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Asrock 939 Dual sata 2 + Crucial Ballistic Problems

K

kukomamasan

Junior Member
Hello, a while ago, i bought Asrock 939 dual sata 2 mobo, and i though i wanted to upgrade my old 333 Mhz ram with some faster ones, so i bought 2x512mb Crucial Ballistick rated @ 400 Mhz 2.2.2.6 , now the problem is that when i set the motherboard to autodetect the ram, it will only run the ram @ 333 Mhz 2.5.2.2.8 , now i can force the motherboard to run @ 400 Mhz 2.5.2.2.6 , but seems that it wont run fine with CAS set to 2, though will not complete the cache / ram test in sisoft sandra without a BSOD.
Anyone else got a system like mine? and can you run the ram at the speed it should be able to run with this MOBO?
My score @ stock speed (400Mhz 2.2.2.6) in sisoft sandra would be about 4700 MB/s
So i guess it runs fast enough, with some OC i could get 6300 MB/s
Thx in advance
 
Regarding Vcore, just set it to max Vcore.

You probably won't be able to run stably with 1T Command Rate (few Asrock 939 boards can, including mine).

The best program to check for ram stability is Memtest86, particularly Test#5 and Test#8. Adjust RAM timings/latencies for stability with all tests for one pass, and for multiple passes of Test#5 and Test#8. If your RAM is not stable at CAS 2, that's unfortunate - but stable settings should be your goal.

Hope this helps!
 
I can't get the same stable settings with my cheap DIMMs that I had with the old P4P800... I used to run them dual channel at 215 Mhz, but with this board I couldn't get them even to 205 and looser timings. I ended up setting it to 333 and o/c'ing everything about 20% (3700+ @ 2.61 Ghz).
 
BIOS upgrade time...but thanks for the info cause I won't through my Ballistix in it now.
 
Originally posted by: dunkster
Regarding Vcore, just set it to max Vcore.

You probably won't be able to run stably with 1T Command Rate (few Asrock 939 boards can, including mine).
Click to expand...

Mine does run 1T without any hiccup with my corsair memory. even at stock voltage and stock speed..

 
I can run my ballistix with 1T fine here too, only problem would be to run with CAS 2, eventhough i have set the memory to high voltage, dunno how much that would be though.
and i tried to only use 1 stick too, would also fail after some tests, i wrote crucial about the problem, since they claim that the memory would be 100% certified to run with Asrock 939 dual sata, they wrote back that some motherboard wouldent be able to run at CAS 2. Now maybe the company have cheated me 🙂 , i got the ram verry cheap, only about 200$ , and maybe they did cheat with the labels, and actually gave me 333 Mhz rams, since it has always been detected as 333 Mhz im my MOBO.

Edit: Is there any programs out there, that can probe the memory for some informations, like the SPD info? so i can find out if its really 400 MHz ram
 
I should have time to piece my system together this next friday night. I ordered 2x512 ballistix PC3200 from Newegg for the Asrock939 dual Sata 2.

If things don't work as promised by the manuafacturers of this Motherboard + ballistix memory - it will sure be a learning experience.

2-2-2-6 1T at stock speeds might not be possible - so there is the option to see how things play out with the memory overclock. But i'll really be pissed if i'm getting screwed by this memory or the motherboard or both.

I find it hard to believe that Crucial would sell us Ballistix 2x512 memory kits labelled PC3200 that are actually PC2700 chips

What a bummer to read others are having so much trouble with the exact set up i planned on assembling...

I'll let you all know how things work out here this weekend. Should be no trouble at all to run CPU-Z and the memtesters to figure out the situation.

Finding the right BIOS to use will probably be key. If it's just conflicting memory troubles with ballistix on this motherboard.

I anyone here on our forum running PC3200 Balistix ok on this board????????

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Here's a good link on PC3200 Ballistix 2x512 memory

http://eclipseoc.com/index.php?id=1,37,0,0,1,0

http://eclipseoc.com/phpwcms_filestorage/1/1_126.png

Notice how the memory works fine of the following setup...

CPU:
Opteron 146

Motherboard:
DFI nf4 Ultra-D (11-14 bios)

Check out how voltage to the memory shows it runs at 2-2-2-6 just fine on as little as 2.6 volts.

By the looks of things, it's the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 that is most likely the source of the incompatibility if it exists between this board and ballistix PC3200. That sounds like a BIOS fix can solve the problem.

We need to find someone who is successfully running this Ram on this Asrock939... board and what BIOS they are using.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Check out this rig somebody has running over at OCW forum...

Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice)@ 2.65Ghz
ASrock 939Dual-SATA2
4x512 Crucila Ballistix PC3200C2
@ 260Mhz (2.5-2-2-8)T2
Gainward 2400 Ultra GS @ 440/1200
Medusa 5.1 Headphones
DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA - Raid 0

Located on this page...

http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ulti...bb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=30;t=004889;p=8

That's a good setup there that's overclocked very well with all 4 mem-slots occupied. So we could talk to him over of that forum and find out his experiences and what Bios he is using. I'm sure we can also find a configuration that works well with just two 512 stix of ballistix. Certainly he's got his money's worth out of his 4 stix at 260mhz. If stable that's quite awesome compared to 80$ per gig value ram kits of two stix.
 
Well straightalker , you meight be luckier with ur setup, maybe i have some hardware not running fine with the ram, i did test the ram with memtest86, and there is no fault with the ram at 400 Mhx 2,5.2.2.6 1T , but the test would fail in #5 when i set CAS to 2.
Now my cpu would be the AMD64 3500+ (Venice rev.E6) , read somewhere that this rev. would be hard to OC, and maybe thats why i cant OC much more than too 2.4 Ghz, Also i have found out that the Ballistix ram would require 2.8 V , and seems that Asrock dual sata 2, cant give more volt than 2.7 and thats with the ram voltage set to high in bios, would be sad if thats the problem, need 0.1 Volt?.
Im also having Ati Radeon 9800xt (AGP) , dunno if that would affect something with the ram speed.

And i have always upgraded my bios to the newest version, and even tried the ones from OCW, claiming to be better to OC my cpu, one thing was that you could set fsb above 274 Mhz, now even if i set my timings on my ram to the highest, and run @ 333 Mhz , i cannot get my fsb much above 220, tried to lower NB to 800 Mhz, and i could get about 240 Mhz, i have never been lucky getting a system, that can OC alot hehe.

Now Cpu-Z cannot get any SPD info from my ram, only thing i see is 512 MB(only trying 1 stick) , so i was googling around and found this system reporting tool Everest , And it read the SPD to be 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.0-2-2-8 @ 200 MHz) , now crucial state that the SPD will be set to a looser timings for compability, just wondering why my MOBO cant get the same information when setting all ram settings on auto.
 
http://www.photobin.us/uploads/f9bd9cbe26.jpg

http://www.photobin.us/uploads/57355a467b.jpg

There's my system specs now that i've got my computer assembled and running. Everything stable on an Opty 144 at 1.8 gigahertz stock speed, ...plus 2x512 Ballistix PC3200 memory going 2-2-2-8 by the loks of it - also almost at stock speed. It auto sets the "8" so maybe i can just lower it to 2-2-2-6 stock after raising the memory voltage on the motherboard higher that it's stock 2.5voltz.

Keep in mind that evenm though Ballistix PC3200 2x512mb can run at stock sppeds just fine on 2.5voltz as shown in the test results above in my other post.

My computer system has a Geforce5500 slow video card so that the next thing to upgrade.

Overall opinion of this combo?

AsrockDuel
Opty 144
Ballistix

...is all 3 have a good amount of headroom to overclock whenever i wish. Sometime after i get this system broken-in i'll start gradually goosing the CPU higher about 200mhz at a time. Current CPU temperatures even with the stock AMD fan/heatsink grease are amazing. 78'F with my Antec Sonata II case door open and 82'F closed. Just the one 120mm fan blowing on low speed. Heeheehe. Pretty damn cool.

FX53 speed equal 2.6mhz so that's my overclocking goal. With some arctic-silver grease on the AMD heatsink that should be all that needs. Another 120mm fan i already have installed just not powered up yet. Should be ready to overclock in a couple weeks at which time i'll join the "results" section of this forum under the AsrockDuel section.

I would appreciate being directed to the exact directions on what to adjust on the Asrock Bios to achieve 2.6 or 2.7ghz. Though i'm sure i can find it with a search...

...still have to learn the exact relationship between CPU, memory, HTT, etc...
 
Hello again, and happy newyear 🙂
Well Straightalker i was wondering is you have the same ram type as me?, mine can be found here http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=BL2KIT6464Z402

And did ur asrock dual sata 2 detect the speed of the ram to 400 Mhz without any problem?

Im getting tired of there quotes at crucial "If you don't know the CAS latency of the memory you currently have installed, don't worry; any of the modules listed in the Memory Advisor tool are guaranteed to work in your system."

Im still waiting from an answer from asrock, should had got some answers yesterday but...
 
i think that the mobo is dumb... mine does the same thing w/ not detecting the right speed. i have DDR400 ram and it ALWAYS goes to 333 if i set to auto....
 
Aight, after trying to talk to crucial online support 4 times, i wont recommend any to ever chat whit them, first, they are all womens(not that i dont like womens, but in pc matters males seems to handle it much better(Infact since i only got women support, and none could help me out, i may say, it seems male could do a better job)) , and womens are so quick to say call our techical support, it only cost the double of what you have given for your memory!, now it state in there support they should be memory experts, well, they cant do anything, not even send a request to there techical support, that they are so fund of, to retest there memory on the Asrock dual sata 2. I know the Crucial Team would see this thread, since the first time i talked to them, they wanted to look at my own thread in here for help lol.
Well, i cant say that all crucial product is ******, because of there support, but i know that just my problem, no women would help me out, not even send the message to try and see if i was right, one ting though, i never buy any crucial RAM again, thats for sure, that support really is bad, one even said all support members was laughing at my problem???? is that professional? nop, im done with them, gonna try some other ones next time, thats for sure.

Edit: Cant even get any email address to blaime the supporters from the supporter 🙂 , they would just say tell the technincal guys and then she closed the connection hehe, now if i was in the support team, i would atleast ask for the problem hehe
one person of many to blame would be Rose from crucial support.
 
Hmmm. Just thinking.

I don't think the fact a board does not recognize the exact memory timing when it's Bios is set on "auto" is anything to worry about ----- "if" all it takes is adjusting to manual control. You solve the problem that way. Apparently it is common to see some memory on some boards to default to the more slower speed.

My ballistix is PC3200 2x512 and yes it too defaulted to 333 in the Bios. All i did to cure that is set it to 400. It stays there no problem. Runs stable 2-2-2-8 at stock 2.5 volts exactly as others have described.

The Ballistix PC3200 2x512mb at a price of 119$ hit a price gap midway between the Corsair XMS at 100$ and expensive stuff over 150$ It features. I wanted good cool 2-2-2 memory and was willing to pay some extra for it. Overclocking headroom looks good too. How stable?? It's always a game of luck of the draw apparently. Moderate overclocks on this memory still hold the 2-2-2 speed well from what i read...

Board: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
CPU: AMD Opteron 144 (CAB2E 0545 MPMW)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix PC3200 2x512
Video: BMG Geforce5500 128mb
Case Antec Sonata II 450watt
 
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