-64
CPU Clock Speed               : 2009.8 MHz
Clock multiplier                  : x 10.0
HTT Bus Frequency           : 201.0 MHz
L1 Data Cache                  : 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache          : 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache                         : 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed                         : 2009.8 MHz (Full)
L2 Location                      : On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic      : yes
L2 Bus Width                   : 128 bits
Mainboard and chipset   
Motherboard manufacturer: -- (Doesn't say MSI) 
Motherboard model          : MS-7030, 
BIOS vendor                    : Phoenix Technologies, LTD
BIOS revision                   : 6.00 PG
BIOS release date            : 08/26/2004
Chipset                           : nVidia nForce3 250 rev. A1
Southbridge                    : nVidia nForce3 MCP rev. A2
Sensor chip                     : Winbond W83627THF
Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status                     : enabled, rev. 3.0
AGP Data Transfer Rate    : 8x
AGP Max Rate                 : -1x
AGP Side Band Addressing: supported, enabled
AGP Aperture Size           : 128 MBytes
Memory   
DRAM Type                : DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size                  : 512 MBytes
DRAM Frequency         : 201.0 MHz
FSB:DRAM                   : CPU/10
CAS# Latency             : 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS#            : 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge          : 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS)      : 8 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (TRC) : 11 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer          : 16 clocks
# of memory modules  : 1
Module 0                    : DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
Software   
Windows version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) 
DirectX version    : 9.0c
Now that the cpuz report is complete, let me inform you about my HD and Graphics Card:
Hard Drive   : Maxtor DiamondMax 9 Plus 80 GB @ 133MHz
Graphics Card: XFX NVIDIA GeForce 5200 with 256 MB of memory
So here is my first question, which is relevant to all the above:
? What seems to be the problem and my CPU clock is limited to 2GHz? I've tried many different things on BIOS but unfortunately my Clock Multiplier can not be more than 10x? Is this a problem with my mainboard? Should I try to flash the BIOS?
Some more thoughts:
If I try to increase the FSB Frequency, then I get the expected speedups on my programs as long as the change is small. For example, if I set the FSB Frequency on 210 MHz I actually encounter a 5% (about) speedup in my performance. The problem is that on execution time, this FSB frequency changes (actually increases) and that can be onserved from CoreCenter. So as a result, I can not change the frequency that much since system hangs if it exceeds 240Mhz on FSB on execution time (I have reached 239 MHz at most without stability problems on execution time) - this value was obtained (if I remember correctly) by setting the FSB on 215 MHz, when my next step on 220 MHz caused a system crash soon afterwards...
Can you please help me so that I can have a 3000+ performance?
I know for sure that this is a problematic system setup, since my pc behaves more or less on execution times like one of a friend of mine which uses a plain AMD Athlon XP @ 2400 MHz. Needless to say, If I try to make a comparison of the current setup with a Pentium Processor, my system is equivalent to that of a Pentium @ 1,4 GHz (about) which is really irritating.
Thank you in advance for all your help on that one.
Test Beds: I use some programs I 've written in order to have a comperative analysis of my CPU. Hopefully, when this problem is fixed I will provide you with some useful feedback. This is the least I can do for your help.
Did you think that was it all about? Wrong! I have one more question:
? I have a Microsoft Intelli Wheel Mouse which doesn't close whenever I close my system. Why this thing happens? Is there a way of making that PS-2 mouse close whenever my system shutsdown?
Thank you in advance fo your help on all the above,
 - Dimis -

Answer 1

Quote from: Supershanks on 16-May-05, 22:50:21
the memory settings in cpu-z looked like the timings used by corsair memory modules, which is why i suggested the memory voltage of 2.7v as a lot of people have problems from running memory @ auto voltage.(2.5v) it's a common oversight.
Very impressive must admit i pulled a homer, eyes started glazing over towards the end of the theory   
Have tried running your hurdles cubic perm17.in in a command prompt window but it doesn't work for me sorry.
you might like to try Super Pi which performs a similar function to your program.  Unfortunately the link seems to be broken at the minute Super Pi, Post Your Times
You might find it here Kanada Laboratory home page - See FTP Link If you can get it run it & hopefully you can then find some comparisons
luck
I want to thank you all guys for your feedback. Especially you Shanks for your links. At least these showed me that things were not as bad as I initially thought of on my machine! 
So I had more guidance on the investigation of my initial problem (hurdles). I 've updated the page which now consists of new information. Perhaps you would all like to have a look again and observe something reaaaaallly strange. I would like to hear your explanations since I am only speculating ...
For your convenience I provide you the link once again:
AMD Processors - Comperative Analysis
Finally, I would like to remind you that if anyone has a solution to the problem I have with my mouse (refer to my initial post), I would be happy if you could share the solution with me! 
Regards,
 - Dimis -