CPU-Z reading my DDR400 ram at a frequency of 183mhz - help please?

[benzen69]

Right,

I have had two sticks (2x1GB) of good quality OCZ PC3200 Ram running in dual channel in my computer for about the past year.

Part number: OCZ4001024PF

It is supposed to run at a frequency of 200mhz, but CPU-Z (which I have only just gotten and used) says its running at 183.3mhz, which, I believe, are the frequencies for DDR366.

I have a socket 939 motherboard with an AMDX2 4400+ in there, which should fully support a 400FSB, and the motherboard supports DDR400 (it is an ECS RS482-M).

This is good quality RAM, so does anyone have any ideas why my frequencies are like this and how to get them running at their full value again?

Any help would be greatly appreciated if it meant showing even some slight gains.

Cheers

 

[benzen69]

No replies?

Can anyone help me out?

 

[benzen69]

Bump

 

[applejuice85]

Can you post a screen of CPU-Z?

 

[applejuice85]

2200MHz Core

2200 = 11 multi x 200MHz FSB

Assuming you're not overclocking...

I would check your bios for the mem divisor and go from there.

 

[swifty_morgan]

in the bios........ you should be able to find this or something familiar to it.

advanced chipset features

timing mode.......... set to manual

dram config................... memory clock Mhz............ set to 200

might be able to increase it a little at a time ........ ie: 201,202,203 etc til you find a spot that crashes. You can either try and increase the voltage and start again, or goto the highest setting before it crashed to maximize ram speed.

but the 200 above will give you "stock" speed.

 

[KyleSTL]

I believe all AMD platforms determine memory clock by a divider of the processor frequency. Hense:

2200 mhz / 12 = 183.33 Mhz (DDR 366)
or
2200 mhz / 11 = 200 Mhz (DDR 400)

 

[benzen69]

If someone can tell me quick how to post my CPU-Z (is it the "registers dump" or "HTML dump"?) then I'll get it up on here if it helps out. Thanks for the responses so far guys!

 

[KyleSTL]

Go into BIOS, it should be a quick fix. If you don't find the memory settings inside your BIOS, please post again and we'll see if we can help you.

Edit: And it's the Validation button you need to click on to post your system online from CPU-Z.

 

[benzen69]

Right then fellows..

not sure if this is right, but its a link (after the CPU-Z verification) that shows everything from my CPU-Z. I did notice the RAM ratio is CPU/12, but I dont know how to change this in the BIOS (my Mobo is an ECS RS482-M that uses a BIOS called "Award" or "phoenix" or something along that line).

Hope this helps, keep 'em coming dudes

 

[benzen69]

Oops....

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=284290

Theres that link i was telling you all so much about!

 

[KyleSTL]

Exactly as I thought. First, here is a link to your manual if you don't have the hard copy:

http://www.ecsusa.com/DLfile/manual/mb/eng/k8/RS482-M.zip

• Press Del while computer is starting to enter bios (page 36 in PDF)
• Go to Advanced Chipset Features (page 42)
• Enter DRAM Configuration
• Change Timing Mode to [Manual]
• Change MemClockIndexValue to 200 Mhz

 

[benzen69]

Jesus, what a 20 minutes I've just had!

Did as you said, and when i saved and exited CMOS, my Computer just started going into a continuous loop where it kept restarting itself before Windows could boot. So then i go in and just out of curiosity set the frequency to 216mhz. Same problem. I tried increasing the voltage of the RAM (from 2.6 to 2.65 and 2.7 after that) and that didnt solve it either.

Then i tried lowering the voltage of the RAM (didnt know it was wrong - out of options). That saw me opening the side of my case and using the jumpers to clear CMOS, because it wouldnt even boot.

Now the only settings that get me actually into Windows are auto mode on the DRAM configurations. But auto mode still sets the frequency at 200mhz, so I dont see why its running at 183.3. It looks like the FSB/DRAM thing needs to be set to 11 instead of 12, but now I am officially confused, as my PC has thrown a wobbly at the slightest little things I have tried.

I didnt have the manual either, so that was helpful, but sorry man, still dunno whats up.

 

[swifty_morgan]

After you changed the settings, did you hit f10 and enter to save what you did ?

And is there a thing in the bios on the right hand side that refers to "load optimized settings"..... or similar ? You could try that.

 

[benzen69]

No, I went to "save and Exit CMOS"

When my computer would actually boot again, I went to "load optimized settings" to restore it all to how it was before i messed with it. Still got the 183.3 mhz problem though, is there any wya to change the memory divider with a program rather than the BIOS? It needs be 2200/11 rather than 2200/12

 

[swifty_morgan]

Did you by any chance check to see if the ram was bad ? oCZ can have bad modules too. Do them one stick at a time. You should be able to find a program on the net....... or on some mobo's it's in the bios........

.and, are they in the right slots for dual channel mode ?

Also, the only ecs mobo I ever used was a pain to work with. Just recently put together a machine for a family member using an old agp card. had several problems but don't remember off hand what they were.... although none were memory related.

 

[benzen69]

Yeh I've read perhaps that my board is not the best, and its in dual channel mode (CPU-Z says so anyway), the board only having two DIMM slots. I would be suprised if the RAM was bad (and pissed off, having used it for a year!) but if it is i think OCZ have lifetime warranty. Its good quality stuff mind you, but theres always the possibility.

I will take out the modules and run them one at a time. Any recommendations for programs the change the memory division by any chance?

 

[topper743]

Let me throw in my 2 cents. Take a look at any of Tom's CPU charts. Link below.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

You can look at the above page or any of the others in the cpu section, it just shows the stock setting for the chip. Your chip is a windsor (F2), check? The cpu memory controler limits the freq of you memory. Tom's chart shows 2200/200 NF590 733. 733/4=183.25. That is about what your getting isn't that right? One of the overclocker pros can step in here, but I'll bet that if you can overclock the cpu a bit the refered mem timimgs will come up. Tom's also shows the 4400+ 3Dmark 06 1.1 cpu benchmark as 1658. Run the benchmark see what you get at stock settings. If you are close then I think you can be assured that your machine is within normal limits. Please do all of your testing at stock/auto voltages. Oh, side note educate yourself first before you go tearing into the guts of you machine especially over and under volting. (Tooltime...more power, ugh ugh ugh)

 

[KyleSTL]

Let me throw in my 2 cents. Take a look at any of Tom's CPU charts. Link below.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

You can look at the above page or any of the others in the cpu section, it just shows the stock setting for the chip. Your chip is a windsor (F2), check? The cpu memory controler limits the freq of you memory. Tom's chart shows 2200/200 NF590 733. 733/4=183.25. That is about what your getting isn't that right? One of the overclocker pros can step in here, but I'll bet that if you can overclock the cpu a bit the refered mem timimgs will come up. Tom's also shows the 4400+ 3Dmark 06 1.1 cpu benchmark as 1658. Run the benchmark see what you get at stock settings. If you are close then I think you can be assured that your machine is within normal limits. Please do all of your testing at stock/auto voltages. Oh, side note educate yourself first before you go tearing into the guts of you machine especially over and under volting. (Tooltime...more power, ugh ugh ugh)

Windor is an AM2 processor running with DDR2 (733DDR2 = 366.66Mhz). The OP is running DDR memory and is therefore on a S939 platform (366DDR).

Edit: And that "educate yourself" comment was uncalled for, especially considering the point on which I corrected you.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Kyle, It's a 939 chip not a 940 chip. Should run at 400 off the bat. Something isn't right somewhere.

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

It does in fact look like the ECS bios is interpreting the multiplier incorrectly. The ratio should not be 12 on this CPU. It should be 11 or 11.5 depending on the version of the CPU, aka 65nm/11.5 or 90nm/11.

First, see if there is a newer bios available. If there is, flash it. Either way, look in your bios and see if you can manually set the CPU multiplier to 11.

All in all, the difference between 183 and 200 is so small, you'll never see it with the naked eye. If you can't get it stable some way at 200, 183 is fine.

 

[applejuice85]

It is true that only with synthetic benchmarks will you notice a difference.

I barely noticed a perfomance increase on my brisbane when I had my DDR800 clocked at 273MHz instead of 400MHz

I wouldn't lose sleep over this issue.

 

[benzen69]

Thanks guys for your continued help with this. Its a toledo chip. I updated from a single core 3800+ to this dual core 4400+ because I really didnt want to have to buy another motherbaord and RAM for the sake of getting a better processor.

With that said, when i put the chip in, I got all sorts of issues (computer completely locking up at random times). So I got the latest BIOS update which sorted it all out. That was about 10 weeks ago, so it will be a miracle if ECS of all companies has a new one but i will definately investigate. Would it make a difference if i installed the same on again?

To be honest, you guys are right, it is not a big deal at all, just a mild annoyance. Its performance RAM, a good processor, and a board that has DDR400 physically stamped onto the damn thing! I've been using it I would expect for a year at these speeds, but I thought it may give a tiny gain in the games I play such as the Witcher or Crysis (which, admittedly, have been running ok).

It should run at a multiplier of 11, 2200/12 comes out as 183.3 mhz, but either theres no option for it in the BIOS (its not an enthusiast's or overclockers board by any means) or I am too much of a fool to find it. I was hoping there might be a way to do it outside of the BIOS.

Cheers again, sorry if i'm not alot of help

 

[cpburns]

benzen69, you hit the speed on the head with the last paragraph. the ram speed is based on a divider of the cpu speed. on my system, i run a my 2.0 dual core at 2.4 on a 240FSB. i run what the BIOS says is a 5/6 divider to achieve 200MHz aka DDR400 ram speed. this speed issue is known and accepted on cpu's with odd FSB multipliers though. if you OCed to 2.4GHz you'd have 200MHz aka DDR400 ram.

honestly, it's not a big problem as long as your ram is running at low timings. AMD chips get a lot happier with DDR333 at 2-2-2-5 than with DDR400 at 3-3-3-8. i get the best of both worlds by running the OCZ 2GB kit at 2-3-2-5 at 400MHz. feed the ram its stock-rated voltage, set it at the lowest timings it will boot at, and let it run at DDR366. it'll give you the performance you desire.

 

[KyleSTL]

Kyle, It's a 939 chip not a 940 chip. Should run at 400 off the bat. Something isn't right somewhere.

Oh, I know that. I stated it in my reply. I tried helping to force it into 200Mhz, which apparently didn't come to fruition. I agree it's probably a screwy MB. I agree with the last couple posts, too, that you shouldn't worry about the small underclock. You probably won't notice any difference. If you're really itching to get it up there, see if you can run your processor at 2400Mhz, that, coupled with your memory divider of 12, should give you the DDR400 you're looking for. There's also a possibility your system could become unstable with that setting, so I'd advise against it, or the the divider could go up to 13 when you OC the CPU, negating the effect you want to achieve.