For a secondary system, I got an older Epox EP-3VHA socket-370 board, with VIA Apollo Pro 266 chipset. My Tualatin processor can go at least to 143Mhz FSB and probably above, but I cannot force my RAM to even try CL2 at anything above 133FSB, even though i set the timings manually in the BIOS. SiSoft Sandra identifies one set of Kingston PC2100 ram as capable of CL2 up to 133, and CL2.5 up to 143, but the timings go to 2.5-2-2-6 the moment i switch to 134FSB. I've also tried some samsung-based PC2700 ram, but the same thing happens - and Sandra tells me again that the chips are identified as capable of CL2 up to 133, but with CL2.5 possible up to 167FSB. Surely, this PC2700 ram is capable of incrementing up a few Mhz while still running CL2, don't you think?
Is this simply a limitation of my motherboard/chipset, which will not deviate from the RAM's on-chip timing specifications? Or will I have any luck trying ram that somehow has been marked on-chip as capable of CL2 at FSB above 133?
Is this simply a limitation of my motherboard/chipset, which will not deviate from the RAM's on-chip timing specifications? Or will I have any luck trying ram that somehow has been marked on-chip as capable of CL2 at FSB above 133?