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    SPDtool experiments and findings

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by naton, Sep 6, 2010.

  1. naton

    naton Notebook Virtuoso

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    Thread's aim:
    Although I'm talking here about overclocking, the main aim is to present a list of programmable DDR2 modules. By programmed I mean RAM that allow its "SDRAM Cycle Time at Maximum Supported CAS" to be modified by SPDtool.

    Software/Hardware used for the tests:
    EiSystem 1211 laptop (SiS chipset)
    Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330
    Intel Celeron Dual Core T1400
    17 x DDR2 PC5300 modules (various manufacturer - size from 512MB to 2GB)
    SPDtool
    CPUz

    Background:
    Few weeks ago, I overcloked for fun my Pentium Dual Core T2330 and my Celeron Dual Core T1400. The overclock was done by pin modding the BSEL pins on the CPU socket. That leds an increase in the FSB frequency from 133MHz to 166MHz. I tried to go from 133 to 200Mhz by failed. Until two days ago I didn't really know why I failed. Two days I go I was messing about with CPUz which made me realise that when the FSB is set to 166MHz my RAM was running at 416.7MHz instead of its nominal 333MHz. This was happening because my laptop was selection a DRAM:Frequency ratio of 4:10. When I was setting the FSB 200MHz, the laptop was trying to run my RAM at 500MHz.

    Motivations:
    Reducing the RAM speed so I can overclock my CPUs by 66% (i.e. FSB 133 to 200MHz).

    How to change memory speed with SPDtool (short tutorial):
    1/ Start SPDtool.
    2/ File --> Read --> Module 0 (or 2 if you want to program the second module).
    3/ go to "SDRAM Cycle Time at Maximum Supported CAS" menu (located on the list below the Hex code), and change the memory speed there.
    4/ Edit --> Fix Checksum
    5/ File --> Write --> Module 0 (or 2 if you want to program the second module).
    If you see an error message, it would mean that your memory cannot be prgrammed.

    Results:
    I used SPDtool and changed the "SDRAM Cycle Time at Maximum Supported CAS" from 333MHz down to 200MHz. I didn't made any other change. This made my laptop believe that my RAM was PC3200 instead of PC5300, and as results it used a DRAM:Frequency ratio of 2:3 instead of the original 4:10. With 2:3 and an FSB of 200MHz, my RAM was clocked at 300MHz. My T2330 was happy with FSB 200, and run yesterday stable at 2.2GHz instead of its original 1.46GHz. The T1400 didn't like it and refused to run at 2.6GHz.

    The 17 modules of RAM I played with are listed below. Note that here the word 'programmable' means that the "SDRAM Cycle Time at Maximum Supported CAS" can be at least downclocked from 333MHz to 266 and 200MHz.

    [​IMG]