SaxMan's weird motherboard & RAM

[Netizen1]

- when you current PC only scores 1865 using PCMark05 Free version

- when a 3 y.o. PC you just fix gets a higher score than you (2485):

My PC
Sempron 2800+ (Socket A)
1GB PC4000 DDR RAM (2-2-2-6 @ 166MHz)
Nvidia GeForce 6800XT (256MB)
AsRock K7VT4A Pro (KT400A Chipset)

PC I Fixed:
Athlon XP 2800+ (Socket A)
1GB PC3200 DDR RAM (3-3-3-8 @ 200MHz)
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (128MB)
MSI KT6V-LSR Motherboard (KT600 Chipset)

Okay, instead of hijacking the other thread any further... I made a new post to "discuss" SaxMan's motherboard / ram underclock issue

(mods, feel free to move/copy relevant comments to this thread)

So I went and got the manual online as well for the motherboard in question (ASROCK K7VT4A Pro)
http://www.asrock.com/manual/K7VT4A%20PRO.pdf

And it did state;

North Bridge:
VIA KT400A, FSB@200 / 266 / 333 MHz


However;

Memory:
2 DDR DIMM slots:
DDR1and DDR2 PC2100 (DDR266) / PC2700 (DDR333) for 2 DDR DIMM slots, Max. 2GB;
                                       PC3200 (DDR400) for 1 DDR DIMM slot, Max. 1GB


So, is it one memory chip, or two?

[Saxito Pau]

Good thinking on starting a new thread, Voyd.

It's one single Memory chip. A Crucial Ballistix DDR500 RAM
DDR PC4000 • 3-4-4-8 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR500 • 2.8V • 128Meg x 64
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=BL12864Z503

At this time I am ordering a Crucial Value RAM as well for comparision. Should get it by Wednesday or Thursday.

I can say for sure the ram is manually set to 200MHz in the BIOS. I will post pics a lil later.

But looking at the manual again, that is REAL NONSENSE that I'm limited to just 1GB at DDR400 but can go to 2GB at DDR333

[Netizen1]

Can you post some pics from CPU-Z

get it here http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

post the tabs with the memory timings

[Nephilim]

yeah, alotta budget boards now have a feature like that a '4gb @ ddr2 800hmz and 8gb@ddr667' kind senario

[Saxito Pau]

Update:

It appears that there is a setting in the "Advanced" menu of the BIOS named Flexibility Option

When enabled, the RAM shows up at 166MHz in CPU-Z
When disabled, however, it shows up at 200MHz...
Never did quite understand what this "flexibility tolerance" option meant, but I enabled it nontheless. It's present on all AsRock boards I've encountered so far

Will re-run PCMark05 to see what difference it makes

EDIT: 2431 is the new benchie score.... still below the other PC, but I am a lot happier... is just to actually BEAT that score now

See cpu-z pic here


BIOS option that made the difference:

[W1nTry]

Dread these little oversites... you have a SOCKET A sempron... AKA crippled Athlon XP... THATS why a 3200+ Athlon XP (Barton) would blow you out of the water... a 2800+ Socket A Sempron is like what.... 1.9GHz? a 3200 is 2.2GHz or somethign so.... The sempron CAN'T get to 200MHz to match the ram cause the FSB is 333MHz. The only way to reach 200 aka 400MHZ FSB is to Overclock... *sighs* I clear miss that oui... I was thinking 754 pin Sempron.... lol oh and yeah the KT600 is better than the KT400A. Both are single channel chipsets though... well I hope that answers your questions. Though ur video is better, in this case you ARE CPU limited.

[Saxito Pau]

Yes, Socket A, as quoted in quote in opening post.

Assume nothing in these kinds of cases... thas all.... life goes on

Anyhow at least i have 'acceptable' benchies for a socket A CPU

Time to sell, yes. Will post a listing in the Trading Grounds.

[Netizen1]

W1nTry.... you really really need to slow down and read the posts b4 you reply...


it's a AthlonXP 2800 vs a Sempron 2800
Both Socket A

And I think both are 2.0GHz


@ SaxMan: try to OC the RAM alone, since it's DDR500 afterall. After that, you'll have no other alternative than OC'ing the CPU (or getting a better board {not ASROCK} )

[W1nTry]

Yeah @ slow down... DAMNIT LIFE GOING BY SO QUICKLY.... ah well.