RAM settings

[S.Boardman]

Hello (again).

I have a Barton 2500+ on VIA KT333 chipset (MSI KT3 Ultra m/b). Having
changed the faulty RAM it now happily works at FSB166.

I had previously set the memory setting to the most conservative. The new
memory is Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT. The web site has a load of little numbers
2-3-3-6. Which of these correspond to my current set-up:
SDRAM Frequency - HCLK
CAS latency - 2.5
Row Precharge time - 3T
RAS Pulse Width - 6T
RAs to CAS delay - 3T
[Other settings]
SDRAM bank interleave - disabled
SDRAM burst length - 4QW
SDRAM 1T command - disabled
Fast command - normal

What should they be? Will setting it all really fast affect my AGP card at
all (GeForce 4 MX440)?
Thanks as usual.

 

[~misfit~]

Hello (again).

I have a Barton 2500+ on VIA KT333 chipset (MSI KT3 Ultra m/b). Having
changed the faulty RAM it now happily works at FSB166.

I had previously set the memory setting to the most conservative. The
new memory is Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT. The web site has a load of
little numbers 2-3-3-6. Which of these correspond to my current
set-up:
SDRAM Frequency - HCLK
CAS latency - 2.5
Row Precharge time - 3T
RAS Pulse Width - 6T
RAs to CAS delay - 3T
[Other settings]
SDRAM bank interleave - disabled
SDRAM burst length - 4QW
SDRAM 1T command - disabled
Fast command - normal

What should they be? Will setting it all really fast affect my AGP
card at all (GeForce 4 MX440)?
Thanks as usual.

Hi Susan.

Does your BIOS have a setting for the RAM that says 'By SPD'? If it does
then use that. SPD stands for Serial Presence Detect, RAM modules have a wee
chip on them which stores the information about what speeds the module will
run at. When set at 'By SPD' in the BIOS the best settings will
automatically be used.

If it doesn't just change the CAS latency from 2.5 to 2.

 

[S.Boardman]

Hello (again).

I have a Barton 2500+ on VIA KT333 chipset (MSI KT3 Ultra m/b). Having
changed the faulty RAM it now happily works at FSB166.

I had previously set the memory setting to the most conservative. The
new memory is Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT. The web site has a load of
little numbers 2-3-3-6. Which of these correspond to my current
set-up:
SDRAM Frequency - HCLK
CAS latency - 2.5
Row Precharge time - 3T
RAS Pulse Width - 6T
RAs to CAS delay - 3T
[Other settings]
SDRAM bank interleave - disabled
SDRAM burst length - 4QW
SDRAM 1T command - disabled
Fast command - normal

What should they be? Will setting it all really fast affect my AGP
card at all (GeForce 4 MX440)?
Thanks as usual.

Hi Susan.

Does your BIOS have a setting for the RAM that says 'By SPD'? If it does
then use that. SPD stands for Serial Presence Detect, RAM modules have a wee
chip on them which stores the information about what speeds the module will
run at. When set at 'By SPD' in the BIOS the best settings will
automatically be used.

If it doesn't just change the CAS latency from 2.5 to 2.

Yeah it does, under system FSB 166. It is set for SPD. It didn't change any
of the conservative settings, though.

 

[kony]

new memory is Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT. The web site has a load of
little numbers 2-3-3-6. Which of these correspond to my current
set-up:
SDRAM Frequency - HCLK
CAS latency - 2.5
Row Precharge time - 3T
RAS Pulse Width - 6T
RAs to CAS delay - 3T
[Other settings]
SDRAM bank interleave - disabled
SDRAM burst length - 4QW
SDRAM 1T command - disabled
Fast command - normal

What should they be? Will setting it all really fast affect my AGP
card at all (GeForce 4 MX440)?
Thanks as usual.

Hi Susan.

Does your BIOS have a setting for the RAM that says 'By SPD'? If it does
then use that.

Yeah it does, under system FSB 166. It is set for SPD. It didn't change any
of the conservative settings, though.

Setting it to "SPD" should ignore those settings, they most likely
won't show as a change from the values you previously set regardless
of the module installed. One thing you ought to change is to set the
"bank interleave" to ENABLED.

As we've recommended in the past, testing with Memtest86 is a good
idea whenever changing memory settings.


Dave

 

[DaveW]

Setting "them all fast" will not affect your AGP card, but very well may
freeze your system. Easy does it.

 

[kony]

Hello (again).

I have a Barton 2500+ on VIA KT333 chipset (MSI KT3 Ultra m/b). Having
changed the faulty RAM it now happily works at FSB166.

I had previously set the memory setting to the most conservative. The new
memory is Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT. The web site has a load of little numbers
2-3-3-6. Which of these correspond to my current set-up:
SDRAM Frequency - HCLK
CAS latency - 2.5
Row Precharge time - 3T
RAS Pulse Width - 6T
RAs to CAS delay - 3T
[Other settings]
SDRAM bank interleave - disabled
SDRAM burst length - 4QW
SDRAM 1T command - disabled
Fast command - normal

What should they be? Will setting it all really fast affect my AGP card at
all (GeForce 4 MX440)?
Thanks as usual.

These settings have no effect on the video card, though memory errors
can show up more readily when a system is stressed like running 3D
intensive games.

There may be a different settings page in the BIOS for AGP-related
items.


Dave

 

[S.Boardman]

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 16:21:47 -0000, "S.Boardman"

snip settings.

These settings have no effect on the video card, though memory errors
can show up more readily when a system is stressed like running 3D
intensive games.

There may be a different settings page in the BIOS for AGP-related
items.

It is an expandable option underneath. (I noticed in the Windows control
panel from MSI the AGP clock has gone up to 83.5.) Everything is set to
auto.

 

[S.Boardman]

new memory is Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT. The web site has a load of
little numbers 2-3-3-6. Which of these correspond to my current
set-up:
SDRAM Frequency - HCLK
CAS latency - 2.5
Row Precharge time - 3T
RAS Pulse Width - 6T
RAs to CAS delay - 3T
[Other settings]
SDRAM bank interleave - disabled
SDRAM burst length - 4QW
SDRAM 1T command - disabled
Fast command - normal

What should they be? Will setting it all really fast affect my AGP
card at all (GeForce 4 MX440)?
Thanks as usual.

Hi Susan.

Does your BIOS have a setting for the RAM that says 'By SPD'? If it does
then use that.

Yeah it does, under system FSB 166. It is set for SPD. It didn't change any
of the conservative settings, though.

Setting it to "SPD" should ignore those settings, they most likely
won't show as a change from the values you previously set regardless
of the module installed. One thing you ought to change is to set the
"bank interleave" to ENABLED.

As we've recommended in the past, testing with Memtest86 is a good
idea whenever changing memory settings.


Dave

On the memory module one step up from the one I got, it says the fast
settings are set in the chip's SPD setting, so they are set fast
automatically if SPD is selected. It didn't say that for my module though.
The SiSoft Sandra Memory score was 848 for the top number and 925 for the
next. The comparison machine was *much* better.

 

[kony]

On the memory module one step up from the one I got, it says the fast
settings are set in the chip's SPD setting, so they are set fast
automatically if SPD is selected. It didn't say that for my module though.
The SiSoft Sandra Memory score was 848 for the top number and 925 for the
next. The comparison machine was *much* better.

i just ran Sandra 2002 on my KT333-based system, it scored very
similar to your scores with memory at 2.5,3,3,6, 166MHz FSB, with all
Sandra's Memory module options turned off. With the options on, it
scores 2215/2058.

Oddly enough when I checked the Sandra comparision system (KT333
PC2700 CAS2.5), it was slower than that with no options selected but
faster with all selected... might be that I've a faster CPU than the
Sandra baseline system though.

FWIW, Sandra scores have historically been a little higher than I've
seen with systems configured as shown.



Dave

 

[kony]

It is an expandable option underneath. (I noticed in the Windows control
panel from MSI the AGP clock has gone up to 83.5.) Everything is set to
auto.

I'm surprised the GF4MX doesn't like those settings. You might try
changing them but I don't know what might help except maybe disabling
SBA (side-band addressing).


Dave

 

[S.Boardman]

I'm surprised the GF4MX doesn't like those settings. You might try
changing them but I don't know what might help except maybe disabling
SBA (side-band addressing).


Dave

Ah well I didn't say it didn't like it It works fine. What I didn't know
was if I altered the memory to the faster settings, which it is supposed to
do, it would affect the video card.
What do the numbers 2-3-3-6 given on the Corsair web site refer to? CAS 2 I
guess for the first...

 

[S.Boardman]

i just ran Sandra 2002 on my KT333-based system, it scored very
similar to your scores with memory at 2.5,3,3,6, 166MHz FSB, with all
Sandra's Memory module options turned off. With the options on, it
scores 2215/2058.

I didn't notice any options... I'll check.

 

[S.Boardman]

Hello (again).

SDRAM bank interleave - disabled

Fast command - normal

I changed the above to
2-way
Fast
These aren't the highest settings for each, but the middle ones.
I put in the floppy with memtest one it and rebooted. It didn't do anything
(just as described on the post below this). I've tried putting in 256Mb of
good PC2700 RAM, and using different slots, but still no POST, just fans
whirring.
Obviously it's something I changed.
What do I do now? Clear the CMOS? I found in the userguide the jumper which
I short when the machine is off. This won't wipe the BIOS version, will it?
Just set my options to default?

 

[Pen]

Yes. It will now start again from the defaults.

I changed the above to
2-way
Fast
These aren't the highest settings for each, but the middle ones.
I put in the floppy with memtest one it and rebooted. It didn't do anything
(just as described on the post below this). I've tried putting in 256Mb of
good PC2700 RAM, and using different slots, but still no POST, just fans
whirring.
Obviously it's something I changed.
What do I do now? Clear the CMOS? I found in the userguide the jumper which
I short when the machine is off. This won't wipe the BIOS version, will it?
Just set my options to default?

 

[S.Boardman]

Yes. It will now start again from the defaults.

Phew fixed it. After I cleared the CMOS, it just kept beeping, three beeps,
pause, three beeps, pause. I stood it upright again (so I could see what the
little diagnostic lights at the back were showing), and it booted fine. Then
it said the CPU fan wasn't running. Except it was. Anyway, I've changed the
settings and it works again now. My nerves are in shreds!! I'll try changing
the bank interleave from disabled to 2-way again, and leave the FAST command
alone.

 

[S.Boardman]

snip

Phew fixed it. After I cleared the CMOS, it just kept beeping, three beeps,
pause, three beeps, pause. I stood it upright again (so I could see what the
little diagnostic lights at the back were showing), and it booted fine. Then
it said the CPU fan wasn't running. Except it was. Anyway, I've changed the
settings and it works again now. My nerves are in shreds!! I'll try changing
the bank interleave from disabled to 2-way again, and leave the FAST command alone.

That works OK. Just running MemTest now.

 

[kony]

That works OK. Just running MemTest now.

The bank interleave should be set to 4-way on *every* system. That
alone can significantly improve memory performance and isn't (usually)
dependant on stability at any particular timings or bus speed. It
doesn't affect how fast the memory runs, but rather the scheme used by
the northbridge to access memory.

As for the other timings, the 2,3,3,6 of your module basically means
it's supposed to use the slowest timings for all but CAS. In Sandra's
memory test there is an info screen that if scrolled though, will show
the current CAS setting. You don't need worry about the others, they
should be correct with the BIOS set to "SPD" or "Auto" (same thing on
different systems).

Sandra's options are accessed by a little icon in the bottom left of
the window. "Usually" people leave all options enabled when testing
and reporting scores.



Dave

 

[S.Boardman]

The bank interleave should be set to 4-way on *every* system. That
alone can significantly improve memory performance and isn't (usually)
dependant on stability at any particular timings or bus speed. It
doesn't affect how fast the memory runs, but rather the scheme used by
the northbridge to access memory.

As for the other timings, the 2,3,3,6 of your module basically means
it's supposed to use the slowest timings for all but CAS. In Sandra's
memory test there is an info screen that if scrolled though, will show
the current CAS setting. You don't need worry about the others, they
should be correct with the BIOS set to "SPD" or "Auto" (same thing on
different systems).

Sandra's options are accessed by a little icon in the bottom left of
the window. "Usually" people leave all options enabled when testing
and reporting scores.

Ah yes, all the options are on. My comparison machine is a P4. Later I will
change the interleave bit. Thanks.