F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK, GA-MA790X-UD4P Instructions, Please

[ephilbro]

My setup: F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK, GA-MA790X-UD4P, AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz

It's running with 4GB of the above RAM, but I think at 400MHz. I just bought an additional 4GB. Speccy says 400MHz. I have downloaded the F9 BIOS and @BIOS from GIGABYTE but have not flashed the new BIOS yet.

Do you have instructions or screen shots of what I need to do to get the RAM working closer to its capacity?

Thank You

[Tradesman]

You'll want to go ahead and flash the BIOS. Then try and get the original sticks up to 1066. You said Speccy shows your RAM as 400, which means your actually running at 800MHz (like CPU-Z it simply shows the standard as opposed to the dual data rate speed. It should also show your base timings next to the 400, for your sticks it should be 5-5-5-15. Next, you need to go into the BIOS and load those timings manually, don't trust the AUTO feature even if it shows 5-5-5-15, you'll also want to enter the speed 1066 or 533 depending on how the BIOS shows it, next find Command Rate or Command Timing and make it either 2N or 2T, again depending on the available option, also ensure the DRAM Voltage is at 2.1.... and for the 2 sticks you'll want to look at the tRFC setting(s) and that should be at 127. Then give it a try, if all goes well you can add the other 2 sticks, only change should be to kick up the tRFC to 195 for 4 sticks. This is an all-goes-well scenario, (which it mat well not), but it will get you started. Any problems come and post back, the GSkill folks will be in Mon during the day, I sort of volunteer, but normally take a look about 5-5:30 AM PST then check back whenever I get done with whatever work I've got going for the day and normally leave a system up through the evening with GSkill and a couple other forums showing so I can check in.

[ephilbro]

New settings OK with 2 sticks. When should I change the tRFC to 195? I added two more sticks and it wouldn't come up. No video, no BIOS screen, no Windows. OK now on 2 sticks. Any ideas?

[GSKILL TECH]

Swap the two OK sticks with the other sticks and see if they will be OK with the same settings. If not, you must have a bad stick and you will need to send it in for new replacements.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[ephilbro]

Did the swap, running on the newer pair of sticks now. Tried to add the older two with the same result as above. Just noticed that the date was reset to Jan 1, 2009. Ideas?

Thanks

[GSKILL TECH]

Raise NB Voltage to 1.40V

Set DRAM Frequency DDR2-800
DRAM Timings tCL 4 - tRCD 4 - tRP 4 - tRAS 12 - Command Rate 2
DRAM Voltage 2.00V

Once that is complete, everything should run fine. You can not operate 8GB of DDR2-1066 due to an AMD CPU limitation of one DIMM per channel.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[ephilbro]

I've dropped back to 800MHz and I'm pretty sure I got your settings entered correctly but it still won't come up with four sticks. It's the Trfc settings that I am unsure of.

Trfc0 for DIMM1 = ?
Trfc2 for DIMM2 = ?
Trfc1 for DIMM3 = ?
Trfc3 for DIMM4 = ?

Thank You

[ephilbro]

I set Trfc0 for Dimm1 = 127.5ns
Trfc2 for DIMM2 = 127.5ns
Trfc1 for DIMM3 = 127.5ns
Trfc3 for DIMM4 = 127.5ns AND I'm running with all four sticks!

Thank You

[GSKILL TECH]

127.5ns is correct. =)

Enjoy!

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT