Advice on a memory purchase?

[Eucharistadorer]

I need advice on ram, I want to upgrade, but really don't know what would be best for the money. Currently I have 3 gigs of DDR2 400mhz. In terms of latency and speed, what's good? Particularly for my setup. And, doesn't the speed have to lower or equal to the speed of the CPU's fsb? Let me know. Here's my system:GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX,Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, ATI Radeon x1900XT 512,3 Gb DDR2 400mhz,250 Gb SATA HDD.

Thanks

 

[GSTe]

Benchmarks show higher frequency ram performing best with core2 duo chips, but he performance gains in gaming at least are on the order of around 2 or 3%, so in my opinion it wouldn't be worth it. If you really want to upgrade then crucial ballistix pc8500 is the best around at the minute and is also fairly cheap. The speed does not have to be lower or equal than that of the fsb, although some people say that having it in a 1:1 ratio gives best performance. Personally I don't agree, I think it varies according to the motherboard chipset and cpu, at least it has in my experience.

 

[Eucharistadorer]

The reason I want to upgrade is because with my high end sytsem, my boot time is 1 min 20 seconds from power button to when I am able to click things. Which is unusual, so I thought that the ram might be the problem. I still have yet to figure it out. That's why I wanted to upgrade.

 

[GSTe]

I had a similar problem. I think it must have been with a process starting up upon booting, because I backed up my important files, formatted hdd and re-installed XP, and bam! back to 30 second boot ups

 

[Eucharistadorer]

What's funny is that I wiped the drive and reinstalled XP two weeks ago....so why it would be doing this, I don't know. And I also have startup services and programs to a bare minimum.

 

[geofelt]

If the default settings are not good, the motherboard will have to figure it out, perhaps every time. See if the memory manufacturer has some recommendations for your motherboard for that memory. The sticks are all exactly the same, aren't they? If the sticks are different, then it will have to negotiate the loswest common denominator among them, and there might possibly be other problems. Are there any unnecessary bios services, like validating the memory before boot?

 

[Eucharistadorer]

Yes, the sticks are all the same. Just each set is made by different companies, and I got the ram before my p35 mobo came out, so I don't know if they have any recommendations.

As for the unnecessary bios services, how do I check those? Or better yet, where?

 

[TyroneShoelaces]

Yes, the sticks are all the same. Just each set is made by different companies...

Then they are not the same.

-TyShoe

 

[HPCE_Larry]

There is some difference up till after ddr2 800. There is still some difference after that, it just not very large.

 

[Eucharistadorer]

So are you saying I should upgrade?

 

[geofelt]

Run CPU-Z. It will tell you something about the memory. For newer stuff, with a SPD, it will identify who made it, what model, and what speeds and timings it is running at, and the mfg date. Even at the same speed, they can be mismatched. There also should be an info label on the sticks.
You probably press F2 or DEL repeatedly at boot time to get into the bios. Look at every entry for things you don't need. Note what you change on paper in case of a mistake. Look for devices and features you know you won't use, and particularly look for something that says always check memory at boot time. make one change at a time and test until you know what you are doing.
---good luck---

 

[Eucharistadorer]

Ok, I got cpu-z, and here's what it said (I'm kind of dumb when it comes to this subject, so that's why I'm asking if anything's out of place): Frequency- 333.3 mhz, fsb:dram-4:5, CAS# latency- 4.0 clocks, RAS# to CAS# delay-5 clocks, RAS# precharge-5 clocks, Cycle time(tras)- 14 clocks. Anything out of place?

 

[systemlord]

The reason I want to upgrade is because with my high end sytsem, my boot time is 1 min 20 seconds from power button to when I am able to click things. Which is unusual, so I thought that the ram might be the problem. I still have yet to figure it out. That's why I wanted to upgrade.

My boot time used to be about 1 minute until I changed out my Maxtor 80 GB for a Raptor 150 GB HDD. Its all about seek times, random access times. The Raptor WD ADFD1500 has a random access of 4.3ms, my Maxtor had 12ms. You can get them for about $249.99 at WD's website. My boot time (under 20 seconds)is so quick now that I don't see that blue welcome screen before getting to desktop anymore. Have a look for yourself at Tom's HDD performence charts. A week ago I had to RMA my Ballistix and had to use my old PC2 4300 533MHz ram (2x266)and the boot time had no change.

 

[Eucharistadorer]

So it's my hdd? My boot time isn't even average, from what I've told. So there must be a problem other than not having a fast hdd.

Geofelt, I forgot to list the spd info, oops. I'll list them later.

 

[systemlord]

So it's my hdd? My boot time isn't even average, from what I've told. So there must be a problem other than not having a fast hdd.

Geofelt, I forgot to list the spd info, oops. I'll list them later.

Put your spec's in your sig.

 

[Eucharistadorer]

Done.

 

[systemlord]

Done.

Great, now I'm telling you that having a faster HDD (Raptor 150GB) will be very quick with anything you do. At first those Raptors were meant for servers cause there so dam fast, thats why Western Digital calls them Enterprise Class HDD.

 

[geofelt]

If cpu-z says 333.3 and you think you have 400mhz memory, then there may be a slower stick in the mix. On cpu-z go to the spd panel. There is a drop down selector for each of the memory slots. Look at each one to see the manufacturer, part#, etc for each stick. See if there is a difference among the sticks. One other test for memory is memtest86+. This will boot frim a cd or floppy without an OS and exercise your memory. Run it for one pass. This will tell you two things. If it runs clean, then your memory is ok. Second, if it boots quickly, then you know that your long boot times are not bios or memory related. It is best to find the source of the problem first before fixing it.

 

[rsetter1]

USB Support: 2.x Compliant
Error Detection Support: Non-ECC only
Chipset: Intel P35
DDR2 SDRAM Frequencies: PC2-4200, PC2-5300, PC2-6400 and PC2-8500
Supported DRAM Types: DDR2 SDRAM only
Max Unbuffered DDR2 SDRAM: 8192MB
Module Types Supported: Unbuffered only
Max Component Density: 1024
Graphics Support: PCI Express x16
240-pin DDR2 DIMM Banking: 4 (2 banks of 2)

 

[rsetter1]

Although the memory can be installed one module at a time, the best performance comes from using matched pairs of modules.

 

[rsetter1]

PC2-4200= 533MHz
PC2-5300= 667MHz
PC2-6400= 800MHz
PC2-8500= 1066MHz

 

[rsetter1]

Your front side buss is 1066mhz
BIOS provides multipliers for your RAM

 

[Eucharistadorer]

I am so confused rsetter, what did you just tell me to do??

 

[Eucharistadorer]

Ok, this boot issue is ticking me off.

Now something even weirder is going on with my boot. When I get to the login screen and I click on my profile, it says loading settings and stays there for like a minute, like it's trying to think but can't. Then I press ctrl alt dlt to see if that will stop it, and everything loads instantaneously. It's like the OS gets stuck and needs a little nudge to get back on track.

What could this be, if anything?

 

[rsetter1]

E6600 FSB=1066mhz
Your RAM= 400mhz
Supported memory for your board
PC2-4200= 533MHz
PC2-5300= 667MHz
PC2-6400= 800MHz
PC2-8500= 1066MHz
I see a problem