On Tuesday 11 September 2001 08:30 am, Adrian Lynch escribi�:
> So it's just a case of me changing the BIOS from auto to 133?
Yes. You should post what the system is (cpu/mobo) and what bios
it uses. Unless there's a facility on the ram PCB to signal the bios
what speed to run the ram at, 'auto' doesn't have any effect. It's
usually better to manually set the ram timings anyhow. Also, the
quality and stabiity of the motherboard is, IMO, more important to ram
performance, than what the ram is labeled.
> Does it really not matter what I get, surely there is some
> difference? I would still like one 128MB stick instead of two 64's!
You probly have some gripe with the vendor. BUT I'll tell you
right now that ALL ready made vendors, even the most popular ones like
Dell, Gatway, Compaq, etc., routinely substitute lower spec parts into
their systems. As I said below, most ram sold as pc133 .... really
isn't 7.5ns ram. It's just capable of running at 133.3mhz, CL3. I
suspect you've got 2 sticks of 8ns CL3 ram. Both of which will do
133mhz, regardless of the label on them.
What you've run across is actually the best reason to learn about
hardware, and build your own system.
--
Tom Brinkman Galveston Bay
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Brinkman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 11 September 2001 14:24
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [newbie] RAM: How much is enough?
>
> On Tuesday 11 September 2001 04:47 am, Adrian Lynch escribi�:
> > Speaking of RAM, I hope nobody minds me slating a PC company, but
> > it needs to be said. I bought a PC from Evesham a while back, it
> > should have come with 128Mb PC133 SDRAM, just opened it up
> > lastnight, and what do I find? Two 64Mb chips, one PC133 the other
> > PC100.
> >
> > Whats the point of giving me a mix of the two if the lower one
> > brings the higher one down?
>
> It doesn't "bring[s] the higher one down". pc66, pc100, and pc133
> are mostly nothin more than marketing labels. What is important is
> the nano second rating (ns) and the cas latency rating (CL), and of
> course the quality and design of the PCB the ram chips are on. The
> pcxxx label is practically meaningless.
>
> A rough gauge is that the ram should be 1000/133.3 = 7.5ns to run
> at 133.3mhz. Better 133mhz ram will also be non-ECC, and CL2. BUT
> most ram sold under the pc133 marketing label is 8ns (really 125mhz),
> CL3, on less than the best quality/design PCB.
>
> Bottom line is ram is what'll do, according to what you set it to
> with bios settings. I've had ancient 66mhz ram, before the
> pc<whatever> labels were invented, that would run reliably at 112mhz,
> CL3. I've been using an old 128mb stick of 8ns CL2 ram (pc100)
> flawlessly for years at 135mhz CL2. It's in my system right now mixed
> with 2 other sticks of pc133, all running together at 135mhz CL2 with
> -0- errors.
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