Memory fubar?

[Tenko]

I've just installed 512mb of extra RAM and everything appears to be ok and the PC is recognising the new stick for a total of 1gig.

However when benchmarking the computer the performance has dropped (eg: down from 11k the day before to 9k on 3DMark 2001 today).

Any suggestions on why and what I can do to check the mem? if its possibly knackered Ive got 30 days to send it back to crucial. I've not installed extra RAM before so is there something else that I need to check?

 

[Custodian]

You could try http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[Tenko]

Thanks, but do you have anything else as that didnt work.

I made the mem test boot disk thing fine but when I rebooted the pc it completely ignored the disk in the drive.

 

[Xavier]

What was the old RAM and is the new stuff capable of the same timings?


If you had CAS2 in before, the motherboard will set timings by SPD and thus adding slower (CAS3 maybe?) will force all your DDR to run at the slower clock.

Oh, and if it's an nForce/nForce2 board, and you were running DualDDR between two 256Mb DIMMS, and just added a third DIMM, you'll see a performance hit as the machine is reverting from Dual to single channel operation.

 

[Xavier]

Thanks, but do you have anything else as that didnt work.

I made the mem test boot disk thing fine but when I rebooted the pc it completely ignored the disk in the drive.

Did you maybe consider setting your floppy as a boot drive in the BIOS? If not or you're not sure how, don't try as you might remove your harddisc from the boot chain in the process

Xav

 

[Tenko]

Its an asus A7V266-E board, that much I know.

The CAS 3 stuff? Dunno thats all greek to me

But I did dig this up...

SiSoftware Sandra

System
Manufacturer : eveshamvale
Model : System Name
Version : System Version
Serial Number : SYS-1234567890
ID : 00000000-00000000-00000000-00000000

System Chassis
Manufacturer : Chassis Manufacture
Type : Tower
Can be locked : No
Version : Chassis Version
Serial Number : Chassis Serial Number
Asset Tag : Asset-1234567890
Boot-up State : Safe
Power State : Safe
Thermal State : Safe

Mainboard
Manufacturer : ASUSTeK Computer INC.
MP Support : No
Model : A7V266-E
Version : REV 1.xx
Serial Number : xxxxxxxxxxx

On-board Devices
CMEDIA CMI8738 : Sound Adapter
Promise PDC20265 : Other

System Memory Controller
Location : Mainboard
Error Correction Capability : None
Number of Memory Slots : 3
Maximum Installable Memory : 3GB
Bank 1 - DIMM 1 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 512MB/72
Bank 2 - DIMM 2 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 256MB/72
Bank 3 - DIMM 3 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 256MB/72

Chipset 1
Model : ASUSTeK Computer Inc VT8366/A,VT8367 Apollo KT266/A,KT333 CPU to PCI Bridge
Bus(es) : AGP PCI USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz data rate)
Maximum FSB Speed / Max Memory Speed : 2x 133MHz / 2x 133MHz
Width : 64-bit
IO Queue Depth : 4 request(s)

Chipset 1 Hub Interface
Type : V-Link
Width : 8-bit
Full Duplex : Yes
Multiplier : 1/1x
Speed : 4x 66MHz (264MHz data rate)
IO Queue Depth : 9 request(s)

Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks
Bank 0 : 256MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-7CL 2CMD
Bank 1 : 256MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-7CL 2CMD
Bank 2 : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-7CL 2CMD
Bank 3 : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-7CL 2CMD
Bank 4 : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-7CL 2CMD
Bank 5 : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-7CL 2CMD
Bank Interleave : 4-way
Speed : 2x 100MHz (200MHz data rate)
Multiplier : 3/4x
Width : 64-bit
Power Save Mode : No
Fixed Hole Present : No

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module 1 : Micron 16VDDT6464AG-265CA 69595326 512MB 16x(32Mx8) DDR-SDRAM PC2100U-2533-750 (CL2.5 up to 133MHz) (CL2 up to 100MHz)
Memory Module 2 : Samsung M3 68L3313CT1-CB0 239EB801 256MB 16x(16Mx8) DDR-SDRAM PC2100U-2533-750 (CL2.5 up to 133MHz) (CL2 up to 100MHz)
Memory Module 3 : Samsung M3 68L3313CT1-CB0 23C4B801 256MB 16x(16Mx8) DDR-SDRAM PC2100U-2533-750 (CL2.5 up to 133MHz) (CL2 up to 100MHz)

System Clock Generator
Model : ICS 94228
Software Programmable : Yes
Read-Back Support : Yes
Speed Selected By : Software
Spread Spectrum Modulated : Yes
Number of FSB Speeds : 32
FSB Speed Range : 67 - 233MHz

Environment Monitor 1
Model : Asus AS99127F SMB
Version : 3.01
Mainboard Specific Support : No

Temperature Sensor(s)
Board Temperature : 36.0°C / 96.8°F
CPU Temperature : 54.0°C / 129.2°F

Cooling Device(s)
Auto Fan Speed Control : No
CPU Fan Speed : 5075rpm

Voltage Sensor(s)
CPU Voltage : 1.73V
Aux Voltage : 0.08V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.39V
+5V Voltage : 4.78V
+12V Voltage : 12.22V
-12V Voltage : -15.31V
-5V Voltage : -5.02V

AGP Bus(es) on Hub 1
Version : 2.00
Speed : 4x 66MHz (264MHz data rate)
Multiplier : 1/2x
Fast-Writes Enabled : No
Side Band Enabled : Yes
Aperture Size : 64MB

PCI Bus(es) on Hub 1
Version : 2.10
Number of Bridges : 1
PCI Bus 0 : PCI (33MHz)
Multiplier : 1/4x

LPC Hub Controller 1
Model : ASUSTeK Computer Inc VT8233 PCI to ISA Bridge
ACPI Power Management Enabled : Yes
Random Number Generator Enabled : No
Multiplier : 1/4x
Speed : 8MHz
DMA Multiplier : 1/2x
DMA Speed : 4MHz

USB Controller 1
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
Version : 1.10
Interface : UHCI
Channels : 2
Speed : 48MHz
Supported Speed(s) : Low (1.5Mbps) Full (12Mbps)
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

USB Controller 2
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
Version : 1.10
Interface : UHCI
Channels : 2
Speed : 48MHz
Supported Speed(s) : Low (1.5Mbps) Full (12Mbps)
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

USB Controller 3
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
Version : 1.10
Interface : UHCI
Channels : 2
Speed : 48MHz
Supported Speed(s) : Low (1.5Mbps) Full (12Mbps)
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

FireWire/1394 Controller 1
Model : Creative Labs Audigy 2 Firewire Controller
Version : 1.10
Interface : OHCI
Enhanced Support : No
Channels : 64
Speed : 400MHz

System SMBus Controller 1
Model : VIA VT823x SMBus
Slave Device Enabled : No
Speed : 16kHz
Multiplexor : LPC GPIO Multiplexor

Expansion Slot(s)
PCI 1 (1h) : PCI 32-bit +5V +3.3V PME Half-Length Available (VIA Technologies Inc VT8366/A,VT8367 Apollo KT266/A,KT333 PCI to AGP Bridge)

Performance Tips
Notice 224 : SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.
Warning 2508 : All memory slots are full. Upgrading the memory may be difficult or expensive.
Warning 2545 : Large memory modules should be Registered/Buffered.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2548 : Speed set by software. For reliability, consider by jumpers/switch.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

All of which ain't quite Greek to me maybe only Latin, which I know abit of but not exactly fluent in