Barton in KT333 - help please

  • Thread starter Thread starter S.Boardman
  • Start date Start date
Just to update...
I'm looking at 2 x Corsair CMX256A 2700LLPT Would that be OK?
Low latency is programmed in the SPD, everything I have will cope, won't
it?
Click to expand...

This ram is expensive and only rated for 166MHz bus. You can get PC3700
ram cheaper than this this. I'm using Buffalo PC3700 512M (Winbond) that I
paid under $100 for. It runs 200MHz bus easily. And it will run CL2 at
166MHz IIRC.
 
Just to update...
I'm looking at 2 x Corsair CMX256A 2700LLPT
Would that be OK?
Low latency is programmed in the SPD, everything I have will cope, won't it?
Click to expand...

I'm running a Barton XP2600+ in an MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU, BIOS 5.7. RAM
is 2 x 512 MB Kingston HyperX PC2700 CAS2 (in the UK). The RAM is set
to SPD and detects correctly. FSB manually set to 166 MHz. Windows
XP SP1.

Although the mobo reports the CPU as a XP2500, it's running at the
correct speed (1917MHz).

I have no problems to report.
 
Wes Newell said:
This ram is expensive and only rated for 166MHz bus. You can get PC3700
ram cheaper than this this. I'm using Buffalo PC3700 512M (Winbond) that I
paid under $100 for. It runs 200MHz bus easily. And it will run CL2 at
166MHz IIRC.
Click to expand...
I thought Crucial or Corsair were the best. Of the two Corsair seemed to go
into the most detail. I'm not going to be pushing my system *that* hard.
You think I should go into DDR 400-odd and PC3000+ ?

I'm not going to change this motherboard again, and don't the new ones need
twin modules or something?
I'm looking at the page (watch the wrap!)
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=UFNQcm9kdWN0U2Vhcm
NoUmVzdWx0cw%3D%3D&cat_uid=3&subcat_uid=544

Which do you think? I don't mind paying 60 GBP for 256 Mb if it's not going
to die on me!
What about
Corsair 256MB DDR XMS3200 32Mx64 NON-ECC 184 DIMM Unbuffered CAS2-2-2 32Mx8
DRAMS LOW LATENCY SPD Platinum
Obviously I need it to work at 166/333, until I overclock it later. Are the
faster modules backwards compatible?
 
It's on auto. Should I change it to 11?
Click to expand...

No, you could if you wanted, but 'auto' for that CPU should be 11x,
just wanted to be sure that the CPU wasn't overclocked, was the source
of the instability.

Hello! Running memtest86 at the higher speed... test 4, 26 per cent done,
184 errors already! Time for new ram I think :-)))

Time for more questions!
Should I stick with PC2700, or should I go for the faster PC3100?
CAS 2 or 2.5?
Which brand (in UK), Corsair or Crucial?
What about all the other little numbers I seen referred to? x-x-x-x?
Running Win98SE, I'll probably stick to 2 x 256Mb, especially since the
middle DIMM slot seems a little dodgey.
Opinions please :-)
Isn't Usenet great?
Click to expand...

"In general", any modern PC2700 should fun fine in your board putting
a pair of modules in the first and third slots as you mentioned. The
issue then would be how much you want to spend for a few % extra
performance, and how high your target memory bus speed is. I wouldn't
expect you can keep the board stable much over 185MHz FSB/Mem, but
buying PC3200 or higher memory "might" allow reusing it in the future,
just dpends on how long you're wanting to wait till you upgrade again,
and even so you might have a similar issue as now, with the memory not
entirely stable on a newer platform at higher speeds.

On a KT333 board I have here, it's currently using a pair of cheap,
practically free-after-rebate PC2700 modules (Kinston VR, K-Byte or
something like that) at 174MHz CAS2.5. It's not my fastest system
anymore so the better memory was reused in another board... after
swapping in the cheap memory, confirming stability, I'd never notice
the couple % performance difference in use.

For single-system use and potential reuse later, I'd buy mid-grade
PC3200, any name-brand you can get a good price on, but of course
doing many more hours of memtest86 testing before trying to o'c.


Dave
 
Obviously I need it to work at 166/333, until I overclock it later. Are the
faster modules backwards compatible?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can use PC4200 if you want. But you can't use PC2100 and you may
not be able to overclock PC2700 if you want to raise the bus up over
166MHz, although most will overclock a little. But if you decided to
upgrade to an A64 system, PC2700 would not cut it, where PC3200 or faster
would.
 
kony said:
On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 09:06:23 -0000, "S.Boardman"
snip!

"In general", any modern PC2700 should fun fine in your board putting
a pair of modules in the first and third slots as you mentioned. The
issue then would be how much you want to spend for a few % extra
performance, and how high your target memory bus speed is. I wouldn't
expect you can keep the board stable much over 185MHz FSB/Mem, but
buying PC3200 or higher memory "might" allow reusing it in the future,
just dpends on how long you're wanting to wait till you upgrade again,
and even so you might have a similar issue as now, with the memory not
entirely stable on a newer platform at higher speeds.

On a KT333 board I have here, it's currently using a pair of cheap,
practically free-after-rebate PC2700 modules (Kinston VR, K-Byte or
something like that) at 174MHz CAS2.5. It's not my fastest system
anymore so the better memory was reused in another board... after
swapping in the cheap memory, confirming stability, I'd never notice
the couple % performance difference in use.

For single-system use and potential reuse later, I'd buy mid-grade
PC3200, any name-brand you can get a good price on, but of course
doing many more hours of memtest86 testing before trying to o'c.


Dave
Click to expand...

I'm looking at Corsair, either
CMX256A 3200LLPT or
CMX256A 3200C2PT

It is my understanding that the first one is more suitable for hardcore
overclockers. Since I'm probably not going to push it that hard, can you
confirm that the second one would be OK for me to get? What did you mean by
'mid-grade'? CAS 2.5?
 
I'm looking at Corsair, either
CMX256A 3200LLPT or
CMX256A 3200C2PT

It is my understanding that the first one is more suitable for hardcore
overclockers. Since I'm probably not going to push it that hard, can you
confirm that the second one would be OK for me to get? What did you mean by
'mid-grade'? CAS 2.5?
Click to expand...

The second should be more than suitable for the fastest FSB speed your
motherboard can run stable, though I have no idea if it'll run the
fastest timings in that (or any particular) board. By mid-grade I
simply meant name-brand memory, not generic, but not premium-priced
either, since your motherboard itself won't be able to run stable at
200MHz (DDR400) there's no point in spending extra for memory that
can, unless as i briefly mentioned in previous reply, you have hopes
of reusing the memory some day... that's something I can't speculate
about. I would "guess" that the average PC2700 memory sold today
would work OK at the 174MHz FSB I previously suggested, but YMMV on
that, certainly the PC3200 is more likely, guaranteed to work at >
166MHz. If your motherboard sets the AGP bus as 1/2 of the FSB speed,
the AGP (or USB) ports are likely where you'd see the first
issues/problems from excessively high FSB speed.


Dave
 
Hello! Running memtest86 at the higher speed... test 4, 26 per cent done,
184 errors already! Time for new ram I think :-)))
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity have you tried each stick separately - just so you
know which one (if not both) has a problem - and to eliminate the outside
chance that it might be your board taking issue if they both check out fine
at 166.

Also why not consider a single pc3200 512Mb stick - some report that a
single 512 stick overclocks slightly faster than two 256mb on a KT chipset -
and it might be more future proof than the smaller modules.
 
Hippy Paul said:
Just out of curiosity have you tried each stick separately - just so you
know which one (if not both) has a problem - and to eliminate the outside
chance that it might be your board taking issue if they both check out fine
at 166.

Also why not consider a single pc3200 512Mb stick - some report that a
single 512 stick overclocks slightly faster than two 256mb on a KT chipset -
and it might be more future proof than the smaller modules.
Click to expand...
I've had problems in the past with memory, and I thought I'd nailed it to
one of the sticks. Then I downloaded memtest and it passed, no problems. I
put it back in the machine (after ruling out slot 2) and it seemed fine.
Although it should work at 166/333 I don't think it's very good quality.
Having Win98SE 512Mb is my limit, right? I figure if the memory is going to
go, at least I'd have the other to fall back on. That said, Corsair should
be pretty safe, and if I have another go at memsafe on the PC2700 sticks I
might have one of those to fall back on. I think you're right, I'll get a
single stick :-)
 
kony said:
The second should be more than suitable for the fastest FSB speed your
motherboard can run stable, though I have no idea if it'll run the
fastest timings in that (or any particular) board. By mid-grade I
simply meant name-brand memory, not generic, but not premium-priced
either, since your motherboard itself won't be able to run stable at
200MHz (DDR400) there's no point in spending extra for memory that
can, unless as i briefly mentioned in previous reply, you have hopes
of reusing the memory some day... that's something I can't speculate
about. I would "guess" that the average PC2700 memory sold today
would work OK at the 174MHz FSB I previously suggested, but YMMV on
that, certainly the PC3200 is more likely, guaranteed to work at >
166MHz. If your motherboard sets the AGP bus as 1/2 of the FSB speed,
the AGP (or USB) ports are likely where you'd see the first
issues/problems from excessively high FSB speed.


Dave
Click to expand...

I stick with the second option, as a single stick. The motherboard supports
USB2, the only USB item I have is a scanner I connect rarely. I'm aware that
I might have problems with the video card though. I don't have a newer one
to swap out to check it. Mine's a GeForce 4 MX.
It's turning out expensive... I only started with a dodgey fan! :-)
 
I've had problems in the past with memory, and I thought I'd nailed it to
one of the sticks. Then I downloaded memtest and it passed, no problems. I
put it back in the machine (after ruling out slot 2) and it seemed fine.
Although it should work at 166/333 I don't think it's very good quality.
Having Win98SE 512Mb is my limit, right? I figure if the memory is going to
go, at least I'd have the other to fall back on. That said, Corsair should
be pretty safe, and if I have another go at memsafe on the PC2700 sticks I
might have one of those to fall back on. I think you're right, I'll get a
single stick :-)
Click to expand...

Win98SE will handle more than 512MB, the limit is 1 or 2 GB, I forget
which. However, even for 512MB you need to edit your "system.ini"
file to add a line to it (or add the follwing value to the
already-existing line):

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=393216


The max value for that could be 524288, but since you can't have all
memory as a cache and the video memory also counts, I suggest the
above 393216 value.

You "MIGHT" find that manaully setting your BIOS to the slowest memory
timings possible (larger numbers) would allow stability with your
current memory, or maybe you've already tried that?


Dave
 
kony said:
I've had problems in the past with memory, and I thought I'd nailed it to
one of the sticks. Then I downloaded memtest and it passed, no problems. I
put it back in the machine (after ruling out slot 2) and it seemed fine.
Although it should work at 166/333 I don't think it's very good quality.
Having Win98SE 512Mb is my limit, right? I figure if the memory is going to
go, at least I'd have the other to fall back on. That said, Corsair should
be pretty safe, and if I have another go at memsafe on the PC2700 sticks I
might have one of those to fall back on. I think you're right, I'll get a
single stick :-)
Click to expand...

Win98SE will handle more than 512MB, the limit is 1 or 2 GB, I forget
which. However, even for 512MB you need to edit your "system.ini"
file to add a line to it (or add the follwing value to the
already-existing line):

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=393216


The max value for that could be 524288, but since you can't have all
memory as a cache and the video memory also counts, I suggest the
above 393216 value.
Click to expand...
Will do.
You "MIGHT" find that manaully setting your BIOS to the slowest memory
timings possible (larger numbers) would allow stability with your
current memory, or maybe you've already tried that?


Dave
Click to expand...
When I first got the XP2000 I ran the Windows overclocking tool from MSI. I
could only get a few more mhz out of it and keep it stable in Windows (FSB
135 in the end). Whilst doing that, I also dropped the memory down to the
slowest settings.
 
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