Should RAM timings have to be set manually?

Hello,

I bought a pair of Kingston HyperX RAM sticks, and tried to use them today;
these ones:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144114

Unfortunately, instead of the 2-3-2-6 timings they are sold at, they come up
(auto) on the board (Epox 9NDA3I) as 2.5-3-3-8 timings. Attempting to set
them at the stated speed results in the board slowing them down to 166MHz
(PC 2700, DDR 333), and setting the memory back up to 200MHz results in
errors in memtest86.

I was rather surprised when the tech support fellow at Kingston told me that
I would have to set the memory timings manually in order to get them to run
at the specified timings.

So, my question is, is it generally required to have to set memory timings
manually in order to get the timings that are specified by the manufacturer?

Also, is it generally required to have to manually increase the voltage of
memory in order to get them to run at the timings specified by the
manufacturer?

Thanks,

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote in message ...
Hello,

I bought a pair of Kingston HyperX RAM sticks, and tried to use them today;
these ones:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144114

Unfortunately, instead of the 2-3-2-6 timings they are sold at, they come up
(auto) on the board (Epox 9NDA3I) as 2.5-3-3-8 timings. Attempting to set
them at the stated speed results in the board slowing them down to 166MHz
(PC 2700, DDR 333), and setting the memory back up to 200MHz results in
errors in memtest86.

I was rather surprised when the tech support fellow at Kingston told me that
I would have to set the memory timings manually in order to get them to run
at the specified timings.

So, my question is, is it generally required to have to set memory timings
manually in order to get the timings that are specified by the manufacturer?

Also, is it generally required to have to manually increase the voltage of
memory in order to get them to run at the timings specified by the
manufacturer?

The SPD chip on most memory modules is set to JEDEC
standards, regardless of the module's actual speed and
timing capabilities. Manufacturers do this so they can
maintain compliance with JEDEC standards. A system bios
(in auto mode) simply reads whatever timings are stored on
the SPDs, and it's up to the end-user to override these
default timings.

Also, whether a module needs extra voltage to achieve its
rated speed specs depends on the memory chips used in
the module. Some chips need a voltage boost, others don't.
For this reason manufacturers have begun specifying a
voltage range for a given module (e.g. 3.1-3.3V) instead of
a single number.

use something like CPU-Z or WCPU-ID to find out what the ram's reported
SPD settings are - these SHOULD be what the mobo wants to set them at by
default. The SPD values may not match the given spec, but the ram should
work at the given spec if you manually set it there. Bump voltage 0.1
volt up if a memtest86+ fails. If still no good at stated spec then send
'em back and get another brand.

are there any other sticks in there? the mobo will need to set a speed
that is compat w/ all sticks.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do a memtest to validate new ram BEFORE booting into
any OS on the HD - boot from floppy and make sure it passes! Booting to an
OS has the potential to corrupt the HD (HD data buffers are stored in RAM
prior to writting, so if ram is bad data written to disk can be bad too.)
NEVER install an OS to HD if ram is not 100% perfect!

wrote:
use something like CPU-Z or WCPU-ID to find out what the ram's reported
SPD settings are - these SHOULD be what the mobo wants to set them at by
default. The SPD values may not match the given spec, but the ram should
work at the given spec if you manually set it there. Bump voltage 0.1
volt up if a memtest86+ fails. If still no good at stated spec then send
'em back and get another brand.

are there any other sticks in there? the mobo will need to set a speed
that is compat w/ all sticks.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do a memtest to validate new ram BEFORE booting into
any OS on the HD - boot from floppy and make sure it passes! Booting to an
OS has the potential to corrupt the HD (HD data buffers are stored in RAM
prior to writting, so if ram is bad data written to disk can be bad too.)
NEVER install an OS to HD if ram is not 100% perfect!

Hi Frodo,

Yeah, this is a new build, on the kitchen table ATM, haven't even hooked up
a HDD yet. That is the only RAM in it right now; is there a way to get
CPU-Z or WCPU-ID to run from from DOS?

BTW, when it failed Memtest, it actually crashed it; I had to hard boot the
machine with the power button. .

I'll try bumping up the voltage a tenth of a volt. Otherwise I'm thinking
of getting the Crucial Ballistix (2 x 512) instead; any thoughts on those?

Thanks,

Jon

"
The SPD chip on most memory modules is set to JEDEC
standards, regardless of the module's actual speed and
timing capabilities. Manufacturers do this so they can
maintain compliance with JEDEC standards. A system bios
(in auto mode) simply reads whatever timings are stored on
the SPDs, and it's up to the end-user to override these
default timings.

Also, whether a module needs extra voltage to achieve its
rated speed specs depends on the memory chips used in
the module. Some chips need a voltage boost, others don't.
For this reason manufacturers have begun specifying a
voltage range for a given module (e.g. 3.1-3.3V) instead of
a single number.

Interesting, thanks for that. Now if only the actual SPD timings would be
listed by the manufacturers.

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote:
...is there a way to get
CPU-Z or WCPU-ID to run from from DOS?

Following up, there isn't - CPU-Z needs a dos box (not straight DOS), and
WCPUID won't either.

Any other way to read SPD from DOS?

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:

Any other way to read SPD from DOS?

MemTest86 will display the main timings, at least when run on a mobo
equipped with an nVidia nForce chipset.

I've never bought Kingston HyperX memory, only ValueRAM, but I've found
that it can't be overclocked at all, and often it needs to be run at
slower than the SPD settings, especially the 1T/2T command time
parameter (but many BIOSes seem to set this to 2T, even when the SPD
says 1T). Oddly, I've never had a failure with PNY brand DDR memory.

"larry moe 'n curly" wrote:

I've never bought Kingston HyperX memory, only ValueRAM, but I've found
that it can't be overclocked at all, and often it needs to be run at
slower than the SPD settings, especially the 1T/2T command time
parameter (but many BIOSes seem to set this to 2T, even when the SPD
says 1T). Oddly, I've never had a failure with PNY brand DDR memory.

Thanks, Larry. Indeed only changing the command rate to 1T caused a failure
in these sticks. I don't know if I got a bad batch, or if it is indicative
of all Kingston HyperX, but I'm not planning to find out. These are going
back to where they came from, and a different brand showing up in their
place.

Jon

In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Jon Danniken wrote:
"Jon Danniken" wrote:
...is there a way to get
CPU-Z or WCPU-ID to run from from DOS?

No, but memtest86+ does show the SPD values (actually, I think it shows
the values BEING USED, not necc. the SPD reported values.)

You could try booting a cd rom (http://www.ubcd4win.com/), I think it has
cpu-z on it, if not you can add whatever you want to it when creating the
UBCD4Win. This is a useful tool to have, take the time to make it now,
it'll save ya someday!

wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
...is there a way to get
CPU-Z or WCPU-ID to run from from DOS?

No, but memtest86+ does show the SPD values (actually, I think it shows
the values BEING USED, not necc. the SPD reported values.)

Indeed; it shows the values being used. I read that CPU-Z works in DOS, but
it turns out it only runs in a dos window, not pure DOS.

You could try booting a cd rom (http://www.ubcd4win.com/), I think it has
cpu-z on it, if not you can add whatever you want to it when creating the
UBCD4Win. This is a useful tool to have, take the time to make it now,
it'll save ya someday!

Aye, thanks. I did d/l Bart's PE the other night, gonna have to put it
together and do some poking around with it.

In the meantime, I ordered a pair of the Crucial Ballistix (512 x 2) sticks,
so I'll see how those do when they arrive.

Thanks,

Jon