PC3200 settings question

[9dna]

hi, I need some advice on memory. When i use one stick of 512mb pc3200 kingston my system runs at 400mhz, when i put in another stick of 512mb pc3200 kingston my system runs at 333mhz. Foxconn told me to use single sided ddr and the problem is with the Amd memory controller on the CPU, other computer stores have told me my kingston should work ok.

All my bios settings are set to auto.

any advice please?

 

[WarriorII]

Hi, to the forums.

I'd try running a program like Sis Soft Sandra (free dl from the web)

then go into the motherboard info icon (ya click on it & it gathers info)
& see what both your memory sticks are running.

-it'll tell you something like:

Memory name here, XL3200, Kingston , 2-3-4-9
and then below that one your 2nd stick will be listed.

See if they are both running at the same (slower) speeds.

It sounds like you do not have a "matched" pair.
so they are running at the slowest ones speed of maybe .....3-4-4-8 or something
like that.

You'll need to find out if you can "push" the slower stick of memory up to the faster ones default speeds & have it stable.

This can be done in the BIOS usually, by taking it off "Auto" & switching it to manual.
or Performance.

Do Sandra 1st, get info for reference.

Then you can manually set the mem timings safely. knowledgably. (SP?)

You should be able to no problem.

 

[9dna]

thanks for the welcome, here are my settings
with one stick of memory
Memory
DRAM TypeDDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 512 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 200.9 MHz
FSBRAMCPU/ 9
CAS# Latency 3.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 8 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (TRC) 11 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks
# of memory modules 1
Module 0Kingston DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes

 

[9dna]

and my settings with 2 sticks

Memory
DRAM TypeDDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 1024 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 164.4 MHz
FSBRAMCPU/ 11
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (TRC) 10 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks
# of memory modules2
Module 0Kingston DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
Module 1Kingston DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes

 

[9dna]

any suggestions for to try please?

thanks

 

[Electron Chaser]

Have you tried putting the other stick in the 1 slot and booting that up to check to make sure you do in fact have the same memory as your original stick. That would be a very quick and easy way to check what the timings and speed are on the second stick. Often times if two different Sticks or RAM are you settings will be the lowest common denominator.

Also what banks are you putting the sticks in?

 

[9dna]

Both sticks are Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512 PC3200 and they show the same settings when used individualy, it is just when they are used together (slot 1 and 2, 3 slots on the motherboard).

When 1 stick is used my settings show 3-3-3-8
When 2 sticks are used my settings change to 2.5-3-3-7 ( and they show up as 333mhz)

Motherboard settings are set to auto, should the settings stay at 3-3-3-8 If I use 1 or 2 sticks?

Thanks

 

[mortimer]

Try manually setting two-stick configuration to higher set of timings. If you get 400MHz you can try lowering them until they switch to 333. Then take a step back. You might want to run memtest (free download) to see what the performance difference really is. Get the bootable version of memtest as it takes Windows out of the equation.

 

[WarriorII]

Try what Mort suggested.

Then turn auto off. (always )

Then set memory to 2.5 -3-3-8 & run memtest again.

if it's stable there, run with it.

 

[9dna]

thanks for the help, running it at 3-3-3-8, one stick in slot 1 and one stick in slot 3.