9NDA3I Memory Question

Appreciate some info on the following:

I currently have 2x512MB sticks of Crucial Ballistix running at DDR440
2.5x3x3x7 in my 9NDA3I. I wanted to add another 2x512MB sticks but have
read that this forces the chipset to set the memory at DDR333. So if I do
the 20MHZ overclock, does this mean my memory will only be DDR 373? If I
still want high ram speed will I have to drop to a x10 (vice 11) multiplier
and go for a higher overclock? Do the other 2 sticks need to be exactly the
same or is it ok as long as they can run comfortably at the same settings
(i.e. other high performance ram)? So does this default setting with 4
sticks basically work the same as if I had used a different memory
multiplier?

Thanks much.

Big Sky

BigSky wrote:
> Appreciate some info on the following:
>
> I currently have 2x512MB sticks of Crucial Ballistix running at DDR440
> 2.5x3x3x7 in my 9NDA3I. I wanted to add another 2x512MB sticks but have
> read that this forces the chipset to set the memory at DDR333. So if I do
> the 20MHZ overclock, does this mean my memory will only be DDR 373? If I
> still want high ram speed will I have to drop to a x10 (vice 11) multiplier
> and go for a higher overclock? Do the other 2 sticks need to be exactly the
> same or is it ok as long as they can run comfortably at the same settings
> (i.e. other high performance ram)? So does this default setting with 4
> sticks basically work the same as if I had used a different memory
> multiplier?

I have a 9NPA+Ultra, and I originally had 2x512MB DDR400 in it running
at stock 200MHz. According to the manual and tech support, 4
double-sided sticks force the RAM to run at a bus speed of 166MHz. On
another hardware board, I was told that 4 double-sided sticks still run
at 200MHz.

Well I recently purchased another 2x512MB of the exact same RAM as well
as an X2 CPU. I first opened the machine and w/o disconnecting
anything, added the additional RAM. On boot, it reported that I had 2GB
of DDR400 running at 200MHz. Great, I thought! Then I dissembled the
machine, replaced the processor, heatsink and fan, and put it all back
together. Now on boot, the system reports 2GB DDR400 running at 166Mhz!

I am not overclocking, did that in the past with my 8RDA+, and although
I know the caps were bad in all those boards, I'm a bit afraid to bother
with overclocking, since I want this board to last longer. I can't see
any way in the BIOS to boost the bus speed of the RAM, just the CPU and
video.

Anyway, that's my experience. BTW, IIRC, this was the board where I got
my original info:

http://tinyurl.com/37hbyh

I'm going to dig around and see if there's any way to force the RAM to
run at 200. Still, I went from an AMD64 3800 (San Diego?) to an AMD64X2
4200 (Toledo), and CPUMark has gone from ~180 to 250! This machine
absolutely flies. Had to do an inplace upgrade to change the HAL,
however. And that meant reinstalling some apps. But everything's
working great now. The only disappointment was the RAM, but I knew that
was a risk when I purchased the extra two sticks. I just didn't want to
set aside yet another pair of RAM sticks and shell out an extra $100.
Regardless, my machine is speedier than ever.

Regards,

Margaret