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Can someone please give me a clue on this as I don’t understand what is going on. I have an ASUS P5N-E SLI MB that uses PC6400 DDR2 800 MHz Ram.. this is dual channel and there are 4 slots for ram on the board. 2 slots per channel. This is the deal. I originally had 2 Gig of Kingston HyperX Ram installed which was recommended for that board. So I had 2 sticks of 1 GIG 800 MHz ram for slots 1 and 3.. when I turned on the PC it was correctly reading as 800 MHz which is great. Well just a few days ago . I added another 1 Gig of Ram. (2 sticks of 512 MB, same brand ,same type) and installed those in slots 2 and 4 as they should have been . even though they are showing as 800 MHZ on the sticker on the ram. When I boot up my PC it now shows it running at 667 MHz.. I even got a utility so that I could get detailed info on my system and the readings I got were as follows:
In slots 1 and 2 for channel 1 it showed the amounts of ram and speed pretty good. It showed 1 Gig in slot 1 and 512 MB in slot two and rated them as 399 MHz.. ok no problem. Close enough. BUT when it read the sticks in slot 3 and 4 for channel 2.. it does still show the correct amount .. meaning 1 Gig slot 3 and 512 MB slot 4.. BUT.. the speed ratings are now 267 MHZ for both slots?? What the heck happened?/ where did I lose the extra speed at?? Slot 3 which used to read correctly now shows only 267?? Was I supposed to set something different when I added the new ram?? Any ideas would be appreciated thanks.
Are you sure the sticks you bought aren't DDR2-667? Regardless, the proper RAM speed for an E6850 is 667MHz anyway so you really don't have a problem.
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
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Hey jam. Thanks for the reply. Yes I actual was wondering myself if I got the wrong speed. But I went to the site and confirmed it is 800 MHz as well as on the stick itself. It shows 800. ok on another note. Pardon my ignorance. But I was not aware CPUS have preferred RAM speeds. Do you have a link for that. I tried googling but didn’t find anything. I never knew that the ram speed had to match the CPU.. or rather a CPU has preferred Ram speeds.. .. if it WAS running at 800 MHZ previously. Would that have caused system problems. I.E. crashes or lockups or such?..
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"I never knew that the ram speed had to match the CPU.. or rather a CPU has preferred Ram speeds.. .. if it WAS running at 800 MHZ previously"
Ideally, the CPU & RAM should run at the same bus speed. It's not absolutely necessary, but for best performance, running the CPU & RAM in sync (aka 1:1 ratio) is the optimal configuration.
There are a couple of exceptions. AMD systems don't use the conventional FSB so there's nothing to run in sync with...you simply run the fastest RAM that's supported. The other exception is the P4 & it's derivatives. Because of it's inefficient netburst architetcture, it's best to run RAM at a higher bus speed than the CPU. For instance, DDR2-533 with a 800MHz FSB P4.
Getting back to your system, the E6850 runs at 1333MHz FSB which is actually 333MHz frequency. DDR2-667 RAM also runs at 333MHz frequency so they're a perfect match. If you run DDR2-800 at it's default speed (400MHz frequency), the CPU & RAM are no longer running in sync so you're taking a minor performance hit. In most cases, the performance difference wouldn't even be noticable, but we're talking about "the ideal configuration".
Basically you have three choices:
1. run the CPU & RAM out of sync & don't worry about it.
2. run the CPU at it's default FSB speed (1333MHz) & manually configure your RAM to run as DDR2-667 so that the CPU & RAM run in sync.
3. overclock the CPU FSB to 1600MHz & run the RAM at it's default speed (800MHz) so that the CPU & RAM run in sync.As for why your DDR2-800 RAM is automatically downclocking to DDR2-667, I don't know the cause. If you're 100% sure your new RAM is DDR2-800, there may be a setting in the BIOS that needs tweaking.
"Would that have caused system problems. I.E. crashes or lockups or such?"
Running the CPU & RAM out of sync shouldn't cause crashing or lockups. Have you tested your RAM with memtest86 or memtest86+ to make sure it's not defective? Also, if you don't have CPU-Z, download it & use it to check your CPU & RAM settings.
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
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Another thing you might wanna consider is a BIOS update. Do you know which version you're currently running? There's been a total of 14 BIOS revisions for that board, the latest (Version 1301) was just released last week.
BTW, how do you have the BIOS setup? Did you manually configure the settings or are you running defaults?
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
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a couple of things. yes i did run memtest and i believe it wsa CPU-Z i used that gave me the ratings on the CPU and memory. i think that is where i found out only slots 3 and 4 were running at 267.. previously without the new ram (2X512).. both slot 1 and 3 were running 399 Mhz as it clocked in on the bios at 800 Mhz.. not sure why it suddenly dropped but yes i am totally sure it is the 800 Mhz Ram.. .. i did run Memtest for about 12 hours straight and it didnt get a single error so the ram is good. .. as for the bios. well if a new update just came out i know i dont have the most recent. will have to check on the actual bios date though. bios settings were at Default. i didnt fidget with them at all and up till i added this last ram everything read as it should have. this is the link to the ram i just bought. :
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One thing I could suggest is this. The RAM settings other than the speed could be different. The BIOS may be picking up those settings from slot #1. If that RAM has slightly better specs than the newer RAM it may be causing the downgrade.
Try reversing the slots by placing the newer RAM where the original RAM now resides and see what happens.
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Did you actually pay $50 for just 1GB? Wow! Fry's has 4GB (2 x 2GB) of the same RAM on sale for just $45 (after rebate). I'm guessing that you were trying to hold at the recommended 3GB limit?
http://shop2.frys.com/product/5700972
"i think that is where i found out only slots 3 and 4 were running at 267"I didn't question this earlier but is 267 a typo? Do you mean 667?
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
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yeah i was trying to stay to the 3 gig limit as i have a 8800gt video card with 512 mb of ram and i know that 512 MB is taken out of the 4 gig total. so no reason for me to get 4 gig as much of it would have been wasted. as from what i read. the 4 gig total can deduct video card memory and other stuff to reduce the total amount seen or used. but yeah i know it was more expensive. i had a hard time finding this particular one too. i didnt think it would be that much.. but i did see the Fry's sale too. i will try and swap out the ram as well and see what that does. but as jam had said. 667 is about right. so thats fine. i just was trying to figure out what happened. i wil post back. thanks guys.
oh also. as for the 267.. yes tghat is correct. NOT 667.. that CPU-Z thing showed me each memory slot. and what the speed was. and for slots 1/2 it showed 399 Mhz per slot.. and for slots 3/4 it showed 267 PER slot.. not total for 3/4,.. and i am guessing the 667 was the 399 plus the 267 added together. thats why i dont understand . its the 2nd channel that is showing much lower.
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"that CPU-Z thing showed me each memory slot. and what the speed was"
Which version do you have & where are you getting that info from? I just fired up CPUZ v1.48 & had a look...the memory tab lists your basic RAM settings. Out of curiousity, what do you have for Dram Frequency, FSB:DRAM, CAS# Latency?
If you click on the SPD tab, you can select the individual RAM slots but there's nothing on that screen that tells you what speed the RAM is running at. Max Bandwidth basically tells you what RAM you have...in your case, each slot *should* be PC2-6400 (400MHz). And the chart at the bottom is the Timing Table showing the settings are programmed into the RAM's EEPROM chip.
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
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What I was referring to is the following items.
Dram Frequency, FSB:DRAM, CAS# Latency?There is a chip on the module with that information on it. That is how the BIOS knows what settings to use when you have BIOS set to AUTO.
What I was suggesting is that the newer modules may have higher cas or latency. That would set those settings for all the RAM if those were read first. I am not even sure that is the case.
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Ok jam figure this out LOL.. first of all my version is 1.4.8 like yours. In the tab next to the memory.. it has an SPD tab. When I go in there. It tells me the make of my memory. And in the lower section under the timing tables. The frequency readings is what I am looking at. So that’s where I am getting the numbers from. Ok now I switched my memory around. I put the 512 MB chips in slots 1 and 3 and the 1 gig in slots 2 and 4.. now get this LOL when I boot up again NOW in channel 1 I am seeing the ratings of 266 in both slots 1 and 2 and in slots 3 and 4 it is 400 MHZ.. so it switched?? It gets even more interesting. I went and read the labels on the ram .. and verified this is the DDR2 6400.. YET. When I put in ONLY the 512 MB ram in slots 1 and 3 CPU-Z tells me that it is pc2 5300 ram??.. how the hell does that work out?? It shows on the actual chip it is DDR2 6400. any ideas??
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You didn't answer my (& OtheHill's) questions about the Dram Frequency, FSB:DRAM, CAS# Latency? This info will be found on the Memory tab, not the SPD tab.
The info on the SPD tab is just that - info! It is nothing more than the settings that are pre-programmed into the EEPROM. For example, I just googled up this screenshot of the SPD tab for PC2-5300 (DDR2-667) RAM:
http://www.virtual-hideout.net/revi...
The info being shown is for the RAM in slot #1. The "max bandwidth" tells you that the RAM is "PC2-5300 (333 MHz)" & the Timings Table tells you what is pre-programmed into the EEPROM, but no where does it tell you what speed the RAM is actually running at...to get that info, you have to look at the memory tab:
http://ethos.battleaxe.net/~prototy...
"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
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ok here yo go. this is off the memory tab
the 2X512 chips:
FSB:dram 1:1
CL 5
Trcd 4
Trp 4
Tras 31
TRC 19
Cmd rate 2Tnow for the 2X1Gig
FSB:dram 5:6
CL 5
TRCD 5
TRP 5
TRAS 16
TRC 21
Cmd Rte 1Thope that helps
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