Optimizing RAM

[DragonYiffer]

I have recently upgraded my RAM and want to make sure I am running it to it's fullest possible potential on my system.
Here are my computer specs:

Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 @ 3.4 GHz
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB @ 1600MHz (2 sticks of 4GB)
GPU: XFX N-vidia GTS 250 core edition

I went into my Bios (the original Bios on the mobo) and the RAM speed and all other settings were set to Auto. However, Auto was set to 1333MHz which was the speed of my old RAM. so I manually set the speed to 8X which is 1660. I had some freezing of my system and a blue screen. so I set other settings to manual including setting the voltage to 1.35V as it was set to 1.50 earlier. Again I had issues with freezing and all.

So I thought I would update my Bios thinking that the supported RAM would be updated and that the 'auto' settings would update to better accommodate my RAM.

Now that my Bios is updated, all settings are set to auto. CPU-Z has the following information about my Memory.

I would also like to note that the 'SPD' tab in CPU-Z shows absolutely no information for all 4 sockets despite sockets 1 and 2 have the RAM in them.

 

[o1die]

Look for an auto settting for the ram and change it to "manual"; you should be able to select the 1600 speed without changing any multipliers. The setting may be listed as 800 or 1600, depending on the board bios.

 

[DragonYiffer]

Look for an auto settting for the ram and change it to "manual"; you should be able to select the 1600 speed without changing any multipliers. The setting may be listed as 800 or 1600, depending on the board bios.

I took a picture of my RAM stick's info the image is below.

This picture shows what that Bios has as default settings that gave me the CPUz Results.

I had changed the Bios settings from X6.00 (1333MHz) to X8.00 (1600MHz) for the RAM clock speed, the changes are shown below. I set the voltage stuff to manual as opposed to Automatic, but didn't change anything as the voltage for the DRAM is already set to 1.50, CPU-Z also had new readings. It doesn't make sense how the numbers changed because my RAM is 9-9-9-24 as you see in the picture.

With that setup, I had gotten a Blue screen while uploading my images, so I made more changes to the Bios.

What was weird is that when I set the Memory clock speed back to 'Auto' the auto setting is now 1600 where as it used to be 1333. Why would the automatic setting suddenly change? I also set the voltage stuff back to Auto. The image below shows my current setting.

CPU-Z now shows the RAM information as exactly the same as it was in my first post.

 

[o1die]

Change set memory clock to manual or the correct setting, either listed as 800 or 1600.

 

[DragonYiffer]

Change set memory clock to manual or the correct setting, either listed as 800 or 1600.

It is on it's correct setting. X8.00 which runs the memory clock at 1600MHz, which is the speed of my RAM. Having this setting on Manual caused the BSOD, leaving it on Auto now has it set to this setting, but before the auto setting was X6.00 @ 1333MHz

 

[cbrunnem]

as long as its stable at 1333 leave it. your not going to gain any noticable speed with 1600. the only time it would be noticeable is in benches.

 

[DragonYiffer]

as long as its stable at 1333 leave it. your not going to gain any noticable speed with 1600. the only time it would be noticeable is in benches.

Interesting. My old RAM is the Corsair XMS3. and here is the story of my upgrade.

I wanted to go from 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM. Logically I was going to get 2 more sticks of 2GB Corsair XMS3 RAM. However, the price was higher for some reason, and it worked out to be a much better deal to get the 2 sticks of 4GB Corsair Vengeance LP RAM.

Both types of RAM use the same voltage, and the salesman told me that I would be better off using only the Vengeance LP RAM and have 8GB 1600MHz instead of having 12GB of RAM running at 1333MHz.

Is this true? or should I slap in the other RAM sticks and have 12GB?

The reason why I used CPU-Z was because I thought my RAM should be at a 1:1 ratio.

 

[cbrunnem]

most people try to not mix ram types and models but you can try and see what your computer does. you wont see or get any performance advantage unless you use photoshop/cad programs or video encoding. 4-6 gb is all you really need for gaming

 

[DragonYiffer]

most people try to not mix ram types and models but you can try and see what your computer does. you wont see or get any performance advantage unless you use photoshop/cad programs or video encoding. 4-6 gb is all you really need for gaming

I guess at this point it's a matter of what I do that best determines which path I should take.

I use my computer for video production, some photo editing and generating, gaming, emulating.

The programs I use are:
- Sony Vegas 10.0 64-bit
- Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
- Adobe After Effects CS5
- Adobe Photoshop CS5 64-bit
- MPEG Streamclip to encode videos (which runs off of Quicktime)
- PCSX2
- Dolphin
- Audio and video calls in WLM

I typically have Windows live Mail and Messenger running in the background and sometimes PeerBlock and utorrent (to share my videos with others)

For the stuff I use, would more RAM benefit me? or the 1600MHz to 1333MHz speed?

 

[cbrunnem]

with 8gb if you ever max out your ram or come close you might see a difference in 8gb to 12 but 1333 to 1600 you wont notice a difference.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-scaling-i7,2325-6.html