As I said in a recent post, I have just updated my system to a 4200+ x2 AMD CPU. Previously when using the 3200+ CPU i had before, I was told that with that CPU, because I was using 4 banks of DDR RAM, that it would default to 333Mhz rather than 400. However I used to go in the BIOS and set it to 400 manually.

After fitting this "new" CPU, I had the impression it might resolve that problem. But it didn't so I still have to go into the BIOS and set it to 400Mhz manually. The thing is, I'm not too overly clued up on memory timings and all that stuff - so whilst I am fine with changing it to 400Mhz, there are plenty more settings beneath this in the BIOS that I don't change and I am wondering if they are set to reach the best system performance? I run a 4200 Dual Core with 2GB DDR 400 RAM and the settings screen is currently:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i...

As you can see I've changed the RAM clock speed, but nothing else. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

It would help to know the make/model board you're working with & what your default RAM timings are.

It's an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe - as for default RAM timings, how would I find this out?

Thanks

"when using the 3200+ CPU i had before, I was told that with that CPU, because I was using 4 banks of DDR RAM, that it would default to 333Mhz rather than 400"

Actually, it has nothing to do with the CPU, it was a "fix" included in BIOS version 1015 & all subsequent versions. I don't know what the reason is/was, but if all 4 slots are populated with DDR400, the BIOS automatically sets them to run as DDR333. If all you need to do is manually set it to DDR400, I don't see why that would be a problem? The BIOS should be manually configured anyway.

Do you have CPU-Z? The SPD tab will provide the default timings that are programmed into your modules. The Memory tab will give you the current settings.

Thanks for the response. It's not a problem as such, changing it to 400 in the BIOS. What I was wondering was, once i do change it to 400, for best performance, do i then have to modify any of the subsequent menu items on that screen which become active once the top item has been set to 'manual'. But i do have CPU-Z and i will check that out later when i can get on my machine.

Cheers