RAM -> Phoney parts bought?

Hi everyone,
I got my new PC a week ago and am having a comparison of the parts figuring on my bill and the ones inside my machine using Everest. I got an Athlon 64 3200, Asus A8N-SLI and asked for 1 gig of Kingston RAM @400.
Having a look at Everest info, I think the technician put 2 sticks of 512 @200 instead of 400. Before going back to the store and beat up this freak, I gotta make sure that I am not wrong, being the purpose of this thread. Since a picture is worth thousand words, I am including 2 prt scrs. Many thanx!

 

Looks to me that you got what you asked for. PC3200 is 400MHz RAM, although it can be underclocked, which it appears to be (I would have someone confirm, though).
I think that the only legitimate complaint you could have is if you asked for a single 1GB stick and got two 512s

 

DiM3y, Mada_Milty is correct. If you don't specify ( put it in writing, to be sure) that you want 1 gig of RAM in ONE stick (and you will pay extra for it), suppliers will fit 2 x 512, or if you are really unlucky (and your motherboard has 4 slots), maybe 4 x 256mbytes. It's cheaper for them, it enables them to sell cheaper systems. Price is usually GOD when it comes to deciding on similar specked systems.

We have all been caught, at some time or other. We learn by experience ($$$) unfortunately.

To anyone reading this thread, always ask for the RAM you want to be installed, in as few memory sticks as possible. This will always cost more, but prove cheaper in the long run, if you, later, want to add more memory. Bazza
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Not sure if this is entirely correct, my friend. IIRC, you can use multiple channels (ie more than one slot) to distribute memory access across several sticks, resulting in a slight performance increase for the same amount of RAM. I will work to confirm this.

 

You are probably correct. Forgot about that. I don't own modern enough hardware to use this facility. Still stuck with old P2 boxes. Bazza

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However, 1gb of ram in one stick IS more expensive than 2 x512mb. it costs a lot more in long run if you have to replace ram, instead of adding it.

In addition, having too many sticks of ram can be worse, too.

In my case, I have 4 x512 sticks of PC3200. Yet, due to hardware limitations, it all underclocked to PC2700.

 

i got 2 spare P4 boards if you want one all you got to pay is shipping and a little fee

P.M. me if you want one

 

All right guys, thank you all very much for the answers. I'm just wondering now ; should I try to overclock my RAM to reach 400 or should I leave it as it is for now?
And what way do I overclock that? In the BIOS?

 

ib bios you will also see 133 166 200 it has a multiplier of 2 for frequency or in laymans terms 133 is equal to pc2100 166 to pc2700 and 200 to pc3200

 

P.S. on your boot up post screen it may also show ram speed in mhz

 

Thanks, PM sent to you. Bazza

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