running Hz with installed 2-512MB Crucial memory and loading SIM2 games

[wenmang]

Hi all,

I just purchased Crucial dual channel 2 512MB PC3200 memory, totally
1GB memory and have them installed without problem. The problem I have
is that from BIOS, it show memory kits are running at 333Hz instead
400Hz. What should I do to "over-clock" them to 400hz instead?

The main purpose for me to upgrade memory from 512MB to 1GB is try to
load SIM2 games faster, but at this moment, I have not noticed any
loading speed improvement for SIM2 games, it still takes about ~5min
to load the games. I have dell dimension 3000 PC with CPU 2.4GHz, any
suggestion how can I improve the speed of PC to load/run SIM2 faster?

Thx.

WM

 

[Ron Martell]

Hi all,

I just purchased Crucial dual channel 2 512MB PC3200 memory, totally
1GB memory and have them installed without problem. The problem I have
is that from BIOS, it show memory kits are running at 333Hz instead
400Hz. What should I do to "over-clock" them to 400hz instead?

The main purpose for me to upgrade memory from 512MB to 1GB is try to
load SIM2 games faster, but at this moment, I have not noticed any
loading speed improvement for SIM2 games, it still takes about ~5min
to load the games. I have dell dimension 3000 PC with CPU 2.4GHz, any
suggestion how can I improve the speed of PC to load/run SIM2 faster?

Loading a new application, including games, is more likely to be
dependent on the hard drive rotational speed and data density (sectors
per physical track) than it is on RAM, especially when you go beyond
512 mb with Windows XP.

Adding more memory can noticeably improve performance only if the
added memory results in reduced usage of the virtual memory paging
file. Therefore if the paging file is not currently being used to any
significant extent then adding more memory will not provide a
significant improvement.

Unfortunately there is no ready way of determing actual paging file
usage provided with Windows XP - it does not have an equivalent to the
'Memory Manager - Swap File In Use" reporting provided by the System
Monitor utility in Windows 95/98/Me.

There is a free utility that you can download and run which will
provide this information for you. It was written by MVP Bill James and
you can get if from
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm or from
http://billsway.com/notes_public/WinXP_Tweaks/

If that utility shows actual page file usage of 50 mb or more on a
regular basis then that is indicative of fairly significant paging
file activity. Adding more RAM will reduce or even eliminate entirely
this activity thereby improving performance.

This apples regardless of how much or how little RAM is currently
installed in the computer, at least up to the 4 gb RAM maximum for
Windows XP.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Paul]

Hi all,

I just purchased Crucial dual channel 2 512MB PC3200 memory, totally
1GB memory and have them installed without problem. The problem I have
is that from BIOS, it show memory kits are running at 333Hz instead
400Hz. What should I do to "over-clock" them to 400hz instead?

The main purpose for me to upgrade memory from 512MB to 1GB is try to
load SIM2 games faster, but at this moment, I have not noticed any
loading speed improvement for SIM2 games, it still takes about ~5min
to load the games. I have dell dimension 3000 PC with CPU 2.4GHz, any
suggestion how can I improve the speed of PC to load/run SIM2 faster?

Thx.

WM

There is a relationship between the CPU clock (and related FSB)
and the memory clock. An FSB800 processor allows operation up to
DDR400. An FSB533 processor would be DDR333 I think. An FSB400
processor would be DDR266 max.

(865GV chipset is mentioned here)
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3000/en/SM/specs.htm

This table is taken from a retail motherboard using a chipset of
the same family. DDR400 is only an option, if an FSB800 processor
is used (the first line in the table). For totally automated BIOSes
(ones without manual setting abilities), the BIOS should select
the fastest mode possible, given the limits of FSB, memory rating,
and available dividers.

Table 2 Memory frequency/CPU FSB synchronization
CPU FSB DDR DIMM Type Memory Frequency
800 MHz PC3200/PC2700*/PC2100 400/333*/266 MHz
533 MHz PC2700/PC2100 333/266 MHz
400 MHz PC2100 266 MHz

* When using 800MHz CPU FSB, PC2700 DDR DIMMs may run
only at 320MHz (not 333MHz) due to chipset limitation.

Memory performance will help with runtime, but loading could
well be dominated by the disk, and the sheer amount of
files being loaded/parsed. For example, on my machine, BF2
takes probably 30 seconds to load, but runs just fine.
Part of the reason, is some of the files are compressed in
the install directory, and it takes extra time to decompress
them. So the load time can depend on how clever or stupid
the software designers are.

To see whether your load times are normal, you'd need to talk
to other users who use your program.

Paul