memory question someone please help....

[ShinGouki]

OK i have recently gained two sticks of PC2700 RAM at 512MB. However one is from a brand i don't recognise (LD written inside a circle on the modules) and the other is Kingston Value RAM.

I have an Epox 8RDA+ and a 1700+ Tbred(A) + SLK-800, 120GB WD se, Radeon 9500 (non-pro)

Ive purchased these items with the intent of doing some rather high overclocks and its fairly obvious that the memory could be a limiting factor in this. Can anyone tell me if they think it should be ok. What FSB do you think im likely to be able to hit on that Kingston Value RAM I think ive heard somewhere that its pretty poor for overclocking.

Would it be better to run on 2x Corsair XMS 2700 with just 256mb do you think or should i just stick with what i have??

 

[Super6]

I'd try what you have now before buying more memory. If it doesn't go well pick up some PC3200 to future-proof yourself i.e. Barton.

Super6

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well, since PC2700 is a 333MHz bus rating, and your Athlon's specificied bus is 266MHz, and the best performance is gained by having the memory synced with the processor bus, you're probably best off running the memory at the same speed as the processor bus, unless you're able to get that processor up beyond 333MHz. If it can't go higher than that, then the memory will work fine.

If it's 6ns memory, then it's not going to get a lot farther than 333MHz. I don't know what that generic module might be as far as brand. Do the chips have any brand on them?

 

[ShinGouki]

Yeah i was kinda thinking along same lines, just hoping somone might be able to let me know the potential of these 2 sticks....

I still have no idea what brand that memory is (just a serial number which turns up nothing on google)
which suggests that its unbranded? which i would guess = poor performance.

 

[LED]

??????????

 

[ShinGouki]

Yeah that looks like the stuff thanks.

Any thoughts now you can see the timings etc...

I don't know much about RAM other than stock speeds. Anyone care to explain to me in detail how the timings and speed etc.. effect performance and potential to overclock. Is lower or higher better etc....

*I really don't know much about RAM but would like to*

 

[LED]

The lower the setting/ticks the better except with the FSB 😉...you'll just have to experiment...if you get a BSOD screens reboot and try more volts...run memtest and/or Sisoft Sandra for burning and stablity

 

[Lord Evermore]

I certainly hope they're joking about using 7.5ns memory as PC2700. That's the rating for PC2100 memory. You've essentially got already overclocked memory there. Don't expect any aggressive memory timings or overclocking there.

To get the bus speed rating, divide 1000 by the nanosecond rating on the chip. Usually it is printed as something like -75 or -75E or 7.5.

7.5ns memory is rated for 133MHz operation (DDR266). 6ns memory is for 166MHz operation, PC2700 DDR333. While a manufacturer may produce and test memory up to a higher speed than the nanosecond rating implies, this is essentially factory overclocking; they test it and mark it for a higher speed, but they're basically pulling the "better" chips from the batch that are capable of the higher speed. The ones that don't clock as well get marked for the lower speed. But they're all designed for 7.5ns operation, and trying to clock it any higher than the factory overclock isn't likely to work.

The timings of the memory chip depend on things like revision and quality of the chip yield. I don't think there's any way to know ahead of time what sort of timings a module can tolerate, unless someone got together a list of all the revision numbers for memory chips and module brands and what speeds they could do, similar to the comparisons of CPU revisions/steppings. But generally if you have a very good brand that's rated for medium-speed timings, it'll probably accept faster timings up to a limit, but not as good as the very best modules. A generic module that's already overclocked isn't going to be able to use the better timings at all. Those modules are rated for 2.5T CAS latency, it's doubtful they'll get up to 2T latency, and other timings like the RAS to CAS delay will certainly need to be relaxed.

The Kingston module, if it's rated for 2.5T and is 6ns memory chips, are likely that you could run them at least at 2T CAS latency, and possibly slightly more aggressive timings for other options. However the performance difference between 2.5T and 2T CAS latency is very slight. I haven't tested the performance difference when you change other timings, as I don't have great memory of my own to play with.

 

[ShinGouki]

Thanks Evermore *And LED* now i have a much better idea of what those timings mean. Ive got a reputation where i live for building cheap decent PC's and so im often asked to build new PC's for people. I figured that if the memory was poor for overclocking *which i want to do* then i could put the memory in the next system i build for someone else *who generally don't like overclocking*.

I allready know of one person who wants a new PC so yeah i think the LD will be the first to go, in which case my next question.....

What would you reccomend as a replacemet??

I hear Kingmax and Corsair are pretty much the best bet.

I can get hold of TwinMos or Samsung original (definately samsung not somone else with their chips)
more easily in the UK though. Do you think these will perform much better.....

 

[LED]

Take Heed in LE's bytes and as far as the RAM you mention to get they are all good sticks and every one has their preference.
Mine in order is:

Corsair XMS (Winbond)
Samsung
Crucial (Micron)
Kingston and Infineon
Kingmax and TwinMos (Winbond)...only cause my supplier doesn't carry much...Happy OCing