CAS2 vs. CAS3

[Psycho-holic Slag]

i've got two sticks of PC100 RAM. one is NEC and another is some brand i've never heard of that fry's at the time called 'premium.' i haven't really looked yet (i will), but are there any other ways to tell which i have other than markings on the chip? furthermore, since the setting is in the BIOS is possible to 'overclock' the memory to CAS2 when it's not?

[djurom]

I think that you can search for brand by serial number (I THINK).You have a search engine on <A HREF="http://www.windrivers.com" TARGET=_blank>www.windrivers.com</A> to look for any brand of memory via various options.
I didn't understand what do you want with BIOS but CAS2 is better performance than CAS3 but depends on system how stable will it be at certain point of overclocking level.

[This message has been edited by djurom (edited 09-05-2000).]

[Buji]

http://www.lndlabs.com/memory_part_numbers.htm

[Psycho-holic Slag]

it appears the link above is only referring to SIMMs, and i'm using PC100 DIMMS.

so should i basically try setting it to CAS2 and seeing if it'll work?

[spark25]

No,you can find out. You can:
1-Use *sisoft sandra*-bios info. section
2-Use *Motherboard Monitor*-has a DIMM Speed plug in you download seperatly
it will tell you the CAS that your DIMM supports
3-Most newer DIMM use the same code structure for those long numbers you see on your ram stick(IF you can see them !).This page takes apart those numbers and shows you how to read the information within that long string.The page is hard to get sometimes for me. It's here. (http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=179)

[This message has been edited by spark25 (edited 09-06-2000).]

[Roy]

CAS Latency is the number of clock cycles from the time a request for data arrives until valid data output is available.

SDRAM that delivers in 2 cycles at its rated speed is more likely to run at much higher speeds. For example, PC133 CL2 may run at 155.

At the higher speeds, the system must be set to expect data in 3 cycles instead of 2.

The easiest way to know if your memory will take a CL2 setting is to try it. If its stable, leave it alone.

Remember, as with modifying Quadrajet carburators, make only one change at a time. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[NDC]

Is there a noticeable difference in using CAS2 over CAS3 as in performance? My memory specs in MBM4 shows that my memory supports CAS2 and CAS3. The setting in my BIOS is CAS3. I justchanged it to CAS2 in my BIOS and seems to run rock solid. What are the drawbacks to using CAS2?

Are there any dangers of damaging the memory or shortening the life because I'm using CAS2 and NOT 3?

I'm using 4 RAM sticks, 1x128, 3x256=768mb
they are all PC-100.



[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 09-06-2000).]

[djurom]

I'm using PC-100 64MB at CAS2 and it shows on some benchmarks better results.How better is it in real life that is a big "?"
On my opinion it shouldn't do any damage if everything is OK and if your memory is designed to support CAS2 shortening of life isn't something you should worry about.
I asked my friends around and they are all on CAS2 for months with really overclocked machines and it all runs smoothly. That's my experience.

[Psycho-holic Slag]

thanks for the info spark... i'm hoping it doesn't require an intel BX chipset because i'm running an asus w/and ali chipset.

[NDC]

Thanks Djurom, I also did the some researching and you're right. Thanks for the reply! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[NDC]

Oops, double post. Sorry. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 09-06-2000).]

[djurom]

Happy I could help http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[spark25]

Slag--I haven't heard of any chipset related problems running either of those programs.