"Jon Danniken" <jonREMOVETHISdanniken@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:4s5hisFs1sjeU1@mid.individual.net...
> Hello,
>
> I bought a pair of Kingston HyperX RAM sticks, and tried to use them today;
> these ones:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144114
>
> Unfortunately, instead of the 2-3-2-6 timings they are sold at, they come up
> (auto) on the board (Epox 9NDA3I) as 2.5-3-3-8 timings. Attempting to set
> them at the stated speed results in the board slowing them down to 166MHz
> (PC 2700, DDR 333), and setting the memory back up to 200MHz results in
> errors in memtest86.
>
> I was rather surprised when the tech support fellow at Kingston told me that
> I would have to set the memory timings manually in order to get them to run
> at the specified timings.
>
> So, my question is, is it generally required to have to set memory timings
> manually in order to get the timings that are specified by the manufacturer?
>
> Also, is it generally required to have to manually increase the voltage of
> memory in order to get them to run at the timings specified by the
> manufacturer?

The SPD chip on most memory modules is set to JEDEC
standards, regardless of the module's actual speed and
timing capabilities. Manufacturers do this so they can
maintain compliance with JEDEC standards. A system bios
(in auto mode) simply reads whatever timings are stored on
the SPDs, and it's up to the end-user to override these
default timings.

Also, whether a module needs extra voltage to achieve its
rated speed specs depends on the memory chips used in
the module. Some chips need a voltage boost, others don't.
For this reason manufacturers have begun specifying a
voltage range for a given module (e.g. 3.1-3.3V) instead of
a single number.