2x1gb kits and gaming instability.... post here

[Repoman]

Well I fixed my problem, unfortunately it's not a very good fix.. setting a TREF of 0016 allows me to be stable but also brings my bandwidth to about 1330MB/s and latency to ~175ns. So if yours works with this TREF, you know that's the setting you have to mess with.. right now I'm trying the rest of the values, especially 7.8us ones.

[ozzimark]

Yes....both sets of sticks are only 7 weeks old. I think they are a newer batch. The first pair of Ballistix I bought in August died in October. The RMA replacement RAM did so well, I gambled and bought a second set. Both sets are doing great....I just HAVE to run them at high mhz and low voltages. Strange.

I think it is the RAM ICs as well.

i've had similar issues with older 512mb ballistix, they refused to run stable at lower mhz unless i tightened up the secondary timings. it wouldn't have them slackened. it's definitly partly a tweaking issue, partly memory controller.

[gundamit]

Just started testing the new game rig on EQ2. Bombed out several times on my Infineons at 255. Reset to auto detect on MAL and RP and now it seems fine. If they're ok for a couple hours I'll bump it up again.

Had to go 2.5-3-3-6 but now they're completley stable in EQ2. This game is starting to suck me back in. Don't want to take a chance I'll freeze/crash system while I'm in a group or in a hairy/scary part of the world. I'll get to it eventually ... maybe after I level again.

[MikalCarbine]

Here guys....chew on this.

I was running into the same situation with my Ballsitix. They could prime 24 hours, pass SPI32, and loop memtest for 24 hours at 250 mhz but I would get intermittent freezing while gaming. This was with an FX 57 under phase.

Strangely enough, lowing the mhz on the RAM didn't really help. Whether I lowered the RAM at 1:1 (and upped the CPU multi) or used a divider it was a no go. The only way lowering the RAM mhz worked was to tighten the timings to 2-2-2-5 which only ran to about 210mhz. Anything at CAS 3 could not be run from 200 to 250 without random freeze (note the ballistix are rated at 3-4-4-8).

I tried ALL the BIOS settings...nothing worked. More voltage, less voltage, Vmem, Vcore, chipset voltage, HT bus...didn't matter.

Then, just for the hell of it, I raised my mhz. I lowered the mutliplier and upped the RAM to 280mhz 3-3-3-8 and lowered the voltage to 2.62v. BAM! Stable gaming. Been this way for 6 weeks now. Not a single freeze.

Now, I'm not saying this is the fix, but it has now worked on 2 of my rigs with DFI boards and 2 x 1G Ballistix kits (my gaming rig, and my mutlimedia rig that sees some gaming from time to time when friends visit). The situation reminds me a lot of my Gskill LE and FF that would not like to run at lower mhz (unless you changed to super tight timings (2-2-2-5).

What this tells me is that it is definitely a "tuning" issue. Something between the memory controller and RAM at various frequencies is causing the problem. I think with the right BIOS adjustments, this issue can be fixed. 3D gaming is still the most stressful on the CPU memory controller and RAM.....this is why we see it with 3D apps.

So you had it at 280 with lets say a multiplier of 9, giving your proccy 2.52 and then your ram was stable? More details please

[RafaDel]

Started to get some freezes on games with my Ballistix @ 233 2.5-3-3-7 1T, changed MAL and RP with no luck. Time for a 3rd RMA... Replace this crap memory with a mix of 1 giga of Redlines UTT CH5 + 512 megas of Mushking Special BH6 and they are working flawlessly with a very decent performance. Even better they don't get hot at 3.3V.

[mdzcpa]

So you had it at 280 with lets say a multiplier of 9, giving your proccy 2.52 and then your ram was stable?

Yes.

The only thing that really changed due to processor speed was the need to tweak my drive, and data drive strengths in the BIOS.

[Jaco]

G Skill 4000 HZ 280Mhz 3-4-4-8 no complaints whatsoever.
fully gaming stable , just played Cod2 for a few hours , went supersmooth

I think this 3D instability issue is an Infineon/Micron thing.

[Moto450]

It must be with the Newer Infineon because i have never had 1 problem with mine Never, I play COD2 all night as i run a server for a clan and it allways plays great for me, but i did buy these 2 months ago when they first came out. But so far so good.

[EnJoY]

A new Opteron memory controller allowed me to get my Ballistix stable at 300mhz the other day. Before, with my 3ghz 3200+, I couldn't get past 290.

[WildstarOCT]

I've had this problem, my Redlines shoot up to 265 1:1 (haven't tried to push them further), 12 hours memtest stable, primex2 stable, and superpi 32m stable.

I started running into 3d problems (lock-ups mostly) when testing graphic card artis with rthdribl...thought originally it was my vid OC but turns out that I only have 3D stability with the Redlines at 254 1:1.

The guys on the Mushkin forums, while helpful and apologetic, have acknowledged that some of the ICs have indeed had 3D issues which were flushed out in prdt development. But since my mem runs at spec, the only thing I can do at this point is sell the sticks.

[Moto450]

I just hope mine don't go tits up on me, I don't want newer ones after hearing about others having problems.

[cadaveca]

Strangely enough, my Mushkin REdlines weren't stable over 254...265 in 2d no problem. so i figured that i'd just live with it, as at stock they were just fine.

Doing my regular cleaning inside the case(high dust environment), i noticed that one stick was much warmer than the other. I removed the heatspreader on the cooler one, only to find that the backing to the adhesive had not been removed on one side of the heatspreader.

Needless to say, when i attached the heatspreader properly to that cold stick, 265 is now fully 3d stable.

[Jaco]

... I removed the heatspreader on the cooler one, only to find that the backing to the adhesive had not been removed on one side of the heatspreader.

Needless to say, when i attached the heatspreader properly to that cold stick, 265 is now fully 3d stable.

very interesting what you're telling here. Might help others too ...
good find

[cadaveca]

Yeah..just lost all respect for Mushkin. That's a bad thing to let slip.

[croc_]

Game stable here, also dual prime stable for 12 hours.

3800+ X2
DFI NF4 Ultra-D
G.Skill 2x1GB HZ kit (PC4000)
BFG 7800 GTX OC 256 (500/1350)
Seasonic S12 PSU

My final OC settings:


Some quick benchmarks:

[Deus Excalibur]

Hmm, I had some 2GB Ballistix that went bad but my games would occaisonally freeze even though the system was 24hrs 3dmark+ dual prime stable without a single artifact.

I replaced them with Mushkin Redline eXtreme performance 2GBs and the freezing continued even though the memory itself is fine.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

BUt what could be causing this gaming instability in Infineon chips? I mean, one would wonder if they pass, say 4 hours of Sp2004, Superpi 32m, and OCCT, that the sticks would be stable for at least a couple of hours of gaming.

Why would gaming trigger the crashes and random reboots?

i would guess a problem with windows, or drivers, or games itself.

[ben805]

DDR1 has been around for quite some time now but looks like it's still very hard to manufacture and get good quality ICs to do higher clock (270~300) reliably on 1GB stick, I think the only ticket for us to get super high bandwidth and high mem clock is DDR2, AMD need to hurry up and get the socket AM2 out for us.... DDR1 is pretty much at the end of the rope

[Vapor]

Then when we get AM2, we need a D9 fatbody replacement STAT.

Anyway, I had two sets of Ballistix....both had identical 2d and 3d stable speeds.

[gundamit]

Had to go 2.5-3-3-6 but now they're completley stable in EQ2. This game is starting to suck me back in. Don't want to take a chance I'll freeze/crash system while I'm in a group or in a hairy/scary part of the world. I'll get to it eventually ... maybe after I level again.

Update. Been at 260 for almost two weeks and no freezes. Going to take it a bit higher while I "craft" in EQ2. I'm guessing the gap between 2D and 3D stable for the Infineons will vary from week to week just as the overall performance does.

[engenheiro_ce]

nobody with more solutions to infineon chips? (Especially to G.Skill ZX)

[stone_cold_Jimi]

Here's some weirdness - an Opty 146 clocked to 2.8 GHz, SPi32M stable but not prime stable at all, 2x 1GB Ballistix Z503 on a 166 divider running 3-3-2-7 1T @ 2.8v, and I could play CoD2 for hours no problems at all.

[MikalCarbine]

I could also play CS:S for hours on 280 3-3-3-8 at 2.65, even though Super PI would fail withing minutes. Now I am at 270 rock stable and soon to be 280 stable