Quake3World

I installed all my new gear today:

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
A64 X2 3800+
2gb dual-channel OCZ PC-3200/DDR400
7800GT

Everything is running well, except the memory. It's running at DDR333, Single Channel mode.

I can't see exactly how to change this. Can anyone help me out?

edit: I have 2 matching 1gig sticks, each in one of the green Channel A slots.

shouldn't it be: one in chan A and one in chan b?

edit: how far does the matching go? (not just brand and size)

one needs to go in Green, the other needs to go in the purple slot dude.

R00k wrote: edit: I have 2 matching 1gig sticks, each in one of the green Channel A slots.

cluepon :icon31:

Hey, that's why I asked.

Different from what I'm used to though, because the dual-channel Dells at work require you to put them in the same colored slots.

Thanks. :icon14:

Well, it looked beautiful. Swapped slots, and it booted up and read DDR400, Dual Channel, 128bit.
Instead of saying 2-3-2-5, it said 2-3-5-2, but maybe that's just a different notation of the same timings?

At any rate, Windows won't load when it's in dual-channel mode.

I guess this means I need to manually change the memory timings until I find what works?

What's the memory rated at? Is it using 2-3-2-5 as the SPD? Maybe more volts to the RAM to get it to run stable at that speed and timings.

Once you find stable settings, try lowering volts until it becomes unstable, then go back to what you had before that. Best to not run more voltage than you need, but it's not a problem to run it a bit higher than the default.

You can bump the vdimm (RAM voltage) up to whatever the max is without worry. You really don't need active cooling (a fan) on RAM until yo get to 3.0 volts. I have mine at 3.4. :icon32:

Set the ram at it's proper timmings, and dont feed it extra Volts for the time being.

What does windows do when you are running it in Dual channel mode? Lock? Blue screen?

P.S.
This is your RAM, no?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227210

Start at 2.6v and go up .05 volts at a time. I found a picture of the BIOS screen here:
http://www.viperlair.com/images/reviews ... sli/35.jpg

More detailed than my BIOS, I only have .1v increments...

And Amidy, he is running it at it's "proper timings." That RAM, which I belive he is using, is rated at 2-3-2-5. So more volts are fine. Like I said, there is no harm and it often solves instability. It just might need 2.65 or 2.7v unlike its rating of 2.60.

Yea, this is my ram
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant ... ode=140226

Looks like the same memory as in your newegg link.

AmIdYfReAk wrote:Set the ram at it's proper timmings, and dont feed it extra Volts for the time being.

What does windows do when you are running it in Dual channel mode? Lock? Blue screen?

The XP load screen starts (the XP logo with the blue status bar), and before it finishes the screen just goes black. It either reboots back to post, or just hangs there until I hard reboot it.

I'm still pretty new to manually adjusting memory timings/voltage, but I guess the out-of-the-box voltage is safe? That's what I've been running it at.

Like I said, you don't need to worry about heat until you get to near 3.0v, which your motherboard doesn't even supply.

I just checked OCZ's site, and for that memory, the warranty is good for up to 2.9volts. They wouldn't say 2.9volts if there was any chance of that damaging the RAM. So you really are 100% safe at your motherboards maximum vdimm voltage.

OCZ product page here:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m ... hannel_kit

"OCZ EVP® (Extended Voltage Protection) is a feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 2.9V ± 5% without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty."

I tried 2.6, 2.65, 2.7, and tried changing the timing from 2T to 1T for each combination, but could not get it to boot.

I finally got it to boot by changing the timings to 3-4-4-5.

I was going to set it to 3-4-4-8, just as a safe guess, but it doesn't go any higher than 5 for the Active to Precharge timing.

Should I try bumping it down lower gradually, or should I be happy with this?

edit: That's at 2.7V, btw.

Also, is there a tool I can use in Windows to see how well my memory is performing?

latest bios rook?

R00k: Did you try other timings or went strait from 2-3-2-5 to 3-4-4-5? Does 2-3-3-7 work?

Also, I forgot. Athlon 64 systems work better with a TRAS of 7 instead of 5. So that's one good thing to change.

I didn't even think to update the BIOS, shadd. Good idea.

*cough*

make sure you follow the instructions to the T rook.. Seriously.

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/bios_result.asp

i do my msi board with the windows utility. havent had a problem with it yet.

**knocks on wood**

lol shadd, yea man that is a good prog, But not all of there boards support it ( i know mine dosent K8n Neo 2 )

So dos > *

btw,

http://www.msi.com.tw/html/products/liveupdate/step.htm

I do too (ASUS board). It's a little frightening, especially since ASUS' website does't provide the Windows tool anymore. lol

But I just did my second BIOS update yesterday and all went well. I only did it because I plan to sell this motherboard, and most people who buy them these days do for the Socket 479 adapter, which this new BIOS supports.

I just checked the instructions for using the MSI one. Doesn't seem any easier than DOS. lol

ASUS' is extremely simple. Only like 3 steps, all in the GUI. Then just reboot to adjust settings that were reset.

AmIdYfReAk wrote:lol shadd, yea man that is a good prog, But not all of there boards support it ( i know mine dosent K8n Neo 2 )

So dos > *

no shit? i got the neo platinum. sock 754. btw.

actually, it does support it, my bad.

i just updated it

I checked the BIOS versions on the website after I finished installing everything, and there is only one version newer than mine.
The only thing it fixes is a USB problem with the mobo, so I kinda decided it wouldn't be worth the risk of updating if it doesn't address any other problems.

Do you really think it would be worth updating it?