Can crappy RAM kill your gamig rig?

[thehunter1320]

topic
i think my RAM is FUBARed cause everything is all bogged down and people w/ 256 MB of RAM are getting better scores in PCMark than me. and mean WAY better, by like 1000 points. should i RMA it AGAIN(RMA'ed the first time to get pc2700) and go w/ my 1st choice... the kingston hyper-x

 

[TheRook]

give us ur bloody specs and we will tell you!


TheRook

 

[thehunter1320]

FINE!
2500+
512 MB PC2700 RAM
GeForce4 MX440-SE

 

[Murray_H]

Are you comparing scores with people who have the same gfx card as you?

I'm not familiar with PCMark (is it a graphics benchmark?), cos if it is your gfx card is killing your system

 

[TheRook]

its ypour f*ing gfx card

my specs are

2600xp
640 meg ddr ram (probably 2100)
Geforce4mx440 Overclocked! (core = 320 memory= 439)

my 3dmark 2001 score is 4900 or so...

 

[TheRook]

oh... PCmark...

my bad...

pc mark is based on cpu/memory/fsb etc...


TheRook

 

[thehunter1320]

ya, PC mark is for PC's
so can we root out the evil RAM... or is it sumthing else do u suppose?

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by TheRook
oh... PCmark...

my bad...

pc mark is based on cpu/memory/fsb etc...


TheRook

i get about 800 i think for mem i have 384 2100 kingston and twinmos

 

[TheRook]

to be honest i wouldnt worry about "synthetic" benchmarks... its all about how the pc does ingame/in applications


THeRook

 

[thehunter1320]

it does worse than my 256 MB RAM and P3 1 ghz computer.... can we root out the RAM now?

 

[Guest]

try memtest86

 

[mrchimp]

whats your motherboard (give full specs please) that could be contributing to the problem but it does sound like the ram is a little shit.

 

[zool]

Sounds like youre mems are badly setup in the bois menu.

 

[thehunter1320]

ok, my mobo is a ASUS A7v8x-x and on the bios i actually have the ram UNDERCLOCKED so i can get it working and my processor is at 1437mhz to match the ram.... i think it's a bad module....

 

[SubKamran]

For a simple answer, buy the Hyper-X (if using XP, use nothing lower than 512MB, it will do wonders).

If nothing improves, you can safely return it

 

[thehunter1320]

SubKamran... u are a GENIUS! thank you! although... the restocking fee will suck, but that's me own fault

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Why did you not buy the Hyper X over this crappy brand in the first place?

 

[thehunter1320]

cause i didn't think crucial was a crappy brand... until now

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Crucial ISNT a crappy brand, lol. Have you tried adjusting your timings in BIOS?

 

[thehunter1320]

u mean FBS? ya, i have it UNDERCLOCKED to 266 so my computer won't crash and it runs CoD Demo really bad

 

[Xenome]

Ehm, just a small question : it IS possible to have a 2.8 800 fsb proc on 266 mhz pc-2100 ddr ram right? (temporalily for me soon)

The proc won't be clocked back to the speed of the RAM right?(or something)

 

[thehunter1320]

i dunno... i wanna get my RAM fixed... that's what this thread is about
but tyhe RAM will indeed work, it'll just downclock your CPU to match it until u get the right RAM

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

No, not FSB. Im talking about timings on your RAM. They might be really loose, try tightnening them up. It should be under "Advanced Chipset Features" in BIOS.

 

[thehunter1320]

do u know the EXACT name of the setting to change or fool around w/? cause i wwnt in there and there are alot of RAM settings to mess w/

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

It should be the first thing at the top. CAS latency, delay to act or something like that, and they have a number from 2-8 next to them. Get the timings for your RAM and see if they are at its tightest.

 

[thehunter1320]

2 = loosest and 8= tightest?
I'm starting to think this might be the solution........

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

The loosest timings should be around 8-4-4-8. The tightest can be up to 2-2-2-2.

I just read, and im pretty sure your tightest timings are 2.5-2-2-5, if they are running looser try setting them to that, not all at once though.

 

[thehunter1320]

my computer crashes at boot when i have the ram at it's "tightest settings" which are 1.5-2-2-6 and even at 2-2-2-6 I don't see a change in performance. this timing thing is very confusing

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Try 2.5-2-2-5, then run PCmark.

 

[thehunter1320]

i can't go 5, 6 is the lowest it'll let me go

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

ok so do 2.5-2-2-6, that is probably the RAM timings.

 

[thehunter1320]

ok, the timings didn't change anything... but i have determined the RAM sucks really bad! i just tried to play halo while i had it at it's stock 333 mhz fbs and it worked like a charm.... for 2 seconds then it crashed. so i'm gonna RMA the RAM and get the hyper-X cause my 1st experience w/ crucial wasnt so good. thanks for all ur help along this bumpy roadway to getting my PC to work

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Ok, calm down. Chances are also that you could ahve just gotten a bad stick, it is very popular with RAM.

 

[thehunter1320]

opps.... srry