Hi, I just bought a couple of 1GB DDR2 667 Identical RAM sticks "spiderii 1gb ddr2-667mhz-cl5 pc5300u-50550 3-7040301"

I removed the old ones "SpecTek Incorporated DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz) - [DDR2-533] Regular UDIMM (133.35 x 3) 512 MB (2 ranks, 4 banks) Supported Frequencies : 200 MHz, 266 MHz On A1 (RAS 2) : 512 (Double Bank) & A3 (RAS 4) : 512 (Double Bank)"

I installed the new ones the "spiderii 1gb ddr2-667mhz-cl5 pc5300u-50550 3-7040301" However on A1/A3 not for any reason except that it made more sense to me.

I booted the computer and everything went fine, They were recognized and acting in duel channel mode then the OS loaded just fine, I logged in and launched an application and BOOOM! the machine froze and showed like the screen had been torn with some artifact. "Note that my system had never crashed/acted weird on this machine since i got it and i am using the same OS with almost an old installation as the machine it self. I freaked out as i just got a bunch of new stuff and i was in the midst of an upgrade.

I forced the machine to shut down and at first i thought that it is the monitor that gave up on me since when i booted the machine the monitor did not follow. I can hear the machine running but the monitor does not boot. Anyway to try an make it short i figured it must be the new ram sticks. So i removed them and put the old sticks back and everything is just fine as before. But i want to use the new ones. So i searched the net and turned out to be a common problem. Silly me i just thought that i install the new rams and they would work since the BIOS related config. are on Auto.

Here is what i want:
I want them to work properly like the old ones with out giving me what so ever problem no matter what. So now what i do?

Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-8I945G
BIOS v.F4
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 640 @ 3200 MHz
Front Side Bus Information : Bus Speed : 201 MHz
FSB Frequency : 803.9 MHz (QDR)

Initial Frequencies :
Frequency : 3200 MHz
Bus Speed : 200.00 MHz (QDR)
Multiplier : 16x

Snap from the mb manual: http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/...

My BIOS has the same CPU host freq. = 200mhz and Memory freq. 533mhz

Now i like to know if i give it one more shot am i going to be able to make it to the bios to begin with or not.

If so, In the bios screen as the one uploaded to the imagehost. What settings to change to make the new rams work?

Do i make Memory freq. 667 instead of 533 if i did not find it to be so, Also what about all of that voltage stuff, Am i going to change that as well. Note that i just want them to work. I am not interested in over clocking.

Thank you for your help in advance. I need help regarding this ASAP to move on with the rest of the upgrade.

Bye for now.

I would underclock the new RAM at DDR2 533mhz(267 MhZ clock speed) and see if that helps.

Do you mean that after installing the new RAMs i go to BIOS/M.I.T. and change the System Memory Multiplier in Manual mode back to 533Mhz if i found it to be higher?

Also if i am gonna do that would not it be more beneficial then if i left the old 2x512 sticks and add the new ones so that the system uses 533 instead of 667, Would that do the trick?

And i find it strange why does not it work fine when the manual says that it supports up to 667Mhz ddr2 rams if the CPU FSP is at least 800Mhz. I mean who ever is responsible for this expects from users too much already.

Thank you for your time.

"My BIOS has the same CPU host freq. = 200mhz and Memory freq. 533mhz"

I wish the manufacturer's would standardize the terminology....DDR2-1066 has a frequency of 533MHz. DDR2-533 has a frequency of 266MHz or as kx5m2g put it, "267 MhZ clock speed".

Does your BIOS have a CPU:DRAM ratio setting? Almost all systems perform best when the ratio is 1:1...the P4 is the exception. It likes the ratio at 3:4, 4:5 or 5:6, depending on the FSB. Your ratio has either been manually set at 3:4 or it's being automatically configured to 3:4. Either way, I believe that's optimal for an 800MHz FSB P4?

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

(1) You also might want to make sure that the new RAM is compatible with the GA-8I945G.
(2) Your FSB is 200 MhZ. If you run the RAM at 667 MhZ, that's 5/3 times the FSB. I don't know if that's a problem with a Pentium 4, but since the old RAM ran OK,underclocking the new RAM at DDR2 533mhz is worth a try. ( "would not it be more beneficial then if i left the old 2x512 sticks and add the new ones so that the system uses 533 instead of 667, Would that do the trick?" That might work, but since you're using diferent types of RAM, it COULD cause a problrm, but not necessarily. If that doesn't work, I would then try just using the two new sticks, and "go to BIOS/M.I.T. and change the System Memory Multiplier in Manual mode back to 533Mhz" as you said.

I see thank you. I will give it a shot!

And yes i am sure that the mainboard supports the new ram. However they are the maximum type of ram that the main board can support as long as the cpu fbs is at least 800.

And jam, Yes there is a ratio setting. But the whole thing is very complicated for me to understand. I never ever touched the BIOS before for a task such as ram installation. Non before required adjusting BIOS.

Thank you both. I will try with the 533 setting tomorrow and i will post feed back i hope.

"I never ever touched the BIOS before for a task such as ram installation"

The BIOS should always be manually configured. Selecting "Fail-Safe defaults" or "Optimized defaults" will get the system up & running, but they are never the best performance settings. Each individual setting should be looked at & adjusted as necessary, depending on your hardware config.

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

jam, I always do that. What i said was that i never did that before for just a RAM swap. As i thought that it should be detected and dealt with correctly but i think it may had to do with 667mhz DDR2 sticks an up as even in the manual anything below that does not have footnotes or special requirements only the 667 which is the maximum that my main board supports.

Anyway i have not tried it yet. As i have to get some essential stuff before making the jump again. And thanks.

Before doing it i would highly appreciate it if someone please tell what exactly to type on those fields: In simple terms please...

Snapshot from CPU-Z of my CPU:
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/...
The new RAM stick in question:
spiderii 1gb ddr2-667mhz-cl5 pc5300u-50550 3-7040301

CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)= ?
Memory Frequency (Mhz)= ?

And if there is any other settings to change please tell me.

Thank and i appreciate your help greatly.

CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)= 200
Memory Frequency (Mhz)= 266

Problem solved...

Turned out to be a case of bad ram, One of the sticks was bad, The other one was good.

I returned the bad one and got a good one instead.

CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)= 200
Memory Frequency (Mhz)= 667

Lessons learned:

.Alway check ram sticks one by one.
.The BIOS IDs rams correctly and set the mhz correctly without the need for any modification "AUTO"

@ kx5m2g: did not find 266, Did you mean 2.66/533... Any way it is all alright now.

Thank you.

I'm glad that your problem is solved. s jam explained, DDR2-533 has a frequency of 266MHz. Apparently your motherboard wanted the doubled number. By entering Memory Frequency (Mhz)= 667, you apparently entered 333 MhZ clock speed.