Problems with 8gigs at 1066

[SaurianFire]

Have you tried increasing the NB voltage with the DRAM at upper spec voltage as I and GSkill Tech suggested. Actual pics of the BIOS settings would help as requested earlier

Thank you for your reply.

I have a very simple Gigabyte BIOS. In my first post I listed all my Memory settings. The voltage settings are also simple. DDR2, PCI, FSB, MCH(NB) and CPU. That's it.

They can be set to Auto or Manual. In manual you can increase the voltages .1, .2 or.3V
(.4 for DDR2) that's it. Except the CPU voltages are very detailed in .125V increments.

Point 3 of the last post explicitly states NB voltage was set to maximum of +.3.
Dram voltage was set to +.4 the maximum setting = 2.1V
CPU was set to 1.30V. No screen shot.

Each screen shot you can see voltages in HWmonitor except MCH. Remember there is about .05 vdroop.

Memset shows all settings including Mhz 533 or 400 (1066 or 800) and 4 or 8 gigs (2x2048) or (4x2048).

[SaurianFire]

Timings look better now, so for 8GB, you just need to loosen them up and make sure to supply enough voltage and it should work fine.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

There is no joy in Mudville today. Loose timings for 1066 Mhz do not pass memory tests.

DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance..............Standard

System Memory Multiplier ........[2.4] 333Mhz
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..........800Mhz
DRAM Timing Selectable ..........[Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time...5
tRCD ..............7
tRP'...............7
tRAS..............20

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...............4
tWTR...............4
tWR................8
tRFC...............52-68
tRTP............... 4
Static t Read value set to 5-6
Static t Read Phase Adjust set to Auto

Motherboard Voltage Control

CPU Vcore...............1.225 to 1.30V
MCH Core.........+.1 to .3 This should be 1.2 to 1.4V in theory probably not really.
DRAM Voltage ........2.06 to 2.48V

What seems to matter most is the DRAM Voltage. The higher the voltage the more of the memory test would pass but even at 2.48V it could not complete one memory test pass without errors.

[Tradesman]

Try NB(MCH) 1.35 and raise vCore 1.25

[SaurianFire]

Try NB(MCH) 1.35 and raise vCore 1.25

Thank you for your reply Tman.

As posted above I already have boosted MCH voltage to the maximum +.3v and had vCore set to 1.30v. Previously had set MCH to max, CPU to 1.225v and FSB voltage to +.2v. with no success. After all this failure I even updated to the last BIOS, F-9, which only included Support Xpress BIOS Rescue function. No difference.

I even tried the 6-6-6-18 settings of the P-45, for which Gigabyte tuned the next generation BIOS.

As stated above the only difference is more voltage to the DRAM. I suspect I didn't get the best chips as this memory runs like a champion with all the tighest settings at Cas 4. Yet even at Cas 4 the frequency cannot be raised even a little bit past 800Mhz without generating errors.

Would another full set of 8 gigs make a difference??? The first set of serial numbers end with 35 and 36. The second set, which I purchased at the same time, ends with numbers 78 and 79.

[Tradesman]

A single complete set is always best, that way you get a set that are tested to work together, any time you mix sets, even of the same exact model it can be problematic, as they may be from different productions runs, or use components from different production lots, normally this can be stabilized via voltage, but not always, sometimes the sets just won't play together at spec freq and timings

[SaurianFire]

So that's it???

I don't think this memory is sold in 8gig sets, only 4gig sets. Is it worth trying another two sets???

Or buying better quality like G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1100 (PC2 8800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8800CL5D-4GBPI ???

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231194

[Tradesman]

Let me drop GSkill a note to see what he thinks would be the best approach

[GSKILL TECH]

Up to you, they may work better if the two kits were closer in production.

You can also upgrade to 8800 kit, those will probably be gone forever very soon, so get some while you can.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[SaurianFire]

Up to you, they may work better if the two kits were closer in production.

You can also upgrade to 8800 kit, those will probably be gone forever very soon, so get some while you can.

Thanks Tman.

Thanks for your reply GSkill tech,

Yes I too think its a crap shoot to get two kits so close so I will not try.

I would like to buy the 8800 kit but I may be too late as Newegg is out of stock. So it seems that I will run 4 gigs of the 8500 kit at 1104Mhz, 5-5-5-15 with tight timings at 2.08V. It loads programs and opens windows very quickly and will make waiting for the next computer bearable. And I'm sure to out grow 4 gigs sooner than 8.

Thanks again Gentlemen.

[Tradesman]

Sorry we couldn't hit the goal - keep in touch