Corsair XMS2 DDR800 memory and the Intel BX2 (fails memtest86+)

[Eluzion]

So I originally thought my memory was bad (Corsair XMS2 DDR800 2x1Gb) and RMA'd it. I got two new sticks in today and ran memtest86+ at stock speeds/voltages and it's still erroring in test #7.

Is there something I'm missing here? Any of the BIOS settings that might be causing the RAM to error? Thanks.

[Kunaak]

try lowering the voltage to the ram.

[ChaosMinionX]

What MCH voltage are you running, ive seen lots of problems with MCH at or around 1.6v

[Eluzion]

I'm running 1.55vmch

If I remember correctly, I was getting the errors on 1.6vmch as well.

[Eluzion]

Well I bumped it up to 1.65vmch and it seems to have fixed the problem.

So since both sets of RAM are good, I put all 4 in there to put me at 4 gigs. However, memtest86+ failed almost immediately until I bumped up the RAM volts to 2.12. Is that normal to have to up the volts when running 4 sticks versus 2?

I just hope they don't overheat since they're so close to each other. I have a front intake fan that does put a little bit of air flow over them but not much.

[Yellowbeard]

Your memory voltage is fine. In most cases with 2 or 4 DIMMs, you need 2.1v+ for stability on fast DDR2 memory.

[Eluzion]

Thanks for the reply Yellowbeard.

Well, I'm running 2.16 volts right now but memtest86+ freezes. No errors, just freezes usually about 30 minutes in. My computer froze last night (in Windows) for the first time too so I'm guessing the problem is related.

Does freezing usually mean the RAM needs more volts? I don't know how much is too much for these sticks of RAM in terms of voltage.

EDIT: Nevermind, still erroring at 2.16 volts.

[Eluzion]

Well, I'm running memtest86+ 1.7 now (was running 1.65 before which doesn't support the 975x). Anyway, seems to be pretty stable at 2.12v at 4-4-4-16. Going to let it run through a few passes over night so hopefully it works out.

[Yellowbeard]

I would suggest, if you continue to have the freezes and just for testing, that you back of the OC just a little and then try Memtest on each individual DIMM. Hopefully your current round of Memtest won't show any issues though.

Good luck.

[Eluzion]

Well I ran it overnight at 4-4-4-14 @ 2.20v and it errored about 5 times and froze after 5 hours. Orthos fails during the blend test as well.

Going to try again at 5-5-5-16 @ 2.20v and see what happens. If it fails here at stock timing, less-than-stock frequency, and well over stock amount of voltage... I don't know what to do.

Maybe test each stick like you suggested, but it's a PITA with the BX2 since I have to pull the video card out each time which is a hassle itself because of the 4pin power wire that sits right over it that can't be pulled out due to the massive TT120, hehe.

[cadaveca]

release teh DIMMs from the other end(near edge of board), and the can be removed without touching teh vidcard:fact:

[Eluzion]

Ha! Well I put them in without moving the video card but I didn't think they would come out. Thanks. ;)

An update -- 5-5-5-16 @ 2.2v I was able to run 6 hours of Orthos (blend) with no issues. Gonna run memtest86+ 1.7 while I'm in class (4-5 hours).

[Eluzion]

Well, ran for 5 hours in memtest86+ without any errors or freezing at 5-5-5-16 @ 2.2v. Gonna start backing off the volts to see what's the least I can run and still be stable... then maybe tweak the timings to see what I can squeeze out of these things.

[Eluzion]

Well so much for that. It's not orthos or memtest96+ stable at 2.2v anymore.

I'm pulling out two sticks and just going to run 2gb... hopefully this will pass orthos and memtest86+ and stock speeds (5-5-5-12 1.9v)

[Eluzion]

So I'm running 2 sticks of this RAM and it's completely stable.

First I ran memtest86+ at 5-5-5-12 @ 1.9v for 7 hours. No issues.

Ran it again at 4-4-4-12 @ 1.9v for 9 hours. No issues.

Apparently this RAM or motherboard can't handle four sticks. Anyone else ever experience this problem? Kind of disappointing since I was really hoping to run all four.

[Yellowbeard]

There is no reason the memory should limit you to 4 DIMMs. If the system cannot run the 4 DIMMs, then it is likely a bios or chipset limitation.

Just to be clear, are you trying to run 4 DIMMs at stock speed or OCed? Can you give me all your bios settings that relate to voltages, CPU, and memory?

[Eluzion]

I was running 4 DIMMs at stock speeds.

I found the problem though, 2 of the sticks are bad. They fail memtest86+ at stock timing/voltages. The other 2 run completely stable at stock timings/voltages and even tighter timings (4-4-4-12).

I purchased it from NewEgg so I'm going to RMA the bad set.