My Clock Speeds On My ATi Sapphire X1300 512MB PCI-X Are Messed Up

[Casheti]

My Clock speeds say 475MHz Core but my memory is only 257MHz, but it should be running 400MHz, as is standard for my card. What is going on?

 

[TweakMaster]

Shouldnt you be getting over 500 mhz memory cus if so then youve got the correct speeds, as its ddr its 257 x 2 = 514

 

[Casheti]

Well, my Catalyst Contol Centre says i have DDR2 memory running at 257MHz, and Core at 475MHz. What the hell is wrong with my card?

(P.S It has a heatsink, not a fan, and the board is blue, just so you know which version of the card im talking about)

The 475MHz is right because factory settings are 450MHz, so there is definitely something wrong with the memory

 

[TweakMaster]

This one?

 

[Casheti]

yeah

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productfiles/124image4.jpg

 

[TweakMaster]

Usually when you look at your memory speeds with a ddr gcard it will only show half of what its capable of as the ddr actually doubles the number.. my gcard shows 560MHZ for memory when really its 1120MHZ memory so it looks like your memory speeds are correct.. have you downloaded ATI tool? If that shows 257MHZ aswell then your speed is actually 514MHZ

The doubling of the number only applies to the memory.. the core will show the correct speed and the memory you just times by 2

 

[TweakMaster]

Anyone want to confirm or deny what i said to put his mind at rest?

 

[Casheti]

Hey, thanks

 

[Casheti]

One more thing m8, if i have 2 512MB DDR2 PC4300 533MHz Ram sticks in my comp, and I just slam a 1 GB stick of the same speed and everything in my comp, will it slow the others down? And also, does having DDR2 on both gcard and system ram make the gcard run better?

And.. do those little ramsinks for g cards make any difference performance wise?

 

[TweakMaster]

If overclocking, ramsinks and extra cooling is always recommended because it will always keep it from running at hot temperatures and wont die at an early age, if your running at stock though you wont get extra performance.

With your memory sticks, i'd imagine the 512 stick would have faster memory timings than the 1 gb stick and it will always run at the slower speed / timings (just like if you had a 533 fsb stick and a 400 fsb stick it will run both at 400fsb). Not sure if matching ddr2 gcard mem with ddr2 normal mem will make any difference just because its identical but having ddr2 normal memory will give you more of a performance boost than normal ddr

 

[Casheti]

With your memory sticks, i'd imagine the 512 stick would have faster memory timings than the 1 gb stick and it will always run at the slower speed / timings (just like if you had a 533 fsb stick and a 400 fsb stick it will run both at 400fsb).

Well, the 2 512's and the 1GB would both be 533, so they will all run 533 yes?

And what would be better, just a single 1GB stick, or 2 512's? Becasue that special Dual ram or whatever it is, is on my MOBO. How much difference does running them in dual mode make? Is it noticeable? 1 Last thing, in SysSpec, it says my ram utilization is 51% at the moment. The lowest it has ever been is like 36%. I'm worried about this 51% (the highest it has ever been), because does this basically mean that my ram is not working as it could (or should) be?

 

[Tatty_Two]

One more thing m8, if i have 2 512MB DDR2 PC4300 533MHz Ram sticks in my comp, and I just slam a 1 GB stick of the same speed and everything in my comp, will it slow the others down? And also, does having DDR2 on both gcard and system ram make the gcard run better?

And.. do those little ramsinks for g cards make any difference performance wise?

And of course if your 2 sticks of 512MB were running in dual channel mode and you add a 1GB stick......no more dual mode and thats a fairly significant decrease in performance, more so than the benefit of having the extra memory so counter-productive IMO.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Well, the 2 512's and the 1GB would both be 533, so they will all run 533 yes?

And what would be better, just a single 1GB stick, or 2 512's? Becasue that special Dual ram or whatever it is, is on my MOBO. How much difference does running them in dual mode make? Is it noticeable? 1 Last thing, in SysSpec, it says my ram utilization is 51% at the moment. The lowest it has ever been is like 36%. I'm worried about this 51% (the highest it has ever been), because does this basically mean that my ram is not working as it could (or should) be?

It can take a lot of time and tweaking to get your RAM running almost perfectly, I assume you have Sandra and have run the Memory Bandwidth test. The perfect balance between speed and timings is what you are after, for example, if you overclock your memory, it will get to a point where it starts to become "stretched" that actually happens before instability kicks in and of course depends on the speed and quality of your memory in the first place, once it becomes "stretched" it actually goes backwards in performance so the general idea is to tweak until you hit the sweet point and then gently tighten your timings, each time running "Memtest" to ensure stability.

As a matter of point......my "Value" memory running in dual mode is at 91% efficiency, Sandra uses the same bench criteria for each speed/size of module so it does not determine if its "Value" or OCZ Platinum so 91% is REALLY good for value, in fact its really good for any!

 

[Casheti]

Where can I get Sandra, and how do I use it?

 

[TweakMaster]

Sisoftware.co.uk

 

[Casheti]

Where can i Look at the memory utilization, and how do I make the memory better?

 

[TweakMaster]

Im pretty new to sandra myself so i cant help there

 

[Casheti]

Ok, post back when you do know how, or email me, casheti@hotmail.com

 

[Tatty_Two]

Once you have installed sandra, open it and you will see a number of icon options, towards the bottom you will see the "memory bandwidth test", double click and run it, it takes about 30 secs and will analise your memorys performance, scroll down the results, look for your memory's bandwidth, there will be a couple of memory (not to be confused with the CPU bandwidth), take the highest one, then look and you will see a % efficiency, you should be aiming for a bandwidth well into the 6000's and an efficiency of over 85% to start.

I should stress that you should not get too hung up about your memory's performance, the difference between say a 50% efficiency and say 90% is probably only about 5% of your system's overall performance but for those of us who try to gain every "ounce" outta our systems then it matters.

To answer your questions on "tweaking", well...........to start with, your memory speed is of course limited by your system so if you have PC3200 (DDR400) RAM then thats the speed it will run without raising your FSB (front side bus) ie CPU overclocking, am trying to keep things simple here as I dont really know how much basic knowledge you have, so you aint gonna get your memory running faster without raising your FSB and therefore overclocking, check my specs, you will see I am clocking a 2Gig processor to 2650, to do that I had to reduce my memory divider, in laymans terms....drop the base speed of my memory from 400Mhz (200x2, remember its DDR = double data rate) to 333MHz (166 x 2) otherwise my memory would be running at rockets speeds, well it wouldnt cause it just would not boot. You will see in my specs doing that still gives me a fairly decent overclock on my memory which is just about my maximum on value ram, I could of course drop the divider down in BIOS (remember RAM base speed) to 133Mhz which would actually give me an underclock.

I have not gone into equations yet to show you how the memory speeds work to get you to the final figure using the multiplier as I dont want to confuse the issue too much at this stage. Timings will be specified for your memory by the manufacturer and are normally set at thiose default times by your system BIOS on startup so yours is probably all set to "auto" in BIOS, mine are set at default as:
CL2.5-3-3-8 @ 2T, there are more but those are the main ones to be concerned about at this stage, I have mine running at CL2-3-2-6 @ 1T, the memory overclock combined by these tighter timings give me an efficiency rating on sandra of 91 - 94%. When tightening timings you should only every do one at a time in your BIOS and NEVER drop more than one at a time, make sure you are on 2T before you start tightening, if your PC fails to boot you need to reset your BIOS unless your motherboard as a "boot failure" system that auto reboots at default settings after 3 attempts, then go on to try another until as many as possible are lowered then try booting those with it at 1T.

Now that really is a simplified version, there is loads of info I have not told you such as what do the CL2.5-3-3-7 stand for, like "RAS to CAS" delay etc etc but your BIOS will tell you that and as I said, if you are new to memory clocking you will be floating in a world of confusion and pain right about now!
Once you get the gist and have had a play I can always give you more, I suggest you download CPU-Z if you have not already because that will tell you your default memory settings on one tab (SPD) and your current actual settings on another (Memory) so you can monitor in windows what you are doing. You have not provided any info on your system or what your memory is/speeds/timings so as I said, I have probably said too much already! Ohhh and by the way, just tightening your timings without overclocking will give you performance benefits.

 

[Casheti]

SiSoftware Sandra

Benchmark Results
RAM Bandwidth Int Buff'd iSSE2 : 4849 MB/s
RAM Bandwidth Float Buff'd iSSE2 : 4830 MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Int Buff'd iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown
Assignment : 4723MB/s
Scaling : 4738MB/s
Addition : 4966MB/s
Triad : 4969MB/s
Data Item Size : 16 byte(s)
Buffering Used : Yes
Offset Displacement Used : Yes
Bandwidth Efficiency : 76% (estimated)

Float Buff'd iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown
Assignment : 4701MB/s
Scaling : 4711MB/s
Addition : 4955MB/s
Triad : 4954MB/s
Data Item Size : 16 byte(s)
Buffering Used : Yes
Offset Displacement Used : Yes
Bandwidth Efficiency : 75% (estimated)

Performance Test Status
Run ID : CALLUMSPC on 23 May 2006 at 08:25:45
Memory Used by Test : 511MB
NUMA Support : No
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
Multi-Core Test : Yes
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : P0C0T0
System Timer : 2.8GHz
Page Size : 4kB
Use Large Memory Pages : No

Features
(W)MMX Technology : Yes
SSE Technology : Yes
SSE2 Technology : Yes
SSE3 Technology : Yes
SSE4 Technology : No
EMMX - Extended MMX Technology : No
3DNow! Technology : No
Extended 3DNow! Technology : No
HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : No

Chipset 1
Model : Hewlett-Packard Company 82945P Processor to I/O Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 200MHz (800MHz data rate)
Width : 64-bit
Maximum Bus Bandwidth : 6400MB/s (estimated)

Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks
Bank 0 : 512MB DDR2-SDRAM 4.0-4-4-12 1CMD
Bank 4 : 512MB DDR2-SDRAM 4.0-4-4-12 1CMD
Channels : 2
Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)
Width : 64-bit
Performance Acceleration Technology : No
Memory Controller in Processor : No
Maximum Memory Bus Bandwidth : 8512MB/s (estimated)

Performance Tips
Notice 5008 : To change benchmarks, click Options.
Notice 5004 : Synthetic benchmark. May not tally with 'real-life' performance.
Notice 5006 : Only compare the results with ones obtained using the same version!
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

 

[Casheti]

I HAVE 1GB OF DDR2 PC 4300 533MHz RAM, CONSISTING OF 2 X 512MB RAM STICKS.

PENTIUM D 920 2.8GHz DUAL CORE PROCESSOR

(I cut it down a little this time)

SiSoftware Sandra


Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz
Speed : 2.80GHz
Performance Rating : PR6162 (estimated)
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Internal Data Cache : 2x 16kB Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way set, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 2MB ECC Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector

Mainboard
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : 1 Processor(s)
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.12
System : HP Pavilion 061 EP076AA-ABU m7350.uk
Mainboard : ASUSTek Computer INC. LITHIUM
Total Memory : 1023MB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Hewlett-Packard Company 82945P Processor to I/O Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 200MHz (800MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Adapter : Radeon X1300 Series

Logical Storage Devices
HP_RECOVERY (D : 7GB (2.1GB, 29% Free Space) (FAT32)
HP_PAVILION (C : 291GB (257GB, 88% Free Space) (NTFS)
BF2 DVD (E : 1.9GB (UDF)
Removable Drive (G : N/A
Removable Drive (H : N/A
Removable Drive (I : N/A
Removable Drive (J : N/A

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : ASUSTeK Europa II Hybrid Capture Device

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional Media Center 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)

 

[Tatty_Two]

Not good efficiency or bandwidth, you need to play as per my previous post. Are your 2 sticks of 512MB a matched pair? if not they will not even be running in dual channel mode which would account for the miserable bandwidth, just tinker with timings as I explained and you will see an improvement, come back if you have any problems.

 

[Casheti]

they are running in dual mode, and they are matched. im a newbie when it comes to all this changing timings. I dont know what to do

 

[Tatty_Two]

they are running in dual mode, and they are matched. im a newbie when it comes to all this changing timings. I dont know what to do

I explained in the lengthy post, download CPU-Z......google it! install and run it and look as per my big post to see under "SPD" what your current timings are they will go something like:

3-3-3-8, dont worry if there are more at this stage, the first 4 are the most important, make a note of them, then go to your system BIOS (usually by pressing F2 on startup, sometimes "del" key), find the memory options which each will probably be set to "auto", go to the first and change it to 2.5, save.....exit and see if it boots, if it does restart PC, press F2 again, go back into BIOS and changed the 4th timing option, this time you will see whole numbers not halves and try dropping to 7, save......exit and see if PC boots, if it does go into CPU-Z again, check memory tab and it will show what your current timings are as opposed to, as I said before the "SPD" tab which states the default timings. Obviously if I have guessed your start timings wrong just drop them by one, if at any time your system does not boot then check my big post......finally.........play!!!!!!!!!!! you cant hurt it if you are sensible.

 

[Casheti]

CAS# Latency 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# 3 4 4
RAS# Precharge 3 4 4
TRas# 9 12 12

IM SOOOOOOOO SORRY IM SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS, BUT IM A n00b, WHAT DO ALL THESE THINGS MEAN?

So basically, my timings are 3,3,3,9, and lowering the numbers makes the memory faster?