333 HyperX shows up as 266 DDR

[dudeatlantis]

I just bought a 4550 dell dimension. This came with a 128 MB SD RAM which showed up as 333 Mhz on BIOS. I upgraded to 640 with 512 MB HyperX 333 Mhz 2700 Kingston from googlegear..now the whole thing shows up as 266MHz of 640 MB SD RAM. What should I do now ? Would this be a hardware mistake or problem with using two different SD RAM's??

 

[crystal]

Try only the 512MB to see if it shows up as 333 or 266. If it shows up as 333, then you know the two modules don't like each other. If it shows up as 266, then RMA the 512MB and get the new one.

 

[Batman5177]

i've seen the same issue on a friend's 4550 also.

i put some samsung pc2700 CL2.5 in and it turned into 266

i think the motherboard forces the ram to run at CL2, so it slows the ram to run at that timing.

i didnt see any speed differences at all tho...

 

[dudeatlantis]

tried using RAM's seperately. they run at 333!!! so i guess the problem comes only when i try using them together..mb ll check if the speed goes down if used at 266, else ll use only 512 at 333.

 

[crystal]

I don't really know what Dell BIOS is like, but if you could you go into your BIOS and manually set the RAM speed to 333. Read your MB manual to see if they give you that option.

 

[dudeatlantis]

will try changing it! but dont know if it ll allow it..the general impression is gave me was that it dosent let u change anythinnnn!

 

[Joemonkey]

i believe this is a limitation with DDR memory. The max speed the RAM can run at is proportional to the amount of slots filled.

 

[Batman5177]

you cant change the ram timings in the dell bios. actually you can barely change anything in that bios!