PC-133 versus PC-100 on an Asus P3V4X Motherboard

Valour

Senior member
Apr 17, 2001
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I asked this question earlier in a forum, but this is probably the better place to ask, as I did not get any replies. :)

I am currently running a P3-800EB on a P3V4X mobo with 256MB CAS3 PC-100 Ram. I see that I can buy 256MB Crucial CAS2 PC-133 Ram for around $100 now. I have read that the P3V4X is not a stellar performing mobo when it comes to memory management, but would I see any performance increase worth mentioning (or justifying $100) if I upgrade to this PC-133 memory?
This system is used primarily for gaming.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 

crudas

Member
Jan 26, 2001
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I have the same MB with a 733EB installed. I upgraded to Crucial 133 CAS2 and to be honest, visually I didn't gain any performance increase. At 1024x768 32-bit in Quake III, it translated into a small 1-2 fps increase which I don't think the naked eye can see. Its still nice to be able to know that your sh*t is running at full speed though. If you have the money to spend I wouldn't feel bad about the upgrade. Future games might make use of the increased memory bandwidth.

CRU
 

sadb0i

Golden Member
Mar 2, 2001
1,169
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like crudas said...the increase in speed is so little...u wont even notice...
 

lifeguard1999

Platinum Member
Jul 3, 2000
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Going from CL3 PC100 to CL2 PC133 will give about a 5% boost.

Are you running your memory at 100 MHz , or 133, in BIOS?
Is your memory set at SPMD, or is it manually set in BIOS?

I have a 700E@1.08 GHz on the P3V4X with 256 MB of CL2 Crucial.

The biggest issue here is whether or not you are using the SPMD setting in BIOS for the memory. With a no-name brand of memory, I could not use the SPMD. Instead I had to manually set the timings (3-3-3). This disables 4-way interleaving, which in turns slows down your programs. Now you can tweak your system using H.Oda's program to reenable 4-way. It is just more work.

With the Crucial CL2, I can leave the memory in BIOS at SPMD, and this by default enables 4-way interleaving. I do notice a ~5% improvement over the old stick of memory.
 

Rebels7

Senior member
Mar 5, 2000
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I have this board also. I had PC 100 memory running @ 150mhz FSB. I thought that buying PC 133 memory would allow me to overclock to maybe 160mhz or so, not true. The PC 133 would only overclock to 146, needless to say, I went back to using the PC 100.