*avoid* gskill 2GBZX with DS3

[dinos22]

This still looks like a MB issue to me... Corsair 6400 C4 also starts @ C3 with the F3 and F4a bios..

any change in F4a

[Richard Dower]

And the 6400-C4 is listed on the Gigabyte QVL list:

http://www.giga-byte.com/FileList/Me...a-965p-ds3.pdf

It has to be a bios issue.

[Donnie27]

And the 6400-C4 is listed on the Gigabyte QVL list:

http://www.giga-byte.com/FileList/Me...a-965p-ds3.pdf

It has to be a bios issue.

Others and I did research the RAM and there are user reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRa...82E16820231073

According to these folks, they didn't have problems with the F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX.

Cons: Didn't work on the gigabyte AM2 micro atx motherboard at first. After a while I went in the BIOS and downclocked the RAM to DDR2 533 and then it became stable. Here's to hoping that a bios update comes out soon with more compatibility.

Hell, at least it booted and he could change the setting.

On another note, it would be nice to come here for info and not have to read through BS.

[pcdoc1]

any change in F4a

Not that I can see although I was able to take this sissy 805D from 3.85 to 4.10....

[Lestat]

Originally Posted by Haltech
Poor Lestat.. Asus bones him, now he cant get his gigabyte to boot with some kickass ram. LOL. Im sure G.Skill will take care of it. Its not like you were going to throw down some sensational benches or anything... I like that Lestat is a beta tester on this platform! Hooray for Lestat!

yeah i like being a tester more than buying hardware for my daily use and having it be crap.
i cant afford either though.
so when i buy stuff and its bunk i get pissed cuz i wasted not only my time but my hard earned money.
Im like most of us here i aint rich, i dont have access to ES chips and ES boards and ram like some people, everything is purchased with my own money.
not only that but i have to deal with the rath of the ol lady too. that is the worst part of all of it. lol.

the ram isnt bad, dont take me wrong. it just doesnt work with the gigabyte board at default.

gskill can reprogram the ram to work but i dont see why i should have to pay more money in shipping and have more downtime because of gskills improper programming of the ram.

granted this ram was out prior to the Gigabyte boards, but for gskill to NOT have the ram boot at 1.9v min. is silly.
i dont know of a board that uses a higher voltage for defaults.
they are all 1.9 that i am aware of.
so the ram should have been programmed to run, even with looser timings to boot up.

Its better to have a ram work, and then WE set the proper timings than it is to buy a kit of ram that wont even boot.
That wastes time, and money and gives gskill a bad reputation.


i was able to boot into windows at 4-4-4-15 @ 2.4v 1000mhz but it wasnt stable. i didnt get around to loosening the timings but im sure if i do it would run properly at 1000mhz.

it still doesnt fix anything though simply becuase if the overclock fails and the system wont boot, yous till have to swap stix.

I have some ocz Gold XTC PC5400 coming in today and i will test that out tonight and report back on that also.

im not b|tching persay about gskill's ram as it does work and for 175 bucks it works pretty good.
but here also is a good rule of thumb for conroe owners.

Conroes dont depend on tight ram timings nor high mhz ram to perform properly.

my tests show that my samsung stuff running 800mhz 5-5-5-15 vs the gskill running 800mhz 4-4-4-12,, you dont even gain about a 1/10th of a second.
32m i havent tried yet. but i will.

i've always enjoyed gskill ram, but this whole conroe thing is turning out to be a very different animal, not only for the insane performance they give at such low clocks, but also the hardware needed to run it. ie: 975/965 chipset.
the motherboards as of now are extremely flakey and have serious, FSB issues. they all do. and unless you void the warranty and mod any of these boards your going to have issues with the FSB limitations.

More time and more boards and revisions of current boards are needed to bring the conroe scene to full steam.

right now im half tempted to just put everything in a box until better motherboards are released. and they get the issues with complaint ram fixed.


as of now the gskill is getting returned as a non compatable kit.
there are no warnings that i am aware of other than our testing to show the gskill doesnt work. if i had known what the true problem was i would have never gotten it.
for now i see no reason to get anything else but the cheap ram i have.
it still does 800mhz 5-5-5 w/ only 2.1v and that doesnt hinder the performance of the conroes very much at all.

[delas52]

I sent an rma email to swap my 2gbns for the nr. The ns is cas 5 at default so I don't see why it isn't booting (or why you guys are saying so, my cpu hasn't arrived yet so I haven't been able to test it out). Is it setting this cas 5 all the way down to 3? I'd rather not rma it but if this truly is a problem i will rma asap.

[Nyx]

Geez i was about to consider changing to this pair of rams. By the way does the F4 bios help in anyway.

[Lestat]

Not that I can see although I was able to take this sissy 805D from 3.85 to 4.10....

F4a huh ? wheres that hiding at.

click the contact me link in my sig and email it to me would ya ?
unless its on their site.?

[Nyx]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=109442

[pcdoc1]

F4a huh ? wheres that hiding at.

click the contact me link in my sig and email it to me would ya ?
unless its on their site.?

Can't do it.... You'll screw the flash and then your rants will move from GSKill, Gigabyte, and Asus to me...

[Lestat]

I sent an rma email to swap my 2gbns for the nr. The ns is cas 5 at default so I don't see why it isn't booting (or why you guys are saying so, my cpu hasn't arrived yet so I haven't been able to test it out). Is it setting this cas 5 all the way down to 3? I'd rather not rma it but if this truly is a problem i will rma asap.

cas 3 isnt the issue, its the voltages.

the motherboard is using 1.9v to boot and the gskill ram cant boot at 1.9v no matter what cas you use.
hell it wont even boot at DDR667 @ 1.9v

its also not booting at cas3 its booting at cas4.
the ram is hard coded for cas4 no matter what DRAM Freq. you set it to.
Even dropping the ram down to 200mhz it still uses CL 4. using Auto and hitting 100mhz it still uses CL4.

now on the flip side as i said earlier. my homo samsung ddr667 WILL and DOES boot 100% at cas3 at 200mhz.
so the cas3 theory is all smoke.

i have no quarrels with gskill or their product i like it.
i just wish there was a way to make it work. there isnt.
and reprogramming the ram, sure alright gskill send me a prepaid label.
i'll send it out.
me pay for shipping ? nah not interested, i dont need to pay more ontop of what i already paid.

[delas52]

But the 2gbns is cas5.

So if I kept this couldn't I just do what the OCZ guy did and disconnnect everything but the cpu, gfx card, and a ps2 keyboard to get into the bios then just bump the voltage to 2.0V?

Can you try this and see if it lets you in the bios with JUST cpu, gfx, and ps2 keyboard (no other pci cards or front usb or anything whatsoever).

[thunderstruck!]

I have 6 sets of DDR2 here, and only 2 are from the same company (corsair) and 3 conroe boards.

no board or ram I have, will boot at any higher then the lowest available voltage...

as far as I know, ram does not control what voltage its suppose to run at...

Do you happen to have some PC8000UL? Does it boot? That's all I've got right now, and I already have a DS3, waiting for E6600 to arrive.

[realsmasher]

just look at the voltage theat ram needs. if it's 2,0V and below, it can be done.

anything above depends on the ram, if it boots at 1,8(1,9?)V

[GSKILL TECH]

cas 3 isnt the issue, its the voltages.

the motherboard is using 1.9v to boot and the gskill ram cant boot at 1.9v no matter what cas you use.
hell it wont even boot at DDR667 @ 1.9v

its also not booting at cas3 its booting at cas4.
the ram is hard coded for cas4 no matter what DRAM Freq. you set it to.
Even dropping the ram down to 200mhz it still uses CL 4. using Auto and hitting 100mhz it still uses CL4.

now on the flip side as i said earlier. my homo samsung ddr667 WILL and DOES boot 100% at cas3 at 200mhz.
so the cas3 theory is all smoke.

i have no quarrels with gskill or their product i like it.
i just wish there was a way to make it work. there isnt.
and reprogramming the ram, sure alright gskill send me a prepaid label.
i'll send it out.
me pay for shipping ? nah not interested, i dont need to pay more ontop of what i already paid.

just let you know
at the DDR2 800
no matter you manually set at CL4 or auto, it will change back to CL3
also, i don't think i metion "no ram can boot with CL3"
i said our ram can't boot with DDR2 800 CL3 1.8v

for DDR2 800 2GBNS, DDR2 800 2GBZX, those are for sure incompatilbe. it is not just voltage problem. detail i can't say in here but it will happen to every memory companies and i am sure for it. just becasue we sell our ram for lowest price for DDR2 800, doesn't mean it is bad ram. those ram all pass ddr2 800 1.8v stress test before we ship out. also, we face the problem. actually i want to say thank you to lestat, if he didn't post such problem, i will not personally go get a board and test it.

if you guys have 965 and ZX or NS, we are welcome to do the exchange to PK and NR.

just one more thing, at DDR2 800 DS3, can't not boot up with CL4. no matter you set at CL4 or spd is CL4... it just change to CL3

[Richard Dower]

Any chance of testing a DQ6 motherboard with the beta F3c bios?

[mayakindaguy]

Yeah, this seems like it might be narrowing down to a DS3 issue. Not definitively, but that defaulting to cas3 thing is . Although I'm thinking that's just a glitch reading in the BIOS no? Isn't the main issue the vdimm? because people have been able to POST with very cheap generic DELL RAM.

I think some complaints to Gigabyte are in order to look into this.

Not sure if it is the RAM or DS3 actually, but here's another case.

Problem

Here is my build:

Intel® Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe Processor 1.86GHz, 1066FSB, LGA775, 2MB Cache Retail
OCZ OCZ26672048ELDCGE-K 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5400 Gold Edition Enhanced Latency Dual Channel Memory Retail
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 P965 Express Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail
Sapphire X1900XT 512MB
Antec 550 Neo HE (brand new today)

Okay so here is what I did... I took EVERYTHING out of my case, and plugged in my motherboard, 1 stick of RAM (each independantly), and my video card. I plugged in the 12V rail and motherboard power, then used a screwdriver to turn the PC on. NOTHING!

I swapped video cards to an X300 PCI-E I had lying around -- NOTHING. Same thing for the 6800GT OC I have -- NOTHING!

A point to note... the PC turns on for about a second then turns RIGHT OFF. Then it turns on again and stays on. I had an episode on the PC where it rebooted every 3 seconds -- would not stay on. I heard of problems with Antec PSUs but I am not sure... can't seem to find supporting details.

I am really frustrated and wanted to put my PC together today.... and I've built a zillion before so I can't think what's wrong

Please help

Solution: bought some cheap generic RAM and booted. =P

[Richard Dower]

LOL...who would have thought some cheap ass $30 RAM would work better the premium $300??

:-)

[delas52]

just let you know
at the DDR2 800
no matter you manually set at CL4 or auto, it will change back to CL3
also, i don't think i metion "no ram can boot with CL3"
i said our ram can't boot with DDR2 800 CL3 1.8v

for DDR2 800 2GBNS, DDR2 800 2GBZX, those are for sure incompatilbe. it is not just voltage problem. detail i can't say in here but it will happen to every memory companies and i am sure for it. just becasue we sell our ram for lowest price for DDR2 800, doesn't mean it is bad ram. those ram all pass ddr2 800 1.8v stress test before we ship out. also, we face the problem. actually i want to say thank you to lestat, if he didn't post such problem, i will not personally go get a board and test it.

if you guys have 965 and ZX or NS, we are welcome to do the exchange to PK and NR.

just one more thing, at DDR2 800 DS3, can't not boot up with CL4. no matter you set at CL4 or spd is CL4... it just change to CL3

Ok so I will have to exchange my NS for NR then. I sent out an RMA email (this is how I should go about doing this exchange, right?) this morning at 10am, haven't gotten a reply yet but hopefully tomorrow I do.

[Lestat]

just let you know
at the DDR2 800
no matter you manually set at CL4 or auto, it will change back to CL3
also, i don't think i metion "no ram can boot with CL3"
i said our ram can't boot with DDR2 800 CL3 1.8v

for DDR2 800 2GBNS, DDR2 800 2GBZX, those are for sure incompatilbe. it is not just voltage problem. detail i can't say in here but it will happen to every memory companies and i am sure for it. just becasue we sell our ram for lowest price for DDR2 800, doesn't mean it is bad ram. those ram all pass ddr2 800 1.8v stress test before we ship out. also, we face the problem. actually i want to say thank you to lestat, if he didn't post such problem, i will not personally go get a board and test it.

if you guys have 965 and ZX or NS, we are welcome to do the exchange to PK and NR.

just one more thing, at DDR2 800 DS3, can't not boot up with CL4. no matter you set at CL4 or spd is CL4... it just change to CL3

i would love for you to show me, and not to doubt you, but i have a long enough history to prove that companies will say anything to get out of taking the blame.
anyways. i would love for you to show me something that shows this board boots this ram at CAS3

i have PROVEN that it does not. i repeat it does NOT.
it wont even boot 200mhz at CAS3 its CAS4 the ram is hardcoded for CAS4 ONLY leaving everything on auto 100mhz or 1000mhz the ram will ONLY do CL4.

id love to know where you think this stuff is booting cas 3.

not to mention the fact that i can show time and time again that the ram will NOT boot at under 2.2v which once again false out of the specs of the ram.

the ram is 100% of the issue. not the board misreading the ram or trying to boot at CL3.

if you wanna throw results back and forth i got all day. ok not really lol.

there is nothing that i have seen from my own testing to anything from gskill or anyone else that this ram is booting at CL3.
and i get tired of people saying that.
you havent proven it , and frankly ive shown beyond a doubt that with generic black label samsung ram the system does not switch to CL3 until UNDER 200mhz FSB. above that its CL4.
YET your ram REFUSES to come down from CL4 EVER. it will never come down from CL4.

contact me via my email link in my sig and ill send you my contact info and you can send me a prepaid shipping label via email. (fedex does this) and ill send it back to you and you can reprogram it correctly. but i refuse to spend any more time or money on this ram.
its sitting in the box waiting to go back to newegg.
and why would i exchange my ram for a cheaper lesser ram. am i supposed to just write off the loss ? your kidding right ?

just one more thing, at DDR2 800 DS3, can't not boot up with CL4. no matter you set at CL4 or spd is CL4... it just change to CL3

once again i can sit here and prove you 100% wrong. that is IF i am understanding what your saying.
how much proof do you boys want i have a kit right here. CL5 ram that i can set to CL4 and boot at 800mhz....

your statements are becoming more and more unfounded and unproven.
do you guys even own a DS3 to test with ? i mean honestly.... lets be honest with each other here.
i can boot at CL4 1000mhz and your telling me that i cant boot at 800 CL4
and yet i can show you i can.

this board is NOT, and everyone i want you to listen IS NOT booting DDR800 AT CL3 it is NOT doing that. the baord does not use CAS3 until 200mhz or less. OR depending on how your ram's SPD is setup.

THE PROBLEM WITH THIS RAM IS 100% THE VOLTAGE.
the ram is not programmed to boot at anything less than 2.0-2.1v but even mine wont boot at 2.1 it must be 2.2

now i also just realised something and i may understand where your saying the DS3 is booting at CAS3. if this is true i am now and forever washing my hands of all gskill products.

CPU-Z reports the motherboard using CAS3. this is an ERROR!!! of cpu-z! cpu-z reads the wrong CL/CAS timings.

all other programs WILL read CL4 or CL5 or whatever. but cpu-z is reading it wrong.
If you are basing your statements soley on cpu-z then my friends. omg.. i am truly speechless.
cpu-z only reports CL3 once you start overclocking.
at defaults. whether is 533 or 667 or 800 or 1000. it will report the TRUE CAS rating.

i wouldnt be such a bastard right now but i have PROVEN that everything i have said is true. read this thread look at the screenshots...

you guys in this thread and several other threads have proven nothing. not that i am aware of. i ask simply that you post here clearly for everyone to see some proof of your claims.


I stand by my original statement.

do NOT buy this ram to use with this board. it wont work at defualts.
the ram is not programmed to run at a lower setting if lower voltages are present during bootup.
it will NOT kick down to a lower speed.
it wont even boot at 667 @ 2.1v
so how do you explain that ?

[dinos22]

just one more thing, at DDR2 800 DS3, can't not boot up with CL4. no matter you set at CL4 or spd is CL4... it just change to CL3

i have no such issues

[badboy]

This guy over at futuremark seems to have no problem running the GSKILL memory in his DS3. He is using the G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400. That memory may work in this motherboard though for some people though.
http://www.futuremark.com/forum/show...0&postcount=41

[GSKILL TECH]

i would love for you to show me, and not to doubt you, but i have a long enough history to prove that companies will say anything to get out of taking the blame.
anyways. i would love for you to show me something that shows this board boots this ram at CAS3

do you think i need a pic for someone already back me up?!

This still looks like a MB issue to me... Corsair 6400 C4 also starts @ C3 with the F3 and F4a bios..

and i already said, this ram is incompatilbe with DS3 or any 965!
don't you read?


i think you need to read more what i wrote, many users in here already turn in their RMA form and will receive free return label, i have no idea why you are so piss about it?!

CPU-Z reports the motherboard using CAS3. this is an ERROR!!! of cpu-z! cpu-z reads the wrong CL/CAS timings.

ok i don't know that but i do use CPUZ to check the CAS
if you can point me out which program i should use that is great

[mearle73]

Mine seems to be going ok

[Richard Dower]

What mobo mearle?...DS3, dunno anymore..i'm baffled by the whole RAM debacle. Once person reports a problem while the other is giggling at other peoples hair pulling.

(hair pulling comment not aimed at mearle)