RAM help!

[abu_has_the_power]

nothing really big. just some questions.
i bought these:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...b=11&NoMapp=0#

i live close to their store, so i drove there and got 2 exactly the same for dual channel support. dual channel works fine, but my ocing's messed up.
i had 2x256mb of Samsung ram before, so these should all be similar. before, as u can see in my sig, i had my P4 2.4c @ 3.2 now, it won't let me oc up to 3.2 at 320 ram clock. i'm trying to work the drm voltage to take care of it.

another thing. i'm playing css, and it says this error saying can't access certain part of the memory or something. it only happened once though. css works fine now.

is there any way i can check my ram for errors and problems?

[clocker]

Run Super Pi or Prime 95 to stress your CPU/RAM.

BTW, why do you say this..."i had 2x256mb of Samsung ram before, so these should all be similar"?
There are several types of memory chips/PCBs in use today and each manufacturer uses them differently.
One might emphasize extreme headroom (high OCs) while another might go for tight timings.
Did you ever do comparative benchmarks to see what exactly your overclock was really gaining you?

[lynx]

320 ram clock? I assume that means 320MHz ram speed, or an expected data rate of 640MHz. I can't say I'm surprised your DDR400 ram can't handle that sort of speed, it is an increase of 60%.

Have you inadvertently changed your timings when you installed the ram?

[abu_has_the_power]

@clocker. a 2.4ghz to a 3.2 is a fairly noticable difference

@lynx: the thing is, the ram i had before was also samsung, and i've had it at 2.75v and 320 for over a year with no problems. i know just cuz they're the same brand doesn't mean that they perform the same. but it can't be that far off.

[lynx]

I can't remember which chip is which, so your FSB speed is either 800MHz or 566MHz.

If it is 800MHz then system speeds are:
2.4GHz = 12x200MHz
3.2GHz = 12x266MHz

If it is 533MHz then system speeds are:
2.4GHz = 14.5x166MHz
3.2GHz = 14.5x220MHz

So where does 320 MHz fit this scenario? Optimum performance usually comes by matching processor and memory speed, so surely you should be using 266MHz or (more likely) 220MHz as your memory speed.

I suspect you may have a memory problem, but not in your PC.

[abu_has_the_power]

no, that's the cpu speed. for ram, without oc, it's 400. but since i oc, i have to tune down the ram. so i go down 1 notch, and it's 320.

my previous setup:
12X266 = 3180 ish = 3.2 ghz
RAM: 2x256mb Samsung PC3200 (320) 2.75V

now:
12X255 = 3060 = 3.06ghz
ram: 2x512mb Samsung PC3200 (320) 2.75

i guess 3.2 and 3.06 don't make too much of a difference.

[TheDave]

tomorrow i will make sense of all this and try overclocking

[abu_has_the_power]

tomorrow i will make sense of all this and try overclocking

lol. good luck!

[clocker]

@clocker. a 2.4ghz to a 3.2 is a fairly noticable difference

Ummm...OK.
I assume that the memory benchmarks increased by the same proportion (or more).
But wait, you have to "tune down the ram" to get it to run there, so the RAM performance didn't improve that much, eh?

[abu_has_the_power]

my northbridge is a 865pe. when i run sisoft sandra 2k5, my Memory Cache Bandwidth thing test shows that my scores are higher than dual channel on a 875 northbridge. so it really hasn't decreased much