P5W-DH and PC2-6400

[msmith7305]

I have this mobo with 2 1Gig sticks of Corsair XMS2 Memory (CM2X1024-6400 DDR2 800 Non-ECC). I just noticed that when booting up I saw a message during POST referring to PC2-5300. I figured that my system assembler must have given me the wrong memory. I then downloaded CPU-Z in order to see what I actually had. I found that my memory was exactly as ordered. I found another post on the internet that was from someone with this exact issue. Apparently the mobo does not automatically set the correct BIOS settings for this situation. Corsair says the correct settings (and this is Greek to me) should be 5-5-5-15-2T at 1.9V.

My questions:

1. Should I be concerned about getting this set the right way?
2. Will getting it set the right way make any noticeable difference?
3. Will I be sacrificing stability if I make the switch?
4. If it is preferable that I do make the changes in the BIOS, could someone please walk me through the exact steps necessary to do this? I did some looking through the BIOS for the way to do this (and found what appears to be the proper section), but I would like to be absolutely certain not to make a catastrophic mistake!

I believe virtually every setting in my BIOS currently is for the default setting. Therefore, most seem to be set to "auto" sensing.

If some of you think that there is a better way to set up my BIOS, please let me know. I do not want to be overclocking as I have no need for that or desire to learn all the ins and outs of overclocking. I would, however, like to get the benefits of the memory I do have.

Thanks for helping a moron!

 

[Thor86]

Make sure your running your memory/cpu dividers at 1:1 or DDR800.

Should be a bios setting to setup "Manual" settings and it should give you the options to change this.

 

[msmith7305]

Thor86-

I think I saw somewhere that the ratio was 2:3. How do I go about making sure it is 1:1 and why is that significant?

Thanks

 

[Thor86]

Check out this site for all your P5WDH questions:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110193

 

[lopri]

You need to give us more information regarding your configuration.

- Your CPU?
- Your current overclock?
- Your desired overclock?

In P5W-DH BIOS, 1:1 is where FSB x 2 = memory. If your FSB is 400, then selecting DDR2-800 will give you 1:1. The reason why 1:1 is significant is because you do not want to run memory slower than FSB. That will lessen the performance the biggest way memory subsystem can. So if your FSB is 266, then your memory should at least be 533. Running memory faster than 1:1 is good, but it might be hard to achieve if your FSB is already high. P5W-DH gives you many other dividers and you can choose whichever that suits your need or your components allow. Also, as you overclock FSB higher, your memory may need more voltages, or could give up even before it reaches its rated speed. That is perfectly normal and not your memory's fault. PM me if you have any other question regarding P5W-DH.

 

[msmith7305]

I would like to thank everyone for their replies.

Further info:

1) I have the Conroe E6700.
2) I do not want to get into an overclocking situation.
3) The timing setting for 1T or 2T (Command Rate?). Where is this in the BIOS?

All I want to do is make sure I have the BIOS set up correctly to take full advantage of the memory I have. Replies seem to indicate that a 1:1 ratio is important. Why? How, exactly, do I accomplish this? If my motherboard can do a FSB of 1066 isn't it better to have that than a slower setting?

Thanks again.

 

[lopri]

If you don't want to overclock, then memory speed won't matter much. Just try setting your memory @DDR2-800, with timings of 4-4-4-11 (tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS). If it's not stable enough, try giving a bit extra voltage for memory. (2.0~2.1V is safe) Or you can set the memory @DDR2-667 / 3-3-3-8. You should be able to do it without voltage increase with your memory.

1T is not available on P5W-DH. As a matter of fact, none of the Intel chipsets support 1T command rate. But you need not worry because 2T on P5W-DH is just as fast as 1T on 680i.