Hi,

I just posted a thread in the hardware Q&A section asking if I could mount DDR667 ram onto a DDR400 mobo (the Asus A8N-E), and I was told that DDR667 is DDR2 and as such, can't be used on a DDR400-only mobo as the slots are different.

So, I need some advice. I'm planning to overclock my rig, but can't because of my RAM speed (my ideal processor speed equates to DDR400 running at 245/490). So since I can't mount higher speed RAMs on it, any other alternatives?

Or are performance RAM specifically for this (ie. DDR400 but can run at 500/600?)?

Thanks a whole bunch.

Thanks, Shawty.

Are there any alternatives for me if I want to put in RAM that can overclock well (to about 245/490) without changing my mobo?

Thanks.

RAM: Kingston Value Ram
Size: 2x1Gb DDR400
Mobo model: Asus A8N-E

Darn,

I'd really like to not have to change the mobo. Also, as long as it can do DDR500, I'd be more than happy. , so no need DDR600.

Any other alternatives other than TCCD then?

Thanks.

Sorry guys. Which ones are those?

I only see Kingston HyperX and Corsair XMS (3200 Pro LED and 3200C2PT) under high-performance RAM.

Are those ok?

Thanks.

Lucifah just told me that his Kingston Value Ram is running at 295.

And that I need to not run it in dual channel mode (and of course increase the voltage) . . . hmmm, maybe I'll try that first.

If I don't have to change anything, that'll be better.

Ok, will have to look into the memory divider. I'm assuming that the OC sticky will have articles on this. Have to do quite a bit of reading up first.

Also, my mobo isn't really an OC friendly board, so I'll have to check and see if I can actually mess around with the divider - last I checked, it lacked certain functions for me to tweak.

Thanks for the direction.

Hi Joylay,

I'm now trying to get a decent OC without changing anything. So I'm going to try with my current RAM first (and I need 2Gb).

Update:

The divider route seems to be working out. Although I'm trying to get the speeds I want without lowering the RAM speeds too much.

Still testing, but seems to be pretty stable right now at 270x9, and RAM lowered to 333/166, and HT at 3x.

I'm pretty much stuck with this speed for now as my BIOS only allows me to go 333, then 266 for RAM speeds. And once I put it to 266 (133), everything goes really funny - like I can't launch Firefox, errors on programs etc. At 333, my RAM speed is already running at 221/442 at current 270x9. Even bumping it up to 275x9 gives me the blue screen of death when I tax the system.

I'm not too sure if loosening the RAM timings some more would help me squeeze more mhz out of them, but more importantly, I'm wondering if loosening it too much would actually negate the performance improvements.

It also seems like such a waste to lower the Ht to 3x and yet not use it to the full 1000Mhz. I mean, now its like only 810mhz.

Theoretically, I should be able to go 334x9 (3Ghz) at HT 3x with RAM set to 133/266. LOL.

Any further thoughts on squeezing that last bit of performance out of them without buying anything new? I'm ALWAYS running at 100% for both cores (even with this new speed), and RAM usage is like around the 1.4-1.8Gb mark.

p.s. DOH. Silly me thought I had KVR, but what I had was actually Corsair Value Rams. Apologies for the wrong info.

Oh, one more thing:

At some point I'm going to want to add in another 1Gb (don't want 4 as I'd lose close to a Gb to PCI), so I'm wondering if I'd get any sort of a performance penalty by not mounting them in pairs? Is that even possible? Or do I have to go 2x1Gb and 2x512?

I'm now running them as single channel, as suggested by Lucifah.

Thanks.

Hmm, you sure about the HT speed not having an effect on the performance?

About the single channel thing - maybe I'll try again with dual channel config on current speeds and see how it is then . . . *cross fingers*

I think you misunderstood about my RAM speed la. I meant my CPU is running at 270x9. My RAM is running at 333/166.

If it was running at 270, I'd be as happy as . . . ummm, I dunno what. LOL.

Thanks for the input guys.

Now tried it out in dual channel again and it seems to work fine. Haven't tried the acid test and tax the computer yet though . . .