Recenly I bought a Geil RAM kit set;PC4000 1G(512m x 2) to upgrade my old RAM Twinmos. Thought that it's easy job to do but it's not. In fact, they gave me hell lot of problem.

When I upgrade to 1G, I planed to sync the fbs(both on 200Mhz) of the cpu & ram. I didn't aware that changing the fbs & will corrupt the os.

After my os crashed, I installed my win2k again. Little realize that the sync fbs will affect the os setup. It'll prompted the error message that hardwares didn't installed properly or "ntlrd is missing".

It's strange that Geil RAM set itself CAS 2 7-4-4, even I cleared CMOS to default. I set both fbs @ 200mhz but the RAM latency couldn't get it right after many attempted.

Need advise....


Here is my pc spec;
CPU: AMD 2200, TB
multiplier: x11
FBS: 200
Bios: uber version
Core V : 1.7

ASUS mthbrd: A7N8X-DLX Rev.1.xx

Memory : Geil PC4000 1G (512 x 2) Ultra version(old ram is 512mx1 Twinmos)
FBS: 200Mhz
Latency = 2:4:4:7(strange setting but it's default by the bios)

HDD: seagate ATA 100 80G

G.graphic card: leadtek A280 TDH LE, Ti4200

It CORRUPTED your OS? That'd be very strange, did you change your motherboard too?

Are you sure that your cpu can do 200 FSB

what?? you mean you have overclocked your 2200+ to 2,2Ghz?? if so it's very common that you got problems with your OS. it's a hardware problem and not about your memory, you have overclocked your processor fsb from 133 (x13,5) to 200 (x11) mhz that makes the OS very unstable. this is a HUUUGE increase and that prove that geil memory it's a good election because with other memory module the pc won't have booted. becareful with overclocking because if you don't know what are you doing it's probably that you could burn your processor. first i recomend you to leave all the settings in your bios by default (i got the same MB go to your bios and leave all the settings in optimal). then if you still want to overclock find a good guide, forget the 200fsb sync if your default fsb it's 133 and consider to be lucky if you don't have burned your processor.

And shouldn't you go up to 250mhz fsb to get PC4000 in sync? Its 500Mhz DDR and that's pretty steep on many AthlonXP motherboards. Even with an other processor.

And I looked at Geil Website and they say the memory is CAS 2.5 7-4-4 @ DDR500MHz PC4000, so you got that wrong as well.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the input. I know some knowledge about pc. Just like to know; I thought AMD 2200 TB FBS is 266? Previously I oc my cpu to 2700, FBS166. Ram set to SPD. Now I bought the New Geil RAM to upgrade the old one. Of course, the best will run on cpu & ram sync to FBS 200.

When I reset my CMOS to the default setting, and I installed my os. After the installation, the os failed to boot. As jdeboeck mentioned, the CAS is not correct. The default is 2 7-4-4. I have to set the cpu fbs 166, ram fbs 200 and CAS 2.5 6-3-3. Reinstalled the os and it'll booted successfully.

Now i wish to optimize both fbs of cpu & ram. Any idea?


** my uber ver. is 1007.

# for big poppa pump; the stated 200 is not workable. Correct one is 166.

@simon109s the OS don't get corrupted with OC, you don't need to reinstall it after hardware changes, the errors you see are corrected downclocking the cpu and it will boot fine. a couple of tips:

* first change your ram fsb to "by spd", the ram fsb over the cpu one doesn't represent any perfomance improvement, only a bottleneck.
* reduce your vcore voltage and reset all the settings to optimal, then increment your cpu fsb from 3 to 3. at any moment the os will not boot, then reduce your fsb from 1 to 1 until the os boots and it's stable. if you want some more OC increment 0.5 your multiplier and check again...

in conclusion your vcore MUST be minimal (more voltage means more temperature), your ram MUST be ALWAYS by spd, and make minimal changes until test (fsb +3mhz, multiplier +0,5, vcore +0.25v ...). finally the oc it's better if your fsb it's higher and not your multiplier. another time i recommend you to search for a guide

hi SiMoNsAyS,

Thanks for the input. I'll try them out after I reinstall my os.

Geil RAM is notorious for being touchy with aggressive CAS/RAS/etc.... settings.
I wish you had asked for reccomendations on RAM before buying that brand. AMD CPU's benefit more from lower latancy RAM than over clocking the frontside bus.
Here is a review of that memory: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1447&page=1

If possible, you should check out this website for many AMD overclocking guides:
http://www.amdboard.com/ocspecial.html

Hi ITman,

Thank for the advise. I half regret to jump on the wagon too fast. Before I hit the hammer, I did search for Geil's review but didn't manage to find one months ago. No info about how much impact on AMD's performance. Also I read some forums but didn't see anyone talk about Geil ram. I guess I'm the 1st one.(ya..1st one to lay dead due to improper invest on the ram! )

Now I know Geil ram is being very selective. Not much room to play.(Poor me, spend so much $$ to find out. Well, still ok if I don hope to oc much on my system! Who won't..)

The other half is because the $; compare with Corsair, same spec;PC4000. Geil is cheaper as much as 15%.