SPD timings for my Hyper-X memory are worse that advertised???

[Staz]

I was one of many who jumped on the Outpost Kingston Hyper-X memory deal. I got one gig, 2x512MB sticks of Hyper-X, for $160. It seemed like a good deal, until I got them.

This memory is supposted to run at:
400MHz (PC3200) 2-3-2-6 (CAS Latency 2)

When I use auto detect(SPD), mo mobo sets them at:
400MHz (PC3200) 2.5-3-3-8 (CAS Latency 2.5)

What gives???

 

[Ionizer86]

If you manually set the timings to the supposed ones, does the ram work properly?

 

[Staz]

Have not tried that yet, but when I bumped my FSB from 400 to 402, started to BSOD a lot, but didn't when my old RAM was in there. Will try that, but the memory should default to what it's rated for anyway.

 

[Farmer]

Well try it. If it runs fine, then apparently it works fine. It doesn't make all the difference in the world.

 

[Staz]

What bugs me about this is it should matter even if it does run at the better speeds. Would you be happy if you bought an XP 3200+, only to find out it's an overclocked XP-M 2500+ that can run at 3200+ speeds, but the cpu defaults to 2500+ speeds and you have to set it to the overclocked speeds yourself? I wouldn't be, but that's exactly what is going on here, just with memory.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

It could be that your board doesnt want to use them at that speed. There is a very small black chip on your ram stick called the SPD which stands for serial presence detect that gives your board all the settings, some boards just dont want to accept them and run the memory at what they want. So try it in another machine and see if it does the same thing

 

[Gerbil333]

I've owned 4 sets of Kingston HyperX and all 8 sticks do that. I don't think Kingston sets the SPD timings. They're not selling "OC'ed" memory.

Here are my results (only the PC3000 sticks were not dual packs):

Kingston 2x256mb PC3000 rated 2-2-2-5 used in an MSI K7N2-L, MSI K7N2G-L, Asus A7N8X-X, and an ECS KS75A

-SPD timings of something like 2.5-3-3-8 on all boards
-Runs fine at 2-2-2-11 at PC2700 (it even ran fine at 2-2-2-4 before I knew that 2-2-2-11 was faster)


Kingston 2x512mb PC3200 rated 2-3-2-6 used with an Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 and an Abit NF7-S 2.0

-SPD timings of 2.5-3-3-8
-Runs fine at 2-2-2-11 at PC2700


Kingston 2x512mb PC3200 rated 2-3-2-6 used in an Abit NF7-S 2.0

-SPD timings of 2.5-3-3-8
-Runs fine at 2-2-2-11 at PC2700


Kingston 2x512mb PC3200 rated 2-3-2-6 used in an Asus K8V SE Deluxe

-SPD timings of 2.5-3-3-8
-Runs fine at 2-3-2-6 at PC3200 (built for a friend--didn't try any faster)

Have not tried that yet, but when I bumped my FSB from 400 to 402, started to BSOD a lot, but didn't when my old RAM was in there. Will try that, but the memory should default to what it's rated for anyway.

Hmmm...try the rated settings. Kingston isn't the only company who doesn't bother with SPD settings. The RAM should be overclockable.

 

[amaiman]

I bought the same RAM, and had the same issue.
I attempted to set the timings manually in the BIOS (Asus P5P800 motherboard), and once I did that, the system wouldn't even post. I had to reset the CMOS to get the system back online.

I may have set the timings wrong, though...I entered them in the order they normally appear, maybe the motherboard had them out of order, I'll have to write down specifically what each number is and try again.

 

[Amaroque]

I had HyperX PC4000 crap. I couldn't even run it at CAS 2.5 @ 200MHz at any voltage. I got rid of it, and got some Ballistix PC4000 2-2-2-5 2.6v @ 200MHz no sweat.

 

[killer8]

The spd timings you see are just defaults. Not all motherboards will necessarily run at the advertised rating for the RAM, so the spds are set to a high level to ensure the system will at least boot, since many motherboards set the [AUTO] timings off the spds.

You need to manually change the timings to faster rates.

 

[killer8]

btw.. I am running an MSI Neo2 with 4x512mb PC3200 HyperX 2-3-2-6 memory (at 2T, due to 4 sticks), at 200mhz.

 

[Amaroque]

Maybe cuz it was PC 4000?

In any case, I won't buy HyperX, rated for any speed again.

 

[clmax]

I have the MSI neo2 and I bought this memory from Outpost as well. I played with manually adjusting the timings and had limited success with extremely loose timings. Generally, the best I could get with this "CL2" memory was 2.5 3 3 8 1. NOT th advertised 2 3 2 6 1 - what a dissipointment :'( I am definately soured on Kingston HyperX.