RAM Speed Problem

[marrap834]

I just recently purchased a set of corsair value select PC3200 2 gigs. I have a msi k8tneo2 motherboard with a amd athlon 3400+ processor. I placed each stick of ram in slots 2 and 4 like recommended. When running the program cpu-z one stick is running at 166mhz and the other at 200mhz. I understand they are supposed to run at 200mhz, my question is why would one only be running at 166? How could i fix it?

 

[chamillitarysk8]

try putting the one that is running slower in a different slot

 

[F1N3ST]

Do you have anothe set of RAM in there? Or does your mobo only support that speed?

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=608

There is a notice about DIMM installation.

 

[marrap834]

Reply

No, the only memory in there is the two matching sticks of ram to enable the dual channel. My motherboard should support the speeds.

 

[Tedster]

somethings not right. check the stick labels very carefully.

 

[KingCody]

Welcome to TechSpot marrap834

When running the program cpu-z one stick is running at 166mhz and the other at 200mhz. I understand they are supposed to run at 200mhz, my question is why would one only be running at 166?

you can't have two sticks running at different speeds, the system will default to the lower of the two speeds, according to the SPD info.

CPU-Z does not list RAM operating speed for memory sticks individually, it displays the current RAM speed in the "memory" tab as the first item in the "timings" menu (labeled "frequency"). it sounds like you may be looking at the "SPD" tab, everything listed under the "SPD" tab is what is programmed into the RAM stick's SPD chip, they are not real-time speeds. if one of your sticks is listed as PC2700 (DDR333, 166MHz), then (1)-the RAM's SPD chip is programmed incorrectly, (2)-your BIOS is reading the SPD info incorrectly, (3)-CPU-Z is reading it incorrectly, or (4)-the RAM stick is not DDR400 and is physically labeled incorrectly.

:wave: