RAM Upgrade Questions

[Freecare Spiritwise]

Agreed, Dd. I know guys that have been doing this for a living for 20 years who don't know the nitty gritty details of how most shit works. Maybe 30 years ago that was a requirement when labor was cheap and hardware was expensive. Now it's the other way around and all you really care about in a technician is his/her powers of deductive reasoning - the rest is just fluff.

It doesn't matter how it works as long as you can identify if it works and safely swap it out with one that you know does work.

So in this case if you can install your RAM without breaking those heat spreaders off or ruining your motherboard, and then type a few numbers in the the BIOS then you're pretty much a solid technician, which is all you need to be

[Select]

In the process of installing it. It's taking forever since I need to do cleanup the dust (I'm bad Plus my air can just died - Oh, hai, dead moth on mah board!)

I don't think those sticks are in any danger of breaking. The encasing is sturdy. O_O ...but I'm not gonna push it.

[Select]

It's up and running and detecting it fine. A VSFX grad student friend (with an intense rig of his own) says:

"hmm i wonder if the fact that your ram is ddr 800 will be a problem
the page lists lower speeds
they may be back compatable tho"

and

"so yeah, if it does infact work, I wouldn't mess with any of the speed settings because it's probably already at the highest"

I haven't changed any stats. Third opinions? Was something overlooked? I'll change the BIOS if it won't kill it, though I didn't really see anything on the package. What should I be looking for? It's pretty devoid of text other than the logo/warranty/hype the product copy.

Maybe this will help?
http://i48.tinypic.com/2co0nr8.jpg

Edit: Oh, and the sticks each say 4-4-4 2.2V @
He says if he read it correctly, the board can only support up to 400.

[Select]

Another update, whee!

I'm in BIOS, looking around.

Memory Config

Memory Frequency: 667mhz
tCL 5
tRCD 5
tRP 5
tRASmin 15

Memory Channel A: Slot 0: Blahblah blah SPD: 5.0-4-4-18

Same for Memory Channel B with the second stick.

**NOTE*** SPD defined as Nominal: [tCL] - [tRCD] - [tRP] - [tRASmin]

Helpz wif learninz?

Edit Edit: I told him my bios stats and he went @_@ "Over my head" Haha. (Show that young buck your experience and knowledge, guys!)

[Freecare Spiritwise]

The hardware more of a hobby for me, so I'll try to explain it, and anyone smarter feel free to correct me.

DDR2 memory is dual channel and is clocked at twice the bus speed. Thus DDR2 800 runs at 400 MHz, and DDR2 667 runs at 333, and so on. So it sounds like your friend is right that your motherboard supports DDR2 667 and not 800. Now here's where my knowlege is iffy. I believe you can set the timings in the BIOS to the specs listed for the RAM and the motherboard will just run it at a lower frequency with the same timings. Just turn off the "use SPD values" or whatever it's called (there's my brain fart, I said SPI and that didn't sound right) and put in the timing values manually.

If you fuck up the configuration and the system won't boot then you can always short out the NVRAM (CMOS) battery and reset the motherboard to factory defaults, so there's not much danger in playing with the timings and such. Keep it shorted for about a minute, and usually there's two pins right next to the battery you just put a jumper on (or short with a flathead screwdriver) for about a minute. You might even get away with overclocking the system by upping the bus speed (because the CPU runs off of a multiplier based on the bus speed just like the RAM does and you have beefy OC RAM that's rated faster than your mobo). Or some people are of the mindset that "if it works, don't fuck with it". Not feeling well today and I'm rushed so hopefully I made some kind of sense.

[Select]

Hrm. I'm thinking of leaving it after your explanation as it just seems too much for the system to handle. But I understand the rushed and sick feeling while posting, so you get a pass.

Dd?

[Kulaf]

What version of BIOS are you running on the board? It looks like 0108 is the latest that might make a difference, but not sure. All of the memory sites I went to said the board you listed supported DDR2 800 RAM.

It really doesn't make much difference as the RAM is still running faster than the other RAM and came it at the same price point. And judging by the amount of dust you said you had the extra heat sinks aren't going to hurt, hehe.

[Select]

Yea... Dust from not opening it for a few years! I haven't needed to open it, which is great! But, I *should* be to clean it more often.

I updated the BIOS recently and didn't see a newer version. Everest says 'Field Value System BIOS Date 08/17/08'

[Ddrak]

Hrm. I'm thinking of leaving it after your explanation as it just seems too much for the system to handle. But I understand the rushed and sick feeling while posting, so you get a pass.

Dd?

Most modern BIOS's will reset to default settings if a boot is unsuccessful so tinkering really isn't much of a problem. Worst case you just set it all back to SPD.

Dd

[Freecare Spiritwise]

/shrug not sure how modern her motherboard is but either way it doesn't take a rocket scientist to short two pins (which are sticking up all alone right next to the battery) with a flathead while counting to sixty.

My motherboard which is about a year old takes tht whole safety thing to a new level of paranoia. Any hardware change at all and it powers off and restarts several times. It's still a bit disconcerting because in the old days if your system powered up and down on its own, it meant a severe problem. Now it just means your motherboard has your back lol.