RAM Speed lower than rating
 

Hi all,

I am the noob of the day. I have a RAM issue.

Guess 1st some system specs:

CPU - AMD64 3500+
Mobo - ASUS A8N-E
RAM - 2x512 Kingston PC3200 DDR 400
- 2x512 Nanya Technology PC3200 DDR 400

When I only have 2 sticks in the slots my RAM speed reads @ 201MHz which makes sence to get my 400

However when I add my other set my speeds drop to about 165MHz or 333.

What gives? Can this be corrected?

It does not matter what set I put in, when it just one set I get full speeds. Only when I fill my slots my speed drops.

I have updated to the latest chip set and bios for my board and no change.

You 100% sure all sticks are DDR-400?

100% proof positive.

I have inserted the sticks seperatly, as pairs and all for in proper team slots.

Ran CPU-Z to confirm timings each setup. I have run Memtest on them for 1 hr to 150% with no errors. I will run mem test overnight tonight to get a full picture.

I have had this problem ever since I bough my 2nd set of sticks over a year ago. Took the sys to Greenlyph and they could not sort it out and said it happens sometimes. Not that it really matters as I am upgrading soon but it has really been getting to me lately as I am trying to learn how to OC on this system and have not been very successful. I strongly believe my RAM is holding me back.

With all 4 sticks in I get 2048MB Ram @
DRAM 158.0 MHz
FSB:DRAM CPU/14, 2.5,3,3,7 10 2T 16

Then your board is probably not capable of running 4 sticks of memory at DDR-400 speeds.

board specs reads:

4 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 4GB DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 ECC/ non-ECC un-buffered DDR SDRAM memory
Dual Channel Memory Architecture

If I cant run the 4x400 would I be better of pulling a set out and only running 1G@400 vise 2G@333

It says max 4gb DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 which means it can run at those speeds but doesn't mean it will run 4gb at those speeds.

Considering your using DDR memory I'm gonna say its not worth 4gb and just run 2.

Sorry but I am only running 4x512@333 so are you saying pull a set out and run 2x512 for 1G@400?

Oh sorry! I thought you had 4gb haha.

It doesn't matter because with DDR memory you won't see that much of a difference between 333 and 400 :)

So just leave it.

OK, thank you very much for your speedy replies. I can see I am going to like it hear. Especially when I get in to overclocking.