what ram should i buy?

[zak_swan]

i installed an athlon 3000xp cpu a couple of months ago and other than speeding up encoding by about 30% it did'nt seem to speed up overall running of pc. the old cpu was 1800.
now i've read it is very important to upgrade the ram when upgrading cpu.
i've got 512mb ram but do'nt know what type. i'll open up pc in a min coz i cant find out through windows but i reckon it'll be old type.
the fsb of cpu is only 166Mhz, well 333 when doubled. (some 3000 xp ones are 400 fsb but the guy in the shop must of seen me coming)
i do'nt play games on pc (other than yahoo pool ) so what ram should i upgrade to and will i notice a big difference?
also should i keep in old ram or take it out and give it to my mate's girlfriend coz she has xp running on 128mb! i suspect keeping old ram in would be stupid but i'm not an expert

[rallynavvie]

Which board is it? If it uses dual-channel memory you'll need two identical sticks placed in the correct DIMM slots, but the sticks can be PC2100. Or you can use single channel PC2700 to attain 333 FSB. Are you sure that CPU isn't 400 FSB and it's just the board that's limiting you to 333?

For a great little app to find out which CPU, motherboard, and RAM you are using check this out: www.cpuid.com . The program is called CPU-Z. Tons of people use it to check overclock settings, but it works great as a general information tool. I put it on a USB flash drive so I can run it on any PC I need to learn the specs on. Run that and see what it tells you. Better yet if you can take screenshots of the different stats so we can help figure out what is best.

[Rell]

might be that your ram is PC2100 (DDR266 mhz) and your processor's fsb is 333 mhz. if that's so, might as well get a PC2700 (DDR333) to keep it synchronized with your procs fsb.

[zak_swan]

i downloaded cpu-z and a nice little program it is
however i dont know how to take a screen shot (how do u do it?)
anyway motherboard is little know lex bnnf2 even motherboard monitor does'nt regognize it but in the manual it does say it has 400MHz FSB.
the memory i have got is 2 Samsung DDR-SDRAM PC2100 - 256MB but a magazine says this only runs at 266MHz (maybe just for 1 does 2 double it?)
cpu fsb is 334MHz

[zak_swan]

is this correct? probably not
Samsung DDR-SDRAM PC2100 - 256MB , will 2 of these mean 512mb at 532MHz? which is enough for cpu i have

[Tool Man]

is this correct? probably not
Samsung DDR-SDRAM PC2100 - 256MB , will 2 of these mean 512mb at 532MHz? which is enough for cpu i have

No it won't. It means you have 512Mb running at 266Mhz. I have the same chip as you, XP3000 @ 333Mhz.
What you need is at least PC2700 (333Mhz) or if you plan to overclock, PC3200 (400Mhz).
As it stands your chip is being underclocked to suit the RAM.

[zak_swan]

thanks for advice tool man.
is it safe to over clock cpu? does it mean it will wear out quicker?
also does it involve a pencil? (sure i read that somewhere)

[Tool Man]

I havn't overclocked my XP3000, as I don't see the need, it's performing OK as it is. Thats not to say I won't in the future
Thats why I am using PC3200 RAM (Corsair). The RAM can go up to 400Mhz, even thought I'm only running at 333Mhz.

The Pencil you read about is used to 'unlock' the chips multiplier by joing a few bridges together. It's for hardcore overclockers only.

The XP3000 can be overclocked without doing this. But like I said, I don't see the need just yet. But if you want too, heres how.....

The XP3000 has a FSB of 166 doubled data rate = 333Mhz. With the multiplier locked at 13X, giving a speed of 2158Mhz or there abouts.
So you can see, if you push the FSB up a bit, the chips speed will go up with it. But remember that pushing the FSB up will affect other parts of your system too, like AGP and PCI cards.

But to start with, you really need to change that RAM you have, to at least PC2700 just to make the chip run at it's normal speed. If you use the formula you will see that your chip is running a FSB of 133 DDR(266) multiplied by 13 = 1729Mhz.....well below it's full speed of 2158.

This is what it should look like.

[zak_swan]

how do u get screenshot
anyway i got system properties up and mine is running at exactly the same as yours
the ram is definately 2x Samsung DDR-SDRAM PC2100 - 256MB

[Tool Man]

Go to:
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk

Download the Sandra utility. It will tell you all you need to know about your computer.

[rallynavvie]

You need some sort of picture editing software to do screenshots. I'm sure MS Paint will work as I think that comes with the OS. To take a screenshot with CPU-Z I think you use F6 and it captures the tab you're looking at to your clipboard, then paste it into a new picture document.

Go into CPU-Z and look at the memory tab. Near the top is "Channels #". If it says single then you're running 266 FSB as you're only using a single channel of RAM bandwidth. If it says dual the RAM will allow you up to 533 FSB, but will downclock to whatever your system requires, be it 333 or 400. The "Modules Information" should tell you what sticks you are using in your PC. Then in the timings section is where you'll actually find the speed of your RAM. The frequency is what speed your RAM is running, but since you are using DDR RAM you double that number. For instance:

My RAM frequency says 133 MHz, but as are most systems these days it's DDR memory so each stick runs at 266 MHz. At the top is says I'm running dual channel so I double that again for 533 MHz FSB.

Also tell me what CPU-Z says under the CPU tab under processor name, code name, and specification. What does it say under the clock speeds in the lower left of that tab?

[zak_swan]

i have taken the screen shots but can't insert the bloody things here!
how do u do it?
beside Channels# it says dual
so i take it i dont need to upgrade ram?

[Tool Man]

Are you using Dual Channel RAM? With an Atlon XP?

This is what CPU-Z shows for my XP3000's RAM.



Maybe your Dual Channel is compensating for the shortfall in FSB speed??
Can that be done, anyone?

[zak_swan]

having trouble getting screenshot to 50KB but will figure it out later.
pretty convinced i dont need to upgrade.
thanking u all

[zak_swan]

hope this works

[rallynavvie]

Ah, your RAM is running 5:4 bus ratio. Thus a 266 DDR stick will run at 333 FSB. This may mean it runs in single channel configuration. Which motherboard are you running?

[zak_swan]

motherboard is Lex BNNF2 was £44 so not expensive.
why does cpu-z not tell me i have a 3000xp? and also when pc starts to boot up the dos type screen says i have a 1300xp