Determine RAM specifications?

[Craig White]

On Wed, 2007-02-14 at 16:49 -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
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> Alan Dayley wrote:
> > 
> > Woah!  Would you look at that!  Lots of information there.
> > 
> > Thanks, Craig.
> 
> Well, that is a very cool command.  But, the dmidecode project web site
> states that the program does not probe but only reports information that
> the BIOS provides.  My BIOS is not helpful for what I need.  The command
> "dmidecode -t 17" reports information for device type 17, which is
> memory.  My output reports "Speed: Unknown"  :^|
> 
> But, half my question was whether or not both memory sockets were
> populated.  It reports that the second bank is empty.  That is good news
> since I don't have to remove RAM to install more RAM.
> 
> The speed issue is important in my case because the dual channel support
> will only be possible if both sockets are populated with the same
> capacity and speed memory modules.  I want to buy a module that matches
> the one already installed.  The manufacturer specs show two possible
> speeds for this model.  I guess I'll have to open it up to physically
> inspect for the speed.
> 
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I'm lazy and just type 'dmidecode' and sift through it all.

On all of the machines that I have run it on, it always shows the
speed...

Handle 0x1100
        DMI type 17, 23 bytes.
        Memory Device
                Array Handle: 0x1000
                Error Information Handle: Not Provided
                Total Width: 72 bits
                Data Width: 64 bits
                Size: 128 MB
                Form Factor: DIMM
                Set: 1
                Locator: DIMM 1A
                Bank Locator: Not Specified
                Type: SDRAM
                Type Detail: Synchronous
                Speed: 133 MHz (7.5 ns)

but you could always get the speed from the processor information too
(note - external clock)...

Handle 0x0403
        DMI type 4, 32 bytes.
        Processor Information
                Socket Designation: Proc 1
                Type: Central Processor
                Family: Pentium III
                Manufacturer: Intel
                ID: B4 06 00 00 FF FB 83 03
                Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model B, Stepping 4
                Flags:
                        FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
                        VME (Virtual mode extension)
                        DE (Debugging extension)
                        PSE (Page size extension)
                        TSC (Time stamp counter)
                        MSR (Model specific registers)
                        PAE (Physical address extension)
                        MCE (Machine check exception)
                        CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
                        APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
                        SEP (Fast system call)
                        MTRR (Memory type range registers)
                        PGE (Page global enable)
                        MCA (Machine check architecture)
                        CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
                        PAT (Page attribute table)
                        PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
                        MMX (MMX technology supported)
                        FXSR (Fast floating-point save and restore)
                        SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
                Version: Not Specified
                Voltage: 1.5 V
                External Clock: 133 MHz
                Max Speed: 1660 MHz
                Current Speed: 1400 MHz
                Status: Populated, Enabled
                Upgrade: ZIF Socket
                L1 Cache Handle: 0x0713
                L2 Cache Handle: 0x0723
                L3 Cache Handle: Not Provided

and also - you must be careful if ECC is needed...

Handle 0x1000
        DMI type 16, 15 bytes.
        Physical Memory Array
                Location: System Board Or Motherboard
                Use: System Memory
                Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
                Maximum Capacity: 4 GB
                Error Information Handle: Not Provided
                Number Of Devices: 4

as this information isn't going to be returned if you just poll for '-t
17'

Craig