Change Processor Speed

[pragnesh89]

Not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but here I go.

The Story: I have a Dell Dimension E510 with 1gb of RAM Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz with a processor speed of 533 MHz. I recently bought a 4 GB (Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ), with a processor speed of ddr2 800 and installed it. After going into bios, it says


Installed Memory = 4.0GB
Memory Speed = 533MHz
Memory Channel Mode = Dual Interleaved
Memory Technology = DDR2 SDRAM


Why is my memory speed still 533 MHz and not 800 MHz? Can I change this?

 

[pparks1]

A pentium 4 3.0Ghz CPU has a front side bus speed 133Mhz. And quad pumped 133x4 is 533Mhz.

Now, your RAM is DDR2 ram, so you take the FSB speed of 133Mhz and double it to 266Mhz (DDR part). Then you take the x2 part and take 266 x 2 = 533Mhz.

Thus, your RAM is going to run at 533Mhz. The way to increase the RAM speed is to overclock the CPU and increase it's FSB speed. You could then take the FSB to 200 and then that would run your ram at 800Mhz. However, the Dell is not likely going to let you make these changes.

 

[pragnesh89]

Yeah, when I went into BIOS, I wasn't allowed to make changes regarding memory and processor info.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Here is the relevant portion of the Dell user manual for your PC.

That model does not support any memory above 533 mhz.

No harm done, but you didn't need to buy that higher speed RAM.

 

[pragnesh89]

Well I talked to the idiots at dell upgrade parts and advisor, and they said that I would be able to upgrade memory and I wouldn't be able to go beyond 800 Mhz. I should have known that they didnt know what they were talking about because she was just telling me what was on this page: Memory : Computer Components | Dell


P.S By the way in Bios, it shows Processor Bus Speed = 800 MHz and Memory Speed = 533MHz