GA-7VRXP owners, tell me your experience with RAM...

[daveqb]

i got my GA-7VRXP and had a hell of time installing etc, then lock ups and BSOD...
firgured it was a faulty board and was gonna RMA it
so got naother before i did, only to find after some running similiar conditions....

never did i think it was the genuine Samsung RAM PC2700 i got

wouldnt run @333
burned it in some, and one modukle can now go a little over 166, but only a 170 max)
the other can only just manage 166

faulty RAM or a both boards faulty ?

i was wondering if this board is bad at overclocking, but it appears not...
could i have two faulty RAM sticks ??

i got a AGOIA 1800 week6 2002

so basicly i want to hear peoples experience with the RAM and what speeds ya can get ??
thanx all

 

[mistajohnson]

Well, it seems that I've experienced some very similar problems. I just finished building this for a friend:

Gigabyte GA-7VRXP
AthlonXP 1900+
512 MB Samsung PC2700 RAM
40gig Maxtor 7200rpm ATA133
GeForce 2 MX 200
Soundblaster Live! (onboard sound disabled)


When using the default settings in the BIOS, I experienced a number of sporadic BSODs, as well as a number of crashes and hard freezes with most 3D games.

After switching the RAM bus down to 266mhz, everything seems to be running stable. It's only been about 4 hours though. I'll let you know if I can get another blue screen out of her.

 

[daveqb]

ahh very good...well good i found someone in the same boat as me anyway

have you run GoldMemory or Memtest86 on it ???

i have ran GoldMemory and heres my results :



'good' module all @2T


mem CL Fast Command RESULT
166 2 normal FAILED

170 2.5 normal PASS
173 2.5 normal FAILED

179 spd normal PASS
181 spd normal FAILED

142 2 ultra PASS
145 2 ultra FAILED

'bad' module

it appears the only diff between the two when i tested them for the say things was in the CL2.5

it failed @166 and CL2.5
so its max mhz @ CL2.5 is <166



be curious to what you get, and also be curious to see what you get if you change RAM (i have no other DDR here with me )

reply or PM me or email me

thanx

 

[PointyHairedBoss]

I'm no expert, but I'm having problems with my GA-7VRXP and memory too.

I put in a Crucial 512Mb PC2100 DIMM (CT6472Z265), using the F4 BIOS, and found that when I let the BIOS identify the memory it thought it had a latency of 2, rather than 2.5

I upgraded the BIOS to F6, and found that now:
- rather than cycle visibly thru the RAM on boot up, (as it did with F4) it now just:
- straight off displays the amount of RAM and says it is ok
- gives a single beep (which with my trivial knowledge, indicates memory problems)
It then continues to boot up fine.

Any thoughts / advice (keep it simple) would be welcome.
Cheers

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

7VRXP, 1700+ @ 1800+, 256mb Corsair XMS2700 @ DDR350, fastest timings available.. nice and stable at 2.6v. I'll run GoldMemory tonight. It passes Memtest86 just fine.

Oh, and if the mobo gives a single beep and boots up just fine.. all is well. If it gives a long beep or something and doesn't boot up.. that's when ya have a problem.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

GoldMemory passed as well. Using my stick of RAM in the slot farthest from the CPU, if that helps any...

IMO, if the same thing happens after switching boards, it's a RAM issue. Have you bumped up the voltage for it at all?

 

[xenolith]

If it's possible, my suggestion would be to get an entirely different motherboard (brand) to test your sammy with MemTest.

I say this because I had a similar problem but with different memory, mb, and chipset. I was failing MemTest left and right until I used a different mb... the memory passed even at the most aggressive timings. I think this will help rule out the chance the memory is faulty.

And yes, you very well could have two bad mobos. I've heard that Gigabyte has all but publicly admitted there's some serious CPU/AGP voltage regulation issues with this mb. That would affect your system cache, and conseqently affect MemTest results. Suspiciously, this is the only KT333 mb Newegg.com has OOS right now. I wanted to get this mb until I checked out Newegg's feedback, it's scary.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

It does seem like GB has some quality control problems, and people are right.. the voltage regulation needs some tweaking. My -5 and -12v readings are usually pretty funky, but as long as it's stable, whatever. It seems like a kind of a luck-of-the-draw thing with this motherboard, as some problems that occur on some people's systems are nonexistant on others'. If you do get a good one, it is a sweet board though. Gigabyte needs another revision ASAP, and it needs some better testing before releasing products.

I'm hoping 2.0 will go over a little better with the online community, as this is a great, solid, feature laden board when up and working.

Just remember, Gigabyte isn't the only company that has these problems - it's becoming more and more rampant, it seems. Abit is putting both silicone and TIM's on their 845E boards resulting in real high temps, Epox had their little fiasco with their out of spec 8KHA+, and who can forget the ECS K7S5A's early problems? Hopefully, Gigabyte won't end up making excuses, but show some action in handling their design problems. It shouldn't have to involve luck every time ya hit the On button.

Also, I dunno if the packaging was any different from you others who picked it up and had some probs with the board, but did yours come with a big ol' sticker claiming GF4 compatibility? Do you have Rev. 1 or 1.1? That might be a difference, they could reworked some of the voltage stuff.. I dunno. Just throwing out ideas here

 

[SNoWyV82]

So would you recommend against this board with your current experiences? I was thinking of getting this one however it seems like there are a lot of problems with it....

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

Based on my experience I'd recommend the board, easy. This is the best Athlon board out at least for me it has been. Also, remember that the people who have bad boards are a bit more vocal than those who have good ones. Gigabyte is a large, large manufacturer.. they're going to have bad batches and good ones. It seems they'll need one more revision to work all the kinks out, but for me and for many reviewers around the net, the board is quite solid. It offers the features of a Dragon but for less money.

 

[mistajohnson]

O.K., sorry for the delay in this response. So far the system is running stable at this new syncronous setting.

Daveqb, thanks for the memory info. I'll make a point of running both tests today and get back to you with the results. Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat since I don't have any other DDR RAM laying around for testing.

Oh, btw, I thought I'd let you guys know that I'm using the Gigabyte only after receiving 2 DOA ABIT boards that wouldn't even POST. Once the second board arrived DOA, I had my friend send it back immediately for a refund. We then drove up to Fry's Electronics and picked up the Gigabyte. It seems that I'm hearing more and more bad things about ABIT lately.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that for all those looking for a new KT333 board.

 

[daveqb]

ok been running some more tests,
thought i would test the CPU indepentant of the RAM , so set the RAM right down to 133 (266DDR) and spd 2T, Normal

and as far as i could push the CPU on prime95 with max Voltage was 140. 141 it failed

so thought maybe the MoBo is limiting me, so got my hands on an unlocked T-Bird 1.2, set the multiplier to 7 (boot up under 1 gig)
and see what FSB i could get ,and also test the RAM while i am at it.

i got the FSB to 170 and mem at 170 and it was as stable as a rock!!

so new the MoBo was limiting the FSB at all, it must be the CPU i got,

tested the RAM with the unlocked T-Bird and got slightly better results, but not much
in fact i have been getting better and better results as we go along, Samsung Burning in theroy must be true, although unfounded in a logical sense (ask Anandtesh forum member 'mem' )

but it appears the board has been ok all along , just the CPU and mem have had some issues....

(but it does have a faulty onboard LAN though)

this is my third GA-7VRXP (DOA's etc)

 

[daveqb]

hey just found a trick, well hidden BIOS settings for RAM.... gives you all the options that the likes of the Epox board offers

when you get into the BIOS hit CTRL+F1

THEN

go to chipset options, and look at all the options to tweak

a bit over my head though, so havent really played with many of them.... i still trying to figure out what the heck 2-2-5-2 means