RAM Question

[Squirtis]

I have Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 MHz, but in CPU Z it's registering my RAM to be running at only 400MHz, anyone know why this is happening? I have 4 1 Gig sticks and my post screen and BIOS both recognize that the RAM is 800 MHz.

 

[wafflehammer]

have you overclocked your CPU any? and what ratio is the cpu : ram

 

[Squirtis]

I have not OCed my CPU at all yet, i got a new antec 900 case yesterday and put a new thing of paste on the CPU and heatsink. the cpu to ram ratio seems to be set at 3:2 when i checked in the BIOS. I tried setting it to linked and 1:1 but when i reboot i got a really long beep and my post screen informed me it was running in a "safe mode" and i needed to change my frequencies back.

 

[wafflehammer]

ram runs at ---x2.....so when it says it's running 400 it's really 400x2=800mhz. it's running at correct speeds.

The reason why it won't let you boot with 400 is because you would need to set the FSB of your CPU and in order to make your CPU run 1:1 it would be at 400fsb which would require overclocking

 

[Squirtis]

my bad it runs at FSB : DRAM, 2:3.

My FSB on boot and cpuz says it runs at 1064 or w/e. So if i go 1:1, that mean my RAM is OCed to 1064 MHz? Or do i just have to clock back my FSB to 800 to match the RAM? or do i have to go to 400 as you suggest, because it means 400x2 like the RAM does?

the bus speed in CPUz says it runs at 266.7 x 9 multiplier.

You'll have to excuse me I'm kind of a nub.

 

[wafflehammer]

okay so with that multy i'm assuming you're using a Q6600 or a E6600.

the FSB of your CPU is 266, you get that by dividing the retail listed FSB by 4 (something about it being quad-pumped or something lol) so 1066/4=266.7 (that's why it's saying it's running at 1066 when you boot).

RAM is kinda like the CPU but instead of being multiplied by 4 to get the real speed it's multiplied by 2. so 400mhzx2=800mhz (the speed of your RAM).

If you ran your RAM at a 1:1 ratio you would have to either raise your CPU FSB to 400 or lower your RAM speed to 266...or meet in the middle somewhere like 333 (which is 3.2ghz on the CPU..that a normal/decent OC).

BUT if you don't plan on OC'ing you can leave it at a 2:3, it won't hurt performance. In other words, your RAM is running at proper speeds so nothing to worry about unless you want to get into OC'ing.

Hope I helped, that seemed like a huge ramble lol

 

[Squirtis]

nah it helps a lot. Yea i'm running a Q6600, I've had it for about 6 months or so, so it's fairly well burnt in and stable, so i want to start to do an OC; that's why i bought the new Antec 900, so i could get a really good air cooled system.

Would it be better to clock my FSB to 400? or to lower my RAM settings to match accordingly?

I'd like to OC slowly. Push it to 2.8 GHz for a week, then move to 3.2. I can just do the math myself, but is it typically more stable to increase FSB or to decrease the RAM speed? Or does it not matter which?

Thanks a lot for the help, I appreciate it.

 

[wafflehammer]

well, for 2.8 you need 311 fsb on the CPU. so just set the DRAM freq. to that and the ratio to 1:1 and you should be good to go. Hopefully at that FSB you won't have to increase the voltage..if you do, i'm sorry..i know nothing about that really except that you just increase it in extreme small amounts until you get it stable.

 

[Squirtis]

the lowest it allows me to set my fsb is at 400, so i just turned the multiplier down to 7. and if i select to have it linked at 1:1 it won't let me manually change the RAM speed, it sets it itself. but having it linked at 1:1 with 400 should be fine.

But i'm making the changes and again the post screen says im running in safe mode or w//e and when i boot up cpuz read my original settings, like i hadn't changed the bios at all. i don't know what's up.

 

[wafflehammer]

uhmmm there are 2 settings you have to turn off to allow OC'ing to be easier....i dunno why they are..the thing is called "speedstep" so search for that and try to find the 2 things you have to disable