What the hell is this bizzare crap..

[Reznik Akime]

I just got myself a gig of ram now. All four slots are filled with Twinmos memory. Now, for some odd ass reason, I can overclock far higher than I ever could. Even boot. I used to not be able to get it to 172x21 with any voltage, now I can get it to 180x21 at stock volts. Nearly 3.8 ghz from 2.8 stock.

Yeah, its not too stable but I know thats a heat issue as the chip gets over 65c in the bios. Under load with the prime provided on the ultimate boot disk I get an error after the second test, fourth if I add an extra fan beside my heatsink so I know that if it were cooler, 3.8 could be quite the possibility. Right now its at 3.6 with the memory at 214mhz. Dual channel of course makes that 428 which isnt too shabby.

Speaking of, I can now get my memory up higher as well. Without the extra 512, the two twinmos sticks before the other two would NOT go beyond 405. No way. Now you see what its at, and ive had it higher at 445 but the processor crapped out because of the heat. =/

All I want is an explination as to how in the hell my system can overclock far better than it could before.. with all four ram slots filled?

[mtx]

One word. Luck.

[Reznik Akime]

Possibly, but ive never heard of such a thing as this happening. Its just.. weird. :stick:

[Magnj]

maybe too many tabs of Acid?

[Reznik Akime]

You sir, sound experenced in the way of acid trips.

Anyway, no. :rolleyes:

[MRBIGSHOT]

depends on the mobo but usally filling all 4 slots disables pat and that allows for a higher clockspeed yet worse results in benchmarks

[Reznik Akime]

Disables PAT? Thats a new term for me.. Just what is PAT?

[nn_step]

I think it might have something to do with the fact that you are now running T2 timmings not T1.. :rolleyes:

[Reznik Akime]

You mind explaining that to or providing a link?

[nn_step]

the memory controller on your board switches to T2 timings because it can not support T1 support with 4 Dimms
This is the way most Desktop boards are designed...

[Reznik Akime]

What exactly are the diffrences in T1 and T2 timings? Is it like the Ras, Cas and all that jazz? Or something we cant really control without filling all the Dimms?

[nn_step]

it is in your bios, it is just that it takes twice as long for the Ram, it in effect turns your 2-2-2-5 timings into 4-4-4-10...
and it is completely controllable, Given time I could write exactly how for you to change everything but you should have noticed in when you adjusted the Ram timings before

[Reznik Akime]

Oh, if thats the case then that wasnt the problem. I had the timings maxed out and everything and I could still never boot. At 173x21. I currently have the timings set to 2.5-3-3-7. I can do 2-3-3-5 but I seen no benefit in Memtest. I didnt get no errors either, but I didnt want to leave it any lower because the bandwith didnt seem to increase.

I cant, howerever, do 2-2-2-5 like it says in my sig. Unless the FSB is at stock speeds and the ram is 1:1. That was just old, residual information in my sig ive never changed. Yeah, I had it at 2-2-2-5 but when I ran memtest, I got assloads of errors and changed it back.

Anyway, I dont think it could be the timings that was doing it.

[nn_step]

Really, SO you have NEVER found that looser timings let you overclock farther?

[Reznik Akime]

Not with this board. I was dead serious in thinking I had a crappy overclocking CPU or Motherboard before I got all four slots filled up. Now I think that with better cooling and more volts to the dimms, i could get some pretty good clocks. The main issue keeping me from going higher now is that my heatsink wasnt made for a prescott core. Right now with D2ol running at my current speeds and volts applied to the core, its 57c.

Any higher and it jumps to outrageous temps, hovering around 63c in the bios and it wont pass Prime at all. Crashes on the second iteration, fifth or sixth with an extra fan blowing on the sink. This is at stock volts of 1.38, mind you.

But I know for a fact that it has to do with the dimms on this particular board. I went back to two instead of four to try it out, and sure enough it would go back into its poor overclocking disposition.

[nn_step]

Could you try something for me?
Take out 2 Dimms and set your timmings to 6-6-6-10 crank them to 3v
and tell me if you can almost go as far as you did with 4 sticks...

[Reznik Akime]

Alright, give me just a few seconds.

[Reznik Akime]

It had to do with the ram, actually. But not in the way you were talking. When I tried it again, I had used the two new sticks of ram and it all worked like you said it would. I thought this funny because when I tired it before, it didnt work. Well, I switch out the Normal Twinmos for the Speed Premiums.. and it gives me the same problem as before. I then try the brand new speed premium.. that worked like you said. I then tried the SP I gotten on an RMA and that one is what was hindering me.

Now what the hell I dont get, is why it straightens up when its paired with good ram. When its alone or paired with that other speed premium, it for some reason makes the computer not want to overclock high no matter what timings or divider I give it. When its got three other sticks, however, its not even a hinderance anymore and works flawlessly.

..This is really strange.

[nn_step]

I don't know, it might also be forcing a divider too but I can't be sure..
So did you find out how to force T2 yet?

[Reznik Akime]

Nope. The timings stay the same no matter how many dimms are in unless I set them manually, and I cant even get them that high to be honest. The highest I could get in the bios is 2.5-4-4-10. The dividers can only be set to 1:1 and 4:5. I had everything set to the latency high and the divider equal to FSB, but that one module wouldnt do the speed I have it at now. I just guess it plays well in groups and dont like to be alone. :stick:

[cadaveca]

You simply hit that error less often. Ram usage is erractic, and more often than not things are cached in different places, especially in the case of WinXP.

A good way to fake stability for overclocking is to find the errors and use linux, which can be programmed to not use the locations that error, and then run a windows emulator on top. This is the only way to get windows to use the same memory space every time, afaik.

[Reznik Akime]

Bah, so long as it works with no issues, its fine for me.

Its just the heat I dont like. Makes my room hot as hell. =/