newbie question

[woodyuk]

Hi

I have recently bought a ASUS A8N-E and AMD 3800+ as well as a 2gb RAM (3200 DDR 400)

However when I boot it says its DDR 333. Do i need to setup something in the Bios ? How do I know what to set? I download cpu-z and it gave me some memory timings - its that what is setup now ? or is CPU-z telling me what to set. This overclocking stuff totally confuses me :-(

 

[Scout]

CPU-Z will show the memory timings that are actually being run at the time. If it shows you at 166 MHz, that's DDR333 speed and you need to change the BIOS settings.

Look for a memory ratio setting, probably under "advanced chipset features" and set the ratio to 1:1 and assuming your front side bus is running at the appropriate 200 MHz. speed, that will push your memory to DDR400.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Did you get 4*512Mb sticks? IF so, the memory controller on the A64's can't run them all at 400Mhz (200DDR) and so has to run them at 333Mhz. It's a hardware limitation, and you can't do a thing about it

 

[scoyle]

I have four 256MB sticks, and I've run them up to 232Mhz.

I'm willing to bet that it's the ram divider causing this problem.

I have the same board, and I overclock my CPU. Under CPU configuration, and DRAM options, you can change the speed of your RAM. Now, on my board, it gives me options pertaining directly to the speed of the ram. However, I have found that the frequency means nothing, and is not actually the speed of your ram.

This should have been appropriately labeled as the RAM divider, in my opionion. When the setting says "400Mhz" for your ram timing, it actually means that the CPU frequency is being divided by your multiplier (nine, in my case), and the resulting frequency is your memory. Thus, when set at 400Mhz, your memory will be clocked at whatever FSB frequency you're using, NOT 400Mhz ddr. The next step, for my CPU at least, is 333Mhz (CPU/11), then 266Mhz (CPU/14), and I haven't gone further.

CpuZ , which you've downloaded, will give you specifics on what your RAM divider is currently set at. If you're not going to overclock, and your RAM is truly DDR 400, you should set this at 400Mhz. Next boot, check what the POST displays and when in Windows, run CpuZ and check that the RAM divider is at the correct setting.