Memory Questions

[shreww]

Hello,

I have a question about memory and timings... I am starting to build my first build, and don't know a lot about memory settings. I have a dell 8300 that works fine, but it does not seem as fast as I would think it should be. 2.6 with HT, 1 gig of PC3200, two WD caviar drives.
Anyway, I ran CPU-Z, and got some interesting numbers.
with dual channel enabled on the PC3200 (2x512) I got this

frequency 199.6
FSBram 1:1
CAS 3
RAS to CAS 3
RAS precharge 3
Cycle time (tras) 8

so.. the timings for this particular memory would be written as 3-3-3-8 right?
I am wondering why the frequency is 199? Shouldn't DDR PC3200 be running at 400MHz?

also, is the 1:1 best? if not, is there any way to change that? FSB on this board/CPU is supposedly 800MHz.

when I upgrade my system, would I have to find a memory with similar numbers to add 2 gigs? Is this bad memory?

thanks for your help guys - It should be obvious that I don't know a lot about this stuff.

Shrew

 

[Tedster]

go to crucial.com and run their memory checker. Even better is to RTFM that came with the motherboard. It will tell you what brands and types it can take.

 

[shreww]

more info

thanks for the site, but the memory checker only tells me what products crucial wants me to buy from them...
what I would like to know is about the timings - as I said, the memory is DDR PC3200, shouldn't it run at 400MHz? It says 199, and I do not have a motherboard manual, as it was a pre-made system.
are these memory settings why my computer seems slow?

thanks