Memory DDR2700, DDR3200, DDR3500

[danmaday]

First I would like to thank evetone who responded to my message about my Gigagbyte 7VAXP. I RMA'ed it and now I am moving to a SOYO KT400 Dragon.

MY SOYO is in the mail. In the interim I went back to my old mobo, a GIGBYTE 7VRXP, put in a new hard disk and tried to load WINXP PRO. I got a ton of stops - 7E, 7F, 8A, 50 etc. Out of desparation I got it to work by slowing down the CPU speed from 133 mhz to 100 mhz. Gigabyte has a switch to do this. I also slowed down the memory to 266 mhz in the BIOS Then it worked. But now my PC says I have a 1200 mhz processor not a 1900+.

Why did I have to slow it down? Was it because my memory was generic?

I feel cheated by this. Why would Gigabyte sell a mobo that has to be slowed down to work?

This brings me to the memory for my SOYO. SOYO recommend Kingston (PC3200) KVR400x64c25. Another dealer has Kingston PC3500 memory Hight-Tech X for only $10 more.

Should I buy the faster memory?

Will I have to slow the CPU clock on my new mobo?

Thanks for your comments.

Dan

[Telexen]

Your memory speed needs to be the same as the CPU...set it to 266mhz (133mhz bus) and set the CPU FSB to 266mhz (133mhz bus).

[Siliconjunkie]

What Soyo did you get? My SY-KT400 will only support 2 sticks of 3200, so you lose a slot. Not sure if that really impacts you or not, but something to consider.

Also, check your heat sink/thermal goop. I had the EXACT same problem with that exact board. Turned out I had a brain-fart and the HSF was on backwards and not completely contacting the core. Would run fine at 100, but if I flipped the little switch it flipped out.

[danmaday]

I can't bump up the speed to 133 by flipping the switch because,even with Winxp loaded, the computer reboots every couple of minutes.

I am fascinated with the HSF comment. My HSF is connected so that the part you attach first (the part without the screwdriver notch) is next to the top of the socket (where the hinge for the top of the CPU lock down lever is). Isn't that correct???

Because I move the PC around so much I bought general thermal paste tio supplement that little patch that came with the CPU. Could the thermal paste matter??

Thanks.

[rourkchris]

Did you remove the thermal pad first? Did you just add more thermal paste? Sounds like that's your problem. To much thermal paste causes your system to overheat and provides poor heat transfer. Your CPU is overheating. A thin layer is all that is needed.

[Telexen]

What are the temperatures?

You should set all the jumpers/switches to run 133mhz system bus...then make sure it's set to the same in the BIOS

[Siliconjunkie]

I dont recall which way it faces. Take the heatsink off and look at the thermal pad thingie, if you notice it is off center. You will see an impression from the core in it. If put on backwards the impression will only be half in the goop.

[Siliconjunkie]

On that board all the defaults will work. The switch changes it from plain athlon to athlon XP. Actually that is the only thing you cannot change in the bios.

[danmaday]

Thank you all for your input.

Well I admit to the group that I am stupid. The fan was on backward! My only excuse is that I missed the notch in the bottom of the HSF because of my bifocals.

I am running at 115 degrees F now before I flipped the fan I was at 127 degrees F. I am running as a 1900+.

You folks are really smart.

Now back to my first question. Should I buy the Kingston PC3200 model KVR400x64c25 or should I go with the faster PC3500 (High-tech X) for $10 more?

Dan

[cbuddha42]

i would buy the 3500 but if your worried about mobo company not providing tech support and just pointing the finger at your memory when something goes wrong then i guess you might consider gettin whatever they suggest