Help, pls, regarding memory...

[Uncle Vinnie]

Regarding a Sony Vaio 1g Athlon... using WinME.

This system came with a 128meg 133 SDRam(running 133/CL3 - 100/CL2).

I know ideal is always matching sticks... can one get away with a 100 speed/
CL2??? I know it's not idea and will slow the 133 down, however this person
surfs the web and uses very few programs.. but has run into a memory problem
here or there... and is not upgrading to XP.. is the difference between the
2 speeds that significant???? thank you.

 

[kony]

Regarding a Sony Vaio 1g Athlon... using WinME.

This system came with a 128meg 133 SDRam(running 133/CL3 - 100/CL2).

I know ideal is always matching sticks...

Nope, that's not ideal.
Ideal is the best margin possible, which with it having
PC133 CAS3, would be to add PC133 CAS2.

can one get away with a 100 speed/
CL2???

Yes if you're running @ 100MHz. If the board has a bug
which only reads one SPD chip then you may need shuffle the
location of the memory. If the bios allows setting timings
it can be avoided.

I know it's not idea and will slow the 133 down,

NO, memory does not "tell" the motherboard to run at 100 or
133MHz. The motherboard tells the memory what speed to run
and "asks" the memory what it's timings are... and can use
those timings or ignore them, or somewhere inbetween.
To that extent, it is possible for two dissimilar modules to
cause a problem, if the board can't or doesn't choose the
correct timings for the pair... but it is not necessarily a
problem, more accurately a bug in the bios, inaccurately
rated memory, or motherboard memory bus instability in
general (might not work right even with two of the *ideal*
modules in it).

however this person
surfs the web and uses very few programs.. but has run into a memory problem
here or there... and is not upgrading to XP.. is the difference between the
2 speeds that significant???? thank you.

"Run into a memory problem" is far too vague to be useful.
We'd need to know the CPU, it's FSB, and any other
parameters of operational speed.

Also it might be easier to start out running
http://www.memtest86.com and see what it reports.
Proceeding from there, the bios "might" be adjusted to
resolve this, if possible. If there are errors, note where
they occur, whether it be at random locations or same
location every time.

 

[Uncle Vinnie]

Hi, Dave... I was hoping you would say 'fine, go ahead!'!!

As far as memory speed, yes, I am aware the speed is set by the motherboard
not by the memory- I was thinking it would simply run both at 100mhz... but
the memory problems that have creeped up are simply that if he runs one or
two programs at once, he gets 'insufficient memory' errors in addition to a
simply slow running system. Sandra identified the chips with the numbers I
outlined. I had hoped the 100 would run at 133 as it was a repackaged 133
but apparently Centon programmed it to run at 100.. it has chips only on one
side with a 100 sticker covering the original 133 stencil...

 

[kony]

Hi, Dave... I was hoping you would say 'fine, go ahead!'!!

As far as memory speed, yes, I am aware the speed is set by the motherboard
not by the memory- I was thinking it would simply run both at 100mhz... but
the memory problems that have creeped up are simply that if he runs one or
two programs at once, he gets 'insufficient memory' errors in addition to a
simply slow running system. Sandra identified the chips with the numbers I
outlined. I had hoped the 100 would run at 133 as it was a repackaged 133
but apparently Centon programmed it to run at 100.. it has chips only on one
side with a 100 sticker covering the original 133 stencil...

Insufficent memory problem "might" be resolved by limiting
the vcache in system.ini.

http://www.putergeek.com/vcache/

Except, those numbers on the page are all wrong, ideally it
should be set closer to 393216... 524228 is the max BUT it
doesn't take into account the video memory so 393216 should
be safer yet still sufficient. There is no point to the
tiny numbers mentioned on that 'site because the vcache
memory can/is released when needed, better to allow 384MB.

As for the PC100 running @133, it might (new PC100 modules
generally do hit 133MHz easily) BUT you might need a bios
setting (if it exists in the Vaio?) to adjust the CAS down
to 3, most likely, and even then it might not work. In
situations such as these it's best to aim for memory bus
sync'd to FSB. If CPU FSB is @ 100MHz, leave the memory
there @ 100MHz too. IF CPU FSB is @ 133MHz, better to pull
the PC100 DIMM and find a PC133 (if the PC100 won't do
133MHz).