EPOX 8K5A2 Dimm/Memory slot PROBLEM!

[Amputater]

OK, here is the story...

Current rig set-up
************************************************************
Epox 8K5A2
AMD XP2100+
Dimm (memory) slot 1 - Samsung CL2.5 PC2700 512MB stick (Double-sided)
Dimm (memory) slot 2 - Samsung CL2.5 PC2700 256MB stick (Singel-sided)
Dimm (memory) slot 3 - EMPTY

This set up has been rock soild for the past 6 months
************************************************************

I just got 2 sticks of Kingston from Newegg, and these are CL2.5 PC2700 512MB (Double-sided) also, exactly the same as my 512MB Samsung stick. BTW, the Kingstons use Hynix memory.

Here is the fun part, I removed the 256MB stick from Dimm slot 2 and installed the Kingston 512MB. I then installed the second Kingston stick in the empty Dimm slot 3. Now there is a total of 1.5GB of ram. Powered on, and frozed instantly. Ok, then I reset and after about the 4th try, it finally booted into Windows, BUT, less than a minute later, PC restarted itself without any warnings!!! What the??

Then I emptied the Dimm slots and did the following...

Dimm 1 - Samsung
Dimm 2 - Kingston
System booted, stable and rock solid


Dimm 1 - Kingston
Dimm 2 - Samsung
System booted, stable and rock solid


Dimm 1 - Kingston
Dimm 2 - Kingston
System booted, stable and rock solid


Dimm 1 - Samsung
Dimm 3 - Kingston
System booted, stable and rock solid


Dimm 1 - Kingston
Dimm 3 - Samsung
System booted, stable and rock solid

Dimm 1 - Kingston
Dimm 2 - Kingston
System booted, stable and rock solid


Now, whenever I try to install all 3 sticks together (regardless of the combination) system would either not boot at all or crash about a minute later. What is up with that? Is there somehting wrong with my Epox board? or some of you guys are having this same problem?


Any advice would be appreciated,
Amputater

 

[mjolnir2k]

I advise you to go here

Dedicated forum for EPOX and there's even an EPOX tech that hangs out there.

 

[Actaeon]

I recall hearing motherboards have problems running high FSB speeds with 3 or more DIMMs installed.

Are you overclocking?

 

[Amputater]

Originally posted by: Actaeon
I recall hearing motherboards have problems running high FSB speeds with 3 or more DIMMs installed.

Are you overclocking?

Thanks 🙂

I had to drop the FSB back down to 139mhz, anything on or above 140mhz would crash the system. Don't know why, but I can still run the FSB at 155mhz with any 2 sticks installed. 🙁

Amputater

 

[mjolnir2k]

Originally posted by: Amputater

Originally posted by: Actaeon
I recall hearing motherboards have problems running high FSB speeds with 3 or more DIMMs installed.

Are you overclocking?

Thanks 🙂

I had to drop the FSB back down to 139mhz, anything on or above 140mhz would crash the system. Don't know why, but I can still run the FSB at 155mhz with any 2 sticks installed. 🙁

Amputater

155? Can't you get it to run stable at 166FSB with two sticks? I have this same board and 166 has always been my starting point b/c the pci/agp lock comes into play at 166. At 155 you don't get that advantage.

 

[Amputater]

The highest I got for the FSB was 163mhz, and that requires me to up the Vcore to 1.8v. At 155mhz, I was able to keep it stable at 1.75v (I wanted to keep my chip as cool as possible)

Amputater

 

[Blooz1]

Just <U>try</U> setting it to 166! The 1/5 lock kicks in, PCI/AGP kicks in to set at 33/66.

I've had 3 different processors in my 8K5A2, and all ran at default voltage at 166FSB....

 

[Amputater]

Originally posted by: Blooz1
Just try setting it to 166! The 1/5 lock kicks in, PCI/AGP kicks in to set at 33/66.

I've had 3 different processors in my 8K5A2, and all ran at default voltage at 166FSB....

You are so right, I set the FSB to 166mhz, and drop the vcore back to default, PCI/AGP at 33/66 and everything works fine now 🙂

All 3 DIMMS are full now (3 x 512MB) and windows is running stable. Why did I have so much problems before when the FSB was on 150mhz? I guess the only difference is that the 1/5 divider kicks in now at 166mhz, but does it even have an effect on the DIMM slots?


Amputater

 

[Amputater]

One more thing, with the FSB at 166mhz, my CPU temp is 52C idle and 55C max load, while motherboard temp is at 30C. Are these numbers a bit high? It used to be 50C max load when FSB was at 150mhz.