E6600 on a P5B DLX. Not primestable at 320fsb, Bad Ram?

[Reite]

Ive got a Asus p5b mainboard with a E6600 processor. My RAM is 2GB kit of GEIL PC6400 rated for 4-4-4-12.

My problem is as in my topic that i get an error in prime after some time. The first time i did it i gave my ram stock volt and it lasted about 10 min without error. The next time i put up the voltage to 2.1 which should be what my chips are rated for, but i still got a error after about 50 minutes. My timings are set by SPD and are like 5-6-6-18.

I tought my ram should be fine till atleast i reach 400fsb, since theyre rated for that. Does this mean i got a bad set or something, and that i should get a refund?

Edit:
Ok i just tried to take the fsb to 333 and prime it again. Now i get a error after a couple of seconds on the "blend - stress cpu and ram" test. If i run the "StressCPU test with Gromacs core" i dont get any errors, atleast not for the 20 mins i tried it.

Does this mean that it deffinatly is the memory thats failing, or could it be something else?

[lawrywild]

maybe the chip can't handle the speed.. tried lower fsb?

[Reite]

With chip do u mean CPU or MB or what? on stock fsb its primestable for hours, havent run it long enough to get any errors yet atleast.

[lawrywild]

cpu I mean.

You just guessed that the cpu was stable at 320x9 stock volts??

[Reite]

Well the fact that the Cpu and memory test gives me error, but the CPU test does not is the main reason why i think its the ram. Another reason is that it wont boot if i set timings to 5-5-5-15 in bios

[burningrave101]

It's likely the memory. You probably need to adjust some settings in the BIOS. Try running with just one stick to see if you can overclock better.

[Andypro1]

This is almost *exactly* the situation I'm in right now. See my thread for more detailed info.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112356

[Shintai]

Try check with CPU-Z what the timings in windows are. Might be 3-3-3 or so since the 533 SPD setting is used.

[aggybong]

What BIOS are you using? If you are using 507, have you tried using 502? I've had much better results with 502.

[lawrywild]

You need to play with the bios yourself, that's what overclocking is all about. Putting in the time and effort to try settings yourself.

[aggybong]

Yea well, I think the P5B-D is picky about memory which causes all sorts of problems. No amount of tweaking will allow me to use the 507 bios, and with the 502 bios I'm limited to 375 fsb with loose memory timings (4-7-7-23)

[zizo]

Bios 0507 is not working for most of the pc6400 rams with 4-4-4-12 timings. 0502 has missed up timings and no matter what you set your timings at it wil always be x-7-7-23, but at least you can overclock the FSB. For the price we paid for this board, Asus should at least release a better bios soon. :mad:

[sierra_bound]

If you suspect a memory problem, you should run Memtest first. This will confirm whether the RAM is the problem.

It's also worth trying other BIOS's because the latest is not always the best, IMO.

[aggybong]

Memtest86, or that Windows version of Memtest?

[sierra_bound]

Memtest86 is fine. Prime is a good stability test. But for diagnosing memory issues, Memtest is much better.

Also with Conroe, run dual instances of Prime. There should be seperate folders for each one. Also, set Priority to 9 since that's what most programs run at.

[Reite]

I do believe the newest version of stressprime 2004 uses both cores with one instance of it. Thanks for all the help guys, il try it out.

[Andypro1]

Memtest86 is fine. Prime is a good stability test. But for diagnosing memory issues, Memtest is much better.

Also with Conroe, run dual instances of Prime. There should be seperate folders for each one. Also, set Priority to 9 since that's what most programs run at.
I ran the Windows version of MemTest and I got 16 errors on one of the instances. I took out one stick of ram and so far no errors.

Would that definitely indicate my ram is bad, or could that mean my bios settings are inappropriate? (5 5 5 12 2.05V, DDR 632)

[sierra_bound]

If Memtest is throwing errors with default timings, then it probably means a RAM problem, possibly a bad module.

[aggybong]

Andypro: My OCZ Platinum sticks will error with the 507 BIOS, but with the 502 BIOS everything is okay. Then again, the timings are limited to X-7-7-23 instead of 4-5-4-15 :(

[Andypro1]

Ah, thanks to you both.

I will now run some dual prime on this one stick which appears to be 100% good and see if my results are any better.

[Reite]

Ive tried to run memtest too, i got alot off errors within the first 10 min. Il try the same as Andypro.

One more question though, im having trouble flashing my bios to an older version, cause i havent installed a floppy drive in this computer, and the asus update wont let me flash to an older version. Anyway i can override this?

[Kashath]

I use a USB floppy drive I had for my laptop. That's the only way I can go backwards to a different BIOS.

[Reite]

Ive just tried the one stick solution and it didnt help much for me. At 333 fsp with 2 sticks it fails after about 5 sec. With Stick 1 alone it fails after 5 sec. With stich 2 alone it fails after about 1 min and 30 sec:(

The chances of me recieving 2 bad sticks must be pretty slim isnt it? Is it the GEIL ram that is just bad then, cause when i buy 800mhz ram i dont expect them to fail at 333 mhz

[Andypro1]

Reite: Are you ram timings as loose as they can be in the bios? (5 6 6 18 seems loose enough, though). And how about the voltage? Maybe try bumping that up and see if it's any more stable.

I've been running dual prime large fft for nearly an hour now with no errors on one stick of ram! We could be on to something here!

[Reite]

Ok i just tried the 0502 bios solution, and prime has been running perfectly for 30 mins now at 333fsb haha, il see if it keeps up=)

[zizo]

So when does Asus want to release a new bios? It seems 0507 is not working for most people.

[Reite]

Still up and running after 50min, Damn i didnt know a bios could screw up that much. Il do a memtest afterwards and se if it is any difference there.

And for all its worth my timings are abit slacker with this bios, it was 5-6-6-18 with the last one and 5-7-7-23 with this one, could that be the cause of it?

[lawrywild]

Can't you set the timings yourself??

[zizo]

No, most likely your ram is fine, just like mine. It's just the bios that is missed up. Even with 0507 I can run my ram @1000 with 4-4-4 timings and divider, but FSB doesn't go higher than 320.

[aggybong]

With the 507 BIOS, what timings are you guys trying?

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3996/img1233rkz9.jpg

I'm not sure if we are supposed to adjust the ones with the value of 10 or not, and is write recovery supposed to be 6 or 5? Or maybe even 4 :P
This is with OCZ PC2 6400 1GB EL Dual CH Platinum Edition XTC rated 4-5-4-15 (What a name)!

[Reite]

Well i tried to set the timings to 5-5-5-15 on the 0507 bios at 320fsb but then i couldnt get into windows. I will try it with this bios after ive run memtest.

[sierra_bound]

With the 507 BIOS, what timings are you guys trying?

I'm not sure if we are supposed to adjust the ones with the value of 10 or not, and is write recovery supposed to be 6 or 5? Or maybe even 4 :P
This is with OCZ PC2 6400 1GB EL Dual CH Platinum Edition XTC rated 4-5-4-15 (What a name)!
Why is TRFC at 42? Is that the default setting? Seems a little loose. Might want to try 35.

I'm not sure the timings are actually being set to 4-7-7 when using some of the BIOS's. Just because CPU-Z says so doesn't mean it's true. CPU-Z also says my VCore is over 3v. :eek:

This is a good board if you can get everything straightened out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/ds7510/6072-3.jpg

[aggybong]

Most seem to say it's a good board, but for those of us who are having problems it's hard to recommend it to others.

The thing that bugs me the most is that I don't know if it's my memory or the motherboard\BIOS.

[Andypro1]

Ok i just tried the 0502 bios solution, and prime has been running perfectly for 30 mins now at 333fsb haha, il see if it keeps up=)
Nice Reite! I have been unfortunately dual priming my supposed 'bad' stick of ram for over 1/2 hour now as well, (and memtesting it). So perhaps it's the slot on my mobo that's bad, or maybe it just can't handle both sticks at once ;(

Perhaps I should try 0502 also, just for kicks. First I'll up my fsb to 333 and try priming again with each stick separately.

EDIT: Ok, clearly both my ram sticks are fine (or both extremely bad). Both are fine at stock, and both fail with their failure rate proportional to the fsb speed. Ie: 266 fsb: no failures. 316: a few after a while. 333: a bunch right away. I'm going to flash to 0502 now.

[Andypro1]

Woah! It appears Asus has taken 0507 off their site and put 0405 back up! At least for the p5b deluxe/wifi. Perhaps they've been having as much trouble as we have.

[vintage_guitar]

Woah! It appears Asus has taken 0507 off their site and put 0405 back up! At least for the p5b deluxe/wifi. Perhaps they've been having as much trouble as we have.
uhh.. no they didnt im looking right at it..

[zizo]

Use the FTP server they are all there. ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5B%20Deluxe%20Wifi-AP/

Sierra, what bios are you using? I used everest, memset, and cpuz and they all show my timings as x-7-7-23 with 0502. I tired many different timings but didn't help; however, 0507 shows the right timings.

[Andypro1]

uhh.. no they didnt im looking right at it..
Oh. Yea I assumed it was still on their server. It's just that they are not offering it anymore if you go through their support site and pick the motherboard, then pick bios. They used to be, but now they're back to 0405.

Anyway, long story short with my stuff: I tried running at 333fsb with, get this, 1:1 ratio, 6 6 6 18 6 42 timings and 2.15V, and it's just a plain no-go. My ram simply hates the fsb being higher than 300. So 2.7GHz is all I get. I'm a little concerned that on the POST screen it says "PC4300," because these modules are clearly PC6400. However they sure are performing like PC4300 pieces of crap. Kinda wish I could RMA them but they do appear to be quite stable at stock fsb, so ;(

[Reite]

hmm thats strange andypro? did u try the 0502 bios?

On my part this bios is so much better. Ive been priming for 50 min now with 350fsb, and the memory has magicaly changed its timings to 4-4-4-12 without me doing anything=)

[Andypro1]

hmm thats strange andypro? did u try the 0502 bios?

On my part this bios is so much better. Ive been priming for 50 min now with 350fsb, and the memory has magicaly changed its timings to 4-4-4-12 without me doing anything=)
0502? Whoops, I'm a moron. I was thinking you were using 0405, but that's because I wasn't thinking. I guess I can try 0502, may as well!

At least I know that I'm 100% dual prime 24/7 stable at 300fsb / 2.7GHz. I need to find a hack to disable stupid windows activation so that I can keep messing around with this stuff (I really don't feel like having to call them every 3 days). heheh.

[Reite]

Well my system is pretty much stable at 350fsb, ive been running stressprime for over 4 hours now without errors

Anything over 350 quickly gives me error though. It wont boot at 375, and at 365 i get the "rounding" errors in prime after a few seconds. I think il try the 0405 bios and see if it is any difference there

[Andypro1]

Well my system is pretty much stable at 350fsb, ive been running stressprime for over 4 hours now without errors

Anything over 350 quickly gives me error though. It wont boot at 375, and at 365 i get the "rounding" errors in prime after a few seconds. I think il try the 0405 bios and see if it is any difference there
Ah yea. The infamous SP 'rounding errors.' Oh how I loathe them. ;)

Hey, can you check next time you reboot what your POST screen says with regard to your ram? I'd be interested to see if yours reads correctly.

When you get the splash screen press tab and then look for the line that says something about "PC-XX00" ram or something like that. I want to know if yours correctly detects your ram speed, because mine doesn't. Although CPU-Z does.

[Reite]

No it doesnt, it says 4300 interleaved or something. But cpu-z shows it right.

I tried the 0405 bios now and i did not like it at all, i tried booting 350 fsb and the same settings as i had on 0502 and it wouldnt let me load into windows at the 2 first tries. after that i went back to 0502=)

[Andypro1]

No it doesnt, it says 4300 interleaved or something. But cpu-z shows it right.

I tried the 0405 bios now and i did not like it at all, i tried booting 350 fsb and the same settings as i had on 0502 and it wouldnt let me load into windows at the 2 first tries. after that i went back to 0502=)
Ah, thanks for that.

I will slap 0502 on mine tonight and give it a go. Mine also says 4300 interleaved.

[Reite]

Damn this is a strange board. If i set my DRam frequency to auto it will give me 5-8-8-2x timings and 700mhz ram, but if i set my dram frequency to 700mhz it will give me 4-4-4-12 timings...

And if i set the dram to auto and change the timings manually i cant boot...

And im on a new fsb wall it seems, i will get the rounding errors at once if i try to prime at 360fsb, same :banana::banana::banana::banana: as i got at 333 fsb before i changed bios. The cpu test only goes perfect. and the "stress some memory" test fails after a few sec... There dont seem to be anything i can do about it either, i think il just have to wait for Asus to release a better bios if noone know how to get past this wall..

[Andypro1]

Yeah. I think there is still a serious issue with the P5B series with regards to many types of DDR2 ram. I have no idea if firmware updates will fix this issue, but we can only hope!

[SIOUX]

Ive tried to run memtest too, i got alot off errors within the first 10 min. Il try the same as Andypro.

One more question though, im having trouble flashing my bios to an older version, cause i havent installed a floppy drive in this computer, and the asus update wont let me flash to an older version. Anyway i can override this?


Asus update can actely flash to older bios with no problem. you have to choose "options" and the check the box that says "BIOS Downgradble" :)

[Reite]

haha damn thats stupid=) thanks. I hope asus releases a new bios soon

[Andypro1]

No it doesnt, it says 4300 interleaved or something. But cpu-z shows it right.

I tried the 0405 bios now and i did not like it at all, i tried booting 350 fsb and the same settings as i had on 0502 and it wouldnt let me load into windows at the 2 first tries. after that i went back to 0502=)
Ah, Reite you are a genius!

I just put 0502 on mine, and what do you know, it's dual priming large ffts at 333! Unreal!

The only difference I can see (besides the bios number) is that it set the ram to 5 7 7 23 or something ridiculous like that. Did you change your ram timings back or mess with the ram voltage? Also, how high did you say you took the fsb stable on bios 0502? Thanks. (woot!)

[Metroid]

It depends which prime you are running.

I was with Orthos beta the newest version and so far just 20 minutes stable at 9 X 400 = 3.600 E6600 after many errors appearing, I could not pass of 20 minutes. So I changed the version to SP2004 and so far 4 hours stable. I have to say trying beta versions is no way good, if you are speaking about stability.

Is the same if you test memtest86 for ms-dos or memtest for windows. We cannot compare, Ms-dos version all the way, it shows true erros.

I'm testing the beast as it has to be tested :D

[aggybong]

Yep, same story for everybody with this motherboard and OCZ ram. It's a mystery :( And no, the timings are locked at x-7-7-23.

[Tony]

Looks like a bad board there bud...the board set the timings with cmos, if cmos is not taking you may have a faulty board.

OCZ memory on the whole is working fine, I have the DS3 installed right now with SOE 800. I have had ddr1000 and 4x1gig dimms at 900+ pretty easy.

I keep saying this and will continue to in every thread i see...if you need help we are here for you. Please make sure you understand how the boards work and how straps work first though...it is mighty important as it effects the ram in a huge way.

[aggybong]

I think it's the BIOS, not the board itself. It really doesn't like OCZ ram for some reason. There are now multiple reports of the 502 BIOS being the only one working correctly, but at very loose (and unchangeable) timings.

[-n7-]

Goddamnit :(

I just ordered this on the weekend since i'd somehow overlooked this thread.

So you guys are saying that to get a decent FSB, one has to use the 0502 bios, which forces stupidly loose RAM timings you cannot change?


edit: You guys all have OCZ RAM?

Or is this issue with all RAM?

[aggybong]

I've seen most of the reports come from people with OCZ ram (both Platinum and Gold editions). I'm really hoping theres a BIOS fix, or that OCZ can fix it on their end.

[Tony]

I have a P5b here and it will be tested soon

[aggybong]

Do you just have the P5B? I'd like to see testing done on the P5B-D :(

[-n7-]

Whew!

I have Team Group DDR-1000 coming for my P5B Deluxe, so hopefully i won't have these kinds of issues.

I suppose time will tell when they arrive.

[Andypro1]

Um, I didn't say the timings were locked in 0502. I haven't even tried changing them. I'd assume they work normally. However I'm going to leave them on auto configure because I just activated my Windows again, and if I continue to mess around in the bios I will be asked to activate yet again.

Btw, I have Corsair ram in there now, not OCZ. There's nothing wrong with OCZ ram except one of my sticks was bad. They might require a slightly higher voltage than other DDR2-800 modules, but as long as you can get it to boot once you're fine. Then just set the Vdimm and everything's good.

Don't worry, P5B Deluxe is quite a good board. It's just that the BIOS is obviously not yet mature (to be expected).

[aggybong]

Nah, they are locked to *-7-7-23. It's been confirmed by multiple people, including myself.

[Andypro1]

Nah, they are locked to *-7-7-23. It's been confirmed by multiple people, including myself.
Oh ok.

[sluzbenik]

How are you guys doing with setting RAM dividers at anything other than 1:1?

I can boot but am not Prime stable at 350x8 with an e6400, not sure if it's heat or what. BTW, I know a lot of people are questioning the temp readings as well, and I let Everest's stability test run and watched the throttling kick in at 84c, so I'm not sure they're really that off. A degree or two maybe.

My real problem is this - at 300x8 with RAM at 4:5 I cannot boot into Windows. This is nuts because I am still at 750 on Corsair 6400 (DDR 800). I see no reason to increase the voltage at that setting.

Gonna go run Memtest for a bit on that setting.

---edit

Confirmed there's a divider issue still in 508...Windows Memory Test fails instantly with a 4:5 divider at 300x8, but is fine at 266x8. At 1:1 it also looks fine after a couple of passes.

Can anyone else comment? I am going to whine to Asus tech support, if everyone else is having this problem, then it is a BIOS issue.

[Reite]

Have you people who have trouble with memory timings tried to change the Dram frequency in bios from auto to 1:1, and then set timings from SPD? Thats what i did to get the timings my chips are certified for; 4-4-4-12..

Anyone have any idea how i can get past this wall though? 350fsb is 100% stable in orthos, 360 will fail after a few seconds no matter how much voltage i put on the ram or the vcore, the CPU test in orthos is stable though.

[Levish]

My wall is around 370 (with a e6400)

1gb corsair xms pc8500 kit

Running the latest bios 0507 going to switch to the older 0502 later tonight which will hopefully let me go higher.

[zizo]

Alright, after one week of whining about bios 0507, I thought I should give it another try. It's amazing that I couldn't go further than 325 first time and now it's unstoppable! FSB 1.3v, NB 1.25v, vcore 1.415v bios, ram 2.3v.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/zizokhan/Untitled8.jpg

[herderien]

Goddamnit :(

I just ordered this on the weekend since i'd somehow overlooked this thread.

So you guys are saying that to get a decent FSB, one has to use the 0502 bios, which forces stupidly loose RAM timings you cannot change?


edit: You guys all have OCZ RAM?

Or is this issue with all RAM?


i had rounding issue on orthos with 0507 @ 333 Fsb and i'm doing fine with 0502 my ram is corsair 6400 XMS2 C5, i really think 0507 is not able to set timings correctly for my ram...and as some of you stated, it could be just related to 6400 modules.

i'm just too lazy to make de 0507 works fine, just waiting for assus to fix the issue in next one :p:

[aggybong]

Alright, after one week of whining about bios 0507, I thought I should give it another try. It's amazing that I couldn't go further than 325 first time and now it's unstoppable! FSB 1.3v, NB 1.25v, vcore 1.415v bios, ram 2.3v.


What did you change? That's quite an improvement :) Could we get a list of the exact BIOS settings you used?

[DjLeco]

Same question,waitin' for answer(s)

[-n7-]

This is insane.

I have seen a large number of people with great success with this mobo, where they can run over 450+ 1:1 with proper RAM timings, & also seen a large number of people stuck at low FSBs with incorrect RAM timings.

There's gotta be something to this story we're missing...

[zizo]

I have no idea what was wrong with it the first time. I tried all the ram timings and every voltage increase. I guess one week of burning did the job!

So here are the exact settings. Everything else is default except on board audio and wifi card which are disabled.


http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/zizokhan/IMG_1224.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/zizokhan/IMG_1222.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/zizokhan/IMG_1221.jpg

[aggybong]

These are the same settings you tried last time? What about the devices you left enabled\disabled? Also, the biggest help would be to download Memset and post a screenshot of the timings it shows :)

[zizo]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=92190

No 965 support!

I used same exact settings. Right now I can boot with different timings and setting with no problem. It's not picky at all. Very strange indeed.

[aggybong]

The latest beta does. You can get it here: http://rv.page.cegetel.net.perso.cegetel.net/MemSet22beta.zip

[zizo]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/zizokhan/Untitled-1.jpg

[aggybong]

Hmm, all of your timings are tighter than mine besides "Read to Precharge (tRTP)

Unfortunately I'm tired of testing out different settings today, so maybe I'll try tomorrow :(

[Direwolf]

zizo whats the highest fsb at 8x or max ghz you can achieve? Thanks

[zizo]

I've tested these settings in 5min with 1.5v vcore in bios 1.46v windows, FSB 1.4v, NB 1.25v.
.
8x475 crashed.
8x465 crashed in windows.
8x460
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/zizokhan/Untitled9.jpg

Obviously, it's cpu limited not motherboard. I'm happy with 7x492 24/7 for now. :)

[aggybong]

Could you do me a favor? Keep the exact settings you have now, but try 8x375?

[zizo]

Did you try 0502? even 0502 loads up to 450

[aggybong]

Nah, I'm testing something else. I want to know if it's the same for everybody or if there is just something kooky with my set up. Pretty please? :)