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Corsair RAM issues on newly OC'ed Venice 3000+

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Well I finally fired everything up last night. Popped in the new Neo4. I didn't reapply thermal paste, might've been a good idea, but it looked like a sticky job to get all the AMD stock grease off the heatsink and chip (would GluGone do the trick?). They were both pretty well coated so I imagine the seal is ok.

I ran through all the motions once a again...

Booted up XP with the CPU at 2.8ghz, everything else throttled. Then tried the RAM at 220mhz, everything else throttled. Finally the HTT at 335mhz, again cpu/RAM throttled. All green lights.

Ok, then tried 300x9@133 divider (2:3, RAM speed 193mhz, HTT 3x), restart, and watch the monitor die to the green/amber LED.. Not even a BIOS post.. (the Gigabyte K8NS had at least shown me the BIOS before freezing).

Great... I tried 295, then finally at 290 it would boot XP, except it wouldn't reboot on a soft reset, requiring a CMOS flash. Lower and lower it went until all was happy (and RAM was running at a measly 185).

Everything is running well below their independent maxes, how could this be I pondered? All the while my friend in LA whom I setup with a stock Clawhammer 3700 for had been running BF2 having a blast for weeks continued to mock me and my OC'ing woes..

As a last point of hope, I figured I'd try some of MSI's extended mem dividers (the K8NS was limited to just 100,133,166 & 200). So I gave 150 (3:4) a shot at 290HTT. Well if the RAM wasn't happy at 192, how was it possibly going to ride at 217? To my amazement, it loaded fine and Prime tortured fine as well! I kept going, 295, all clear! Should I try 300HTT, why not! Sure enough, 300x9@150 divider, my cheapo Corsair Value cruising at 225mhz! (2.5-3-3-8-1T) She Primed all night, unbelievable..

Thus the culprit appears to be the 133 memory divider, both the nForce3 on the K8NS and the nForce4 on the K8N Neo4 couldn't stomach it, I have no idea why. Alas, I hadn't tried 166 on the K8NS, perhaps I should've given that board more credit.. Although assuming the memory is near its max at 225, the 166 divider would've only bought me 275x9 on the CPU side (2.475ghz), so I'm glad I went with the retail MSI (for only $30 more).

The moral of the story, avoid yourself a month of pain and avoid the 133 mem divider at all costs.
 
I also have trouble with the 133 divider. Thanks for letting me know your experiences. The prolem is I am now locked in the 166 divider and RAM limitation.

🙁
 
Originally posted by: Husky55
I also have trouble with the 133 divider. Thanks for letting me know your experiences. The prolem is I am now locked in the 166 divider and RAM limitation.

🙁
Click to expand...

How fast can your RAM handle? If you can hit 220-230, then there are plenty of options with the 166 divider. Does the Epox have the 150 or the 141 divider?
 
Serpentor, what bios version are you using with the MSI to get those excellent numbers? Great job plugging away at the dividers until you figured out the prob. 🙂 Are you OC'ing the X800XL yet? I've also heard the chipset fan on the MSI is LOUD. True?
 
Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
Serpentor, what bios version are you using with the MSI to get those excellent numbers? Great job plugging away at the dividers until you figured out the prob. 🙂 Are you OC'ing the X800XL yet? I've also heard the chipset fan on the MSI is LOUD. True?
Click to expand...

I'll check the BIOS version after work, but I'm running it stock from the box and haven't checked for upgrades yet. Since the X800XL is also a new addition to the system, it's hard to discern how each fan independently sounds, but nothing sounds too loud. When I had the case door off, I could hear one fan alternating speeds like a car shifting gears, which I think may have been the NF4 fan, but nothing different from other other mobo fans in terms of decibels.

Still deciding whether I should remove the re-used AMD paste and apply artic silver after having switched mobo's, it would probably be a good idea..

Haven't tried to OC the X800XL yet, I have to reformat my XP partition tonight because it has all the older nVidia drivers for my Ti4200 and also the nForce3 drivers, so I'd prefer to avoid conflicts and start over fresh. From the review sites, it seems this card can handle most any game at 1280x1024 w/4xAA 8xAF at >60FPS. I may be naive when it comes to LCDs and FPS, but since my refresh is locked at 60hz, will I ever see anything over 60FPS? If not, then oc'ing the video may not be necessary for today's games.
 
I just wondered about the bios because I've seen lots of posts about this board not OC'ing very well with Venice chips but you're having great success so I may pick one up and give it a shot. My S754 rig is great, but I've got the upgrade bug so it looks like I'm going to have to pick up a PCI-E vid card, S939 board, and a Venice 3000+ or 3200+ for some more OC'ing fun. The X800XL is the only PCI-E version that is affordable and still provides good performance in newer games, so I'm asking around as to what people are getting when OC'ing it. If I sell the components I plan to replace, I should come out about even on the upgrade if I stick to lower-cost, highly-overclockable parts. Not sure about LCD refresh rates and FPS > than 60. I'm still using my trusty 19" CRT that looks great and was dirt cheap. 😉
 
Be sure to check out FiringSquad's X800XL roundup if you're in the market for one. They also show OC'ing results (tho they don't say if they are maximums, I'm skeptical that they couldn't push the Asus more than they did). Unfortunately they don't rank the Connect3D, but the reviews on newegg say 440/560 was reached. Monarch has the best deal on this at $249 shipped no tax, they say OEM, but I and most others received the full retail package. 🙂

Edit: Review of the Connect3D, they were able to hit 447/546.
 
My Corsair VS can only hit 216 with stock timings (2.5-3-3-8)

Epox dividers are 100, 133, 166, 200

With the 133 divider my RAM cannot do 210, but with the 166 they can get to 216. I know I have cheap RAM but I do not regret buying them.!!!

😱
 
Originally posted by: Husky55
My Corsair VS can only hit 216 with stock timings (2.5-3-3-8)
Click to expand...

Have you tried bumping the vdimm? I always keep mine hot at 2.85v, I'm not sure how close to 225 they'd get at stock volts..
 
Originally posted by: furballi
268 MHz FSB with 5:6 memory divider (333 MHz). If you drop the RAM speed one notch down to 266 MHz, then you will need to bump up the FSB by about 6 MHz to compensate for the slower RAM.

For example, 268 MHz FSB with 333 MHz RAM will be equivalent to 274 MHz FSB with 266 MHz RAM. This would apply to a 9x CPU multiplier. In addition, if you have to bump up the RAM's latency to run at higher FSB, then you will see more speed drop...2.5-3-3-8-1T to 3-4-4-8-2T.

A good way to test for improvement is to run SUPER PI up to about 1M digits. My Winchester 3000 with 268 FSB, 9x multiplier, 333 MHz RAM speed, and 2.5-3-3-8-1T can finish this calculation in 35 seconds. If I drop to 266 MHz RAM speed, then the time will increase to 37 seconds.


I for one can vouch for corsair VS...216 stable but with my current setting it only needs to run at 208

If you're lucky, then the Corsair Value RAM is good up to about 215 MHz at 1:1 memory divider (400 MHz).
Click to expand...

 
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