Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P de-activates 2 DIMM slots

[RockNRule]

There is only 1 neg comment on the MSI P55-CD53 on Newegg from someone that had a shorting problem. The others are glowing. Why bash this board for no reason?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: RockNRule
There is only 1 neg comment on the MSI P55-CD53 on Newegg from someone that had a shorting problem. The others are glowing. Why bash this board for no reason?

I am not bashing this board. I just had a bad experience with mine and noted that other users on hardwareforums reported similar problems with CD53. Like I said it may have been a memory incompatibility issue with OCZ gold low voltage (as makdaddy626 noted his perfectly fine Corsair ram had problems with his board until he switched to OCZ). But this is the 2nd MSI board I have purchased which has caused me problems. Also CD53 is not the same board as the CD65, which has the proper cooling and sufficient phases for Core i7 overclocking. CD53 has a massive 0.5V Vdroop when I attempted overclocking.

I decided to spend the extra $20 and get the Gigabyte board. The board weighs significantly more (likely due to 2oz of copper), has superior power circuitry cooling, 2 eSATA ports, easier to use bios with more features, vastly superior BIOS flashing tool (MSI LiveUpdate fails to recognize the latest bios in Windows 7 64-bit environment, forcing you to do a manual flash via USB key that takes longer than 1 minute to figure out how to use - I was reminded of being stuck in 2003), dual BIOS chips onboard in case your current bios gets corrupted.

I am not trying to be biased since I purchased the MSI board over Asus and Gigabyte in the first place...but right now for me Gigabyte and Asus still provide the better overall board experience/features.

 

[RockNRule]

I looked at hardwareforums.com, can't find a thing there. Do you have a link?

 

[RussianSensation]

My bad, it was Hardwarezone.com not hardwareforums
CD53 BSOD
GD65 BSOD

Just a quick update. UD3R board is getting a CPU score of 7.5 vs. 7.4 for the CD53 board in Windows 7. Running DDR3-1600 1.65V @ 1.60V CL7-7-7-24

Core i7 860 with full turbo mode needs 1.200V, MSI was pushing 1.264V with same load.

There is also an option to control the Uncore Frequency 🙂 and Load Line Calibration - both settings CD53 lacks.

 

[RockNRule]

Thanks for the info. So far I see just a few random problems, nothing that would scare me off. If I waited for a board with no problems I'd still be running my pocket calculator from 1970.

I understand the CD53 lacks some of the high end features of the others in the series, but I'm not looking to squeeze every last mHz out of the chip. This is my every 4 year upgrade from what I have now, an MSI NEO4 with , believe it or not, an OC'd Athlon 64 3000. So this will be so much faster , I barely need to OC at all to be blown away.

Buying everything from Newegg so I will have no return issues if it comes to that.

 

[Interitus]

Mak:

Which Corsairs were you running exactly? Of course that's what I was going to purchase *sigh*

 

[makdaddy626]

The 8 GB C9 kit, CMX8GX3M4A1600C9. Bought it at the local microcenter, no problems with the exchange either.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: RockNRule
I understand the CD53 lacks some of the high end features of the others in the series, but I'm not looking to squeeze every last mHz out of the chip. This is my every 4 year upgrade from what I have now, an MSI NEO4 with , believe it or not, an OC'd Athlon 64 3000. So this will be so much faster , I barely need to OC at all to be blown away.

Buying everything from Newegg so I will have no return issues if it comes to that.

CD53 should be a solid board. Here is a quick guide to help get you started:

MSI P55 CD53 Overclocking

You should have no problem getting 200 base clock.

Oh, get some good ram. My GSkill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 CL7-7-7-24 run at 1.600V. Their DDR3-1333 CL7 kit is also top notch.

 

[RockNRule]

Great link for the o'clock. I went for the Corsair

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

$80 after rebate, best deal I could find on quality RAM. I know the timings are not killer, but I have little need for benchmark bragging rights at this point.

The whole box , all new parts ,' is going to cost me around 650 after rebates, not bad for this kind of performance. I could afford to spend a lot more, but I'd never feel the 'improvement'.

 

[yunier2002]

I'm running GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P with G.SKILL 8GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16820231193) and windows 7 64bit and not having any problems with memory!

 

[mark_1301]

Hi there,

I had the same problem with only 4gb of my 8gb ram being usable in Windows 7 64 bit as the original poster (makdaddy).

My system:
* HAF 932 case
* gigabyte p55a-ud4p mobo
* core i5-750 cpu
* corsair dominator 2gb x4 ram
* wd caviar black 640gb x2 (in raid 0)
* hd 4870 x2 video card
* hp 2408h monitor
* creative x-fi xtremegamer sound card
* Windows 7 64 bit

I was getting ready to call newegg about it and complain, when I tried one last time to take the memory chips out and place them in different slots again. At first, like my other attempts, only 4gb of my 8gb ram was "usable". Then, I noticed that one of the hooks that keeps the chips secure was slightly loose, so I pushed them all in again so they looked equally tight, and VOILA!!! I now have 8gb ram in Windows 7 64 bit!

I hope this helps people to realize how picky the new gigabyte mobo and corsair ram are together when it comes to how perfectly secure the chips need to be in the slots.

Mark

 

[softcy]

hello...

I registered just to tell my unfinished story with same problem

Few weeks ago, I got new i5 rig with 2x2GB of RAM on GA-P55-UD2 mb, but few days later I received some problems with graphics card which haven't been resolved since. So I returned it (first time) to store, and since I had 2 RAM modules and 4 DIMMs, I told them that I wanted them in dual channel ('cause they weren't in the first place). Two modules were in slots 1 and 2 instead of in slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. And I'm not allowed touching because of warranty.

So, week later, they said, ok, you can pick it up. I got home, turned on. 5 minutes later, same graphics problem appeared. And memory, they relocated one module from DIMM 2 to DIMM 4. Still no dual channel. But then I noticed in Win 7 only 2GBs are recognized. Went to BIOS, and same thing like here.

So, if they haven't replaced some other RAM modules, only location of one of them and this problem appeared, what am I supposed to think?
Rig is still 'being fixed' aldo due to lack of time, I haven't been able to annoy them about my problem. But day after tomorrow I will call them and be present when they 'check out'. So how can I (insist to) check is it mb, or RAM, or ?

I hope it is only the 'loosed hook' issue like in post above.