Questions about my memory...

[captainkrk]

first of all i want to say im new to this forum but have used it for a long time, so i just want to say thanks for the community for helping me out.

now onto my question...

I feel im pretty computer savvy but i am stumped by what is currently going on with my "NEW" pc.

first of all a little background, i have quite a nice computer built by me and all that good stuff...works great...then i was sent to turkey (im in the military)

my computer wasnt sent here so i decided to buy a cheap one at the BX on base...i ended up getting stuck with a dell.....(6gigs DDR3 Ram 1333MHZ 3.2Ghz intel dual core...yes i know dual core...) mostly bought it for the ram...just through in an HD 6670 by ASUS. anyways things are running ok but not as intended.

now i just want to make sure that everything i have been reading, i am understanding. ddr3 1333mhz memory is actually clocked at 667mhz (because ddr doubles everything) ok CPU-Z shows that is the max bandwith of my RAM great...except it also says its only running at 399mhz...(so about 800mhz) bios is showing memory speed at 800mhz (just want to clarify that is what the ram is running at not its base speed correct?) so some how i need to be able to change it in bios up to 1333mhz so the ram will then effectively run at the 667mhz correct? i have contacted dell about this matter via twitter (because strangely after having this computer for a week and wanting to talk to someone online about this has expired...) and they are at a loss for words...they have told me to take my GPU out they have tried to tell me to try each stick of RAM by its self and also just 2 sticks in each matching channel...so now i have decided since you guys have helped me out so much in the past i will ask for your help up front. whatever questions you have please let me know. and thanks for the help in advance.

thanks
krohn

P.S. my cpu FSB (running at 800mhz) wont underclock the RAM to 800mhz will it?

 

[carl 21]

hi i had same issue i went out and got some new ram i put it in and my cpu FSB went from 400 to 333 my ram is 800mhz so it should go to 400 i then did a memory test and found out that 1 of my ram sticks was faulty i got a new stick of ram and now its bk 2 400 so if i was u i would ran a memory test

 

[carl 21]

cpu-z always splits ram in half so 800 is 400 and so on your FSB will do the same just go into bios and up you ram settings to half of what your ram is

 

[captainkrk]

i would love to update my ram settings haha but as i said i bought a dell so i cant do anything in it...yes i know cpu-z splits my ram in half...so its running at 800 not 1333 like it should...and if thats true about my fsb being split...i have a fsb of 1600??? because the mobo says 1333.

 

[geofelt]

6gb is a strange size. It may be made up of 3 2gb sticks, or a 4gb stick plus a 2gb stick. As far as I know, nobody makes 3gb sticks. If your motherboard is an obsolete X58 based type, then there are 6gb kits that run in triple channel mode.

If you have musmatched sizes of ram spread across two channels, the odd stick will run in single channel mode.
Perhaps that explains your symptoms.

But... not to worry.
ram speed is irrelevant.
The current Intel cpu's have an excellent integrated ram controller. It is able to keep the cpu fed with data from any speed ram.

The difference in real application performance or FPS between the fastest and slowest ram is on the order of 1-3%.

Synthetic benchmark differences will be impressive, but are largely irrelevant in the real world.


Read this Anandtech article on memory scaling:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/1

A dell bios will give you precious few options to adjust anything. But in this case it does not matter.

And, do not worry about a dual core intel cpu for gaming. You will run out of 6670 capability long before the cpu is a limiting factor.

 

[captainkrk]

thats all fine...its 3 sticks 2 gigs each...put in by dell not myself...as for the 6670 it does fine right now until i can get back to my 2 5970's...the dual core im working with is a e5800...cpu-z is also showing bus speed at 199mhz...i dont mind how the computer runs right now its just the fact that i paid for something and its not the way it is supposed to be ya know? thanks again for all the input.