DDR ram speed

I have DDR in my computer. How can you tell it's speed? I have two 512 M
DDRs and bought a new 1 G DDR. I was told my the retailer that different
brands and speeds sometime sdon't always go together well.

Bill

Bill Cunningham on 2016/12/01 wrote:

I have DDR in my computer. How can you tell it's speed? I have two 512 M
DDRs and bought a new 1 G DDR. I was told my the retailer that different
brands and speeds sometime sdon't always go together well.

Depends on the OS as to which utility software can run on it. I don't
what you could use on Linux (if not already available in its distro).

On Windows, I use Piriform's Speccy. There are lots or other such
tools, like CPU-Z.

If it's a pre-built, doesn't its manual or sales invoice tell you? If
you built it, look at the brand and model of memory module that you
bought and go to the maker's site to get specs.

Bill Cunningham wrote:
I have DDR in my computer. How can you tell it's speed? I have two 512 M
DDRs and bought a new 1 G DDR. I was told my the retailer that different
brands and speeds sometime sdon't always go together well.

Bill

Try CPUZ.

The portable version is fine.

The program doesn't need to be installed.

http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.78-en.zip

( http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html )

The Memory tab reports the source clock. Since
it's DDR (double data rate), you multiply the
number by 2 for a number of the memory types.

There will be some memory types, where you
don't need to multiply it (the multiplier in
those cases is "1").

You will find the info in the SPD table a bit
easier to read. In the upper left is a pull-down
menu, that allows selecting the DIMMs one at
a time. In that way, you can consult the SPD
table on each DIMM.

The "About" tab allows saving a text report.
All the SPD tables will be recorded there, if
you need them. A typical reason for needing the
SPD table contents, is verifying the chip width.
8 bit chips are the most popular on desktops.
4 bit chips are not allowed on Intel.
16 bit chips aren't used much any more, but
are likely still manufactured.

Paul

There's something called mem86 or such. That I found to be useful and told
me my DDR (1) was failing. Not sure which, if not both modules.

What I meant was looking at the actual memory stick. The young man
looked at the sticks and said they were different speeds. Something says
"PC..." something on the stick. IDK if that tells "clocks" or not. THis CPUz
seems to speak of "clocks". That's a term I haven't come across. I know of
"clock speed" or the processor.

Bill

"Paul" wrote in message
news
Bill Cunningham wrote:
I have DDR in my computer. How can you tell it's speed? I have two
512 M DDRs and bought a new 1 G DDR. I was told my the retailer that
different brands and speeds sometime sdon't always go together well.

Bill

Try CPUZ.

The portable version is fine.

The program doesn't need to be installed.

http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.78-en.zip

( http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html )

The Memory tab reports the source clock. Since
it's DDR (double data rate), you multiply the
number by 2 for a number of the memory types.

There will be some memory types, where you
don't need to multiply it (the multiplier in
those cases is "1").

You will find the info in the SPD table a bit
easier to read. In the upper left is a pull-down
menu, that allows selecting the DIMMs one at
a time. In that way, you can consult the SPD
table on each DIMM.

The "About" tab allows saving a text report.
All the SPD tables will be recorded there, if
you need them. A typical reason for needing the
SPD table contents, is verifying the chip width.
8 bit chips are the most popular on desktops.
4 bit chips are not allowed on Intel.
16 bit chips aren't used much any more, but
are likely still manufactured.

Paul

Bill Cunningham on 2016/12/01 wrote:

What I meant was looking at the actual memory stick. The young man
looked at the sticks and said they were different speeds. Something says
"PC..." something on the stick. IDK if that tells "clocks" or not. THis CPUz
seems to speak of "clocks". That's a term I haven't come across. I know of
"clock speed" or the processor.

Take the DDR frequency and double it. The "PC-spec" lists the speed
at double the clock rate because, well, its double data rate memory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_data_rate

If you have mixed speeds, the mobo should use the speed for the slowest
memory module. However, I've seen some mobos where you must put the
slowest stick in the first slot because its speed gets used for the rest
of the memory slots. That means if a fast stick is in the 1st slot that
the slower sticks will have a too-fast clock rate applied to them.

You should always buy memory in pairs (or quads if you intent to fill
all 4 slots in a 4-slot mobo). It's not just the speed. You want the
architecture for all sticks to be the same. You want them to run at the
same speed and also act alike.

No idea what you mobo requires since you did not identify it (brand and
model). No idea what memory you have because you didn't identify it
(brand and model).

Did you buy the memory that is currently in the mobo or did you buy a
pre-built computer that came with pre-installed memory? If a pre-built,
the maker should have used matching memory modules. If you built it,
your sales invoice should tell you what you bought.

Bill Cunningham wrote:
There's something called mem86 or such. That I found to be useful and told
me my DDR (1) was failing. Not sure which, if not both modules.

What I meant was looking at the actual memory stick. The young man
looked at the sticks and said they were different speeds. Something says
"PC..." something on the stick. IDK if that tells "clocks" or not. THis CPUz
seems to speak of "clocks". That's a term I haven't come across. I know of
"clock speed" or the processor.

Bill

If you want an interpretation of something
you see, either give us a link to a picture,
or type out the part you want help with.

A stick could say

DDR2-800
PC2-6400

The clock is 400MHz. During data transfers
it happens at 400*2 = 800MHz. Very occasionally,
the BIOS may make a reference to that clock,
but that doesn't happen too often due to the
confusion that would cause.

The DIMM is 8 bytes wide. 800MHz * 8 bytes = 6400.

As in 6400MB/sec max theoretical transfer rate.

That's to give you a rough idea how
these numbers relate for some DDR product.

But just type out the info on the
two sticks, and we can comment on the
consequences.

If you tell us the make and model of motherboard,
we might even manage a more specific answer.
You never know.

But just telling us "PC..." will get you a "..."
kinda answer.

Paul

On 12/1/2016 11:12 AM, Bill Cunningham wrote:
I have DDR in my computer. How can you tell it's speed? I have two 512 M
DDRs and bought a new 1 G DDR. I was told my the retailer that different
brands and speeds sometime sdon't always go together well.

Bill

This is a pretty good read.
http://mitigationlog.com/ddr-rammemo...specification/

"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
Bill Cunningham on 2016/12/01 wrote:

What I meant was looking at the actual memory stick. The young man
looked at the sticks and said they were different speeds. Something says
"PC..." something on the stick. IDK if that tells "clocks" or not. THis
CPUz
seems to speak of "clocks". That's a term I haven't come across. I know
of
"clock speed" or the processor.

Take the DDR frequency and double it. The "PC-spec" lists the speed
at double the clock rate because, well, its double data rate memory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_data_rate

If you have mixed speeds, the mobo should use the speed for the slowest
memory module. However, I've seen some mobos where you must put the
slowest stick in the first slot because its speed gets used for the rest
of the memory slots. That means if a fast stick is in the 1st slot that
the slower sticks will have a too-fast clock rate applied to them.

You should always buy memory in pairs (or quads if you intent to fill
all 4 slots in a 4-slot mobo). It's not just the speed. You want the
architecture for all sticks to be the same. You want them to run at the
same speed and also act alike.

No idea what you mobo requires since you did not identify it (brand and
model). No idea what memory you have because you didn't identify it
(brand and model).

Did you buy the memory that is currently in the mobo or did you buy a
pre-built computer that came with pre-installed memory? If a pre-built,
the maker should have used matching memory modules. If you built it,
your sales invoice should tell you what you bought.

The two DDrs that are in the machine now was in there when I bought the
computer around 2004. I do have 4 DIMM slots. The manufactureer is Kingston.
The writing is so small and I must be losing my sight or something. I can't
read it and I have no magnifiying glass but I wrote from the two DDR
DIMMs that are in there. They say PC-3200u-30331-2 IDK if that helps. So you
double because it's a DIMM and not a SIMM.

I can make out 2.6V on the new stick. There are 8 chips soldered into
the circuit board. IDK if that helps.

I just can't see it.

Bill

"Paul" wrote in message
news
Bill Cunningham wrote:
There's something called mem86 or such. That I found to be useful and
told me my DDR (1) was failing. Not sure which, if not both modules.

What I meant was looking at the actual memory stick. The young man
looked at the sticks and said they were different speeds. Something says
"PC..." something on the stick. IDK if that tells "clocks" or not. THis
CPUz seems to speak of "clocks". That's a term I haven't come across. I
know of "clock speed" or the processor.

Bill

If you want an interpretation of something
you see, either give us a link to a picture,
or type out the part you want help with.

A stick could say

DDR2-800
PC2-6400

The clock is 400MHz. During data transfers
it happens at 400*2 = 800MHz. Very occasionally,
the BIOS may make a reference to that clock,
but that doesn't happen too often due to the
confusion that would cause.

The DIMM is 8 bytes wide. 800MHz * 8 bytes = 6400.

As in 6400MB/sec max theoretical transfer rate.

That's to give you a rough idea how
these numbers relate for some DDR product.

But just type out the info on the
two sticks, and we can comment on the
consequences.

If you tell us the make and model of motherboard,
we might even manage a more specific answer.
You never know.

But just telling us "PC..." will get you a "..."
kinda answer.

Thanks Paul. The thing is, I didn't tell him the retailer what my
processor clock speed is. I couldn't remember. If a processor can't handle
the RAM you're not going to get performance. But I'm sure mine can handle
it.

The symptoms I have are freezing up. Rebooting all the time. BSOD and I
don't think it's accurate. beeping and needing to unplug the power and
reboot.

I still have the old RAM in there. I took them out and the charge left
I'm sure. But it's acting sluggish. No rebooting and freezing yet. But it
always comes.

He was going to sell me this stick without a anti static bag. I insisted
on one.

Bill

"Mike S" wrote in message
news
On 12/1/2016 11:12 AM, Bill Cunningham wrote:
I have DDR in my computer. How can you tell it's speed? I have two
512 M
DDRs and bought a new 1 G DDR. I was told my the retailer that different
brands and speeds sometime sdon't always go together well.

Bill

This is a pretty good read.
http://mitigationlog.com/ddr-rammemo...specification/

Yes nice page.

Bill