Comments

DSCalef wrote on 1/12/2008, 1:57 PM
As a general rule, you are able to use faster memory than the motherboard is capable of utilizing.

Think of your tires being capable or and rated for 140 mph, but you car can only reach 100. However, if you tires were rated at 50 mph, you would need to throttle back your car speed so they didn't exceed 50 mph. In the case of a motherboard, slower memory throttles the speed back that the motherboard is capable of.

When buying memory, I always try to equal or exceed the capability of the motherboard. You do need to be careful that the form factor the memory is in, DDR, DDR2, number of pin, etc. is the same.

David
www.EventVideoTeam.com
smashguy37 wrote on 1/12/2008, 2:14 PM
SiSoftware Sandra says:

Memory Bus Speed: 2x 235MHz (470HMz)

So does that make it 533?

I see what you mean, but how much performance increase is there between 533 and 667? Those are the two speeds my board "officially" supports. I asked for 667 and the receipt says 667, but the computer says otherwise.
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/13/2008, 6:27 AM
I alwasys use CPU-Z for this sort of stuff.

But it could be that you are indeed running 667, and that it is just showing the wrong multiplier (known on some mobo's). - it could also be that it is not!

FWIW - I'm running 4x2gb DDR2 800 @ 350 x2 (=700) which is doubled into FSB of 1400. - this had to be set manually, as my mobo would insist on setting multiplier of 3 - meaning I could not get any overclock (well, about 3mhz!). Now I run @ 3.15Ghz - just down to 1 setting in bios!

Download CPU-z (it's free). 4th tab in, will tell you memory speed, 5th will tell you what you ram should handle, and 1st will tell you overall system (bus, fsb, cpu etc).

hope that helps somehow

smashguy37 wrote on 1/13/2008, 7:56 AM
Well, I'm not looking to overclock or anything, but unless I figure out it's something else I'm calling the store today. CPU-Z says:

DRAM Frequency: 267.9MHZ
FSB:DRAM: 3:4

The 5th tab says:
Max Bandwidth: PC2-5300 (333MHz)

Still looks like 533MHz to me, unless CPU-Z, Sandra and my BIOS are all wrong.
smashguy37 wrote on 1/13/2008, 8:45 AM
Alright, looks like I might be fine. I opened up my case, checked the numbers and compared them against various websites on the net, including the store I bought it from and they all say it's 667MHz like it's supposed to be. Thanks for the help.
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/13/2008, 11:30 AM
Your numbers are showing that the ram is indeed 667, but running at 533.

Either your mobo is restricted to 533, your bios is set to 533, or you have mixed ram in your system -it clocks to the slowest (are there any other ram sticks in your system?).

What mobo is it? - a quick look will let us know what your mobo can go to

smashguy37 wrote on 1/13/2008, 12:32 PM
It must be my BIOS because my mobo supports 533 and 667. It's an Asrock 775Dual VSTA board. The only RAM are the two Crucial sticks I just put in, replacing old DDR1 sticks.
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/13/2008, 1:09 PM
Looking at the manual (page 31) - it could be worth having a look to see if there is an manual settings applied in the "advanced" section of your bios. After that, I would simply play with a few values - or look at forums based on your mobo

Not overly familiar with Asrock, so can't give you any particular tips on their stuff.
DJPadre wrote on 1/14/2008, 6:52 PM
smash ive got the same (close ebnnough 4core dual sata 2) Mobo and mine says its at 329mhz.

Double that and you get to the 667 threshold which is what the board is rated at using DDR2 (with no overclock)

The Asrock boards are known to underclock, however theyre also known to overclock to a certain range which is wholly within the confines of the HW .....

However what you need to do with the board is synchronise the CPU to the IDE bus by going into Bios (F2 with these boards) then going down to the advanced options.
This will tie the CPU and Ram strapping to the Bus speed
The issue with this board with overclcoking is that there is no actual voltage control like most other boards. In addition, the overclocking features go over my head on THIS board (im not used to all the technical jargon) so i havent overclocked this system

Go here for a good rundown of the guts of this board
http://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php?t=6335
LReavis wrote on 1/14/2008, 8:22 PM
I'm not sure I'm reading CPU-Z correctly. I have 4 gig, frequency shown on 4th tab as 339.7, but FSB:DRAM shows 1:1 - it is dual channel DDR2, so shouldn't it show a FSB:DRAM ratio of 1:2?
DJPadre wrote on 1/14/2008, 8:33 PM
CPUZ doesnt even show my ram... it only shows the first tab info and thats about it..

look, i mean i was looking at overclocking and all that, but when i look at the render times i get, i then consider whether or not its really necessary... i mean am i getting faster times?
Definately.. the render test used to take me 13mins, its now down to under 2...
I mean sure it would be nice, but is it really worth the hassle? I spent about 3 hours trying to tweak mine out, and it just wouldnt play nicely with my AGP gfx card, so ive let it now run at stock and im still very pleased with the results as theyre stil down to under 2mins for teh render test.

Now thinking back, i could have used those 3 hours much more productively...
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/15/2008, 5:09 AM
@LReavis - not necessarilly - mine shows 1:1 also - it depends on a few factors
DJPadre wrote on 1/15/2008, 5:12 AM
the fsb is rated at 1066, however the ram that is supported is only up to 667... if the ram was aso 1066 your ratio would be 1:1
As it stands its closer to 3:2

Im currently working on this with my mates at Austech.info