Kudos to whoever gets this one... Stumped ... memory Problems!

TheBlueRaja · 30-06-2005, 20:13

Having a nightmare here.

I have a NF7 V2.0 board and have been happily running 2x512Mb Corsair Platinum (Twinx) CMX512-3200C2PT V1.2 at DDR 400 for ages. Running Memtest test 5 on it with Chips in banks 1 and 3 in Dual DDR mode worked fine.

I recently decided to get another stick of RAM to take me to 1.5gb (Damn you BattleField2) and so decided to get the same stuff to prevent any mismatching and bought from overclockers.co.uk (who have a very slow response time on their forums) a stick of Corsair Platinum CMX512-3200C2PT V4.2 - same stuff - different version...

However wheneven i use this in conjuntion with my old RAM i get errors on Memtest in Test 5.

Here are the tests i have done and my settings - any ideas - its almost like the chips are incompatible with each other?

Voltages - CPU 1.75, DDR 2.7, Chipset 1.6, AGP 1.8, CPU/FSB 6/6

My Old Ram in Only:

Banks 1+3
----------
400Mhz
Dual Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 OK

Banks 2+3
----------
400Mhz
Dual Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 OK

Banks 1+2
----------
400Mhz
Single Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 OK

With New Ram Included (Bank new stick Installed in Indicated by Brackets):

Bank (1) Only
-------------
400Mhz
Single Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 OK

Bank (1) + 2
------------
400Mhz
Single Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 - ERRORS!!!

Bank 1 + (2)
------------
400Mhz
Single Channel
3-4-4-9
Test 5 OK

Bank (1) + 2 + 3
----------------
400Mhz
Dual Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 - ERRORS

Bank 1 + (2) + 3
----------------
400Mhz
Dual Channel
2-3-3-11
Test 5 - ERRORS

Bank 1 + (2) + 3
----------------
400Mhz
Dual Channel
3-4-4-9
Test 5 - ERRORS

I've been told that the original v1.2 uses Winbond CH-5 ICs whereas 4.2 uses Samsung TCCx ICs.

I have also been given an RMA number, but having now done more testing i dont think its faulty RAM but an incompatability issue.

I have been led to belive that 512mb in Slot 2 would work as single channel on a Dual DDR board like mine, whith Slots 1 and 3 working as Dual Channel. However, the suggestion has been made that perhaps i would have been better getting a 1 GB module and not a 512mb module to match the mem sizes, as the guy put it...

Quote:

I have corsair twin 2X256. wanted to add more memory, abit said to add 512mb in slot 2. in order to get dual chanel u need to add a stick in slot 2 thats double whats in slot 1

But i dont know WHERE he got his info - its just another response on another forum - however i have asked him to supply the source of his info so you never know.

Any ideas what the heck i should do here?

30-06-2005, 20:33

My mobo refuses to run with 3 sticks maybe this is it?

TheBlueRaja · 30-06-2005, 20:34

What mobo do you have (is it an nforce?) And by dosent run, how much dosent it run - does it post, reboot, fail memtest etc?

Im almost 99% my board will run 3 chips.

30-06-2005, 20:35

Mines an MSI but it may be the same reason

Checked your manual can't see this as a problem sorry

Richard M · 30-06-2005, 21:07

Personally I'd get either another stick of 512MB or get 2x1GB sticks.
I can't see how it would still run in dual channel with 3 sticks.

Strzelecki · 30-06-2005, 21:24

It is an incompatibility problem with the particular board, I have the same board with crucial RAM and came across the same problem. Test each stick on it's own in any of the slots and it works fine but it is very fuss about which stick you put in which slot, even if they are apparently identicle slots. I tried the same configuration on my nforce2 dfi board and it didn't complain at all, no matter which stick went in which slot. It's just that Abit board, may just have to put up with it or upgrade!
Some nforce2 boards (like my DFI one and some Gigabytes) will still run in dual channel mode with 3 sticks. I assume that they split the 3rd stick into 2 somehow. Benchmarking confirms that this isn't just a BIOS glitch.

Aragorn · 30-06-2005, 21:31

BR,

Did some research on the nForcersHQ site, which linked to this NF7-S review http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDA2

This says about memory

Quote:

3 184-pin DIMM sockets
Supports 3 DIMM DDR 200/266/333 (Max. 3GB)
Supports 2 DIMM DDR 400 (Max. 2GB)

I'm not sure where that came from, but it's probably safe to assume that a) it's accurate & b) it's true for the NF7.

Therefore you could try clocking your memory down to 333Mhz and see if you get the full 1.5Gb without errors.

HTH

Strzelecki · 30-06-2005, 21:33

But I tried the same thing with 2700 memory and got the same results.

TheBlueRaja · 30-06-2005, 21:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aragorn

BR,

Did some research on the nForcersHQ site, which linked to this NF7-S review http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDA2

This says about memory

I'm not sure where that came from, but it's probably safe to assume that a) it's accurate & b) it's true for the NF7.

Therefore you could try clocking your memory down to 333Mhz and see if you get the full 1.5Gb without errors.

HTH

Damn - not seen that before - good spot by the way - i wonder where they dug that info from

Still that confirms a few things...

Looks like it a crazy upgrade ~170 quid to goto 2gb with decent modules or forget it and upgrade later to a new board.

In all honesty it would be cheaper to buy an nforce 3 board and stick in the extra stick...