memory confusion

Hello all.
I recently purchased a gigabyte GA-7VRXP board and a 1900+ XP chip. I also picked up a stick of Samsung memory. Its pc2700 cas2.5 333mhz double sided memory from Googlegear.com.

The trouble I am having is running this memory at anything above 200mhz, the lowest setting. MY other BIOS settings are:

133mhz FSB
1T timing
CAS 2.5

I can get the memory to post at 266mhz, but its unstable even upping voltage by .2 to 2.7v.

Shouldn't I be able to run the memory at 333mhz?? 200, 266 and 333mhz are my only choices without dorking around with the FSB.

Out of frustration I bought a stick of Corsair 2700c2 from Googlegear thats Cas2 AND 333MHZ "GAURANTEED".

If anybody with this setup could suggest some settings that should work, I would love to hear them for either memeory type.

I wish the Samsung memory had worked as it was $55 cheaper, but nothing is more frustrating to me than buying what should be a high performance part, and it doesn't work out.

Also, whats the deal with "burning in" memory? I've been running Dungeon Siege and UT and some CPU Stability test overnight to test stabily, but do I ned to do something specific to burn in memory?

Thanks!

Oh, on a side note, I am looking to get a ThermalRight AX-7 heatsink and attach an ThermalTake Smart case fan to it for effecient, but quieter cooling. The volcano 6+ I have now is entirely too loud. Any thoughts? Will the Thermal Right AX-7 fit this gigabyte board?

Thanks!

-Reapin

Machine Specs:

Athlon XP 1900+
GIgabyte ga7xrp rev 1.1
512MB Samsung pc2700 Cas2.5
Geforce 3 TI200
Tekram LVL SCSI contoller
IMB 36GB 10000rpm SCSI drive
Kenwood TrueX 100x CD-ROM
Acer 12x32 CD-RW

SkyHawk Eagle Aluminum Case
Antec 350w PS

Windows XP

people often confuse the 'memorys' ability to run at high FSB speeds with the ability of the system to run high FSB speeds.
I myself have had problems obtaining high FSB speeds using specific components and one of these was a scsi card.
Also is your processor unlocked as in order to reach the very high FSB speeds it is likely that you will need to reduce your multiplier.

I'm having troubles with my GA7VRX and Samsung RAM, I am thinking I will flash my BIOS, several reviewers have mentioned that newer BIOSes have improved stability and speed. I think for my board it is the F2 BIOS that I need and for the VRXP that it is the F6 BIOS that is the latest and best.

regards,

Road Warrior

confusion certainly abounds

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the FSB speed is seperate from the speed the memory works at, or are they not? I want the memory to run at 333mhz. Thats why I bought pc2700 and not 2100 8^)

I also now regret not getting the cas2 in the first place. Although I have it on order, I noticed about a 10% increase in game performace betweencas 3 and 2 on my Thurderbird board.

So, should this memory go up to 333mhz??

Thanks!

Road Warrior,
What do you mean your 7vrxp is mildly overclocked?
Has anyone ever figured out how to fine tune the Chipset Features Setup page?
The setting for DRAM frequency, what the heck does Auto do?
Configure SDRAM by SPD, what does that do?
How do these settings interact?

I just got this new mobo & CPU and already I'm thinking of crayoning and greasing the CPU to unlock it.
Heck we got all those dip switches for multipliers, we have to use them don't we?
It takes some serious testosterone to void a 3 year warranty!

I have not upgraded my RAM yet and I can't get much of an overclock either.
I upgraded my BIOS from F4 to F6 and saw no performance increases at all(using several BMs).

I can't check my memory bandwidth with SisoftSandra, my PC reboots. I thought this board supported PC2100?
I emailed Mushkin to see if I can trade in my RAM for something faster since I only had it for 5 weeks, waddaya think my chances are?

Now the real issue, is PC2700 going to be enough grrrr