Kingston HyperX PC8500 running slow?

Hello all from yet another noob! This is my second post but I'm hoping you can shed some light on what I think is a problem.

Just today I've taken out 2x1Gb sticks of PC5300 and put in the PC8500 sticks. I bought these because I wanted to push my E6600 further and the ram was seriously cramping my style. I didn't want to run a divider that had the ram running slowly etc. So, my fsb is now set to 500Mhz and the divider is 1:1. CPU-Z is reporting that the ram is running with 4-4-4-12 timings but I don't believe it. This ram is rated to run 5-5-5-15 at 1066Mhz.

I've run a couple of tests with Sandra and it is reporting a bandwidth of 7318MB/s (Int), 7020MB/s (float) and a memory latency of 74ns. I think these figures are a little dissapointing. I wondered if anyone else had any figures they could post up as a comparison or advise me where I am going wrong.

I think i was getting better results when the processor was running at 3.2Ghz (400*8) with a 5:4 divider (ie. the ram was at 1000mhz)

Also, the ram is coming up as PC2-4300 during boot up. Why is that?

Thanks in advance.

I'll check my bandwidth at 500mzh when I get home, but something sounds a tad off there. Are you sure you were getting better performance before? The ram being displayed as PC2-4300 is strange. I almost think that CPU-Z isn't reporting the ram speed correctly. Do you have the latest version?

Also, what motherboard/CPU are you running? If you can, create a signature with a detailed list of your components so we don't have to ask.

Lastly, welcome to the forums! Enjoy your stay

-Collin-

Thanks for the reply, I look forward to your results. A few things to add, during bootup it is displaying various speeds. I am trying to find out why. I have set the timings manually in the bios to 5-5-5-15 (what the ram is rated at) but still no joy. I'm going to try and be a bit more methodical and get to the root of it.

I did create a sig. but I guess it doesn't get added to previous posts?

UPDATE;

These are results from Sandra (bandwidth, latency);
400*8, ram 1:1 (800Mhz) 5693MB/s, 79ns
400*8, ram 4:5 (1000Mhz) 6824MB/s, 69ns
400*9, ram 4:5 (1000Mhz) 7111MB/s, 65ns
500*7, ram 1:1 (1000Mhz) 7178MB/s, 75ns

These results make intuitive sense to me, but I can't help feel disappointed that the Bandwidth is low for what is supposed to be half decent ram. Any Ideas?

UPDATE 2; During boot it is now showing PC2-5300. What is this all about?!! I'm now running at 400*9, RAM is at 4:5 (1000Mhz).

Looks like it's the multiplier. I've seen this issue before. I am not totally familiar with it, but running the higher multi will give you better bandwidth/latency. I'll ask a few of the veterans to post in your thread who can explain it better than I can!

Edit: Seems that rule might only apply to the nvidia based motherboards. I'm still scratching my head here with you. Your bandwidth improved, but not latency. Hmm...

-Collin-

What kind of bandwidth are you getting? And what should I be expecting? Am I expecting too much? Have I just wasted £80 on some not very good ram? ha ha. I really hope not.

Thanks for the help.

The report at bootup just tells you which divider you're using not the actual Ram speed. For example a P5B-dlx will show PC2-4300 for the 1:1 ratio even if the Ram is running at higher speeds.

Your bandwidth numbers look right, at least in terms of scaling. I'm not sure why the latency is so much different between 400*9 and 500*7 though assuming the Ram timings are the same. Otherwise it's not unbelievable to do 4-4-4-12 at 1000MHz.

So I'll try 4-4-4-12 timings across the range of fsb's and see what number I can get. This is assuming it will boot! If it doesn't, what timings should be slackened first in the move from 4-4-4-12 towards 5-5-5-15? Thanks