K8V Deluxe AMD 64 3400+ memory advice needed

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

dimize@nospam.com wrote:
> I presently have 1 (twin 512's) GB of PC3200 in my system.
>
> When I purchased this memory in March of this year, I saved a few
> dollars by purchasing some generic memory which apperntly was O/C'd to
> the 3200 speed from the vendor. Live and learn and always read the
> fine print has been my lesson.
>
> So, while it runs at the faster clock speed, I think it's actually
> running a slower bus speed.

That doesn't make sense.

> I've stuck it out and for several months and only notice occasional
> issues while playing games. That is the ONLY time I ever get a memory
> error.

What about in memtest86?

Just because your computer doesn't crash doesn't mean you didn't get an
error.

> I'm wanting to upgrade my memory and I'm a bit n00b to the choices.
>
> I'm debating strongly on whether or not to go with 1 GB (twin 512's)
> of true PC3700 or to go with 2 GB (twin 1GB DIMMs) of true PC3200.

Well I don't think there are many people that need more than a 1GB right
now. If you want to overclock your 3400+ it might be advisable to go with
some 3700+ to give you headroom to 233MHz.

> I really enjoy my PC for gaming. Many of the upcoming games I will be
> playing seem to be able to take advantage of 2 GB of memory. Games
> like Doom3, HL2 and possibly Tribes: Vengeance.

It's difficult for me to tell how much RAM I use since the disk cache just
stores everything, maxxing it out pretty much all the time. I didn't
realise the newer games could take advantage of such a large quantity of
RAM.

> So, does the faster memory allow some headroom for O/C'ng and does it
> cause timing issues?

Timings issues? These things are rated for a maximum, there may be a
minimum but it'll be so slow you might as well consider it not there (maybe
<50MHz?). So as long as you don't run it faster than it's rated speed, you
SHOULD be ok.

> Which choice would you recommend for a gamer? The faster memory or the
> larger memory?

Since the Athlon64s seem quite able to overclock, and the memory controller
is on the CPU, it would make sense to get faster RAM, that way you can have
a higher "FSB". I think the multiplier is locked, so without the faster RAM
you can't overclock.

> The ASUS K8V Deluxe supports up to 3 DIMMs of 1 GB each of PC3200.
> But, if you use more than two DIMMs the bus speed drops from 400MHz to
> 200 according to the manual.

In half? That would seem a bit odd.

Hmm, thats what it says.

OK, so having to address 2 single sides in DIMMS 2 and 3 makes it DDR 333
but having to address 1 double side is fine at 400. any more than that is
200 (one single, one double, or 2 doubles). Perhaps this is to do with the
addressing. On the nForce2 there was one address bus per DIMM slot, but
here there seems to be some kind of sharing between DIMMs 2 and 3 that
limits speed.

Is this the same for all s754 boards? Not much point in running more than 2
DIMMs unless capacity really is much more important than speed.

Oh well, not sure either way now... hopefully it's a good starting point for
a discussion though.

Ben
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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Ben Pope wrote:
> 200 (one single, one double, or 2 doubles). Perhaps this is to do with

That should have read:

200 (one single sided AND one double sided, OR 2 double-sided DIMMs)


Ben
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Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 10:46:10 +0100, "Ben Pope" <spam@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Ben - excellent advice...

>dimize@nospam.com wrote:
>> I presently have 1 (twin 512's) GB of PC3200 in my system.
>>
>> When I purchased this memory in March of this year, I saved a few
>> dollars by purchasing some generic memory which apperntly was O/C'd to
>> the 3200 speed from the vendor. Live and learn and always read the
>> fine print has been my lesson.
>>
>> So, while it runs at the faster clock speed, I think it's actually
>> running a slower bus speed.
>
>That doesn't make sense.

I got this information from:
http://www.cluboverclocker.com/guides/memory_rating/ and I was making
some assumptions. I was assuming I had purchased O/C'd memory - say
PC2700 which was clocked to PC3200 through a multiplier but the FSB
was limited by the RAM which would have been set at 333 MHz even
though the clock is running faster. Maybe this isn't correct.
>
>> I've stuck it out and for several months and only notice occasional
>> issues while playing games. That is the ONLY time I ever get a memory
>> error.
>
>What about in memtest86?

I haven't run this test yet, good suggestion.

>
>Just because your computer doesn't crash doesn't mean you didn't get an
>error.
>
>> I'm wanting to upgrade my memory and I'm a bit n00b to the choices.
>>
>> I'm debating strongly on whether or not to go with 1 GB (twin 512's)
>> of true PC3700 or to go with 2 GB (twin 1GB DIMMs) of true PC3200.
>
>Well I don't think there are many people that need more than a 1GB right
>now. If you want to overclock your 3400+ it might be advisable to go with
>some 3700+ to give you headroom to 233MHz.

Ah, okay.

>
>> I really enjoy my PC for gaming. Many of the upcoming games I will be
>> playing seem to be able to take advantage of 2 GB of memory. Games
>> like Doom3, HL2 and possibly Tribes: Vengeance.
>
>It's difficult for me to tell how much RAM I use since the disk cache just
>stores everything, maxxing it out pretty much all the time. I didn't
>realise the newer games could take advantage of such a large quantity of
>RAM.
>
>> So, does the faster memory allow some headroom for O/C'ng and does it
>> cause timing issues?
>
>Timings issues? These things are rated for a maximum, there may be a
>minimum but it'll be so slow you might as well consider it not there (maybe
><50MHz?). So as long as you don't run it faster than it's rated speed, you
>SHOULD be ok.
>
>> Which choice would you recommend for a gamer? The faster memory or the
>> larger memory?
>
>Since the Athlon64s seem quite able to overclock, and the memory controller
>is on the CPU, it would make sense to get faster RAM, that way you can have
>a higher "FSB". I think the multiplier is locked, so without the faster RAM
>you can't overclock.
>
>> The ASUS K8V Deluxe supports up to 3 DIMMs of 1 GB each of PC3200.
>> But, if you use more than two DIMMs the bus speed drops from 400MHz to
>> 200 according to the manual.
>
>In half? That would seem a bit odd.
>
>Hmm, thats what it says.
>
>OK, so having to address 2 single sides in DIMMS 2 and 3 makes it DDR 333
>but having to address 1 double side is fine at 400. any more than that is
>200 (one single, one double, or 2 doubles). Perhaps this is to do with the
>addressing. On the nForce2 there was one address bus per DIMM slot, but
>here there seems to be some kind of sharing between DIMMs 2 and 3 that
>limits speed.
>
>Is this the same for all s754 boards? Not much point in running more than 2
>DIMMs unless capacity really is much more important than speed.

My manual states that I can run 2 DIMMs up to 1 GB each in slots 1,2,
or 1,3 and still get DDR400. I'm not sure about other boards.
>
>Oh well, not sure either way now... hopefully it's a good starting point for
>a discussion though.
>
>Ben

I think I'll cancel my order for the 1 GB of PC3700 and order 2 GB of
PC3200 and forget the O/Cing.

That way I can waste more time playing games and loading these maxed
out textures into memory.

Ben, thanks allot for your help. You got me going in the right
direction.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

dimize@nospam.com wrote:
> On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 10:46:10 +0100, "Ben Pope" <spam@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Ben - excellent advice...
>
>> dimize@nospam.com wrote:
>>> So, while it runs at the faster clock speed, I think it's actually
>>> running a slower bus speed.
>>
>> That doesn't make sense.
>
> I got this information from:
> http://www.cluboverclocker.com/guides/memory_rating/ and I was making
> some assumptions. I was assuming I had purchased O/C'd memory - say
> PC2700 which was clocked to PC3200 through a multiplier but the FSB
> was limited by the RAM which would have been set at 333 MHz even
> though the clock is running faster. Maybe this isn't correct.

Ahh right. When you were talking about the memory and "bus" I assumed the
memory bus, you were referring the FSB.

>> Is this the same for all s754 boards? Not much point in running more
>> than 2 DIMMs unless capacity really is much more important than speed.
>
> My manual states that I can run 2 DIMMs up to 1 GB each in slots 1,2,
> or 1,3 and still get DDR400. I'm not sure about other boards.


Yeah - I read your manual. (well, I downloaded my own copy - it's not like
I went to your house and looked over your shoulder!)

>> Oh well, not sure either way now... hopefully it's a good starting point
>> for a discussion though.
>>
>> Ben
>
> I think I'll cancel my order for the 1 GB of PC3700 and order 2 GB of
> PC3200 and forget the O/Cing.
>
> That way I can waste more time playing games and loading these maxed
> out textures into memory.
>
> Ben, thanks allot for your help. You got me going in the right
> direction.


OK. Good. :-)

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...