About to throw my conroe right out the door! grr

[WesM63]

OK, i've had nothing but problems here... well with overclocking at least.

I've mentioned it, and had tons of guys help me and tried and tried and now i'm mad.

With my OCZ EL Plat pc2-6400 and the system set to 400*9 4-5-4-15 4:3 the system refuses to boot. 5-6-5-18 timings with same settings the system boots fine and runs fine.

So i talk to Vapor, AFI, NJKID etc.. and try and try.. the stupid system will NOT run over 390FSB 4:3 with any timings other than 5-6-5-18 (spd).

NJKID says, "hey it could still be the ram" so I grab 2x512mb sticks of Corsair Value Select DDR2-533 from work tonight. Slap em in and boot right into windows at 400*9 4:3 4-5-4-15. Dual prime for 30min now no issues.

So someone please tell me, can the chipset on my board just not handle the 2gb at 400*9 4:3 4-5-4-15 or is it my OCZ ram?

I am for sure running to work in the morning (even thou i have the day off), grabbing 2 more 512's and seeing what happens. (We only had 1 1gb stick).

This will definatly tell me where my problem lies correct?

Someone help before i throw it all out my window and start over! (heh.. everything but the chip ;) )


EDIT: This is on a P5W DH Deluxe running 0078 bios.

[Major_A]

This is going to sound harsh but here it goes; who cares. Memory timings have little to no real world benefits. As much as the RAM manufacturers and SuperPi addicts tell you CAS 4 and 5 are NOT noticable. Unless you use your computer for Xtreme (pun intended) benchmarking you won't see a difference. Proof is in the pudding.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/07/18/core_2_duo_memory_timings/1.html
If you can "feel" or "notice" any improvements you have some heightened senses.

*EDIT*
If that Conroe you are running is an original stepping (i.e. anything older than they sent to review sites) they are apparently riddled with bugs and this may be one of them. Can't remember where I read that at but I'm sure if you read the usual suspect review sites you'll find it.

[WesM63]

No, i agree. It just frustrates me when I can't run my memory at its rated timings, and at 100mhz than its rated for. Even 4-5-4 timings are lax, but damn.

[Mr. Popo]

Not a big deal at all... If you still feel like throwing it away, give it to me! I'll pay for shipping. :toast:

[FUGGER]

Ok, different ram only run in certain timing areas and not work at all in others.

Elpida is very picky and does not play well when mixed with other ram and refuses to boot at tight timing. If built on BP higher voltages are not a problem.

Some new D9 dont do tight timing or -6 in timing, loves voltage goes far

Samsung does not like tight timing or voltages

Infineon does not like high voltages and runs in quite a bit over stock with no voltage increase. max like 2.15v

for the most part, stick with 3-3-3-x or 4-4-4-x or 5-5-5-x for max speed. use memtest 86+ to test max settings for errors, it may seem like it works fine but it might be caughing up unseen errors and have your hard boot sector fail. It will not show timing in memtest but it will show raw bandwidth close to what you would see as Sandra unbuffered.

[WesM63]

Fugger,
Thanks for the info. I'm not sure what the problem is here.

The OCZ is rated for 4-5-4-15 400mhz (unsure of chips). The Corsair is rated for 4-4-4-12 266mhz (samsung chips).

[Major_A]

Well I can see how that would be frustraiting. Sort of like buying a Mustang GT only to find a V6 engine. It's probably because it's an early BIOS. Have you tried checking out ASUS' forums?

[WesM63]

Just saw your edit Major_A, its a Step 5 conroe.. the latest before retail.

[Weedsqueezer]

hmm i am on bios 0602, and this chip will boot and bench at 418 *9 with spd but not much more, as i don't know alot about how to tweak latency's honestly tho.. 3770mhz on a 2400 chip...damn, and 80,000 rosetta bench! double damn!

[WesM63]

Weed,
Just shot you a PM.

I don't really know a whole alot about DDR2 but i know the OCZ is rated at 4-5-4-15, so thats what i'm trying to run it at.

[Scarlet Infidel]

Not that it matter much, but soem manufacturers change the order of their latencies from the norm. ie what they call 4-5-4-15 others might call 4-4-5-15.

May be way off, others can confirm or deny? Either way i doubt itll make a difference unless you arent dont have enough voltage across them.

[alexio]

The problem is the chipset I think, not the memory. 2*1GB at 400mhz fsb 4:3 is not easy for a chipset that wasn't designed for that kind of speed.

What can your RAM do at the 1:1 setting? I wouldn't be supprised if it could do 1:1 4-4-4-*.

[WesM63]

I wasn't kidding when i said i've tried everything.

Ram voltage helps none.

1:1 395*9 4-5-4-15 or 390*9 4-4-4-8 is max.

Tony just told me I need to RMA my ram :(

I'm gonna test 4x512's just to be positive.


I know it is not the CPU as it'll do 3.7ghz 415*9 4:3 5-6-5-18.

[Gautam]

Do you have HyperPath 3 disabled?

[WesM63]

Yes.

I had NJKID go through the entire bios with me to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Everything was correct except some voltages which didn't help either.

[WesM63]

Well it has to be the ram. 4x512mb sticks at 4-5-4-15 400*9 4:3 the system boots. The other 2x512's I got are not the same as the first two and tested seperatly will not run 300mhz (400*9) 4-5-4-15.

So i stuck the OCZ sticks in and the system REFUSES to boot at 400*9 4-5-4-15 4:3. It won't even post with these settings and the OCZ sticks.

The 4x512's at least post and hang after post, so that pretty much tells me my problem is the OCZ memory.

Unless someones going to rain on my parade and tell me 4x512's doesn't put the same amount of strain on the chipset as 2x1gb does.

[Sanborn]

maybe you just have bad ram ?

[WesM63]

No offense man, but thats what i've been trying to figure out for the past week. Is it the Ram or the board. I'm like 99% positive its the ram at this point.

[Camride]

Just to help you realise it is the RAM, I have 2gb(2 x 1gb) of OCZ Gold DDR2-6400 that does 533Mhz(1066DDR) at 4-4-4-12 on 2.1v with a 5:4 divider at 3.8Ghz(423 x 9) on my Bad Axe. THe RAM is rated at 5-5-5-15 @ 400Mhz, so it's doing 133Mhz over stock at tighter timings. There is something wrong with your ram.

BTW, OCZ rocks my socks! I love this RAM. Fits my Conroe perfectly!

[WesM63]

Yep, i spoke with Ryder and Tony and the ram is getting RMA'd. We'll see what happens with the new ram.

[adamant415]

All I know is if you decide to throw your conroe out the door or your ram for that matter just gimme your address and what day you plan on doing it and I promise it'll never hit the ground.

[WesM63]

Just to update this i'm still frustrated. Got my RMA ram back last night threw it in today as its the first chance i've had. I still have the SAME problem. :Grr: