Power Mac G5 (late 2005) memory showing two different speeds

Alright, here's the situation. I have a late 2005, Dual 2,0Ghz, water cooled, model, G5 Power Mac tower. These have 8 memory slots, (1 upper bank of 4 slots and one lower bank of 4 slots located directly above and below each other on the motherboard). The two inside slots (the two slots that are closest together - one from each bank) are labeled slot 1. Then the next two slots (moving outward from the middle) are slots 2, then slots 3, then slots 4. Anyway,according to the Apple specs, the memory should be set up in matching pairs of like modules: i.e. slots one = 2 X 1GB sticks of matching PC4200, slots 2 = 2 matching sticks of PC4200, etc., etc, up to a total of 8 GBs of compatible memory.


I have 8 X 1GB sticks of "matching" Kingston PC4200 memory installed, and it even shows up on the "About This Mac" page as 8 GB. However, if you take this one step further and proceed to the "More Info" page, under the "Hardware" tab, the "memory" info it shows up as 4 sticks of DDR2-PC4200, and 4 sticks of DDR2-PC3200. Ironically, slots 0,1,2,3 indicate as PC-4200 (533Mhz), and slots 4,5,6, & 7 indicate as PC-3200 (400Mhz). Can anyone give me some insight as to why this would be happening? I've also re-arrainged the memory modules, but the memory speed discrepancy stays the same.


Any help would be appreciated!

MacBook, iOS 5, LCD flashes momentarily at start up

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 8:02 AM

Reply
7 replies

Oct 24, 2013 10:45 AM in response to Ernest Banz

It's likely no problem if everything is running fine, some SPIDIF chip anomoly I think.


I've read several problems with Kingston RAM in Macs.


Here's my Quad G5's RAM...


DIMM0/J6700:


Size: 1 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-4200U-444

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


DIMM1/J6800:


Size: 1 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-4200U-444

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


DIMM2/J6900:


Size: 2 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-4200U-444

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


DIMM3/J7000:


Size: 2 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-4200U-444

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


DIMM4/J7100:


Size: 2 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-4200U-444

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


DIMM5/J7200:


Size: 2 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-4200U-444

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


DIMM6/J7300:


Size: Empty

Type: Empty

Speed: Empty

Status: Empty

Manufacturer: Empty

Part Number: Empty

Serial Number: Empty


DIMM7/J7400:


Size: Empty

Type: Empty

Speed: Empty

Status: Empty

Manufacturer: Empty

Part Number: Empty

Serial Number: Empty

Oct 24, 2013 11:54 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the response BDAqua. My memory dimms show most of what your's does. Like I said, mine are all Kingston matching 1GB dimms of PC-4200. Using your slot discriptions mine are like this:


Dimm0/j6700


Size: 1GB

Type: DDR2

Speed: PC2-4200u-444

Status: OK

Manuf: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


Dimm1/j6800:

Shows the same


Dimm2/j6900:

Shows the same


Dimm3/j7000

Shows the same


Dimm4/j7100: (Here's where my memory speed show as different - However, these are all still PC2-4200 Dimms also).


Size: 1GB

Type" DDR2

Speed: PC2-3200

Status: OK

Manuf: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown


Dimm5/j7200

Shows the same as Dimm4/J7100 (PC2-3200)


Dimm6/j7300

Shows the same as Dimm4/j7100 (PC2-3200)


Dimm7/j7400

Shows the same as Dimm4/7100 (PC2-3200)


-----------------------------------------------------

Remember all of the Dimms are the exact same speeds (PC2-4200-444), and are all matching dimms. However, half show as PC2-4200, while the other half show up show as PC2-3200. Even after I've rearrange the Dimms, the exact same discrepancy occurs in those same memory slots.


Yes, everything appears to run OK with the G5! I just don't like dealing with unknowns (LOL). Perhaps you're right about it being a SPIDIF chip anomoly, I just don't know, and was hoping someone had seen this before.

Oct 24, 2013 1:16 PM in response to Ernest Banz

Ernest,


I think they all really are running at PC-4200 speed, just some anomally in the speed of recognizing/initializing them & reading the values in the SPIDIF chip, most RAM will work at slower speeds than listed, & have a list built in to supply those nubers as text, why the G5 is reading the second value in the list seems must be some timing/initialization problem, but the G5 won't run at mixed speed RAM or even Sl;ower RAM, so regardless of what it reports, I'm quite confident it's really running at PC-4200 speeds. 🙂

Oct 24, 2013 6:15 PM in response to BDAqua

Yeah, I sort of figure the same thing as far as the memory speeds go. Like you, I'm beginning to think it's a got to be a sensing issue, in the lower ram slots, because that's where the speed shows up as PC2-3200 rather than the correct speed of PC2-4200. It's not a huge deal as the system seems to operate perfectly, and fast. It's just that I hate it when some anomally shows up and disrupts the preception that everything is running smoothly (LOL). Thanks for your help!

Nov 10, 2013 8:09 PM in response to Ernest Banz

Now that I think about, it's like due to preemptive multitasking, where things can respond in different time frames... OS queries all RAM, busy getting info from 1st pair, 2nd pair sees no response to 1st entry in spidif, drops to 2nd entry, OS finally comes back & says what ya got.. OK! 🙂


You can sort of see the same thing in Warlords or Civ4, ktll an opponent before he does any apparent damage... 10 seconds after he's dead he destroys a farm!

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Power Mac G5 (late 2005) memory showing two different speeds

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