setting for crucial PC133 CAS2

[Guest]

I just bought a stick of Crucial 256MB PC133 CAS2. How high of a setting can I set for this stick of memory in my BIOS. In the advance chipset setting in my BIOS there is an option selection for Bank DRAM Timing. My choices are SDRAM 10ns, SDRAM 8ns, Turbo, Fast, medium, and normal. Right now I have it set to 'Turbo' under the 'Bank DRAM Timing Setting' and '2' under the 'CAS setting.

Will this fry the stick of memory or is it okay?

 

[amdchuck]

The Cas latency setting of 2 is perfect. Two points of question though.

1. Check your memory bus speed, make sure it is not at 100 Mhz. You did not mention what CPU you use but if it is a non C Athlon and is not tweaked, the memory may be at only 100Mhz.

2. The 8/10 ns/Fast/Turbo/Normal/Medium settings require a bechmark utility to effectively gauge the changes. I have found Medium to be the most effective on my system followed by normal then 8/10 ns. I found Fast to be the least effective setting (strange huh) and Turbo would not let Windows boot (although it may have if I was determined)If your system is is booting with it set on turbo, I would suspect your memory may still be at 100Mhz so check that.

A program such as SiSoft's Sandra while not the best benchmark will tell you without a doubt what speed and Cas latency the memory is running at as well as give you a rough idea of performance changes between the Fast/Normal etc. DRAM timing settings.

good luck

 

[phsstpok]

CAS 2 setting is fine but some memory is CAS 2/2/2 and other memory is CAS 2/3/2. (Don't ask the technical meaning. I don't know). The former memory can be set at DRAM Turbo Timing. The latter at Fast timing. The memory vendor may have told which type you have but if not you can usually tell by looking at the DRAM chips, themselves. The CAS 2/3/2 will usually be 7.5 ns DRAM. (You'll see "-75" in the lower right corner of each DRAM chip). CAS 2/2/2 memory will usually be 7 ns or 6.5 ns. (You will "-7" or "-65" on the chips). There is also a utility that can tell you what kind of memory you have. It is called CTSPD. (Sorry, I don't have a link at the moment. I will post another message when I find it).

 

[Crashman]

Crucial is 7.5ns but still 2/2/2. I have mine set for the fastest settings and it works fine (2 sticks puchased 4 months apart).

Suicide is painless...........

 

[phsstpok]

I stand corrected.

My OCZ RAM is also 7.5 ns but is 2/3/2 but I get great results in benchmarks.

Sandra Memory Benchmark
Int ALU - 471
Float FPU - 557

Duron@900 on KT7, 100 FSB, DRAM @133 mhz, CAS2, Fast Timing, 4-way Interleave, 4K page mode.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the responses.

I'm benchmarking my system with Sandra SiSoft 2000. I have a classic Athlon 800 MHZ on an ABIT KA7-100 MB. The highest score I can get on this system is

316 ALU
330 FPU

in 'Turbo' setting and CL=2. Does anyone know if I can break the 400 MB/s barrier on this system?

 

[phsstpok]

I saw a message on this forum about a program that turns on 4-way interleave. It is intended for systems with Via KT-133 chipsets. I don't know if it will work with the KX-133 chipset.

4-way interleave boosts memory performance quite a bit.

 

[amdchuck]

phsstpok has it right, Memory Interleave is the one setting I forgot to mention and it does make quite a bit of difference.

Regarding the program he mentioned, it is WPCREDIT and available from the link below.

http://www.viahardware.com/wpcreditkt133.shtm

Some points to note though: my Soyo board has the Memory Interleave option in BIOS (disabled/2-Way/4-Way), so I do not need to use that program, it seems the Abit and Iwill boards have this option as well while the Asus and MSI boards do not, therefore WPCredit is required to enable memory interleave.

Make sure you need this program before you install it otherwise it will only be useful for information.

 

[amdchuck]

sorry, just noticed you advised your Mobo is the ABIT board, that should have the memory interleave option right in your BIOS, WPCredit should not be required. Try 2-way bank interleave and benchmark, then try 4-way and cross reference benchmark results.

4-way should be best but if you only have one stick of RAM you may have to go with 2-way for best results.

 

[phsstpok]

Hey, thanks. I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of that program.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the extra info all. I checked my BIOS and there wasn't any interleaving option. I wonder if upgrading the BIOS would give me that option. Does anyone know?

If not I'll use the program mentioned by AMDChuck. Much appreciated.