KX133 VIA chipset and PC-133 memory problems??

[davidmsh]

Hello all,

It has been well over 2 years since I have browsed a computre forum so maybe I am just ignorant of the times and technology. SO I thought I would come and ask you guys for some help.

I just upgraded from an old k6-2-300 to:

K7-900
256mb PC-133
Abit KA7(ATA100) - KX133 VIA chipset
Win2000/Win98 dual boot
20 gig ATA100 IBM hd
Creative TNT 16mg SDram (yah I know it's old [heh])

Now my understanding was that the following were the way the Softmenu/Bios was setup:
-FSB = 100mhz (~200mhz since transfer on rising and falling edge of clock)
-chip speed = 100mhz x 9.0 multiplier
-(DRAM)memory to processor speed of 133mhz = HCLk + PCIClk

BUT when I put the DRAM speed at HClk + PCIClk the system basically becomes VERY unstable often not even being able to boot into WIn2000. But if I put the DRAM speed to just HClk = 100mhz everything is fine.

Am I missing somthing here but it seems to me that I am not getting the benifit of the KX133 chipset of running the memory at 133mhz. The manual was kind of fuzzy on this part and it seemed to almost imply that if you have PC-133 in the slot the bios knows and runs it at 133mhz but I just don't think that is right.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance

 

[Scorpion]

Are you sure it's PC133 RAM? You might have gotten ahold of some PC100.

Another thing is some vendors aren' too honest about their memory and will markup PC100 that runs at 133, and sell it as PC133.

And did you make sure it was Athlon tested? I had this problem. Got some Generic PC133 RAM and my new Athlon machine was giving me heck with my KX133. I then read Anand's review of the KX133 and Athlon and realized that my Memory was not Athlon tested. Went to Muskin's site, paid a little more for some Quality, tested PC133 and everything ran much better. Seems Athlon's are picky about the quality of their memory.

 

[DaddyG]

If your PC133 is not the greatest, you may have to back off some of your timings in your BIOS. Slow down to 8ns and CAS 3 maybe ??

 

[davidmsh]

Yah I basically can't run it at HClk+PCiClk at most conservative settings all around (CAS3/10ns/slow everything). BUT I can run it at fastest settings on just HCLK so I guess that will do.

I guess I am just not into tweaking as much as I used to be and sqeezing every ounce of power out of my system. This system is DAMN fast right now and stable and that is good enough for me.

For all of you who do care about tweaking get into it now while your still interested later in life you just don't have the time anymore [heh].

THanks for the replys

 

[clintT]

the first stick of pc133 ram i bought was miss marked. it would only run at 100. my computer wouldn't boot went running at 133. take your ram back if you can, it isn't 133.

 

[Hardware]

THe KX133 is somewhat memory buggy and needs 110% stable ram!