I was doing some testing on it, and on the sandra memory bandwidth test, I only get 4900 mb/s. I read lots of reviews of other nforce 4 boards, and they always get around 5900 mb/s, with the sames specs as mine (athlon 64 3500, 2 corsair sticks, in dual channel), does anybody have any suggestions on why this is so low?
gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 help (nforce4)
- Thread starter acer1
- Start date
BTW, Sandra only gives you "dry" numbers. The results you got there have no affect on "real world" performance - someone here posted a link showing that it's 1% or less of a difference in the "real world" - not noticeable in everyday use to say the least; you can't call that a setback.
Good point, I also noticed that on the same benchmark, it showed something like 75% bandwidth efficiency, while my athlon xp rig got something like 98% efficiency. Mainly I was wondering if I did something wrong in the bios, or made a wrong choice with my ram (2x512 corsair value ram)
thanks
thanks
I don't know how your system is configured, but at stock with my K8NF-9 I'm getting 5964MB/s, so it does seem a little low.
The 800MHz vs 1GHz HTT speeds shouldn't impact memory bandwidth at all.
The 800MHz vs 1GHz HTT speeds shouldn't impact memory bandwidth at all.
Hi Rand!
I might be getting a K8NF-9 next week. Could you post your over-all impressions with the board so far?
I am interested to know if performance are on par with nF4 Ultra (they should be) and if you've experienced any *stability* and/or *compatiblity* issues... basically nothing else is of my concern ATM.
All i'm looking for is a solid board to power my gaming rig - do you think this board fits my needs?
Thank you!
Thanks for the reply Rand, some quick questions.
So any ideas on what could be the problem? What kind of ram are you using? Did you put it in slots one and two? Did you make any ajustments in the bios after you started your computer?
So any ideas on what could be the problem? What kind of ram are you using? Did you put it in slots one and two? Did you make any ajustments in the bios after you started your computer?
Samsung PC3200 TCCD chips. I'm using 4x1GB, so I'm using all 4 DIMM slots.
Memory bandwidth results are as would be expected marginally higher with only two DIMM's in slots 1 and 2 however.
The BIOS has of course been tweaked considerably from the stock settings. Have you used CTRL-F1 to get access to the advanced BIOS settings to check the memory timings?
Any chance you've accidentally set your RAM to run at DDR333 timings?
4x1gb = 4gb of ram, that is a lot of ram, nice. I've tried controll-f1, and the memory timings look fine(haven't tweaked yet)
Gigabyte faq
I found this faq on gigabytes web site. I am using double sided ram. I have never heard of this before or I wouldn't have bought two sticks of double sided ram. Can anybody confirm that this is true? Is there any way that I can get around it so I can run my ram at full speed?
Note:
my fsb says 200mhz (called cpu frequency on the gigabyte boards), so doesn't that mean my ram is running at 200 mhz?
Gigabyte faq
I found this faq on gigabytes web site. I am using double sided ram. I have never heard of this before or I wouldn't have bought two sticks of double sided ram. Can anybody confirm that this is true? Is there any way that I can get around it so I can run my ram at full speed?
Note:
my fsb says 200mhz (called cpu frequency on the gigabyte boards), so doesn't that mean my ram is running at 200 mhz?
Originally posted by: Trente
Hi Rand!
I might be getting a K8NF-9 next week. Could you post your over-all impressions with the board so far?
I am interested to know if performance are on par with nF4 Ultra (they should be) and if you've experienced any *stability* and/or *compatiblity* issues... basically nothing else is of my concern ATM.
All i'm looking for is a solid board to power my gaming rig - do you think this board fits my needs?
Thank you!
Linky
You can check out my experiences here.
In short, I'm very pleased with the board however.
The only tangible issue I see is that the current BIOS does seem to have some issues detecting a PS/2 keyboard properly, so if your using a legacy PS/2 keyboard you may want to pick up a cheap PS/2 to USB adapter or wait for Gigabyte to update the BIOS.
Well, all of my DIMM's are double sided 1GB modules and I'm running at DDR400 timings perfectly. I wonder if perhaps Gigabyte put that notice up for those that may be using generic memory that could have issues running in DualChannel at 400Mhz.
Just because the FSB (Or what passes for a FSB on A64 board, as of course the A64 doesn't have a FSB in the classical meaning) is running at 200Mhz doesn't necessarily mean the RAM is. You'd have to check the RAM timings for that. The RAM timing is based on a divider from the full CPU clockspeed.
Have you downloaded CPU-Z to check what the RAM frequency is currently running at?
What are your DRAM latency timings set at in the BIOS?
I've noticed DRAM timings seem to have an unusually large impact on memory bandwidth in my testing with the board.
I'd like to try setting my RAM to run at the same timings as your and see what bandwidth I get.
FYI, I have the same setup and am also getting getting readings
around 4900.
GA-K8NF-9 MB
2@512 corsair value select
3500+
around 4900.
GA-K8NF-9 MB
2@512 corsair value select
3500+
Thanks for the info pctennys I didn't know ram timings would make 1000 mb/s difference. You think that makes much of a real world difference?
acer1,
I assume your using slots DDR1 & DDR2 by reading this thread. BUT...
Information from the GigaByte GA-K8NF-9 users manual:
If you want to operate the Dual Channel Technology, please note the following explanations due to the limitations of nVidia chipset specifications.
2 - If two DDS memory modules are installed (same storage capacity), one must be added to a Channel A slot and the other in a Channel B slot in order to use dual channel memory. You can simply install the memory modules into slots of the same color but we recommend slotting them into DDR1 and DDR2. Dual channel memory cannot function if both DDR memory modules are installed on the same channel.
3 - If four DDR memory modules are installed, please use memory of the same storage capacity in order to use dual channel memory and for BIOS to detect all the DDR memory modules.
DDR1 & DDR2
DDR3 & DDR4
DDR1 & DDR2 & DDR3 & DDR4
Information from the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum users manual
MSI Reminds You...
The maximum memory speed decreases when the following two memory combinations is selected.
- Each channel is installed with two double-sided memory modules.
- Both DIMM1 and DIMM3 slots are installed with double-sided memory module.
Due to the South Bridge resource deployment, the system density will only be detected up to 3+ GB (not full 4GB) when each DIMM is installed with an 1GB memory module.
Dimm1(ChA) & Dimm2(ChB) = DDR400
Dimm3(ChA) & Dimm4(ChB) = DDR400
Dimm1(ChA) & Dimm3(Cha) = DDR333
Dimm1(ChA) & Dimm2(ChB) & Dimm3(ChA) & Dimm4(ChB) = DDR333
Notice how the configuration of Double sided memory is similar between the GA-K8NF-9 and the K8N Neo4 Platinum with a few exceptions. If you populate all the slots on the K8N Neo4 you only get DDR333 performance. Also, if you popluate Dimm1 and Dimm3 you only get DDR333 performance.
Maybe, that's the same on the GA-K8NF-9?
Maybe, Gigabyte isn't as detailed as MSI about the loading of RAM?
Maybe, the Gigabyte is defective?
Maybe, the Gigabyte is designed for DDR333 timings only? That way you can use all four slots with DS memory?
Maybe, I'm so full of crap my eyes are turning brown.
Try this:
If your using DDR1 & DDR2 try switching to DDR3 & DDR4.
Try using DDR1 & DDR3 and see if your numbers go down.
I recently upgraded my RAM from some generic CL3 dual channel to some CL2 Geil dual channel. At CL3 I was getting roughly 4700, at CL 2.5 I got 5000 ish and at CL2 I got 5500. By tightening my other timing settings for the RAM I managed to get 5870 in the end. This is all at DDR400 dual channel with the K8NF-9 and a A64 3000.
Just goes to show how much difference timings can have on RAM performance.
(PS sorry for not having accurate numbers but I'm at work and can only roughly recall what results I got at what timings.)
PPS My RAM timing is 2, 2, 3, 6 to get 5870 (other timing settings were adjusted but I can't tell how much difference they made)
Just goes to show how much difference timings can have on RAM performance.
(PS sorry for not having accurate numbers but I'm at work and can only roughly recall what results I got at what timings.)
PPS My RAM timing is 2, 2, 3, 6 to get 5870 (other timing settings were adjusted but I can't tell how much difference they made)
Wow, thanks for the info guys. I tried putting it in slots 1 and 3 and it lowered it by about 1400. So I am pretty sure its running in dual channel mode. Looks like from what you guys said, it has to do with ram timings and double sided ram. Whats wierd is that cpu-z says its running at 200mhz. But it seems like I am getting ddr 333 performance. But then I read Dureths post, and it looks like it has to do more with timings. Basically it makes me think I should have got some better ram.
In addition to changing timings, make sure you have the 2T command set to Disabled. With this set at auto, I had ~4900, but when I set it to disabled, it jumped up to ~5980.
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