DDR2 Timings issue. 2 different timings?

First off if anyone can help me or at least tell me my options then i am eternally grateful.


I build a system for gaming but not for ocing because i am on a extremly tight budget and i didnt want to risk anything until i put together a second machine. The board and ram below run rock stable and have no stability issue period and temps are all within safe limits. CPU is at around 37C with just web surfing and programs up to see temps and all. For quick reference it is a Gigabyte AM2 motherboard with a AMD 3800+ AM2 socket single core processor, with corsair 2x512 PC5400 dual channel ram.

Okay here are the motherboard and ram in case you need to know. Also the CPU.

Motherboard
CPU
Ram

The issue is this:

I am running cpu-z and also ran Sandra for a reference check on my memory speeds. I am running at 301Mhz frequency on the dual channel. Now in the cpu-z spd screen it says down at the bottom the timing tables as such

266Mhz 4-4-4-12
then next to it..
333Mhz 5-5-5-15

I am very confused. Does this mean that one stick is running at 4-4-4-12 and 266mhz and the other at 333mhz and 5-5-5-15? As i said i am not having any stability problems and had this pc up and running for a week. However i am wondering why my ram is running at 301Mhz in dual channel mode.

CreasianDevaili said:

I am running cpu-z and also ran Sandra for a reference check on my memory speeds. I am running at 301Mhz frequency on the dual channel. Now in the cpu-z spd screen it says down at the bottom the timing tables as such

266Mhz 4-4-4-12
then next to it..
333Mhz 5-5-5-15

Click to expand...

When you are refering to cpu-z, you are saying that the SPD tab shows that stuff right. The SPD tab will show manufacter preset timing for you memory at different frequency speed. At 266 your memory will run at 4-4-4-12, at 333 it will run 5-5-5-15. These are speed your motherboard automatically pick if ran of either of the speed. There are no motherboards that allow separate timmings for each memory stick. If you want to see your current memroy timmings, open cpuz and look for memory tab.

meionm said:

When you are refering to cpu-z, you are saying that the SPD tab shows that stuff right. The SPD tab will show manufacter preset timing for you memory at different frequency speed. At 266 your memory will run at 4-4-4-12, at 333 it will run 5-5-5-15. These are speed your motherboard automatically pick if ran of either of the speed. There are no motherboards that allow separate timmings for each memory stick. If you want to see your current memroy timmings, open cpuz and look for memory tab.

Click to expand...

That is the current problem.

I hope this comes out correctly..

4-4-4-12 is 266mhz frequency which is PC533
5-5-5-15 is 333mhz which is PC667
That is my SPD window. Which means if i run 4-4-4-12 i should have a Mhz frequency in my memory tab window os cpu-z of 533 roughly. Or 667 is the other one.

Right now i am in my memory tab window of cpu-z and it is reading the mhz at 301.4 which dosent add up. The memory tab also shows that it is dual channel, and that it is running the timings at 5-5-5-12.

That is my confusion here. My cpu's multiplier is 12x which is even so it shouldnt need to underclock the ram. Am i just not seeing something here?

Well you have nothing to worry, memory still operates below rated speed. Probably the memory is on divider to operated on higher speed than cpu. If all of your setting in bios are set on auto, your motherboard might have determined that's the best speed to run. Maybe you set it yourself by accident, just check bios. You could probably run your memory faster at rated speed of 333 if there is a divider that allows to go that high.

CreasianDevaili,
Your RAM runs at 301MHz (DDR602) basically because you'r using an AM2 A64.

Your CPU freq is 12*200=2400
There's no way for the IMC to run the memory at 333MHz if CPU is at 2400MHz due to the way A64 generates memory clk (CPU freq divided with an integer).
2400/7 would be 342MHz which is higher than the specification of PC2-5300.
Thus the memory frequency is 2400/8=300.