2 X F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK RAM Runs HOT in GA-P35-DS3R

[Xacent]

Hi,

System:

Mobo: GA-P35-DS3R Rev 2.1
CPU: Q6600
RAM: 4X2GB G.Skill F2-8500CL5D


Problem:
This is somewhat of a complicated story but I'll try to be as brief as possible. I'm running this RAM in an Hackintosh with stock clock speeds throughout.

The machine was rock solid for about 3 months at which point I added the second 2X2GB kit bringing me up to 8GB of RAM total with all 4 slots on the mobo filled. This caused the system to crash when under high RAM intensive load. I reinstalled the operating system as others had encountered similar problems with 4GB of RAM in their build. Following the reinstall I no longer experience system crashes under load.

However, when I run mprime stress test (mprime is the OS X equivalent to prime95, same source) I get errors after about 10 minutes and the mprime documentation suggests that this is usually an indication of a hardware problem (usually RAM).

After doing this I tried to determine how hot the RAM was running (buy touching it, I can bring a thermocouple from work if an exact reading is needed) and two of the sticks were running incredibly hot (80 - 90C under load, 50 - 60C idle). This seems way too hot and I'm wondering if the heat was causing errors. The two sticks that were hot are in slots 3 & 4 (ie opposite channels).

Is there a reason why the RAM would be running at 50 - 60C while idle? Could the high temperature under load be what is causing mprime to register errors?


Thanks so much, this forum looks so helpful I was impressed with the quality of responses from the G.Skill admin.

-Xacent

[G.SKILL]

please try to run with only 2 sticks to check if it's memory issue
and 4 sticks also make it more difficult to run stably
thanks


G.S

[Xacent]

I went through and ran 10 or more passes with memtest86+ on each stick individually and I didn't get any errors. So that pretty much rules out any hardware issue with the RAM itself (which is good).

In my searching I came across a thread on tweaktown.com that outlined how to establish the most stable baseline settings for gigabyte p35 based mobos. I followed the guide and now my RAM runs cooler and I was able to run mprime for over 8 hours without error (at which point I was satisfied and turned it off).

My M.I.T. settings for my board and this RAM are listed below. Along with the link to the tweaktown.com thread that sent me in the right direction.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/giga...g-guide-26112/

Robust Graphics Booster___________ [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio (Note)____________ [9]
CPU Host Clock Control_ [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz)__________ [266]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)_______ [102]
C.I.A. 2__________________________ [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)____ [2.00]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) 533
DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]
CAS Latency Time_____________ 5 ____ [5]
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay______ 5 ____ [5]
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_____5 ____ [5]
Precharge Delay (tRAS)________15 ____[15]
ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD)_______4 _____[auto]
Rank Write to READ Delay______3 _____[auto]
Write to Precharge Delay______6 _____[auto]
Refresh to ACT Delay________42 ______[0]
Read to Precharge Delay_______4 _____[auto]
Memory Performance Enhance__________ [Normal]
High Speed DRAM DLL Settings________ [Option 1]
******** System Voltage NOT Optimized ******** <<---IGNORE This.
System Voltage Control____ [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.200V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control_ [+0.1V]
FSB OverVoltage Control___ [+0.1V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+0.1V]
CPU Voltage Control_______ [1.375]


I'm very happy now that I have found a stable configuration and my hackintosh is running with no crashes. 8GB of RAM wooohooo!

Thanks,
-Xacent

[G.SKILL]

thanks for sharing this info


G.S