Could it be the mobo?

[Bruizer]

Alright yall, ive been doing a lot of research lately about running 4x512 sticks of ram. I came to the conclusion id go ahead and get a second set of 2x512 sticks of GeIL Ultra DDR500 ram , same as my other. I also have a venice 3000 which can run 2t timings at 200mhz. I realized that i was actually already running my 1gig at 2t timings so i fugured i would more likely see an increase in performance than a decrease. So i threw in the extra sticks and my timings (2.4.4.7) stayed the same and i switched the speed back to 200mhz like your supposed to be able to. However, my 3dmark03 score dropped from 6168 to 5500 and my fps took a massive hit and i started getting hickups in bf2 when before i hadn't. I was wondering could it be my motherboard? Its an MSI Neo2 Platinum which is supposed to run 4 dimms dual channel and says it is but i see no difference between setting speeds at 200 and 166mhz. Could it be the chipset on the board? Might it be that since it isn't that new, it might not be able to take advantage of the Venices memory control? Please help!

 

[Wentelteefje]

Try more relaxed timings... Even the switch from 2.4.4.7 to 2.4.4.8 can be your problem solver... I've seen it happen before... Set them very high, and gradually tighten them...

BTW Nice RAM! :thumbsup:

 

[Bruizer]

Thanks, i love my ram! Well i tried going back and relaxing the timmings all the way to 3.5.5.9 and worked up and im running at 2.3.3.6 with 2.70 volts prime95 stable but still no dice. Could updating the bios help? I also put in a new HD, a maxtor 200gb SATA150 7200rpm w/ 16mb cache. I had an old diamond max plus 9 ide 133. Could changing those have caused it. Maybe something in the bios isn't set right but im pretty sure it is. HELP! I'M about to go INSANE!

 

[naughty001]

you sure its still at dual channel - dont those mobos have the problem where if you run double sided dimms in all 4 slots then it defaults down to single channel and if you occupy all slots then you need single sided dimms for it to operate in dual channel

just check the table again on msi's site - and in the meantime tell us wether you have dual sided dimms or single sided

 

[Bruizer]

I have dual sided dimms. In the manual it says its supposed to do 4 dimms at dual channel.

 

[naughty001]

okay - sorry let me rephrase that - you will drop down in frequency if you have dual sided dimms and will only run at ddr333 if you have four double sided dimms and cannot run in ddr400 mode


heres the link to the website :

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo2_Platinum

heres a pic ive saved of the table which explains all to you

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v167/naughty001/dimms.jpg

look at the last two entries in the table - those are with all slots occupied

 

[Bruizer]

Yes i understand that. But take into consideration that all of that was written before the venice cores came out. Winchester and etc will only do ddr 333 with 4 dimms of dual, but the new venices are designed so that you can run all 4 dimms dual channel at 200mhz (ddr400) at 2t timings which my one gig was already set to. I have a Venice

 

[naughty001]

having a venice will not actually fix a limitation of the mobo - now its the mobo that is imposing its limit and not the cpu - so yeppers to answer your origional question - yes its the mobo

unless flashing to the latest bios makes the mobo recognise that you have a venice and ot a winchester - not sure about that

just checked again and bios 1.9 lists support e6 cpu as an option - have you flashed the bios and seen what happens

 

[Bruizer]

Finally, Thank YOU!!! Seriously! I've tried fixing timings and settings in the bios and all kinds of stuff. Except i'm gonna get my bro to help me flash the bios to the most updated version that ive found. Maybe that'll help, maybe not. Maybe ill have to get a new Nforce 4 Ultra, im planning on doing that anyway since im gonna upgrade to PCI-Ex. But seriously, THANK YOU!

 

[naughty001]

cool - no probs - latest bios is 1b as opposed to the second to last which ive stated above as 1.9 - so flashing to the latest would have all the older revisions included - hope it solves your problem

 

[Bruizer]

Well, I just flashed the bios but still it seems to have not done the trick. I guess maybe the motherboard isn't new enough to support the venice's great memory clock. I guess ill have to start looking into a nforce 4 ultra, etc. type motherboard. Anybody know anything else that could be the problem? I've got my bios set to 2.7v, 2.3.3.6, 2t timings, and 200mhz on a MSI Neo2 Platinum w/ updated bios to 1.b. Maybe that'll help someone figure it out. And the memory is 4x512 GeIL Ultra DDR500. Please help!

 

[Bruizer]

WOW! I JUST TOOK THE TWO NEW STICKS OUT AND FIXED EVERYTHING AND GUESS WHAT...THE PERFORMANCE STAYED THE SAME, DIDNT EVEN INCREASE! I guess either my msi 9800 pro is defunked or my MSI Neo2 Platinum has gone kaputt!

Just Tested the Computer with orignial 2x512 at 2t, at 1t, and all 4x512 in 3dmark03 and scored/performed the exact same! (Give or take a point or two!)