Why is my memory running at 800 instead of 1066?

[AD-15]

hello,

I recently received my system from SCAN. I have the Abit IP-35 pro and 2gb of DDR2 1066 memory.

I was worried the mb wouldn't support this speed, so I phoned up and was told this chipset has native supoort for 1066. In addition, I looked at a review and it appears this mb does indeed support 1066.

However, during start up, it is reported as being dual channel 800 memory.

What is wrong?

[herulach]

what processor are you using it with? If the processor is running at the lower speed then that your problem there

[Lucio]

You probably have to set the timings via the BIOS to get it to it's full speed, because the RAM was released before mobo's that supported 1066 timings natively it's default settings are probably set to a safer 800 to ensure it can boot.

[AD-15]

I'm using an E6600 duo.

Thanks!

[Azza]

The motherboard will atuomatically set it to that.

If you download CPUZ the timings that it will show will probaiblly be different to what they are qutoed at being.

Just go into the BIOS and set them manually you will probaiblly have to change the voltage aswell because it will more than likely be at something like 1.9V.

[herulach]

I cant stress how much you shouldnt go dicking around in the bios without knowing what youre doing.
The E6600 runs with an 800 mhz bus speed, as such, the memory is performing exactly as expected. If you want to get the higher speed then either go into the bios and lower the mulitplier (CPU operating frequency is determined by the multiplier x bus speed) while increasing the Bus speed, to end up with the same cpu speed, but faster RAM, or, have a read of clunks overclocking guide here:
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=103676

And see how fast you can get the whole system. I should also point out at this point that overclocking will void your warranty.

[ExceededGoku]

yeah to get the full 1066Mhz speed you need to overclock and increase voltages.

[Clunk]

You can run the CPU at stock and the RAM at 1066 if you use a divider.

The board will see the RAM as PC2-6400 by default. This is because there is no JEDEC specification for PC2-8500 (1066), so the board will automatically read the SPD of the RAM and set it to whatever it is, and in this case, the SPD is set to the current highest JEDEC spec, which is PC2-6400. You just need to set it manually, either by using a divider, or by upping the FSB. Or both.

[AD-15]

hello,

Thankyou so much for your suggestions everyone!

I can't do anything for 5 weeks though, I'm away in Amman.

However, some of the suggestions make me nervous, can any of it be classed as overclocking? Will any warranties become void? I was assured it would all be natively supported.

Thanks!

[zephod]

The board defaults to pc6400 (DDR2-800). The e6600 is a 1066fsb chip and on that board with run with a 266 bus speed in the bios. To have the ram running at 400mhz (DDR2-800) this requires a 3:2 Ram:bus ratio. However, if you wish to increase your fsb (overclock the processor) without decreasing this ratio, then the ram should be good at stock timings all the way up to DDR2-1066 (probably slightly more). This gives you a ram freq. of ~533mhz. At 3:2 ratio that takes your fsb to ~355mhz. With the e6600's 9x multiplier thats a cpu clock speed of ~3.2ghz --- and thats the route I would go down, personally.

However, if you do not want to o/c and want to set the RAM to 1066, then this should work at stock timings and there should be an option in the p5k bios to set the ratio to 2:1 which would achieve the desired result.

Sorry for any maths errors - that was all done a bit quickly - if there is no option check the asus webbie and maybe get the latest BIOS version - if there even is a new one atm. I'm under the impression that the ram is supported as is...

[AD-15]

hello,

Thanks.

So if I were to just change the ratio as you said, I wouldn't get any stability or heat issues? It would be exactly the same as before, except with faster RAM?

[ExceededGoku]

yeah changing the ratio is effectively overclocking, make sure you voltage is at the correct voltage for your memory or you might have a boot issue on your hands. Changing ratio does nothing to motherboard in terms of stability, temps may rise due to your modules being at their rated speed and voltage. You must understand that all DDR2 ram on motherboards defaults to DDR2-667 speeds with timings of 5-5-5-15 at a voltage of 1.8v. To get your speed, timing and voltage you need to individually select it. For example if your RAM is rated at DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15 at 2.2v you will need to adjust the ratio, and you can leave the timings if they are indeed 5-5-5-15 (which is default in bios, also called "automatic") but you will have to adjust voltage yourself which will be +0.4v to get to 2.2v (from 1.8v).
Hope this helps!

[AD-15]

hello,

I've just got a reply from Scan, and they said I just have to go into the BIOS and change the option which allows it to run at 1066, and that it was just automatically set to 800. Can it really be that simple?

You'd think the build team would have sorted this out.

Thanks!

[stormy]

AD-15, it should be, the P5K is the same, it autodetects my ram and 800 but there is just one switch to force 1067 in the BIOS and it worked fine until my PC stopped working that is, but thats another story!

[AD-15]

Ok, thanks

[AD-15]

hello,

I've tried, but when I enter the BIOS, searching all over, I can't find an option to change it to 1066. The closest I got was finding some random stuff about latencies.