One more question

  • Thread starter Thread starter WooHoo2You
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WooHoo2You

Okay, I decided to go with this system from Cyber Power Systems. If I pull
one stick of slower 512MB RAM from my current PC and put in the new one I
will be receiving shortly, will in cause the two sticks of dual-channel DDR
400 3200 RAM to run at a slower speed?

I really appreciate all of your replies and help, they have been invaluable
to me.

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WooHoo2You

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Ed Light said:
Unmatched sticks may not run in dual channel properly. You just have to
try it.
Click to expand...

I already have two sticks running in dual-channel mode, however I have seen
conflicting information online saying it will cause all the RAM to run at
the speed of the slowest stick. (i.e. the weakest link in the chain)
Basically, will it hurt me to add another 512 MB of ram that is not of the
same quality.
 
3 sticks of 512 will either go back to single channel or not run at all. It
should show allowed socket populations in the motherboard manual.

If you mean, you will use two dual channel kits of 2 x 256, then since they
don't match they may not run in dual channel. If they do, you can run them
at the speed of the slow ones. If they're all pc3200 they may default to
pc2700, which K8's can tend to do with 4 sticks, but you can try setting
them to pc3200 manually and see if they can pass memtest86 overnight, or
even boot up. My board accepts it, no problem.

However, when you set it manually to pc3200 it may mistakenly keep tighter
timings that it may have set while on auto at pc2700. So, I'd write down
what it chose for pc3200 before starting in with the 4 sticks. Then, lock
them in by going to manual. After manually setting pc3200, check up on
them -- you can set them all manually from the paper. Had to do that on
mine. The memory actually ran ok on the tighter timings, but memtest
pronounced it slower than with the looser timings!


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Ed Light said:
3 sticks of 512 will either go back to single channel or not run at all. It
should show allowed socket populations in the motherboard manual.

If you mean, you will use two dual channel kits of 2 x 256, then since
they don't match they may not run in dual channel. If they do, you can run
them at the speed of the slow ones. If they're all pc3200 they may default
to pc2700, which K8's can tend to do with 4 sticks, but you can try
setting them to pc3200 manually and see if they can pass memtest86
overnight, or even boot up. My board accepts it, no problem.

However, when you set it manually to pc3200 it may mistakenly keep tighter
timings that it may have set while on auto at pc2700. So, I'd write down
what it chose for pc3200 before starting in with the 4 sticks. Then, lock
them in by going to manual. After manually setting pc3200, check up on
them -- you can set them all manually from the paper. Had to do that on
mine. The memory actually ran ok on the tighter timings, but memtest
pronounced it slower than with the looser timings!
Click to expand...
Pardon the interruption for what may be a "dumb" question.
I've recently added a second pair of matched 512 meg PC4000 modules to my
A8V Deluxe.
It now sports 4 512 Meg modules (all same mfg and specs).
When I look in my BIOS, the setting for the memory is "Auto" and I can't
figure out how to see what speed it's actually running at. I realize that I
can set it manually, but is there some utility that will show the actual
speed?
I've got my 3200+ Winchester running at 2.5 GHz.
FWIW, I don't perceive and reduction in performance in normal use.
 
Pardon the interruption for what may be a "dumb" question.
I've recently added a second pair of matched 512 meg PC4000 modules to my
A8V Deluxe.
It now sports 4 512 Meg modules (all same mfg and specs).
When I look in my BIOS, the setting for the memory is "Auto" and I can't
figure out how to see what speed it's actually running at. I realize that I
can set it manually, but is there some utility that will show the actual
speed?
I've got my 3200+ Winchester running at 2.5 GHz.
FWIW, I don't perceive and reduction in performance in normal use.
Click to expand...

The BIOS will display the speed during the boot process. It goes by fast
but you should be able to catch it as it goes by. If you have it set to
auto chances are that the speed will be 166MHz assuming that your DIMMs
are double sided. If they are single sided then the speed will be set to
200MHz.
 
Peter van der Goes said:
Pardon the interruption for what may be a "dumb" question.
I've recently added a second pair of matched 512 meg PC4000 modules to my
A8V Deluxe.
It now sports 4 512 Meg modules (all same mfg and specs).
When I look in my BIOS, the setting for the memory is "Auto" and I can't
figure out how to see what speed it's actually running at. I realize that
I can set it manually, but is there some utility that will show the actual
speed?
Click to expand...

Yes, cpuz.

I've got my 3200+ Winchester running at 2.5 GHz.
FWIW, I don't perceive and reduction in performance in normal use.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't be much. Maybe 5% at the most. The K8 has such fast memory
access, which is the main thing.


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Ed Light said:
Yes, cpuz.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much! Now, CPUZ tells me the following on the Memory tab:

Frequency 125.0 MHz
FSB:DRAM CPU/20

How do those numbers relate to PC3200, PC4000, etc.?
 
Thanks very much! Now, CPUZ tells me the following on the Memory tab:

Frequency 125.0 MHz
FSB:DRAM CPU/20

How do those numbers relate to PC3200, PC4000, etc.?
Click to expand...

125MHz is very low, thats PC2000. PC3200 is 200MHz, PC4000 is 250MHz. I
really doubt that the speed is 125MHz, I would have expected 166MHz which
is PC2700 and is the standard speed for a system with 4 double sided
DIMMs. The best way to find out the speed is to watch the BIOS screen
during a boot, the speed will probably be displayed.
 
General Schvantzkoph said:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 07:04:19 -0600, Peter van der Goes wrote:

125MHz is very low, thats PC2000. PC3200 is 200MHz, PC4000 is 250MHz. I
really doubt that the speed is 125MHz, I would have expected 166MHz which
is PC2700 and is the standard speed for a system with 4 double sided
DIMMs. The best way to find out the speed is to watch the BIOS screen
during a boot, the speed will probably be displayed.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for enlightening me!
I have it running at 166 MHz with manual settings, but (as you predicted) it
doesn't want to go higher.
I have a second PC (A8N-E equipped) with two 1 Gig modules running the
memory happily at 200 MHz.
Is the speed reduction a limitation of my, now elderly, Winchester CPU ? If
so, do newer cores allow for "full speed"?
 
My Winchester at 10x at 240 is running 4 512 double-sided Kingmax Super Rams
at 200 - they're set on 166. Before overclocking I locked the timings that
resulted from 200 and auto.

Motherboard is nforce 3 ultra -- Gigabyte K8NS-939.


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Ed Light said:
My Winchester at 10x at 240 is running 4 512 double-sided Kingmax Super
Rams at 200 - they're set on 166. Before overclocking I locked the timings
that resulted from 200 and auto.

Motherboard is nforce 3 ultra -- Gigabyte K8NS-939.
Click to expand...
Well, it's not my Winnie, then.
Guess I'll just be satisfied with the 166.7 and 10x at 250. It's not like
I'm encountering any delays :).

Thanks for educating me!
 
Peter van der Goes said:
Well, it's not my Winnie, then.
Guess I'll just be satisfied with the 166.7 and 10x at 250. It's not like
I'm encountering any delays :).

Thanks for educating me!
Click to expand...

It could be a motherboard thing. Or a memory -- motherboard compatibility
thing. There are certain parameters (which I don't remember at all) that
motherboards and memory have which can't always match. If only they were
standardized, then they always would. So, when the memory is close enough to
the motherboard in these parameters, they work great, but if it's too
different, it doesn't. Somehow some memory makers manage to make their
memory work on most boards. Like Kingston Value RAM, Corsair Value Select.
And Kingmax Super RAM. Once I got a stick of the Value Select, though, and
when I bought another it was totally different, with different chips, and
wouldn't run in dual channel with the other one. So now I buy dual channel
kits and if I need 2 kits I'll buy them together. Just did that once. 2
gigs. That should be good for awhile! I figured I'd skip one of my usual
minimal upgrades by doing a maximal one. Like a new tire can equal two used
tires. Nowadays I'd get a kit of two 1-gig ones -- the price is ok.

I tried benchmarking with futuremark apps, comparing runs with the memory at
an actual 200 and then 166; and it didn't make much difference. I'm trying
to remember - maybe 3% at most. It's still going really fast that way due to
being in dual-channel. Faster than single-channel 200.

Actually, I think Winchesters aren't even supposed to run 4 sticks at 200;
they always default to 166, but you can do it if your memory and board are
happy.

I'm not a timing expert -- I'm just using the timings in the spd for 200 -
but maybe you could do run 200 by loosening up the timings.

Oh, and make sure that the 2T/1T memory setting is set on "2T" or auto. If I
remember the name of that setting correctly. This is required for 4 sticks.
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