Question on RAM installation

[Abramul]

Just installed a new(ish) 1GB stick of RAM (apparently, PC-3200: CPU-Z shows speed as 200.2 MHz). While the speed increase is phenomenal, I tried to use both the new and old (2 256 MB PC-2100 sticks), with the following results:

(Motherboard is an MSI MS-6702. "Slot 1" is closest to the CPU, and "Slot 3" furthest)

S1 256 MB, S2 256MB, S3 1GB: Monitor inactive (power-button light blinking), but computer sounded like it was booting properly.

S1 1 GB, S2 256MB: Base memory read/write test error (*)

S1 1 GB, S3 256MB: Base memory read/write test error

 

I didn't try any other combinations.

 

 

So far, Firefox, Freecell, and the Start Menu are all very much faster. Haven't yet tried Oblivion.

 

EDIT: Tried Oblivion, and it is FAST! Took maybe a minute to load when exiting Derelict Mine (bit east of Skingrad). Barely any slowdowns while running around outside. Now, I have no excuse for COCing to shops...

 

EDIT2: CPU is an Athlon 64 2800+ (System Properties says it's 1.8 GHz), OS is 32-bit XP.

[tmx]

i guess the rams combinations are incompatible and for that particular motherboard. could eb the speed or the ram timings. your ram speed is fine, i actaully recommend 2gb for today games. its best you run two rams at the same speed and memory size, incase the motherboard has dual channel option that will improve some more speed.

 

but holy crap, a minute. mine loading is like 5-10 seconds. if i wait that long i go crazy. i thought that a AMD Athlon 64, that very recent should be better than that.

 

do you know your harddrive spec (ide, sata, 5600rpm, 7200rpm). they usually sell low cache and low rpm harddrive bundble with a computer.

 

there are fews things you can do to improve loading, running lower graphic, also defrag your harddrives or get a faster harddrive.

[Abramul]

Having done more running around, it seems that after the initial load, loading times for exteriors are indeed ~5-15 seconds.

 

they usually sell low cache and low rpm harddrive bundble with a computer.

Doesn't apply to me. I doubt that I'll ever buy a pre-built.

However, my older hard drive (Seagate ST380021A) and my newer one (Maxtor 6L300R0) are both 7200 RPM, connected via IDE.

 

Not sure whether the RPM strongly corresponds with data transfer rate.

[Vagrant0]

I have a AMD 64 2.0x ghz processor, different mobo, but had similar results with only 512 (dual channel atleast) ram in Oblivion, those long loading times were a real annoyance. Upgraded to 2gb, saw immediate change. So yeah, it isn't the pricessor, it was the lack of ram.

 

If your mobo supports dual channel PC-3200, you might even want to just pick up a duplicate stick to what you installed.

 

As for future reference, you can usually get double packs of ram from Newegg or similar, that way you don't have to deal with the prebuilt crap Dell is making these days. Don't think my 2x 1gb sticks cost that much either.

[Abramul]

Bringing this back up. Is it possible to get my old RAM working as well, and will I notice a performance increase if I do so?

[WoogieMonster]

Not sure if this helps at all, but I just recently built a new rig. In researching RAM I learned that mix-matching sticks is almost always wrought with problems and in the case of some brands, even a difference as small as being two different release versions can cause problems.

[jojo man]

Not sure if this helps at all, but I just recently built a new rig. In researching RAM I learned that mix-matching sticks is almost always wrought with problems and in the case of some brands, even a difference as small as being two different release versions can cause problems.

I've seen the same problem myself a ton of times. When in doubt, always best to use identical RAM sticks.

[Marxist ßastard]

Okay, first there's some preliminary information to get out of the way. Besides their clock frequency, memory models differ in their latencies. The newer stick you've got probably has low latencies, while the older ones probably have latencies toward the higher end of the spectrum.

 

So now let's go back to the results you got by switching slots. From what I can tell, your mainboard probes the memory stick in slot 1 for frequency and timings and then applies those to every memory stick you have. When you had the PC-3200 stick in slot 1, its faster clock and tighter timings were applied to the older sticks and they just couldn't keep up, producing memory errors right away---whereas when you had one of the PC-2100 sticks in slot 1, their slower clock and higher latencies were applied to your stick of PC-3200 (a situation that isn't much of a problem by itself, as far as I know) and it appears as though in that case the initial memory check had passed, although your PCI bus crapped out soon after.

 

It follows that even if you were to somehow get both types of memory working together---and this is a non-trivial task---you would have to apply the frequency and timings of the PC-2100 sticks to the entire system, resulting in your new 1GB stick running at PC-2100 bandwidth and circa 2002 (?) latencies.

[Abramul]

Thanks for the help. Sounds as if the easiest course will be to just get a new stick when I decide to upgrade.

[nuniksais]

Uhm quick question, my mobo is Asus P5S-MX SE which only has a single channel. Does that mean that i can't use two sticks of 1gb ram at the same time?