[Supercalifragilistic]

I have two sticks of DDR PC3200 RAM. A 256MB Micron technologies stick, and a 512MB Samsung stick. But the thing is, PC3200 should run at 200mhz (400mhz), whereas mine is only running at 167mhz (333mhz)...

Here's some CPU-Z screenshots. Btw, both sticks are low-density.

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I have seen this problem with certain motherboards. I can't remember which one it was that i was working on but whenever i added a second stick of memory it always reverted to the 333 memory bus speed. I think it was a ECS motherboard that did this. This motherboard also was not setup to run in dual channel mode with the memory.

SRX660

[SRX660]

I have seen this problem with certain motherboards. I can't remember which one it was that i was working on but whenever i added a second stick of memory it always reverted to the 333 memory bus speed. I think it was a ECS motherboard that did this. This motherboard also was not setup to run in dual channel mode with the memory.

SRX660

[Supercalifragilistic]

Well, I'm running it with the Samsung stick only, and getting 167mhz. I'd already ordered another stick the same (Samsung) so I'd have 1GB (only have two slots). Do you think if I run both Samsung sticks it will be faster because they're the same?

Btw, I have an ASRock P4i65G

Edited by Supercalifragilistic, 14 September 2007 - 07:01 PM.

[Samm]

Just a thought, but what fsb is your CPU running at?

Edited by Samm, 14 September 2007 - 07:16 PM.

[Supercalifragilistic]

133mhz, but can easily be overclocked to 167. It's x21 aswell (2.8Ghz - 3.5Ghz OC)

[Samm]

Sorry, should have asked you this before - do you have an Intel or an AMD processor?

[Neil Jones]

Just because you buy PC3200 does not necessarily mean it will at DDR400 speeds. If you have a slower processor the memory will slow itself down to match the FSB of the processor.

As you have an Asrock board, as documented on Asrock's FAQ page, their boards automatically run at 333Mhz for reasons of compatibility. This is changeable in the BIOS.

In any case, a processor that only runs with a 133FSB means the memory isn't even going to run at 400Mhz automatically unless you tell it otherwise.

[Supercalifragilistic]

If I increase the FSB, will it overclock the RAM too? I was just reading that if I overclock the FSB, the motherboard and CPU might be able to handle it, but not the RAM.

[Neil Jones]

Not necessarily. They're often independent so its usually possible to run the processor at 133FSB and the memory at 200Mhz.

[Supercalifragilistic]

Right, I now have two PC3200 400mhz sticks running at 166mhz. CPU FSB is at 133mhz x 21.