On Thursday June 26 2003 06:24 pm, Brian Schroeder wrote:
> Does anyone know of an easy way to work out the rating of
> SDram (ie. 66, 100, 133)? Obviously, in cases where it isn't
> actually written on the stick.
66, 100, 133, etc. are just marketing labels. Ram is what it'll do.
The more important specs are ns and cas rating, but quality ram
will most often outperform it's specs. Generic ram often won't live
up to it's label. 1000/mhz = ns. The most important bios timings
are mhz, cas, and bank-interleaving.
I've got a mix of pc100 (6 years old) and pc133 ram sticks,
I've been usin all along at 135mhz, cas2, 4-bank interleaving. The
pc100 was sold as 8ns, cas2, but I've used it for years at 1000/135
= 7.4 ns Set to cas3 it'll do 155mhz (6.45ns) and still pass an
overnite run of memtest86 with -0- errors. My daughter's computer
is using 66mhz ram, so old it was manufactured before the marketing
labels were even invented, reliably at 112 mhz, cas3.
'Course the ram quality is only half the story. Equally
important is the motherboard quality, the caps it uses, and a
little over spec IO voltage (+5 to 10%), and a decent high quality
PSU with very steady output. Most quality mobo's furnish over spec
IOv by default, usually 105%. Corsair XMS, probly te best ram
currently available, won't run worth a damn on a PC Chips
motherboard, with substandard caps, fed by a wobbly generic oem
PSU.
--
Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas
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Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
