"Bad" Samsung PC2700 chip ?

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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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Finally got my rig set up here: P4 1.6A, Epox 4BDA2+, Samsung PC2700 rated CAS 2.5 333Mhz.

My Samsung PC2700 is a "Samsung M368L6423CTL-CB3" and it seems to be hard to push it further than 140 FSB @ 4:3 ratio.(no CAS change) Now I wonder if that ^ is not a "Samsung Original" or if I just got unlucky ? Been hearing all these stories about Samsung PC2700 easily pulling off 4:3 @ 150 FSB (400Mhz DDR) @ stock voltage (2.6V is default on Epox 4BDA2+) And also i wonder if a burn-in process of the memory might get it any better? I'm not really disappointed if I end up with a P4 2.2Ghz 370Mhz-something DDR, but I'd sure appreciate any info on this issue. :)

I've been using a proggie called Memtest-86 v2.8 to test the memory. (besides PRIME95)

i'm running @ 2.8V, pushing it up to 2.9 would perhaps gain me 1 FSB point or 2 but i doubt it would take me to 150FSB.
 
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oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
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Is it a Samsung or OEM? Where did you get it? I run just what you said. 4BDA2+, 1.6A @ 2.4, 4:3 DDR400, Samsung PC2700. I run 2.6 VDIMM
Your ram should be setup "normal" cas 2.5, 6,3,3. Clear the CMOS, load optimal, then set those values. Also be sure your PCI/AGP is set to 33/66.

How do you know its the ram holding you back @ 140 FSB? If you go to 1:1 does it improve?
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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I think it's the RAM since it works at higher FSB if i do 1:1.

I also flashed the BIOS (04/22/02 I think BIOS from Epox European site) hoping it would get better but still the same. But I guess I need to do some more testings to be sure about all this...

I have the normal set up. (2.5,6,3,3) also I have locked the PCI and AGP speeds.

Should I try clearing the CMOS with the jumper on the mb? and then setting the values back?

 
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oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
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It has a Samsung logo on the sticker? If so, that is the good stuff. Try clearing with the jumper, load optimal, and set it up again.
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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Cleared the CMOS set to normal 2.5,6,3,3 and 140FSB 2.6V got errors in Memtest-86 v2.8 and even an "unexpected interrupt" that halted the system. Have you tested your mem in that prog?
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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ok. It is a stand alone prog that boots from a disk. (would be interesting to know if it gave any errors to other ppl using Samsung) Anyway.. memtest gives me no errors if I use 2.7V or more @ 140FSB but if I crank it up one tiny pin to 141 FSB I even get many errors @ 2.8V) Im gonna do more Prime95 testing too. It's 5AM here so I should get some sleep soon :) but I'll be back tomorrow...
 
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oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
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I made a floppy and ran it for ~ 10 min. No errors. 150 FSB, 4:3, 2.6V, ram timings I posted. Does it have a Samsung oval logo sticker? Reseat the DIMM. Maybe you did get a bad stick although you can get it up to DDR373, which is better than the DDR333 rating.
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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I reseated the DIMM, I even moved it to the other slot and then I ran the test I was getting lota errors on just before (Test #7). And guess what?! I get no errors! Hurrah! :)

I will do further testing and report to this thread tomorrow, thanks a mil for your help!
 
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Booster

Diamond Member
May 4, 2002
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oldfart wrote:
made a floppy and ran it for ~ 10 min. No errors.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but errors in Memtest86 start to pop up only after 20 minutes usually! And to test the RAM completely, you need to run it for several hours. The whole test (before it finishes itself) takes a good 24hrs to complete on a fast DDR rig. It's a very good OS-independent, low-level test.
 
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pm

Elite Member Mobile Devices
Jan 25, 2000
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What Booster said. You need it to run for at least 6 hours or so.

If you had ECC you could tell if it was the memory pretty much right away (Windows would give an NMI MBE ECC error).
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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That "no-errors" thing was just temporary :(

I guess I have to accept that I can't go further than 140 with 4:3 using this mem. Checked the stick and it has the sticker with the Samsung logotype and "Korea" on it.

Now the question is, for overall performance which is better: 2.4 Ghz 1:1 memtiming or 2.2Ghz 4:3 memtiming?
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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oh yes btw - Is there such a thing as "memory burn-in" ? that would it make it possible to crank it up a bit further in the future ?!
 
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pm

Elite Member Mobile Devices
Jan 25, 2000
7,419
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Is there such a thing as "memory burn-in" ? that would it make it possible to crank it up a bit further in the future ?!
Click to expand...
No. In my opinion, the idea that burn-in speeds up silicon is a myth. It has no basis in physics or electronics and, in fact, the opposite occurs in CMOS silicon where manufacturers take a significant performance hit after running burn-in. Burn-in attempts to accelerate the product lifecycle by pushing the equivalent of several years of running time into a much smaller burn-in period. Since silicon slows down with time, this form of testing results in a significant performance degradation but the upside is more reliable parts since marginal parts that were likely to fail quickly are caught before the product is shipped out the door.

Patrick Mahoney
Microprocessor Design Engineer
Intel Corp.
 
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oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
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Very odd. The Samsung is usually able to do DDR400. Mine does and I had an OEM Samsung stick that would also do DDR400 @ 2.6V. How long is it before memtest errors? How about Prime95? Did you try 7,3,3? What is your power supply? How much Vcore do you need for 2.4 GHz? Other than that, I cant think of much else to try. Can you get a different stick?
 
Slacker

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Ummm...... at 140 fsb with a 4:3 ratio your ram is running at 105mhz (210DDR)
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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Very odd. The Samsung is usually able to do DDR400. Mine does and I had an OEM Samsung stick that would also do DDR400 @ 2.6V. How long is it before memtest errors? How about Prime95? Did you try 7,3,3? What is your power supply? How much Vcore do you need for 2.4 GHz? Other than that, I cant think of much else to try. Can you get a different stick?
Click to expand...

How early I get errors depends on speed of course but at 142FSB 2.8V VDIMM I get errors within the first round of tests (within 40 minutes or so) Went away and had it running for 6 hrs and 40 minutes (142FSB 2.8V VDIMM) and got about 125 errors when i got home.

I didn't try 7,3,3 should I do that? and also should I try CAS 3 instead of 2.5 ?! Prime95 uncovers errors very quickly if the timing is too high, usually within 30 minutes. I have a 340W PSU Chieftec/Siretec never goes below 12V and never below the core values that are supposed to be. (I use Motherboard Monitor 5 to monitor). Haven't tested stability @ 2.4Ghz yet since this has been holding me back but at 2.2 Ghz im fine with 1.6V (about 1.55 acctual).
 
Slacker

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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????????????????? six separate times in this thread I see 4:3 I am confused.

4:3 is one of the available ratios right? on my P4S333 I have different ratios available at different cpu fsb speeds, in the first bios I only had 4:3 available at 145 cpu fsb so it wasnt worth the hit in memory speed to run the cpu fsb at 145, then asus added a 4:5 ratio available at 145 cpu fsb on the next bios update which was great since I could run my cpu at 2320mhz and my memory at 181.25(362.5DDR)

CrazySwede, are you using a 4:3 ratio or a 3:4 ratio??????????
 
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CrazySwede

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May 3, 2002
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Sorry slacker to confuse you. I'm a bit confused myself at all this since I'm new at overclocking ;)

Anyway it is like Oldfart says: 3:4 : xxxFSB x 2 x 1.333

Now i have changed the settings from 2.5-6-3-3 to 2.5-7-3-3. I ran ALL tests in memtest-86 (took me 39m27s) at 144FSB and I got absolutely NO Errors!

What does that 7 mean ? How would a setting "7" vs "6" affect acctual performance (noticably)

In the manual it only says:
"Active to Prcharge Delay - This fiels lets you setup the minimum RAS (what is RAS!?) pulse width"

Also i discovered that of course I can't change to CAS 3-x-x-x even if I wanted to :eek:
 
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oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
10,207
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The 4BDA2+ does not have as a BIOS option 4:3 or 3:4. The options are DDR200 (1:1) or DDR266 (3:4)

How long can you run Prime95 with no errors?
 
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CrazySwede

Member
May 3, 2002
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Been running it for an hour now soon at the same time as running other programs.

My question is:

What does that 7 mean ? How would a setting "7" vs "6" affect acctual performance (noticably)
 
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