2x512 MB @ nForce2 - problems, problems and problems...

hi guys,

i recently tried to improve my gaming performance in newer games like BF2 by upgrading my system's memory...

i'm running a quite old rig - Abit NF7-S Rev. 2.0

at this point i had the problem of getting the "perfect" RAM for my system - some people in different communitys had the opinion that newer chips like TCCDs aren't suitable for this issue....

hmmm, okay - my first try were OCZ EL PC3200 with UTT BH-5 chips - after a few memtest runs it was clear - not even stable results at 200 MHz with 2-2-2-11 timings and 1T-setting (D26 Mantaray XT) - at 2T at least 210 MHz were running stable (superpi, memtest, prime95 blend and a few bf2-sessions), but i wasn't satisfied with my OCZ modules...

for this reason i started getting information again - next try were some oldschool Infineon PC2700 with famous 6-A, but the results were similar :(

memtest was running for approx. 50 minutes (2-2-2-11-1T, 3V) until the first errors appeared (superpi even reported errors after 1-2 minutes) - i tried VDD between 1,5 and 1,7V, active cooling provided by a 92mm fan placed in front of the memory slots and finally slot 1+3 and 2+3 placement of the modules...

at this point i'm getting quite depressive - does anybody have tips for me except buying a A64 system? :confused:

don't mind my poor english and thanks in advance,
DoNuT

In my experience with my DFI NF2 system....the TCCx chips are the way to go....low voltage and good clockability. The TCCx chips won't hold tight 2-2-2 timings...mine ran great all the way to 250 at 2.5-3-3-11 though :)

Do you still have your OCZ golds? did you try 2-3-2-11? it might get you farther.

CAS = 2 and tRCD = 2 with the NF2 don't like each other a lot....unless you have some "Classic" BH-5 chips....the newer BH die chips, just don't run as well on NF2 like the old ones did.

Hope that helps :)

I was under the impression utt/tccx arent particularly good on nf2 systems??

I don't have a lot of experience with Bh-5 based memory but I use the TCCD stuff from my signature and it's doin fine, but my CPU can't go too high but 2-2-2-11 (1T) are running just fine up to about 420mhz and as far as I heard other TCCD stuff aswell is doin great on NF2.
Regards, Rhymers

i heard from another forum that UTTs are running quite :banana::banana::banana::banana:ty on NF7 - nobody reached more than 210-215 MHz @ 1T - for this reason i tried the Infineons which are making troubles with CPC on, too...

at the moment i'm trying slow timings (2,5-3-3-11) with 1T, but i would be surprised if anything changes... about 3,0V should be enough to get stable 200 MHz with Infineon 6-A, or not? i think, the problem is rather the board (or chipset) than the overclockability of the memory sticks... unfortunately i have no second platform for testing, but i'm sure they would perform better on another system without nforce2... :(

TCCD rocks even on NForce2:

@2,6V:
http://m4tribes.m4d.it/puni/bus1s.jpg

Yea, people also had problems using utt on dothan setups. That may be a reason y 18's wasnt broken on dothan, because people couldnt use redline @ like 270 for their spi runs. It looks like tccd may be your best bet.

NF2 just doesnt like 512mb modules, most the time you have to run 2t and even then its still a gamble to see if you can get high fsb.

The REAL stuff actually does fine, UTT-CH... the REAL "VX" stuff does 240Mhz @ 3.2V on a Vmod'd NF7-S. It does 250-255Mhz on Vmod'd DFI Infinity as well @3.45V, all at 8,2,2,2.0 1T.

Also, the Mushkin 1G sticks I found run 235Mhz 1T on NF2 @ 2.8V...

Mushkin 1G at NewEgg

... at 11,3,3,2.5 timings. 235x11 on 2600+ is pretty damn sweet with 2Gigs of ram.

okay, at least 2,5-3-3-11 timings are running well on 1T, now i'm trying to lower them a bit, because it may be faster than 210-215 MHz with 2T and better timings :rolleyes:

@ punisher: are your TCCDs running with 1T? :confused:

should i start another try by getting TDDC? :rolleyes:

My new TCCD is running great in my NF2 board. This is a stock AN7 with AN7DE8 bios.

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/5942/image9ui.th.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DoNuT

okay, at least 2,5-3-3-11 timings are running well on 1T, now i'm trying to lower them a bit, because it may be faster than 210-215 MHz with 2T and better timings :rolleyes:

@ punisher: are your TCCDs running with 1T? :confused:

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Of course. 1T! :D

you got the same fate as mine!

okay, new results of these bastards below this text:

http://home.arcor.de/donut_xp/IMG_3080small.JPG

at least 2,5-3-2-11-1T @ 200 mhz seems to be memtest stable...

http://home.arcor.de/donut_xp/IMG_3090small.JPG

let's see what changes with 2,5-2-2-11, and if these settings are even stable in superpi - as mentioned: it reacts much more sensible than memtest)

*edit* don't ask me why, but i tried a slot 2+3-setup again and suddenly i got a stable superpi 32m run with 1T and faster timings - now i'm only checking stability with memtest which was much more tolerant in the aspect of time of appearance of the first errors....

You should try the bios in my sig, it works great, tho my ram wont do 2-2-2-x.

thx, i'll... :D

i hope i works better than mantarays d26, which was recommended by several users.....

Tbh.. No offence to anyone.. d26mantaray diddnt work well for me at all :( It was one of the first ones i tried. But i did like the vcore control, and the layout of softmenu. I also had some good luck with d26_EDc18R1, but i settled with my current one because it made this board come to life, and it actually clocks higher with cpu interface disabled :D :fact:

hmmm, i don't know - i seems to me as if there's no difference between D26 mantaray and the other one recommended above...

next point is, that only battlefield two showed stability problems - i had a 4 hour test#5 run in memtest and about 8 hours in prime95 with memory stressing settings... and superpi 32m passed through as already mentioned above.... :confused:

Did you try relaxing your timeings at all? because i couldnt get these results with mantarays :(
http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5...aded8yc.th.jpg
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8...04538wb.th.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freeagent

Did you try relaxing your timeings at all? because i couldnt get these results with mantarays :(
http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5...aded8yc.th.jpg
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8...04538wb.th.jpg

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are you using D27 619R2 ? 1T or 2T ?

1T, thats why i have everest open, thats the only thing i could think of that would show what im at heheh.

yes, i tried "relaxed" timings, but the result was the same....

2,5-3-2-11 crashed back to desktop although it passed a 11-hour-memtest run - if you can trust in that tool :)

btw.: @freeagent: 10 for the last value is quite slow for nforce2 or not?
why aren't you using 11 for Tras? :confused:

I was just experimenting at the time, its at 11 now :) And this ram only like to be run at cas 2.5 when i get to 248-252 fsb, i can run all of the suites in pcmark04 tat 250x10, but cant prime, and fails memtest, so i think this is pretty much the limit of the board., I havent done the L-12 mod yet, i figured since i was stable at 240, that i woudnt need it. Also ive tried running at 2T, but this thing gets crazy unstable at any fsb :(

UTT no good with the NF7? I had my 2x512 UTT-BH (Corsair) running fine (prime95 stable) at 220mhz, 2-2-2-5 in my NF7-S rev2.0 :confused: ... single channel though. My board hates anything dual channel over 220~ fsb. the difference is so small though, that a few mhz higher in single channel is faster anyway.

single channel faster than dual? doubtful.. you have tight timeings, but... dual channel owns.