MEMORY FAQ (please read before posting)

[tlmck]

Looking forward to the Best Bang for the Buck memory articles. Would also like to see a similar column on Power Supplies. Maybe not monthly, but quarterly would be nice.

It would also be nice to see a blurb on Geil memory. Due to their high prices, I generally avoided them, but I always heard it was good stuff. Now they supposedly want to play in the mainstream as well with lower prices.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144047

 

[werepossum]

Interesting introduction, but I thought tight timings simply meant low latencies. You state that combining them costs the most. Could you flesh that part out a bit?

Thanks!

 

[StevieD]

Job well done.

 

[Zorg]

Nice guide, THG needed one.

F61, here is something to play with MemSet memory tweaker. The settings are only temporary for tweaking they are gone on reboot. There is additional information in the thread. I don't have these settings worked out by any stretch. I spent a little time on it, but it's hard to sort it all out. I guess I need to spend more time on it. If you, or anyone else, gets them sorted out post the info.

 

[schan94]

Hello guys....i'm not sure if i'm posting in the right. If i am, i do apologize. I'm very new in building PC and i just built one..but have a problem. I have no idea how to set my memory timing.

My stuff:
AMD64 x2 6000;
XFX GeForce 8800GTX
Crosshair Mobo
Mushkin memory (soon to be received by mail on Monday)

I've asked Mushkin on what the settings are and he provided but when i went into BIOS, doesn't seem to match. Can somone help me on this particular problem? Much appreciated. Here is what the settings are:

Set memory clock to 800Mhz divider.

Command Per Clock: 2 CLK
CAS Latency Control: 4 CLK
Min RAS Active Time: 10 CLK
RAS to CAS Delay: 4 CLK
Row Precharge Delay: 3 CLK

If sub timings doesn't work , try changing these.

RAS to RAS Delay: 3 CLK
Row Cycle Time: 11 CLK
DIMM 1 Row Refresh: 75ns
DIMM 2 Row Refresh: 75ns
DIMM 3 Row Refresh: 75ns
DIMM 4 Row Refresh: 75ns
Read Precharge Time: 2 CLK
Write Recovery Time: 6 CLK
Read to Write Delay: 4 CLK
Write to Read Delay: 3 CLK
Refresh Period Time: 3.9us

Memory Voltage - 1.9 to 2.1V

Thanks again...

 

[manoj0609]

I have 256mb ram in my system. but shows 31 mb ram.
what is reason

 

[vcmohan]

I have a 2X1024 800MHz DDR2 Gskill memory.
When I check with EverestUltimate it reports an effective speed of 743.
Other parameters are
CPU Speed:
CPU Clock 2599.9 MHz (original: [ TRIAL VERSION ] MHz)
CPU Multiplier 13.0x
CPU FSB 200.0 MHz (original: 200 MHz)
Memory Bus 371.4 MHz
DRAM:FSB Ratio CPU/7

In the benchmarks it shows consistantly lower performance than a 800MHz memory system.
I am using defaults in the BIOS of my Asus M2A-VM HDMI board with AMD athlon Dual core 5000+ Brisbane CPU
Why do I get this lower values?

 

[mcdude]

so if i bought 2x1gig of black dragon pc6400 memory..then sometime later i bought another set of the same i wouldnt have any problems doin this

 

[spuddyt]

this thread could do with an update, since ddr3 is out now....

 

[nel]

So how would u distinguished the d-9 chip to generic chip.... I do see some generic rams with good timing.....

 

[nel]

"BRAND OF MEMORY
A: You can normally find the brand by looking directly at the modules themselves. If no sticker, label or logo exists on the module, sometimes you can find the brand labeled on the chips."

Is this means you going to buy something that you don't even know and removing the cooler is not usually easy and can void warranty....

 

[nel]

[No message]

 

[Deb777]

Thanks for the infor. Am new to this and stiil haveave a question. Have a Dell Precision Wkstation 340 with PC hardware w 2 x 256 Rambus Memory PC 800 - 40 ECC Dell Ram. Would it be ok for the system to add 56 mb (2X128) Rambus Memory PC 800 - 45 ECC Dell Ram for additional ram memory. Thx...

 

[bc4]

deb777,
yes: http://www.memoryx.net/deprwo3404fr.html
You can add 256mb (2 x 128mb) and get a total of 768 mb.

 

[PC Weenie]

Howzit this is for anyone to reply to;

I'm looking for the BIOS settings to clock two 1gig DDR2 1066 Kingston KyperX's ,at 1066MHz (auto. clock at 800), I got the ASUS Max. Formula board and it's not accepting the simple clocks... has anyone got a similar board?? or knows the latency's??

 

[Shadow703793]

^Post in new topic.

 

[Shadow703793]

@OP:

More on COUNTERFEIT MODULES.

You can also find out if the RAM is counterfeit by running CPUZ. Under "SPD" you can select the RAM slot that you have installed the RAM in and then checking the value for "Manufacture" , "Part Number" and the "Module Size". If one or more of these values are not correct there is a very good chance you have been ripped off.

 

[Mitzidupree]

Quite a useful information at first.

I am thinking to upgrade my RAMs, from 2x533Mhz DDRII (1GB each) rams, to 4xDDRII (1GB each) of RAMs. But I am not sure if it is better to get 667MHz or 800MHz with Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz with Intel 975xbx2.

Any help please?

 

[leexgx]

should go for the 800 stuff its like $1-5 between each ram speed type

your ram would most likey be holding your pc back with 533 1gb used (can you even buy 533 1gb ram?)

----------------------
topic could do with been an small update to reflect that you need an 64bit OS to use 4gb of ram fully and state that 32bit os depending on how many video cards are used (and some other things as well) can result between 3.5gb down to 2gb of useable ram on an 32bit OS

 

[Mitzidupree]

Thanks for the help leexgx, I decided to go for the 800MHz of RAMs.

 

[Levtechllc]

I get really good deals on those DDR pc2700 memory chips on roaminggear.com. They also sell cheap new and used laptops. The crazy thing is how little computers use the pc3200 memory but the DDR kind. The DDR2 kind is literally worthless, you know it is. At roaming gear the mobile laptops new ram cost about 35 dollars for a gig chip. I was lucky since I had a gig per slot laptop. I mean 35 dollars for new 2 one gig chips. But thats making a medium grade computer completely overhauled and faster.

 

[thomasz1]

Nice piece of info.

 

[pa7rick]

In the Key Terms section:

"Semiconductor: A material such as germanium or silicone..."

Please replace the word silicone with silicon.

I cringe every time I hear engineering students confuse these two words.

 

[33mikeg]

wow man great post. Kudos!

 

[tcsenter]

Correction needed:

Memory module bank: Logical division of chips on a PCB board. A single memory bank can be composed of any number of chips. Some banks are composed of only 2 chips, whereas some other modules have 18 chips or more per bank. Not to be confused with memory Rank, see next term.
Memory rank: The physical side of a memory module. The side of the module is referred to by Rank0 or Rank1.

Actually, DIMM rank is a logical 64-bit memory side (chip-select), synonymous with one 64-bit memory row. JEDEC adopted the term "rank" specifically to address on-going confusion between physical and logical memory "sides".

Case in point, unbuffered DIMMs using 4-bit wide DRAM IC (32Mx4, 64Mx4, 128Mx4, et. al.) will have 16 chips total, eight on each "physical" side, but are in fact only single-rank modules. These are commonly referred to as 'high density' modules, though the term 'high density' is entirely relative and can have different meanings depending on the technology or context being discussed. Another example are registered server DIMMs, which can have up to four (quad) ranks per module, two ranks on each "physical" side.