Memory Compatibility/CPU OCing?

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askantik

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Here is my current setup:

Asus A78NX-LA motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (Barton core, 333 FSB)
512 PC2700 RAM
Win XP Home

I recently purchased 2x 512 of PC3200 RAM. It is supposed to be backwards compatible, no? When I put the new ram in, my PC boots up fine and works okay except for a few random colored lines occasionally and anything "memory-intensive" (games, for example) cause the computer to give a blue screen error message and then reboot before I can even begin to read the message. I don't understand. I tried this in a friend's DDR400 motherboard and it worked fine with no problems at all. I also tried it in my father's HP Pavilion 513c (Intel Celeron 1.8ghz, 400 mhz CPU FSB). It worked like a charm.

I've read somewhere that a CPU's FSB must meet or exceed the speed of the RAM. So if this is true, theoretically my CPU's FSB would have to be 400 or greater. Is this true? My BIOS recognizes the RAM as 1024 MB of PC2700. But it just doesn't like it for some reason. What can I do? Also, this motherboard is being used (temporarily, thank goodness) until I get a new one, but it was pulled from an HP computer. I have done some research and this board apparently had its BIOS altered by HP, making it very hard if not impossible for users to change most things in it. I have tried several programs to overclock my CPUs FSB to 400mhz (I have read that, with adequate cooling, this amount of OCing is alright for an AMD Athlon XP 2800+) But everytime I apply the changes in those programs, my computer reboots automatically and comes back up as 333 mhz FSB. Is this because of what HP did, or do I just not know how to overclock? I have used CPUFSB and Nvidia System Utility (the motherboard has an nForce2). What else can I do? Is it impossible for my RAM to work with this setup?

PS, this is a little random from the rest of this post, but please give an opinion to my future setup, some of which I have and some I don't. Please advise me on the pieces I don't already have:

(I will put an X by the pieces that I ALREADY have)

Raidmax 668W Aluminum Case X
450 Watt Power Supply X
1024 MB DDR 400 RAM X
MSI K8N Neo4 motherboard X
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Should I go for Venice instead of Winchester? And do they make a San Diego in a 3000? I like the idea of 1MB L2 cache, but I don't have $360 to spend on a 3500+ or 3700+ San Diego).
and what is your opinion on an ATI Radeon X700 Pro 256MB?

Thanks for all your help guys!!
Cody
 
Your FSB does not have to meet opr exceed the speed of the ram, it will just underclock the memory until it can run it.

Right click on my computer, go to properties, and click on the advanced tab. Go to Startup and Recovery, and press settings, towards the bottom there is a checkbox that says 'Automatically Restart" Uncheck that. When you get the blue screen, it will not restart. post what it says.

Go with a Venice 3200+. They are cheap, and OC like bastards. I would also go with NVidia, a 6600GT or a 6800GT (if you have the money)
 
Thanks Him. Here's the error message:

error_message.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/bloodclots__/error_message.jpg
 
Thats a nice, ol' stop error. Usually is a sign of RAM with errors in it. Get your hands on memtest86 and run that. However, on a gig, you're looking at about 150+ hours to completely run the whole test.

I'm thinking that your problem may lie within the Mobo, since the RAM works properly in other computers. The only way to rule that RAM as the culprit is to run that test. It takes forever, I know, but it will tell you what you need to know.
 
Yeah, it knows what the max bandwidth that the memory can support, but it knows that the mobo cannot push that much. It's not your computer or your motherboard that knows this, just the CPU-Z utility. As far as your motherboard is concerned, your memory is only capable of 333mhz.
 
When running memtest86+, just run test 5 repeatidly instead of all the others. That's where you will find your errors with AMD chips.
 
It's easy, and dosent hurt anything... Usually. If you do it right, you are fine and manage to solve most issues with your bios. If you do it wrong, say with the wrong bios, you'r board is f*cked! You have to get a new board. It is easy though, usually only entails you copying it to a floppy and booting from it and then following a few on-screen instructions. Just dont get the wrong one.

Edit: I didnt notice the last part of your BCOD. It has memory address errors, so it is your memory. RMA it, if you can, or get some new stuff.
 
also make sure u have the latest driver for ur graphics card. Sounds like the memory is good, if working in other systems, so its just a compatibility issue/problem, that u must troubleshoot.

Your mobo may not support such quick ram.

Try resetting bios...see what happens...then flash bios with the latest update...see what happens after that.
 
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