How do i know my RAM is running at 500MHz ? HELP!!!

[Melvis]

Hey all, I have a question on some RAM i just got for my computer, its a 2x1GB Geil DDR500.
I put them in my computer and it still says DDR400, now this is the first time ive used this sort of RAM, and was wondering if i have to do anything in the BIOS or just use a different program to show that it is DDR500 because windows cant pick it up or something =/ Like CPU-Z which i have not tried yet , silly me.

Anyway if anyone has an idea how to get my new RAM running at the 500Mhz speed, or just a program to show me that it is running at the higher speed and i just dont know it, would be very helpful indeed

Thanks

 

[panchoman]

just use cpu-z

 

[Kursah]

You may have to set them to run at the DDR500 speeds (different divider, 250 FSB speed if running 1:1 ratio at 400 RAM, 200 FSB etc).

Usually with higher than supported speeds, you have to overclock your system to match that speed or change your divider (if available) to attain that speed w/o overclocking if a divider can get you there without other adjustments, same with timings and voltage.

Try CPU-z and do some googling on your motherboard/system and that memory and see what others had to do in order to attain DDR500 speeds.

 

[sneekypeet]

Melvis...even tho the ram is DDR500 it will run stock in a PC at 400MHz.

There are a couple of options here. OC the RAM by the dividers if possible, my DFI had a setting to run the ram at 250MHZ (DDR500) without OCing the whole rig.

If this option is not avaliable, the alternative is to OC the whole rig.

Seeing in the specs thay you OC already I think the second answer is more what you are looking for!

EDIT: Kursah you are fast!

 

[Melvis]

Melvis...even tho the ram is DDR500 it will run stock in a PC at 400MHz.

There are a couple of options here. OC the RAM by the dividers if possible, my DFI had a setting to run the ram at 250MHZ (DDR500) without OCing the whole rig.

If this option is not avaliable, the alternative is to OC the whole rig.

Seeing in the specs thay you OC already I think the second answer is more what you are looking for!

EDIT: Kursah you are fast!

Ok thanks for that, ill have alook into my motherboard and the BIOS and see what i can change in there to get the RAM running at 500MHz, i had a very quick look yesterday and i can do some sort of settings Manually, so i hope thats it. I dont realy want to overclock the CPU but we will see what happens, is there any programs i can use to overclock the memory with, without goin into the BIOS?

Thanks

 

[sneekypeet]

there are a few that may work with the pll on your motherboard, but I really advise getting it set in bios. If you have any questions please ask.

Im sure if you look throught the stickies on overclocking, the list a bunch of programs you could start trying if that is the way you choose to go!

 

[Melvis]

there are a few that may work with the pll on your motherboard, but I really advise getting it set in bios. If you have any questions please ask.

Im sure if you look throught the stickies on overclocking, the list a bunch of programs you could start trying if that is the way you choose to go!

Hey i finally got around to getting my RAM to run at 500 speed, and it was very easy, in the BIOS i just changed the 2/2 thing, to 2/2.5 and it ran at 500MHz, very happy

SO thanks for all your help, very appreciated

 

[Kursah]

Hey i finally got around to getting my RAM to run at 500 speed, and it was very easy, in the BIOS i just changed the 2/2 thing, to 2/2.5 and it ran at 500MHz, very happy

SO thanks for all your help, very appreciated

You're welcome...if you found anyone was helpful, use the Thanks button on their post that helped you. It's just kind of a thing this place does, nothing too critical, but it's a sign of respect in a sense. I'm not intending to be a jerk or anything, just trying to educate that it's there for a well meant purpose.

You'll learn a lot on TPU, I have in the years I've followed and been a member, this place has taught me more than I could imagine paying for! I love helping others, and the community on this forum is second to none!

Glad you got your memory working at what you desired, I recommend Google, download and run Memtest (you can google Memtest for Windows for the easy one...or Memtest for the one to create a bootable CD with which is a little more throurough) just to make sure your're stable. It doesn't hurt to ensure stability so you don't crash, damage something or lose critical files.

 

[Melvis]

You're welcome...if you found anyone was helpful, use the Thanks button on their post that helped you. It's just kind of a thing this place does, nothing too critical, but it's a sign of respect in a sense. I'm not intending to be a jerk or anything, just trying to educate that it's there for a well meant purpose.

You'll learn a lot on TPU, I have in the years I've followed and been a member, this place has taught me more than I could imagine paying for! I love helping others, and the community on this forum is second to none!

Glad you got your memory working at what you desired, I recommend Google, download and run Memtest (you can google Memtest for Windows for the easy one...or Memtest for the one to create a bootable CD with which is a little more throurough) just to make sure your're stable. It doesn't hurt to ensure stability so you don't crash, damage something or lose critical files.

O ok no problem , just did Thanks for that, ill make sure to do that alot more often
Ive used Memtest b4, i use it when i have other computers coming in that have issues so i can see if the RAM has any errors etc, its a good program. Have not used it as yet on this RAM, and i dont realy want to know if there are any errors lol, i haven't got the money or any spare RAM to run in it =/ and i sold my other 4x512 Corsair to a guy so i could get this RAM, anyway it ran WoW with out a problem all day yesterday But ill do some tests soon.

Thanks again

 

[Kursah]

n/p, I see in your sys specs you wanna upgrade to a 4870X2...that's a whole lotta card for ya. Do you use the CRT or LCD most? Are either widescreen? What res do you game at? Just a little FYI my 9600GT pwns every game I play, I don't play much for Crysis, but even the high-end cards struggle some there...not much can be done in current tech yet...but it's a lot better...I get smooth playability in all other games maxed out at 1440x900 (which is similar to 1280x1024 in 4:3)...I think you'd be better off with a 4850, 9800GTX or something along those lines...save some cash, probably less heat buildup and power drainage. Or go cheap and get a used 9600GT, it's worlds ahead of what you have now...put simply it put the smack down on my old x1950xtx in every game, test, bench I ran...at it's OC'd level, it was scored almost 2X higher in 3DM06 than my oc-d XTX...neither card is a slouch for sure!

I just don't see the point in getting the higher end cards unless one is going to be doing HD gaming on a large monitor or HDTV, I'd say get what you need, OC it a bit and use it till it's time to replace, the mid-range arena is the most fun for GPU's imo, and if it runs warm you have a better budget for cooling it to get even more OC out of it!

 

[Melvis]

n/p, I see in your sys specs you wanna upgrade to a 4870X2...that's a whole lotta card for ya. Do you use the CRT or LCD most? Are either widescreen? What res do you game at? Just a little FYI my 9600GT pwns every game I play, I don't play much for Crysis, but even the high-end cards struggle some there...not much can be done in current tech yet...but it's a lot better...I get smooth playability in all other games maxed out at 1440x900 (which is similar to 1280x1024 in 4:3)...I think you'd be better off with a 4850, 9800GTX or something along those lines...save some cash, probably less heat buildup and power drainage. Or go cheap and get a used 9600GT, it's worlds ahead of what you have now...put simply it put the smack down on my old x1950xtx in every game, test, bench I ran...at it's OC'd level, it was scored almost 2X higher in 3DM06 than my oc-d XTX...neither card is a slouch for sure!

I just don't see the point in getting the higher end cards unless one is going to be doing HD gaming on a large monitor or HDTV, I'd say get what you need, OC it a bit and use it till it's time to replace, the mid-range arena is the most fun for GPU's imo, and if it runs warm you have a better budget for cooling it to get even more OC out of it!

lol yea i only just wrote that up there today, i did have there a Gainward 9600GT GS. I agree its one hell of a card, and i was very impressed with the 3870x2 and the new line up of ATI cards, never realy liked them b4 now, so at this stage its a BIG maybe, and im sorta looking at it couse i dont intend to update this system anymore after this next GPU i put in, so i was looking at something very powerful to last the next or at least 2yrs, and id like to keep up with my m8s system to. I run two Monitors, one is a LCD at 1280x1024 @75Hz, thats what i take to the LAN's, but i use mainly a Flat screen CRT and if i could run games high, it be at 1600x1200 @85Hz but yea, the 8600GT cant handle it. I dont use HD yet, but id like to in the future and use this comp as like my TV etc, to run movies from and whatever else...
So yea at this stage its a big maybe, and im looking into the cards and seeing whats good for the money, and if i have the money at that time anyway.

Thanks for your suggestions