Test my current RAM clock?

[ridergroov]

Hi folks. I'm trying to find an app that can tell me what my current
RAM speed is (333mhz, 400mhz, 233mhz). I'm having issues with a new
board recognizing the RAM and CPU speed. I did manually configure it
but I wanted to be sure it is functioning correctly. Thanks.

 

[Conor]

Hi folks. I'm trying to find an app that can tell me what my current
RAM speed is (333mhz, 400mhz, 233mhz). I'm having issues with a new
board recognizing the RAM and CPU speed. I did manually configure it
but I wanted to be sure it is functioning correctly. Thanks.

CPU-Z. Will tell you current clock speed for each stick as well as
reading the SPD chip on the DIMM.

Web page: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

[ridergroov]

OKay I did it. What is the difference between Bus Speed and Rated FSB?
My bus speed is showing at 200mhz and my Rated FSB is showing as
800mhz. Does that mean that my CPU is running at its full 800mhz? I
just dont' know the terms. Sorry. Also, under SPD, my memory setting
under Max Bandwidth is showing as PC3200 (200mhz), isn't it suppose to
be 400mhz? Really getting confused here. This mobo is frustrating me.

 

[Paul]

OKay I did it. What is the difference between Bus Speed and Rated FSB?
My bus speed is showing at 200mhz and my Rated FSB is showing as
800mhz. Does that mean that my CPU is running at its full 800mhz? I
just dont' know the terms. Sorry. Also, under SPD, my memory setting
under Max Bandwidth is showing as PC3200 (200mhz), isn't it suppose to
be 400mhz? Really getting confused here. This mobo is frustrating me.

On an Intel processor, the clock is 200MHz. The bus is "quad pumped",
meaning the bus can pass four 64 bit words per clock cycle. We
multiply the two numbers together to get the term "FSB800" from
200x4.

DDR memory has a similar story to tell. The basic memory clock
is 200MHz. The memory interface passes two 64 bit words per clock
cycle. That is where the "Double Data Rate" terminology comes
from. We also call that DDR400, which is 200x2. At the double
data rate 400MHz transfer rate, since 64 bits or 8 bytes of data
are being passes, the bulk transfer rate is 3200MB/sec. That
is shortened to "PC3200" to refer to the memory transfer
rate. So a 200MHz clock passes DDR400 data, for a total bandwidth
of 3200MB/sec.

It is all sounding pretty normal. But to be sure, what kind of
motherboard, processor, and RAM is it ? My crystal ball is a
bit fuzzy...

Paul

 

[ridergroov]

Hey Paul,

Thanks for the info. I found out after deeply searching my manual that
of course the particular RAM sticks i'm using, Kingston ValueRAM,
aren't able to perform in a dual channel config on this particular
mobo...Asus P4s8x-mx. I've been using these for years through various
asus mobos and they all did it except this one that's i've recently
changed to of course. I just ordered a new mobo. Man that is
annoying. This board was a pain to start. It is advertised to perform
at 800mhz for 800 fsb cpus but you have to change the setting manually
in the bios to have it do that. Ridiculous. Just moving on from this
board. Thanks for the info though!

 

[Paul]

Hey Paul,

Thanks for the info. I found out after deeply searching my manual that
of course the particular RAM sticks i'm using, Kingston ValueRAM,
aren't able to perform in a dual channel config on this particular
mobo...Asus P4s8x-mx. I've been using these for years through various
asus mobos and they all did it except this one that's i've recently
changed to of course. I just ordered a new mobo. Man that is
annoying. This board was a pain to start. It is advertised to perform
at 800mhz for 800 fsb cpus but you have to change the setting manually
in the bios to have it do that. Ridiculous. Just moving on from this
board. Thanks for the info though!

I have a collection of downloaded manuals, so it takes no time
at all to look these up. The P4S8X-MX has two RAM slots, and
it is tempting to assume it is dual channel. But I don't see
dual channel mentioned in the manual.

If I go to the SIS web site, the fact that it talks about
a 3 slot RAM config on this page, tells me it is a single
channel memory controller. Those two slots are just sitting
on the same channel.

"Supports Up to 3 un-buffered DIMMs DDR333/266..."
http://www.sis.com/products/sis661gx_features.htm

Find yourself a nice 865 or 875 based motherboard.
Those both support dual channel RAM, but good boards
are getting harder to find for S478 now. With Asus,
the best overclocking features are on the full sized
ATX motherboards, and the microATX are generally not
well outfitted with BIOS features for overclocking.
Maybe someone else makes a nice 865 or 875 in a
microATX form factor that would be better for the
job.

Download the manual for this, and see what the BIOS setup
screens look like. In one of the customer reviews, a guy
had trouble with a 4 x 1GB configuration, so as long as
you stay below 4GB memory, you should be OK. This has
built-in graphics via the 865G Northbridge, plus an AGP
slot if you have an AGP card to use instead.

"GIGABYTE GA-8IG1000MK Socket 478 Intel 865G Micro ATX $68"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128222

Paul

 

[ridergroov]

Hey Paul,

You know I looked at that board and ended up going with a SIS
chipset...which I have now cancelled since your last post. I should
just stick with the Intel chipset but I have never bought any other
boards other than Asus so I stuck witht hat. I'm going to order that
Gigabyte board now. You know your stuff so I'll take your word for it.
I hope it supports dual channel for the Kingston Value RAM.
Downloading the manual now. You are right though, it is really getting
to be hard to find good 478 boards now. I guess they are getting aged
but I really love this processor and it smokes it the right setup. I
use to run it on a P4P800-E....awesome board. I went with a smaller
box and it was really cramped so I bagged that board and went with a
MicroATX. Which we discussed. And yes, that P4S8X-MX manual is very
deceiving but if you look at the RAM compatibility chart, one of the
columns, B, is to show whether or not the types of RAM support dual
channel. It can do it, just picky. Also somewhere in there it depicts
4 RAM slots whihc is bogus info as well. I really dig Asus but I have
to say I am really dissapointed in that board. First time I have not
liked something they put out. Really didn't like that I had to
manually tell it to bump to 800mhz for the CPU. It should just pick
that up. Never had to do that on any other board. Alright, thanks for
all the input. Hopefully this gigabyte board will do that job.
Thanks!

 

[ridergroov]

Ehhh...not seeing any RAID function on this board....Any other ideas?

 

[ridergroov]

Thinking about going to the Intel D865GLC or back to the Asus
P4S800D-X. What do you think?

 

[ridergroov]

Crap, no RAID on the Intel either. Really irritating..

 

[ridergroov]

Think I'm going with the P4S800D-X. Any objections?

 

[Paul]

Think I'm going with the P4S800D-X. Any objections?

Look here first.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813131527

If you need RAID, there are some cheap PCI cards that can do
that. Like a SIL3112 for RAID 0 or RAID 1 with a couple
SATA drives. Or even a SIL3114 with four SATA connectors.
That would allow a wider selection of motherboards to be
used, if the RAID solution is separated.

It is too bad that the remaining Intel based S478 boards don't have
ICH5R on them.

Paul

 

[ridergroov]

Yeah I hear you. I picked it up at ZipZoom today for like 2 bucks
more. I htink it will probably be fine. Thanks for all your help!