Upgraded RAMM...did I Benefit Anything???

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leadrollerz

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I just recently upgraded the RAMM in my wife's PC from DDR2 533 PC-4200 to DDR2 800 PC-6400

Her PC has a Athlon x2 2.4 GHz CPU with a FSB of 2000 MHz

With the PC-4200 installed CPU-Z Reported:

Memory Timings:
DRAM Frequency - 200.9MHz
FSB - DRAM - CPU/5
CAS# Latency - 4
RAS# to CAS# - 4
RAS# Precharge – 4
Cycle Time – 12
Bank Cycle Time – 17
Command Rate – 1T

Since Installing the DDR2 800 it reports the following:
Memory Timings:
DRAM Frequency - 200.9MHz
FSB - DRAM - CPU/5
CAS# Latency - 5
RAS# to CAS# - 5
RAS# Precharge – 5
Cycle Time – 18
Bank Cycle Time – 24
Command Rate – 2T

Have I gained anything? I thought the lower the number the faster.
Under BIOS / DRAM Timings It was set to AUTO. I can change that to MaxMemClock (or something) and have the following options:
DDR 200
DDR 266
DDR 533
DDR 667
DDR 800

CPU-Z Timings Table Under the “SPD” Tab with the DDR2 800 installed
200 MHz 266MHz 400MHz
3.0 4.0 5.0
3 4 5
3 4 5
9 12 18
12 16 23
1.8V 1.8V 1.8V

I can lower the DRAM timings in BIOS and achieve the 3-3-3-9, but wouldn't that be only using half or less of the RAMM potential?

I'm trying to learn and before I posted here I have spent the afternoon Googleing this and that and trying to make since out of all of this. I was just hoping to improve her system some by installing faster RAMM.

Have I gained anything or should I do anything different?

Thank you for your Time,

-Martin :)
 
In my opinion, changing the RAM's speed is not really noticeable in terms of performance. You'd only really notice in memory benchmarks. And if your wife doesn't use memory intensive applications, there was really no reason to replace the memory. More quantity than speed might help things run smoother though. And overclocking the processor would give the computer more performance.

When you installed the DDR2-800, it should be reporting 400MHz, instead of 200MHz. It's probably the RAM divider.

You can lower the timings, but not without lowering the speed too. Unless the DDR2-800 ram that you got her, is high performance memory, I doubt it can sustain tight timings at stock speed.

What is the main purpose, your wife uses the computer for?
 
Your saying it should report 400MHz at the DRAM Frequency?
It tends to alternate back and forth there between 200.9 and 400.

This is the MoBo: MCP61PM-AM
She uses dual monitors and with her work she'll have many applications open at a time.
 
400MHz is the default speed of that RAM.

If she'll have many applications open at once, more quantity of RAM will benefit her more, compared to faster RAM.
 
Her PC has a Athlon x2 2.4 GHz CPU with a FSB of 2000 MHz

how did you get that board to have a 2000Mhz FSB? :)

With the ram, lower does mean faster (in terms of the ras, cas, etc.) however, unless you buy a very high-end ram stick, the cas 'nd ras most likely will be higher than the smaller sticks because of the greater amount of memory being accessed. But it will be faster, because of the greater frequency it runs at.
 
how did you get that board to have a 2000Mhz FSB? :)

Thats the Stock MoBo supplied by Gateway...;) well...thats what it says on the front of the case. Gateway Support - Specifications is the PC specifications

this page lists this board and PC model as supporting PC-6400 DDR2 800:
4006202R 4006203R | Gateway Emachines Mcp61pm-Am Motherboard

CPU-Z shows the DRAM frequency ramdomly alternating between 200.9, 369 and 401 MHz

Maybe I would be better off then getting a RMA from NewEgg and just buying her 2 additional GB's of 533MHz RAMM for a total of 4 GB...I just wanted to make this work. I figured if It worked out I'd get her two more DDR2 800's and a new CPU...

Any further info would be much Appreciated...

-Martin :)
 
It's my understanding that Vista 32 bit OS will support only up to 4 GB. 64 bit OS systems will support over 4 GB...I see a lot of Data on the internet about that...

???

Gateway Support - Specifications came supplied with Vista Home Premium 32 OS and 2 GB RAMM...there's the PC spec's of her PC...it states expandable to 4 GB's.

Can you clarify your post wicked23?
 
It's my understanding that Vista 32 bit OS will support only up to 4 GB. 64 bit OS systems will support over 4 GB...I see a lot of Data on the internet about that...

???

32bit OSs will see up to 3-3.5GBs. You would need a 64bit to see all 4GB.
 
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