RAM Mhz drop after upgrade....Please HELP!!!

Bertminator

Bertminator

New Member
HI! I'm new to this forum, and this is my 1st post.:)

I have a P4 3.4 Mhz computer with an Asus p5p800 Motherboard, with 1 Gb Ram (2x 512 MB Samsung Dual-Channel).

About 9 months ago, I purchased another 2x512 MB.'s of ram Dual Channel from OCZ, and on boot-up, it found the 2 Gb's of ram in the dos screen, but the Mhz dropped from 400 Mhz to 332 Mhz (or somewhere around 300 ish). Why would this happen? BOTH ram's (Samsung & OCZ) were rated at 400 Mhz.

I tested the ram by creating a short video on Premiere elements 3.0, and with 1 GB ram, it took less time to create & render the video than when I had the 2 Gb's or ram. The difference was minimal, but I still would have expected it to be MUCH faster (or at least 5 minutes faster)...but it wasn't.

I now see that NCIX has 2 x 512 Mhz dual-channel Ram on sale and I would like to purchase it and try again, but I would like to know if I'm wasting my time or not? Is there perhaps a BIOS setting that I have to change? What would cause the Mhz to drop like that?:confused:
 
A mismatch of memory speed or timings would see that happen easy enough if the second pair of 512s were mislabeled PC2700 DDR33 memory that would see the first pair of DDR400 dimms slowed to 333mhz. The better move when upgrading memory would have been going for a pair of 1gb DDR400 dimms to see a 2gb total at 400mhz as well as being by the same brand, type, speed, and timings.
 
Well I purchased the OCZ memory from NCIX, and it was labelled as PC3200 DDR 400. Now, I just checked my BIOS, and the current memory CAS is 2.5, 4, 4, 8, 8. IF the ram I ordered was 3, 2, 5. would this cause an inconsistency in the Mhz frequency?
 
You don't get it? do you, is because you're mixing rams, the samsung is slower than the ocz so in consequence it'll reduce the speed from the 1gb ocz
 
Bertminator said:
Well I purchased the OCZ memory from NCIX, and it was labelled as PC3200 DDR 400. Now, I just checked my BIOS, and the current memory CAS is 2.5, 4, 4, 8, 8. IF the ram I ordered was 3, 2, 5. would this cause an inconsistency in the Mhz frequency?
Click to expand...


Yes! Ram really needs to be matched, same brand, cas and voltages. Always try to buy the same part number as the last batch so that they match up.
 
A lot of the time if you populate all 4 slots the system will make the max RAM speed 1 level slower than max. ie. A board that supports PC3200 will downclock to PC2700 speeds (333.3MHz)
 
The pair of 2gb dimms that was seen for $329 at newegg and too costly left me to run a pair of 1gb dimms here since I didn't want all dimm slots populated. Those are now seen for $209 at the moment. While I could add another pair of the same brand memory seeing the same speed and timings they wouldn't be ideal being from a different batch.

The best move would replacing the present with a pair of 2gb dimms here and 1gb dimms there as well. That will avoid the mishap you are now seeing between those two pairs. Another drawback with all slots in use is being forced into single channel mode.

Asus boards can also be very fussy about what brand and type memory is used as well. On the old Socket A board here memtest showed all kinds of errors some 578 on a pair of Kingston 1gb VaueRam dimms as well as a matched pair of Corsair xms series DDR400 512s. Both sets were to see 0% errors later on the last 939 Asus model. There OCZ would be the better choice of the two sets until going for a pair of 1gb dimms by a good brand.
 
paratwa said:
Yes! Ram really needs to be matched, same brand, cas and voltages. Always try to buy the same part number as the last batch so that they match up.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that, because after that OCZ ram was not working for me, I went to a local computer shop, and he got me a pair of the same ram that my system has (using the numbers off of my ram), and when I put them in...same problem, so I took them back.

If it's because I'm forcing 4 ram slots to run in linear mode, than, I don't see what the advantage is to have 4 slots available on a motherboard :confused::confused::confused:. I want to see performance boost, not drop, guess I'll have to look at 2x1gb sticks then.
 
The brand doesn't matter, I've mixed RAM brands plenty of times. It is because you are using all 4 slots. I agree that it's kind of silly to have 4 slots if you can't use them without a penalty but there are times when it is worth it.
 
If your board only takes 4gb of memory and 4gb is needed for large programs like CAD then you suffer from things like single mode in order to run those types of larger programs with four 1gb dimms installed. I ran into some fun things running three 256mb dimms for 768mb on an old Shuttle board some years back where there was no dual channel but other things that came up. :confused:

Alas a board that took a pair 512s was the first Asus board used here. :D But 98SE saw fun due to that version's 512mb limitation there. At least you could edit the autoexec.bat file or perform an MS trick to get past that.

With the newer versions seeing that barrier broken running 1-2gb became easy. That was when you could run larger memory sticks over more smaller ones. The problem with differents brands is not simply brand name but memory design. People were complaining about problems with OCZ memory on Asus boards while others saw great results.

The problem board design and chipset differences between different models not allowing for latencies and voltages for brand's memory over another's. With 4gb and more on newer boards that max at 8 and even upto 16gb the chipsets lack support for that since those were counting on the typical user installing far less on the 2-4gb boards they were originally intended for.
 
Sorry to jump in with no real useful data here, but isn't anyone wondering why the industry hasn't rehabbed the labelling system for RAM and mobo/RAM compatibility? Seems kind've silly that an educated consumer could do his research, make an informed purchase, and still not get it right the first time out.

At the very least, could the manufacturers keep an updated list of recommended RAM? I'm sick of checking out their websites and finding exactly the same list that's in the outdated print manual.
 
I know that feeling well enough from trying to point what brand will work bets on what board. On one older build here two well known brands saw all kinds of errors while being defect free. Corsair is advertised at Asus while Kingston is seen in the recommended lists at Gigabyte and MSI. They pay for advertising space there.
 
One thing that's upsetting, is NCIX & TigerDirect have sales on PC 6400 1 Gb's ram for $29.00, yet my PC3200 Ram is still sitting at a premium price of $65.00 / 1 GB. ram. I don't get it, my system is about 3 years old and the ram is MORE expensive than the newer stuff :confused:. If my ram were at $29.00, it would be a no brainer (my kind of purchase :D).

...Bert
 
Bertminator said:
One thing that's upsetting, is NCIX & TigerDirect have sales on PC 6400 1 Gb's ram for $29.00, yet my PC3200 Ram is still sitting at a premium price of $65.00 / 1 GB. ram. I don't get it, my system is about 3 years old and the ram is MORE expensive than the newer stuff :confused:. If my ram were at $29.00, it would be a no brainer (my kind of purchase :D).

...Bert
Click to expand...

Older type of ram, as in your case, will be more expensive then the new type. PC133 and PC100 is even more expensive then regular DDR memory.
 
Yup. Retailers take a big risk keeping older memory in stock, and manufacturers take an even bigger risk my making it. So to account for the risk, they mark it up pretty high. The fact that they only make a little at a time only makes it more expensive.
 
In August I paid about $135 for a pair of 1gb DDR2 800 PC6400 dimms then. A pair of 2gb dimms by the same brand and type of performance then saw $329 now at $209. How many order PC100 or PC133 memory these days? Not many except to restore some old system somewhere. With DDR3 available the 2gb dims of DDR2 came down plus the time of year where sales are the highest is now being seen.
 
Ok, I checked my system, and all is up to date, one thing I noticed however, is the CPU is sitting almost always at 100%...with spikes up and down...usually steady around 100%. I have 630 ish Megs of ram in the system, and I NEVER had that spike that high for so long. What do you think the problem might be now?
 
What are you using to see the cpu activity? The first thing would be to look at the processes tab in the task manager to see what is the most active there. That will give you an idea of what is probably hanging on you demanding cpu time. The initial spike when first opening up the chart there is normal as you see when the performance section is looked over. That's simply the cpu time request spike that disappears fast.
 
I know all about the processes, and how to shut them down. I did that, and my system is still spiking to 100%. Could it be that my power supply is hooked up wrong? I did remove it to test another computer a little while back. I'm pretty sure, everything is connected right, but maybe something got buggered up. I noticed a four-prong plug for the power supply that wasn't connected before, and I DID connect it. Could it be this little plug making my computer spike, as well as affecting my video playbacks? I find it hard to believe that this "little" plug could do this much damage. My MoBo layout says that it's called the "PWR_fan" Under the CPU Fan plugin.

What do you think?
 
Look in the processes tab and tell us what process or processes is using your cpu up. Also, what processor are you running right now? On all current processors you need the 4pin cpu plug connected in order for the computer to even boot.
 
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