Hey Guys,

So I just got a new system set up and finally got it going(had some problems with a stick of RAM!!). After installing the drivers and some overclocking utilities I was feeling pretty good about this new rig. Well, I went into AMD's Overdrive utility and noticed my Memory frequency was rated at around 400mhz... Is this normal for memory to have a lower freq. when idle? How can I tell it's going up to the correct Mhz under load? I've heard a lot of people say that their 1066mhz sticks only reach 800mhz on some mobos.

I have one stick of Corsair Dominator memory, rated at 1066Mhz, it's a 2 gigabyte stick.

Just wondering if this is all correct or if somethings wrong here. The other stick that came with this package didn't work at all so im a bit worried about this one. It may be normal, i dont know I need someone to help me out here so I can have some peace of mind. Any tips or advice would be great!!

Thanks

I've heard of that same problem when looking around for mobos. One way to fix it is find the stock voltage for the RAM on Corsairs website, and check the voltage of yours in your BIOS. If the voltage shown in the BIOS is lower, just boost it up, and the frequency should be 1066mhz...

Hope this helps!

There is no such thing as DDR2 1066.

JEDEC sets the standards for memory and their specifications for DDR2 are 400, 533, 667 and 800 all @ 1.8v. Some memory is sold at different ratings than this but all that is is a guarantee from the manufacturer that you memory will overclock to those speeds. Download and run CPUZ and check the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) tab and it will show the different speeds and voltages that your memory is rated for. There should be a few different ratings, some of them listed as JEDEC and some EPP (Enhanced Performance Profiles). The ratings that were listed when you bought it will be listed under EPP and you will have to maually go into the BIOS and change it to those settings. When you first install memory it defaults to it's JEDEC specifications.

I have to disagree, there IS such thing as DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 66&x=0&y=0

However, these may be just stock memory, which is then OC'ed and with a warranty slapped onto it. But for me, as long as its got a warranty on it, that's fine by me

the 400 you see on the utility is the base freq, so it really is running at 800.

don't forget to bump up the voltage as well when changing the settings...

And I disagree with Pains. DDR2-1066 is like SATAII. There is no official standard for either one. Companies sell products calling it DDR2-1066/SATA2, but the official standard doesn't exist.

What your ram will be running at depends on how you have it set to run in the bios. For example, if you have your FSB:RAM ratio set to 1:1 and you have your FSB set to 400MHz, then your ram will be running at 400MHz. (or 800MHz DDR speed.) It doesn't matter what ram you put in there, the bios will try to run it at 800MHz. Check your bios settings to see how your ram is supposed to be ran.

What is wrong is that you didn't search out existing threads on this topic. How many times will the same topic be discussed in new threads when the OP could just do a quick search educate themselves.

Bet this guy will start a new thread trying to figure out why windows only reports ~ 3 gig of ram...

You can disagree all you want because it's a fact. Companies make up these numbers to sell more memory at higher prices.

I have Mushkin DDR2 1066 and this is a shot of CPUZ from it

It is sold as DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 but as you can see it is actually DDR2 800 5-5-5-18

It's funny you said that because I have written this same thing countless times and I was thinking of writing something up in hopes of being a sticky so it could be used as reference but most people don't bother to read the stickys so I just felt it wasn't worth the effort.

OP, you see the correct speed of your RAM. The memory controller is on die for AMD CPU's. All AMD CPU's run at a base clock of 200Mhz. However, the AMD operates at 2 signals per clock cycle (200Mhz*2) so the FSB is actually 400Mhz. The RAM operates at the same speed as the FSB but it is DDR (Dual Data Rate) so the RAM operates at 2*FSB which is 800Mhz. But it is still detected as operating at 400Mhz with the FSB. And, DDR2-1066 is just DDR2-800 RAM overclockable to 533Mhz (DDR2-1066) supposedly. And the only way to get the RAM to 533Mhz is to bump up the FSB to 267Mhz and up the voltage for the RAM. But it's worth having the memory controller on die in my opinion. and if you can overclock your AMD that fast then you're doing alright.

My mistake ausch30, I suppose I should have looked into the topic more.

However, I'm a bit confused. You're saying DDR2 1066 is DDR2 800 running at a higher frequency? Or am I mistaken?

So if I popped in some DDR2 800 with a low CAS latency ~3, would that be faster than DDR2 "1066" with a CAS of 5?

The thing is that companies do a lot of shady things. A lot of RAM sold as DDR2 800 is actually DDR2 667 and so on. The things to look for when buying RAM are the timings but more importantly the voltage. A lot of companies try to hide the fact that they are using lower quality chips by hiking up the voltage to achieve better timings.

This is just one example but you can see that the first set are at the industry standard 1.8v while the second set need 1.9v to achieve the same timings.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146692
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184

Here is another example

The first one is from my old RAM which was sold as DDR2 800 4-4-3-10 2.1v while the second is from my current RAM which was sold as DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 2.05v

As you can clearly see they are both DDR2 800 but at the standard 1.8v the set sold as slower memory is actually capable of better timings 5-5-5-15 instead of 5-5-5-18. Most quality DDR2 800 is capable of reaching as high or higher overclocks as RAM sold as DDR2 1066.

Ouch.... I never noticed that. I assumed that each memory stick on the market was original, guess that shows how ignorant I was

Anyways, ill keep that in mind when I build a new rig.

Thanks for the clarification!

Ok, thanks guys!

So it seems i really have some ddr2 800 RAM that I just need to overclock to achieve 1066mhz. That'd be great if i could get my Base clock of 200Mhz past 208Mhz before my system crashes!! I've heard some strange things with higher voltages and the AMD Phenom processor... I don't think that problem will arise though. Is the AMD Overdrive auto tune total crap?

And hairycat10 1 don't be such an ass. I got much more specific help from these guys!