Unganged memory ??

[glennc]

What does the SPD tab report as to the memory capabilities? It sounds as though the effective memory frequency is 667MHz (remember that DDR memory transfers data on both leading and falling clock edges, resulting in an effective doubling of the actual clock rate), which would tie in quite nicely with the speed you report of 334.9MHz.

Thanks Dwarf,
Where on the SPD tab would I see that info. It initially shows slot #1 with a Max Bandwidth of PC2-6400 (400MHz). Appreciate your helping clarify!!
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

CPU-Z shows 669.6 MHz for DRAM Frequency under the memory tab for my PC 10700 DDR3. Thats why I wondered why his only shows half of that? Now I'm confused?

 

[glennc]

CPU-Z shows 669.6 MHz for DRAM Frequency under the memory tab for my PC 10700 DDR3. Thats why I wondered why his only shows half of that? Now I'm confused?

I am only running DDR2, could that be the difference?
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

Ops my bad, your RAM is slower than mine. Your RAM is PC-6400 (400 MHz) and mine is PC-10700 (667 MHz). 334.9 MHz was close enough to half of 667 that it sidetracked me. Still I think it should be 400 MHz and not 333 MHz? I'm not sure why its running at the slower speed though, unless one RAM module is only 333 MHz RAM.

EDIT: Or your motherboard only supports 333 MHz RAM.

 

[glennc]

Ops my bad, your RAM is slower than mine. Your RAM is PC-6400 (400 MHz) and mine is PC-10700 (667 MHz). 334.9 MHz was close enough to half of 667 that it sidetracked me. Still I think it should be 400 MHz and not 333 MHz? I'm not sure why its running at the slower speed though, unless one RAM module is only 333 MHz RAM.

EDIT: Or your motherboard only supports 333 MHz RAM.

Howdy,
Using the CPU-Z, all the ram is supposed to be 400 mhz! It will accept PC1200 chips according to the box. Hmmmmm.......
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

PC1200? I tried to Google that and it refers to it as RIMM 2400 which is Rambus?

 

[glennc]

PC1200? I tried to Google that and it refers to it as RIMM 2400 which is Rambus?

My fault, they are called DDR21200+. I assume it means ddr2 memory running at 1200 MHz. Sorry!
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

May I ask what the motherboard make and model number is?

 

[glennc]

May I ask what the motherboard make and model number is?

Sure, it is a gigabyte ma785gm-us2h Rev 1.1. When I bought it it was to upgrade, except technology jumped past me too quickly, won't take ddr3........
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

gigabyte ma785gm-us2h Rev 1.1. >
Support for DDR2 1200 (OC)/1066(Note2)/800/667 MHz memory modules
(Note 2) Whether 1066 MHz or above memory speed is supported depends on the CPU being used.
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM2+ - GA-MA785GM-US2H (rev. 1.1)

I hope I got this right, all these numbers are giving me a head ache.
DDR 1200 (600 MHz X 2) is PC 9600, your RAM is DDR 800 (400MHZ X 2) PC 6400. If I got the math right, that would indicate that it should be running at 400 MHz not 333 MHz. Your motherboard supports that speed and higher. The Phenom II supports it too. BIOS setting not correct? The BIOS should display what speed your RAM is running at during the POST. You may have to disable the "quick post" or "quick boot" option in the BIOS along with the "display full screen logo option", to actually see it.

EDIT: Sorry for the small text, the font size must have got changed when I clipped and pasted from the web page. I didn't see what happened until I posted it.

 

[glennc]

gigabyte ma785gm-us2h Rev 1.1. >
Support for DDR2 1200 (OC)/1066(Note2)/800/667 MHz memory modules
(Note 2) Whether 1066 MHz or above memory speed is supported depends on the CPU being used.
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM2+ - GA-MA785GM-US2H (rev. 1.1)

I hope I got this right, all these numbers are giving me a head ache.
DDR 1200 (600 MHz X 2) is PC 9600, your RAM is DDR 800 (400MHZ X 2) PC 6400. If I got the math right, that would indicate that it should be running at 400 MHz not 333 MHz. Your motherboard supports that speed and higher. The Phenom II supports it too. BIOS setting not correct? The BIOS should display what speed your RAM is running at during the POST. You may have to disable the "quick post" or "quick boot" option in the BIOS along with the "display full screen logo option", to actually see it.

EDIT: Sorry for the small text, the font size must have got changed when I clipped and pasted from the web page. I didn't see what happened until I posted it.

Thanks again,
I'll have to look at that and try to figure out where and what the controls in the bios say. Will give it a shot. Much appreciated!
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

You may be able to see it without changing any BIOS settings. It won't be visible for very long though so you will have to watch close to see it. If your BIOS has a "System Info" section the amount of RAM installed and its speed should be listed there. As a last resort turning off the fast boot option will keep the POST/BIOS boot screen up longer as it does some extra checks. One of those extra checks should be a detailed memory check. That should give you lots of time to see what speed its running at. Hopefully its just CPU-Z reporting the wrong speed.

 

[glennc]

You may be able to see it without changing any BIOS settings. It won't be visible for very long though so you will have to watch close to see it. If your BIOS has a "System Info" section the amount of RAM installed and its speed should be listed there. As a last resort turning off the fast boot option will keep the POST/BIOS boot screen up longer as it does some extra checks. One of those extra checks should be a detailed memory check. That should give you lots of time to see what speed its running at. Hopefully its just CPU-Z reporting the wrong speed.

Howdy and again, thanks for all your help. It was figured out that the optimised default bios settings had set the speed to 667 MHz. Now that I knew what I was looking for, it did show on the post screen. I manually changed it to 400 MHz and the post and CPU-Z showed 800 and 400 MHz.
I ran the index assessement and there was no change in my scores. As mentioned, there really wasn't that much of a difference. So I set it back to the optimized settings of DDR 667. Learned quite a bit, and now understand the differences.
Next problem is getting a used board for the AMD X2 processor and stuffing it in my old Acer backup running linux. Ubuntu has grown so that it is bogging down the old 3GB Celeron. Probably have to change power supply...... Oh well.
Take care
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

If its 400 MHz RAM I'd run it at 400 MHz. Is there an "AUTO" option for RAM speed in the BIOS?

 

[glennc]

If its 400 MHz RAM I'd run it at 400 MHz. Is there an "AUTO" option for RAM speed in the BIOS?

No there is not auto ram speed, just weird adjustments that equal out to 667, 800 and assumably more. What benefit do you predict with running it at the rated speed. By this I mean I have two different sets of chips and I don't have a clue about latency and all those 5-5-89 or whatever numbers, so I am a timid to go in and do much without experienced guidance. As I mentioned, there doesn't appear according to the OS any difference in performance. Empty minds want to know!!
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

Usually there is an "Auto" or "By SPD" setting in the BIOS. Using that setting, the BIOS reads the SPD info off of the RAM module itself and uses that to set all that up for you. Normally you wouldn't do it manually unless you were overclocking. I only ever use the Auto mode myself. The one time I tried setting everything manually the PC wouldn't post and I had to reset the BIOS to defaults. The RAM was DDR 400, but the motherboard would only run at 333. The only way to get 400 was to overclock it. Is the difference in speed noticeable? I don't know? Personally, it would bug me that it wasn't running at its rated speed.

 

[glennc]

Usually there is an "Auto" or "By SPD" setting in the BIOS. Using that setting, the BIOS reads the SPD info off of the RAM module itself and uses that to set all that up for you. Normally you wouldn't do it manually unless you were overclocking. I only ever use the Auto mode myself. The one time I tried setting everything manually the PC wouldn't post and I had to reset the BIOS to defaults. The RAM was DDR 400, but the motherboard would only run at 333. The only way to get 400 was to overclock it. Is the difference in speed noticeable? I don't know? Personally, it would bug me that it wasn't running at its rated speed.

I seemingly don't mind that much. What bugs me is that I bought this board so that I could upgrade for a while, it has AM3 compatible socket. But I can't use DDR3. I see a great change with the new processor and ram, so I am distracted from it not running @ 400. My bios has an adjust manual and multipliers values that give 667 or 800. I might get manic later though!!!
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

I went from an ASUS M2N68 to the M4N68 that I have now. Everything carried over except the RAM. The M2N68 uses DDR2 and the M4N68 DDR3. When I upgraded from an Athlon II to the Phenom II the Athlon II went back into the M2N68. Its now my backup rig. It's pretty well the way it was originally when I bought it as a bare bones kit a couple of years ago. I upgraded piece by piece until I had a whole new PC. If I was to buy a new motherboard today it would be one that can use my Phenom II and the cycle would repeat itself.

 

[glennc]

I went from an ASUS M2N68 to the M4N68 that I have now. Everything carried over except the RAM. The M2N68 uses DDR2 and the M4N68 DDR3. When I upgraded from an Athlon II to the Phenom II the Athlon II went back into the M2N68. Its now my backup rig. It's pretty well the way it was originally when I bought it as a bare bones kit a couple of years ago. I upgraded piece by piece until I had a whole new PC. If I was to buy a new motherboard today it would be one that can use my Phenom II and the cycle would repeat itself.

I considered that option but for $75 I can get an equivalent to my current board and 8 GB of ram, I have the case, sata drive, (I hope it has an ide header for my DVD) and I can put my old processor in it. Seems outwardly the cheapest way to go. Then I can save up for a better motherboard with the DDR3 ram and the faster SATA and maybe a seperate Video board. Who knows??
Glenn

 

[alphanumeric]

There are all kinds of ways to do it. It just depends on what you want and how fast you want it. I bought the bare bones kit because the price was right at the time and it gave me a working PC, with some assembly required. My budget for tech items is very limited so I usually end up buying stuff in dribs and drabs. One of the first upgrades was a Nvidia GT 220 dedicated video card so I could play some games. The M2N68 PC is now in my bedroom as a media PC. I watch videos and play music on it when I'm laid up with back pain. That frees up my old laptop for my wife to use anytime she wants. The laptop was a hand me down from my father when he bought a new one. Sometimes offering free tech support pays off.