Hi all. Great forum. I searched the web for help with my problem and this seems like a great place to learn something new.

I just built a new pc using the following-
Gigabyte GA7-VAXP mobo
AMD XP 2000+
256 Mbs DDR400 (OCZ brand,1X256)
I tested the system performance using SANDRA 2003 and all looks good
except memory bandwidth perfomance. Testing shows the bandwidth just
below or comparable to PC600 SDRAM. Should be running much faster.
Bios settings for Dram clock is very limited.(Auto,DDR200,DDR333,DDR400)
The memory runs fastest when select Auto. Runs very poorly when I select DDR400.There is also no way to set ram timimgs manually.
I'm not sure how to increase the memory performance to what it should be. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks

I will assume your board is of the older flavor with the KT400 chipset, as opposed to the newest board with the KT400a chipset.

The KT400 chipset does not really have "official" support for 400mhz memory.

You can manually adjust DRAM timing. In the main BIOS setup screen, press (Ctrl, F1) to get into Advanced CMOS Settings, or something like that. Choose Manual for DRAM Timing. You should then be able to tweak all the settings.

Most likely the reason you're getting the best performance when choosing Auto in the Voltage/Frequency screen is because it runs the memory in sync with the FSB of your processor, in this case 266Mhz. That's usually the best setting, when the CPU and DRAM are running in sync with each other, no matter what the actual rated speed of your DRAM is. But go ahead and manually tweak the CAS, RAS, etc. to see if you can eek some more power out of the system.

Thanks BigBlue66! I saw your reply @ work today and couldn't wait to get home to see if it would work. Just like you said it would. Looks like the ram timimgs are on the conservative side. I should be able to increase performance with minor adjustment. (Famous last words)


Thanks again. I knew I would learn something from this site. Here it is...No matter how many times I read the mobo manual, It pays to read it again.