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Exfso

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12 years ago

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Exfso

6 Posts

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June 24th, 2014 02:00

Adding ram drops frequency issue

I have a dell OptiPlex 760 small form factor that had 2gb of DDR ram.  I decided to add another 2gb of identical ram.  The original speed of the ram was 800mhz with the extra 2 sticks inserted the speed drops to 666mhz.  I have confirmed that the new ram is exactly as specified running at 800mhz.  I was wondering if the fact that I now have all memory slots populated that this would make a difference.  If I take the original 2 sticks out and replace with the new sticks, I show as having 2gb running at 800mhz.  This one has me confused to say the least. Oh I gather that it is obvious that I am using 1gb modules!!

  • Exfso

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    Posted June 24th, 2014 07:00

    Here is an image of the ram test

    1 Attachment

  • speedstep

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    Posted June 24th, 2014 07:00

    Ram that is not exactly matched for speed and wait states will fall back to a lower speed.  Ram must be in Pairs after 1.

    It could also be that the ram is remarked fake 800mhz ram when the SPDIF chip says its 667Mhz ram.

    Dell does not support 3rd party ram from anywhere.

     

  • Exfso

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    Posted June 24th, 2014 07:00

    I got the ram from a valued source, ran a check on the speed with, CPU-Z I think the program is, and it is definitely 800mhz

  • speedstep

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    Posted June 24th, 2014 12:00

    I got the ram from a valued source, ran a check on the speed with, CPU-Z I think the program is, and it is definitely 800mhz

    Then get support from your valued source.

  • Exfso

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    Posted June 24th, 2014 21:00

    Fair go mate, I did not expect a sarcastic reply about this.  I was only trying to convey that the person I purchased the ram off was genuine and that the ram I got from him tested as 800mhz speed.  He has looked into this and gone through the manual and cannot find anything that may give this sort of problem other than the ram is not the correct type, which it is.  He suggested I contact Dell about this and this is what I have attempted to do via this forum. :emotion-43:

  • 2-J

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    Posted June 25th, 2014 02:00

    Probably not a very helpful comment but - in general, all sorts of things can happen when you mismatch ram, the safe bet is to go with identical sticks rated at the same speed.
  • Exfso

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    Posted June 25th, 2014 04:00

    The thing is that both pairs of sticks have identical ratings, only thing is they are different brands.  A real pain I reckon.

  • kirkd

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    Posted June 25th, 2014 10:00

    Did CPU-Z show that the timings are equal or are you comparing the published timings? Also, voltage drop when using the four sticks can result in slower speeds. There are some utilities that measure the voltages. 

  • Exfso

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    Posted June 25th, 2014 18:00

    Did CPU-Z show that the timings are equal or are you comparing the published timings? Also, voltage drop when using the four sticks can result in slower speeds. There are some utilities that measure the voltages. 

    I did tests using CPU-Z on both pairs of modules and the readings were identical.  This is why I am somewhat perplexed.  As I said the only difference between the 2 matched sets was the brand name.  Maybe their could be voltage drop issues.

  • kirkd

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    Posted June 25th, 2014 19:00

    Remember, as stated before by others, mixing RAM from different suppliers can result in compatibility problems, including timing issues which can reduce access speeds. I have seen others with similar problems because of insufficient voltage with maxed out RAM. See if you can compare the voltage specs for both brands.