Memory underclocked, why?

D

dbaldus

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Joined
Jul 12, 2005
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So ever since I installed 4 DIMMS of DDR400, all rated at the same timings, etc., I have not been able to get my RAM to run at DDR400 speeds. When I look in memtest, it lists my RAM as DDR200. If I overclock my CPU by 20mhz, memtest says its running at DDR210 (or 220, can't remember which).

The only things that I did differently was set the vcore manually down from 1.5 to 1.35 volts because my idle temps were so high running at stock speeds. And, as I mentioned, put in the 4 DIMMS instead of 2.

What setting in the BIOS of A8V Deluxe BIOS rev 1017 allows me to set the speed of my RAM to go as its specified? Or, more importantly, what's going on?
 
set the memory ratio to ddr333, the highest official spec for 4 sticks. you can try ddr400, but i'm not making any promises that it'll work
 
Damnit, so now we're almost back to where we were before :mad:

Is it more beneficial to programs to run 1.5 gigs at DDR333 or 1 gig at DDR400? How about games in general? I was almost positive that it was working before...
 
as we went over before, it really depends on the program. things like 3dmark and superPI will like 1gb at higher speed, but BF2/FEAR/large image stuff likes more ram over speed
 
Hmm... well, in the BIOS, if I set the LIMIT parameter to DDR333, memtest still reports the memory as running at DDR200 speeds with 4 sticks. I've given the RAM 2.8 volts (rated at 2.75) and let it automatically set the timings (went to 2.5-2-2-5, so I'm happy :))

Does cpu-z or Athlon64 Tweaker have ways to change the memory speed individually in Windows?

Also, I thought I read in Eclipse's memory guide that running memory at a different speed than the processor (asynchronous, I believe he called it), is a bad idea. Am I right? What should I do to get this to run at anything other than DDR200 (I've tried setting LIMIT to DDR266 also).
 
set the memory speed to 2T instead of 1T.
You should be back up to speed again.
The Athlon 64 memory controller can handle more memory banks when running at 2T.
It seems you have exceeded the max for 1T.

If it still wont set the speeds correctly, manually set the FSB speed and SPD, dont leave them on auto.

ps Running different speed memory to the HT speed doesnt make a big difference on Athlon 64.
I do it and am very happy with my machines performance.
 
Well, I'll try it when I get home tonight. Only reason I feel that it may not work is because my memory is running at 2T. I believe I have it set in the BIOS to run at 1T but memtest says that its running at 2T anyway, so I think I just left it (or maybe I set it to auto, can't remember for sure).

Like I said, I'll give it a shot when I get home (running at DDR333), but in the meantime... any other ideas on what's going on here? How about fixing it?

And from everything I've heard here, is it correct to assume that there is no reason why the memory should not be running at "at least" DDR333 speeds? Meaning that if it is not, its not because it is not supported but that a setting somewhere is just incorrect? Or would there be another reason that two twinx kits, rated at the same timings and both DDR400 and both tested separately to do so, would not run at DDR333?
 
Also, could my memory running at DDR200 speeds be the reason why Quake 4 was running like shit yesterday? :eek:
 
probably


just out of curiosity, which slots do you have each set of ram in?
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
probably


just out of curiosity, which slots do you have each set of ram in?
Click to expand...

1 gig kit in slots 1 and 3, 512 kit in slots 2 and 4.

How bout the DDR333 question from a few posts above?
 
dbaldus said:
How about on an ASUS A8V Deluxe?
Click to expand...
check their site.
there are a few boards like that.

i remember buying an addt'l 2 rams of 512MB to get me to 2GB just to come home and realize that.
 
from their site:

Question

Why does A8V Deluxe automatically down-grade from DDR400 to DDR333 when four DIMMs of memory are plugged?

Answer
It is a protective function when system cannot boot up or any instable symptoms due to memory itself.
Please enter BIOS setting and manually adjust memory frequency to 200MHz.

can't post link - java or something keeps the web address the same throughout navigation but it's in their FAQ section
 
stormshadow said:
from their site:

Question

Why does A8V Deluxe automatically down-grade from DDR400 to DDR333 when four DIMMs of memory are plugged?

Answer
It is a protective function when system cannot boot up or any instable symptoms due to memory itself.
Please enter BIOS setting and manually adjust memory frequency to 200MHz.

can't post link - java or something keeps the web address the same throughout navigation but it's in their FAQ section
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just saw that too. Sounds like this board should allow full DDR400 speeds even with 4 DIMMS. Awesome!

Too bad it doesn't work :( I don't see an option in the BIOS to manually set the memory frequency, other than LIMIT: DDR400, which also doesn't work with 4 DIMMS installed.

I'll give it another try when I get home though. I figure they must have been talking about an old version of the BIOS or something that used to have that setting. Only problem with that is that the system won't boot with 4 DIMMS before version 1008.

This is a bad deal :(
 
Oops... just realized that my 1 gig kit is actually Corsair CMX512 3200C2Pro, which is rated to run at 2-3-3-6 not 2-3-2-6 as my other kit was.

Is this perhaps why I cannot get my memory to run at DDR400 speeds, and actually will only run at DDR200 speeds? I just called ASUS and they said that I should in fact be able to run with 4 DIMMS in at the full DDR400 speeds. Even when I set my LIMIT parameter to DDR400 (which is what the ASUS guy said I need to do to get it to run at that speed), memtest still reports it as DDR200. What else could I try to do? I know that both the 512 kit and the 1024 kit will run in dual channel at the full DDR400 speeds, but apparently when I have them both in to cover all 4 slots, it will not. Is this memory really incompatible, even if I set the timings to 2-3-3-6 or just let it adjust itself automatically?

Here are my two kits, by the way. The one with the lights is my 1 gig matched, the other is my 512 matched:

www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx512-3200ll.pdf

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/cmx512-3200c2pro.pdf
 
dbaldus said:
Oops... just realized that my 1 gig kit is actually Corsair CMX512 3200C2Pro, which is rated to run at 2-3-3-6 not 2-3-2-6 as my other kit was.

Is this perhaps why I cannot get my memory to run at DDR400 speeds, and actually will only run at DDR200 speeds? I just called ASUS and they said that I should in fact be able to run with 4 DIMMS in at the full DDR400 speeds. Even when I set my LIMIT parameter to DDR400 (which is what the ASUS guy said I need to do to get it to run at that speed), memtest still reports it as DDR200. What else could I try to do? I know that both the 512 kit and the 1024 kit will run in dual channel at the full DDR400 speeds, but apparently when I have them both in to cover all 4 slots, it will not. Is this memory really incompatible, even if I set the timings to 2-3-3-6 or just let it adjust itself automatically?

Here are my two kits, by the way. The one with the lights is my 1 gig matched, the other is my 512 matched:

www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx512-3200ll.pdf

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/cmx512-3200c2pro.pdf
Click to expand...

search "a8v"+"dimm" on google and you'll run into a bunch of people who are having the 200MHz issue...
 
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