My ram holding me back?

[YoungChowFun]

I just need confirmation on this. I'm using a stick of 512mb pc2100 ddr ram. Now, it's generic, but i'm not complaining. It was a hand down from my friend so it was free ram for me. Anyways, I recently purchased a 2100+ tbred and my comp will not boot up when i set the fsb past 151mhz (302mhz ddr.) I've been looking into gettin a new stick of ram, possibly a pc2700 or pc3500 stick. But just to be sure, It is my GENERIC ram holding me back, right?

 

[drewski]

there are several things that come to mind:
1. it's pc2100 which is 133MHz rated. while a name brand will have a better chance of overclocking, it's no guarantee
2. what are your memory timings? spd set or manual? if manual are you using aggressive timings?
3. to test if the memory is the limiting factor drop your multiplier to the min to eliminate the CPU from the equation

 

[Killrose]

I would suspect your ram. Generic and being run way out of spec. If you are able to run with other (higher) multiplier adjustments on your motherboard you could possibly find the limmits of your CPU by running a high CPU multiplier with a low ram frequency.

Sounds like you know what you ram limmits are, now take the usable ram speed and couple it with higher multipliers, vcore adj., ect., to find the limmit of the CPU.

 

[Dm301]

it probably is your ram holding you back... did you adjust the voltage on the cpu or the ram?

 

[YoungChowFun]

For the ram, i set it to stable settings (3,3,6 I believe.) Even after doin that, still did not boot. I lowered the multiplier on the cpu and tried upping the fsb again. Still, it wouldn't go past 151. Also, i tried volting it up, going as high as 2.8v. Still, no boot. No matter what I do or try, sucker won't wanna go past 151. I'm pretty sure it's the GENERIC ram. A little more confirmation would be nice. Aside from that, what new 'stick' shall I replace the cheap generic one with? Thanks for all of your replies.

 

[Killrose]

I would say at this point you at least need good PC2700 ram. Also what type of motherboard do you have? Depends on your chipset type and capabilities also. I would say if you are using PC2100 ram and trying for a high FSB, you need to set your ram: 2.5-3-3-7 and not expect it to do better than 150MHz, period.

Also what are your CPU temps and what is your max overclock so far? Lots of variables here, and you have'nt really given us details on the rest of your system.

 

[Duvie]

Does it boot fine and no errors with 150??? i would expect since it shouldn't just all of a sudden, that it may not be stable or error free until 148mhz or lower...

 

[YoungChowFun]

Im sorry I never mentioned parts of my rig. My mb is an msi kt3ultra (kt333) but i was plannin to look into an nforce2 chipset. When overclocked (the most i can get right now is 150*13 = 1.96mhz) my temps are 35-37 degrees idle and 41-43 full load at 1.625 volts. The system is stable when i push my ram to 150fsb (300ddr) using memtest and prime95. Also, another hand down was my power supply. It's GENERIC, but then again, i'm not complaining, it was free for me. I was lookin into either an enermax ps or an antec tru ps. As for my cooling, it is a tt volcano 7+ (copper base, good enough for me, reviews were ok.) Aluminum tower (don't know what kind but i know it's cheap,) with one intake fan and two exhaust fans. Thanks again.

 

[Duvie]

I have always stated that components just do not hit walls like that...That ram should have been able to boot but been unstable in stress testing for quite a bit before it would limit your startup....I would serioulsy look into the power supply and the 3.3v rail specifically in the voltage readings...

 

[Sushi]

Originally posted by: YoungChowFun
For the ram, i set it to stable settings (3,3,6 I believe.) Even after doin that, still did not boot. I lowered the multiplier on the cpu and tried upping the fsb again. Still, it wouldn't go past 151. Also, i tried volting it up, going as high as 2.8v. Still, no boot. No matter what I do or try, sucker won't wanna go past 151. I'm pretty sure it's the GENERIC ram. A little more confirmation would be nice. Aside from that, what new 'stick' shall I replace the cheap generic one with? Thanks for all of your replies.

Personally, I like my 512MB stick of Mushkin PC2700 w/heatspreaders. I am running it at 144 right now, but if I lower my multipliers I can get it well past the 166 range Newegg has it for $138 w/free shipping.

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