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1066 as 800!

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curtains-   10-26-2008 at 10:51:53 AM

Hi there everyone,

I just delved into the wonderful world of desktop PCs, after my second laptop failed. Hence, I've never really overclocked/tweaked my PC too much, but I'm a very quick learner :) .

Anyway - down to the nitty gritty.
I have an Asus M3N78 PRO motherboard, which claims it can support DDR2-1066 memory. The memory I have is listed in their compatibility list - a pair of Kingston 1GB 1066mhz modules. I've got a Phenom 8650 X3 running on there as well with a Geforce 8600 GT graphics card.

However, CPU-Z and my motherboard's own diagnostic tool, PCProbe, list the memory as running at 400MHZ. I'm aware that I should be doubling that to get the actual running speed - but that's still only 800mhz.

How would I boost it up to 1066, and why is it only at 800?

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curtains-   10-26-2008 at 11:01:12 AM
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After a bit of scouting around the net in the meanwhile, I found this footnote about the motherboard:

*Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one DIMM per channel only.

What does this mean, exactly...?

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to curtains-
klonedesu   10-26-2008 at 11:03:36 AM
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Most DDR2 modules that are above 800 are just overclocked. That's why they initially show up as 800 when you pop it in so you have to go into the bios to manually change it to 1066.

Reply to klonedesu
icyicy   10-26-2008 at 11:06:58 AM
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Look at your RAM's specifications to see how much voltage they need and what is their latency, you will most likely have to change these as well in the BIOS.

Reply to icyicy
cliffro   10-26-2008 at 11:07:22 AM
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That sounds like it would force it to run @ a lower setting when all 4 DIMM's are filled. Like the old Athlon's 4 DIMMs filled with DDR400 would run at DDR333. I think there was a way around it but I cannot remember for sure.

------------------------------ Intel Xeon E3110@3.4ghz/GA-P35-DS3L/4gigs DDR2-800(@756)/EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 55nm
/2xSeagate 320 1x160/Corsair 850 TX/21" Dell P1130 & M781s/ Vista Ult. 64 SP1

 

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col-p-todd   10-26-2008 at 11:22:03 AM
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curtains- wrote :

After a bit of scouting around the net in the meanwhile, I found this footnote about the motherboard:

*Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one DIMM per channel only.

What does this mean, exactly...?




is means that you can only have 2 sticks of ddr2 1066 ram in the mobo only if you have a AM2+ cpu (so a X3 or X4) so if you want 4 gb of ddr2 1066 ram you have to have 2X 2gb sticks not 4X 1GB sticks because that will not work.

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bobbknight   10-26-2008 at 11:26:59 AM
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Your ram speed is correct be happy.

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curtains-   10-26-2008 at 11:32:43 AM
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I got this from the product's info page:

Kingston's KHX8500D2K2/2G is a kit of two 128M x 64-bit 1GB (1024MB) DDR2-1066 CL5 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) memory modules, based on sixteen 64M x 8-bit DDR2 FBGA components per module. Total kit capacity is 2GB (2048MB). Each module pair has been tested to run at DDR2- 1066MHz at a latency timing of 5-5-5-15 at 2.2V. The SPD is programmed to JEDEC standard latency 800Mhz timing of 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V. Each 240-pin DIMM uses gold contact fingers and requires +1.8V.

So if I upped the operating voltage to 2.2V and the frequency to 1066 in the BIOS, I'd see a change...?

Reply to curtains-
curtains-   10-26-2008 at 11:34:04 AM
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...surely it's not correct though, when it could be running an extra 266mhz faster?

Reply to curtains-
jitpublisher   10-26-2008 at 02:30:37 PM
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DDR2 800 is the "standard" top end most all boards run memory at, by default.
Anything over 800 is technically considered overclocked, and unless you are running your main buss faster than 400mhz, you will never even use the extra bandwidth that 1066 memory has. So, it's kind of a waste to buy memory faster than 800mhz unless you are going for big CPU overclocks.

You MUST go into your BIOS and manually set the the correct voltage and speed of your memory. Your motherboard will only set to default of 800 automatically.

And yes, if you do that it will run at 1066. Will you see a change?, probably not. Faster memory doesn't make a huge noticable change in anything, other than your benchmarking scores will go up a little. And as I said, unless you are running your FSB over 400, it's a wash anyway.
But, your AMD processor can get little more advantage from faster memory due to the on-chip memory controller than an Intel system would.


Message edited by jitpublisher on 10-26-2008 at 02:37:03 PM
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icyicy   10-26-2008 at 04:13:55 PM
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Don't up the voltage to 2.2V, your RAM is supposed to run at 1.8V which is the default. This is not a problem with your RAM, the problem is with your motherboard or your BIOS settings, you need to set the divider to a proper value based on your CPUs FSB (quad pumped) to match your RAM's actual mhz (doubled because of DDR).

You said you are trying it with a "pair" of Kingston sticks, you surely meant a pair of 1gb sticks and not a pair of 2x1gb dual channel sticks (so 4 total) right? Because if you are trying with 4 it won't go over 800 as has been said above.

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loxPL   10-26-2008 at 10:49:14 PM
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icyicy wrote :

Don't up the voltage to 2.2V, your RAM is supposed to run at 1.8V which is the default. This is not a problem with your RAM, the problem is with your motherboard or your BIOS settings, you need to set the divider to a proper value based on your CPUs FSB (quad pumped) to match your RAM's actual mhz (doubled because of DDR).



Quad pumped FSB? Did you read the OP's entire post? He is using an AMD system.

As for the voltage, the OP also wrote that those Kingston sticks require 2.2V to run @ 1066MHz.

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