Re: RAM Voltage

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On 2008-08-09, Twayne hit the keyboard and wrote:
Hi,

Here's a simple one, I think, for anyone with memory experience.

Current RAM is read by SIW as SSTL 2.5V. All RAM I can find at
places like Crucial, etc. are labelled as 2.6V.

Does the 2.5 vs 2.6 V matter?

What might the SSTL stand for?

I have a 256 Meg Walmart machine apparently made by Balance Digital
Technology, who no longer makes desktop but does appear to make
laptops, but they are a manufacturer & won't talk to anyone.
Walmart of course just says "HUH?"
All I want to do is take it from 256 to 512 or a Gig depending on
whether i can work out the voltage question. Machine called 3 GHz
but actually has a 2.4 GHz Celeron in it.

You see this value during boot-up (POST message) right? This
could be that in the BIOS very often very *conservative*
settings are used, and changing a few items could get it to
run a bit faster. Unless of course you have a manual for the
PC that specifically says that the CPU tops at 2.4 GHz.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of exposing the post info: but I see it with
System INformation, SIW, a more thorough SI, by actual measurement, and
Crucial's system measurement when it inspects RAM.


I run a AMD 1800 Athlon for a few month at 1500, til I
realized the shop where they put the thing together set it
wrong, and I got it running at 1900. To get precise
information on that look up "overclocking" not that I'd
advice to run the CPU out of specifications, but just so
that you can see what's involved.

Hmm, I didn't realize it was something the user could get at. There's
nothing in the BIOS and no jumpers that I see (yet).
Any links or thoughts on how I might research that?

<cut>

Cpu Socket Socket 478

Max CPU Speed 3066 MHz (but running in 2.4 GHz machine).

Trimming your post I see that indeed you have room to *upper* it.
It's like driving down the road with just the 3. gear, while the
gearbox has 5. ..:-)

HEY, I owned that car too! :^)


Do you need the faster speed?

No, not really. The speed is really just a sort of "sidelight" I've
come across. I suppose there's even a reason for it being at 2.4 vs
3GHz. It's been "interesting" to note the mish-mash of parts in this
thing. No wonder Walmart can sell them so cheaply. I replaced the cpu
fan/heatsink because the fan gave upt he ghost, and looking up the
numbers, it was a fan for a 2 GHz cpu. I'd managed to get the old fan
going with a little WD-40 and sewing machine oil though, just so I could
see if hte processor had been damaged; it hadn't, according to all the
diags tests and readers I threw at it. I put a properly sized fan in
and the heatsink temp went from too hot to even consider touching to not
too hot to keep your finger on so it made quite a difference.

Thanks for your commens; appeaciate it. The actual problem I'm chasing
here, now that I think the hardware is all OK, is figuring out why it's
so incredibly slow, a slowness that's not because of lack of RAM.
There's so little in it, it shold boot in a couple minutes but it's
taking it six minutes, programs often open just as slowly and web sites
the same, moving around in a file, etc. etc.
Supposedly the OS was just reinstalled three days before it was
brought to me, but I'm beginning to think that wasn't true. Shadow copy
services were turned off, it was set as a member of a domain but there
was no domain to join and a couple other things like that. About all
I'm reasonably sure of now is that it's AV/malware free and that ain't
much help! Well, and that it's not a heat problem.
lol, you should see the cpu fan/psu fans! Their draw-sides are right
next to each other at 90 degrees, and they fight for the same air! The
cpu heat would come out the one side and drift right up into the psu
fan! If I can figure how to do it, I'm going to put a piece of
fishpaper in there to route the cpu heat to some nearby vents about an
inch away.

If I don't get anywhere with it today, I'll back it up and do a clean
install of the OS, but I sort of hate to: The original complaint was
that it'd be OK after a rebuild and then slowly go to pieces like this.

lol, sorry for the ling missive! Guess I'm mulling things in my mind
here.

Regards,

Twayne




Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on the voltage issue.
Or anything else for that matter.



Twayne




Dragomir Kollaric



.

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