Can Sandra tell me what ns or refresh rate my FPM RAM is?

[Salvador]

Hi,

I have some older Fast Page ECC RAM that was a pull from a server and the only information that I yet need is what ns it is and what the refresh rate is. Can a utility like SiSoft Sandra Pro tell me what the RAM is? If so, what would I look for in Sandra to tell me?

TIA,

Sal

 

[nightowl]

I don't know if Sandra can tell you but if you look on the memory itself the ns rating should be printed on the memory chips. Typicaly it will be 50ns or 60ns represented by either single digit or the full rating. If it is a single digit then just add a zero on the end. This is only true for FPM, EDO, and older memory.

 

[Salvador]

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to pull one and see if I see the number(s).

Any idea on refresh rate?

Thanks again,

Sal

 

[Lord Evermore]

Actually SDRAM also has the refresh rate printed on it. Usually in the form -7 or -8E or something like that, usually sitting alone, which indicates 7 or 8ns. I don't have a stick of DDR at hand to look at, but I presume it has something on it too.

On EDO/FPM, it'll usually be the last number in a string, still in the form -6 or -7, which would be 60 and 70ns respectively.

I just figured out why you asked about the refresh rate again. The 60ns or 70ns is the access time. Are you also asking about the CAS latency? (Most people don't think about the "refresh rate" in terms of its actual meaning, which I didn't even know till I looked it up just now.)

 

[Salvador]

Well.. The RAM has a 60 right on the chips, so I guess that mystery is solved.

What I meant by refresh rate is that I often see either a 2k or 4k refresh rate. I have no idea what it means other than I see people post it. I also have no idea how they know that it is either a 2k or 4k refresh rate. Any ideas?


Also.. I have a Pentium Pro 200 mhz pc. Which would you keep? 160 mb's of EDO RAM or 128 mb's of Fast Page ECC RAM? Is there any circumstance where I would want to keep ECC FPM (Fast Page) RAM over the non-ECC EDO RAM? If I were to use it as a server or something?

BTW.. Is Parity and ECC the same thing?

Thanks again,

Sal

 

[nightowl]

I would keep the EDO over the FPM. First, EDO would be faster than FPM and you also have more EDO than FPM. If you were running a server ECC memory would be better but that small amount of memory would not do a server justice. EDO and FPM is not cheap anymore and I would go with what you have the most of.

Also, when I said "This is only true for FPM, EDO, and older memory" I was referring to the way the chips were numbered with possibly a single number with the following zero omitted.

 

[Lord Evermore]

This explains refresh:

http://www.kingston.com/tools/bits/bit29.asp

As for parity and ECC, parity I believe only detects errors, it can't correct them and so invalidates the data so it has to be pulled again. ECC is error correcting code.

 

[Salvador]

Thanks.. I'll look at the refresh link.

If Sandra tells me that my RAM is ECC, is there a good chance that it is? I did find out what the difference between Parity and ECC is. Parity just checks for errors, while ECC actually detects and corrects. They said something about looking at the chips and if they were all the same, then it was ECC, but I looked at my chips and there are two different kinds.

BTW.. This particular system doesn't support ECC anyway, so I don't think it would be of any benefit to me. Sandra said that if my system detects errors with the ECC RAM, that it will shut down. That's no good.

Sal

 

[Salvador]

I read the article on refresh rate, but is there any way I can tell by looking at the RAM what the refresh rate is?