GA-G31M-ES2L & PC-8500 Troubles

simsandwhich · Jan 20, 2010

Hi guys,

I'm having some problems getting my RAM to work at the rated speed; It's PC-8500 (1066mhz) yet shows up in CPU-Z as PC-6400 (800mhz).

Apparently I'm supposed to overclock to get the proper speeds (according to motherboard documentation), but I've got no idea how to achieve that. I'm familiar with the BIOS so following instructions is within my skillset

My specs are:

-GIGABYTE G31M-ES2L rev. 1.0
-2x2GB DDR2 Corsair XMS2 PC-8500 5-5-5-15
-Intel E7500 Core 2 Duo @ 2.93ghz
-GeForce GT240 512mb

Any and all help would be much appreciated you guys :thup:

redduc900 · Jan 20, 2010

From the OCZ Support FAQ, which also applies to your Corsair...

Q: CPU-z reports the "Max. Bandwidth" of my OCZ ram to be XXX, when I bought YYY. Did I get the wrong ram? Ex: PC2-8500 shows PC2-6400 in CPU-z.

A: CPU-z sets the "Max Bandwidth" field under the SPD tab to whatever the highest bootable speed programmed on the ram modules SPD (Serial Presence Detect) is. Most motherboards will not boot (by default when new or from a "cleared CMOS" state) at ram speed higher than 800 for DDR2 or 1333 for DDR3. Therefore to ensure compatibility and a proper boot OCZ programs no more than that speed into the SPD. This has nothing to do with how fast the ram modules are capable of running, or what we guarantee that kit to run. More info about what SPD does can be found in this article...

Why CPU-Z doesn’t match your memory’s advertised speeds
http://icrontic.com/articles/why-cpu-z-doesnt-match-your-memorys-advertised-speeds

Post a pic. w/ CPU-Z open to the 'Memory tab, which will show 1/2 of the actual DRAM frequency. Meaning that at a default FSB of 266MHz and a 1:2 FSB : DRAM ratio (266/1066 MCH strap), the current DRAM frequency should be 1066MHz (533MHz as shown in the DRAM Frequency field of CPU-Z). If the frequency is less than 533MHz, then you'll need to change the System Memory Multiplier to 4.00B on a 333 MCH strap.

simsandwhich · Feb 5, 2010

Here's a pic of CPU-Z attached.

However the maximum SPD that can be set in my bios is 3.0, which gives DRAM Freq. of 400mhz.

Is there another way I can get my SPD to 4.0?

krose · Feb 6, 2010

The manual says the memory multipliers are dependent on the FSB. I used several of these in builds but I used DDR2 667 so I can't tell you what FSB to use to give you DDR2 1066. As you change FSB it changes what memory multipliers are available due to the northbridge strap changing with FSB. Try using Ctrl + F1 at the main BIOS menu which will give you many more options in the submenus including MIT. Hopefully you change the northbridge strap so you can get the correct memory multiplier.

redduc900 · Feb 6, 2010

Just raise the FSB (CPU Host Frequency) to 355MHz w/ a 9x multiplier (CPU Clock ratio) = 3195MHz (265MHz overclock), w/ a 3.0 DRAM multiplier (266 MCH strap) = 1065MHz DRAM frequency.

GA-G31M-ES2L & PC-8500 Troubles

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