Help me solve this X-File, missing bandwidth on A64 w. MSI Neo Plat & OCZ EB...

[Richdog]

OK well the reason i'm asking this is because my mem scores using A64 and my MSI Neo Platinum seem really low compared to what others are getting with Skt 754 rigs. I'm not posting this in the memory section because I don't think it's anything to do with any fault or problem with my memory.

At 225Mhz FSB 3-2-2-11 timings I get 3230/3230 running at 1T command rate, and at 230Mhz I get 3311/3311. Now obviously I know that Skt 754 is single channel but form the scores i've seen other people getting it behaves very much like Nforce2 DC rigs, except Float Bandwidth is higher and on a par with the Int.

Im running 3-2-2-11 timings, and as many of you know this isn't a world away from BH-5 performance, the tight-ass timings mean that the CAS latency is pretty much irrelevant... so why the low-ass scores? At 250Mhz FSB running 3-3-2-11 timings i'm only getting 3500/3500, and as I said before, command rate is 100% set at 1T.

Just to sum it up i'm geiting...

225Mhz FSB, 3-2-2-11, 3230/3230
230Mhz FSB, 3-2-2-11, 3311/3311
250Mhz FSB, 3-3-2-11, 3520/3520 :stick:

WTF is going on? I can't see a single BIOS option i've missed, and all is set to aggressive performance except the "Agressive timings" option as all that does is fix Tras to 5. Has anyone with a similar rig got any ideas... in fact anyone at all? I'm stumped... :confused:

[Poki]

Try Tras at 5-7 and see if that helps at all.
I don't think 11 is going to help on a NF3 but i may be mistaken.

[Jasonxxx]

That is very odd... What is your settings in your bios in Corecell?

Here is 250mhz w/ (1t) Sandra 3,3,3,10
http://www.ccountry.net/~jasonx521/2.5ghz%20Bench1.jpg

[Walrusbonzo]

Originally posted by Richdog
WTF is going on? I can't see a single BIOS option i've missed, and all is set to aggressive performance except the "Agressive timings" option as all that does is fix Tras to 5. Has anyone with a similar rig got any ideas... in fact anyone at all? I'm stumped... :confused:

I don't think that is true.

I have Corsair PC3200XL, at 200MHz I manually set my timings to 2,2,2,5 and it's perfectly stable with "Aggressive Timings" disabled, but enabled it's unstable.

"Aggressive Timings" is doing a lot more than forcing TRAS to 5, if it is doing that at all.

Certainly though you are having some issue there. At 230MHz FSB with timings of 2,3,2,7 I'm getting in the 3480/3480 region.

Make sure you are not using a multiplier of 0.5, that is supposed to cut bandwidth.

[Richdog]

Yup I know a 0.5 multi causes bandwidth loss, I run at 10x or 11x only.

And the "aggressive timings" option does indeed set the Tras to 5, i've had this board a wee while now and if you try it yourself then confirm with CPU-Z you'll see. My friend who has the board confirmed it too. It also makes no difference in SANDRA mem bench having it enabled or disabled. Why dopn't you just try it yourself and see.

Also, a Tras of 10/11 does provide higher performance on Nforce3 than a Tras of 5/7, albeit it marginally, and even if it didnt this would in no way account for 150/200mb/s loss in bandwidth.

I'll try a diffferent BIOS tonight in the vain hope that may change something, but I won't hold my breath. Meanwhile, any suggestions welcome, i'm getting frustrated by this... :(

[jfr0]

Setting aggressive timings also sets the dram idle timer to 256 instead of 16 IIRC.
I dont know whats wrong with your setup, but I get much more bandwidth too witht the same equipment msi +eb. What do you get unbuffered and do you have a newcastle?

[Richdog]

Clawhammer (see sig). You may be right about the aggressive timings option setting the idle timer to 256 but it sill doesnt make any difference to my SANDRA scores and does lock my Tras to 5,. no matter what it is set to in the BIOS.

I havent tried unbuffered scores yet, I imagine theyll be lower than average as well if the buffered ones are too.

Maybe I should get in touch with Mulder and Scully... :D

[Dagalidis]

Not only using x.5 multi drop mem to lower DDR frequency...
In my case with Abit KV8 PRO when using 7.5 multi my mem running 1:1 and when using multi 8 then if i remember well drop the DDR down to CPU/11 divider...
The best solution is to watch mem info by CPU-Z when chossing different multi than default...
The are so many thinks involved with performance to watchout with those A64 cpus witch make dificult to compare each overclock made by user to user....
You have to try what your best combination is...

[Richdog]

Hmm I hear what you're saying dagalidis but this loss of memory bandwidth is consistent no matter what multiplier I use, whether it be stock or any other. It doesnt change. And people with the exact same setups and BIOS settings are getting higher results than me. I appreciate that results may vary with slightly with different hardware etc, but 150-200mb/s at the same/stock settings?

[Dagalidis]

Ok i see...
But lets try this....
By task manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) set sandra to higest priority before you run mem test and be sure to end task all unusable apps ....
If nothing changed then probably the only solution is to RMA and getting a new board....
Good luck my friend....

[Richdog]

OK set everything to priority and didn't work, kind of expected it not to as i've never had to do that with any board before. Disabling NAV and everything else also had no effect. Ah well, i've had enough of this board, first and last time I ever buy an MSI, shoddy quality and god-awful BIOS releases. I'm going to RMA or sell and pray that the DFI solution due in a couple of weeks is a great board without the issues that plagued the Ultra B.

As a performance user, a 200mb/s decrease in bandwidth for no discernible reason just ain't acceptable, it must hinder performance. And ive never heard of a fault on a board that caused a problem like this either. Has no-one ever experienced anything like this?