Mushkin Lvl II probs...

[Richdog]

Right, I received my memory today (Blue RAM sinks) and put it in my machine. Set it to 217Mhz @ 1.7v and duly set Memtest 2.0 to run. Within seconds it found an error and told me the RAM was faulty and needed to be replaced. I ran it twice again and it told me the same thing.

Setting the FSB down to 200Mhz now @ 2,7v and it has not yet found an error. However, I couldnt care less about that, all I care about is that I tried to rest the RAM at it's rated speed and it failed on me.

Does that mean it is definately bad or could it be a case of needing to tweak some settings on my rig?

Could my CPU (1800+ JUIHB DLT3C) be crapping out for some unknown reason at that FSB?

I have an ABIT NF7-S v2.0

Memory voltage - 2.7v
CPU Vcore -1.65
Chipset Voltage - 1.6v
Latency timings - 11-2-2-2

I'm hoping its my rig thats at fault in some way because if the RAM is faulty im going to go spare.

ANY ADVICE APPRECIATED !!!!

 

[Technonut]

It could very well be that your NF7-S does not like to run @ 217.... Did you upgrade the chipset cooler?

Is This the RAM you have? Mushkin specs it as high as 2.75V, and since it is BH-5, I would run at least 2.8V through it.

 

[Richdog]

Yeah that's the RAM, albeit with a blue heatspreader (same RAM, Mushkin just changed colour recently).

1800+ is currently @ 10*217

Just upped the chipset voltage to 1.7v, RAM to 2.8v and running Memtest 2.0 again, so far no errors @ 300% coverage, i'll see how it goes up to 600%.

Do you think this RAM will be able to handle 2.9v with no problems then? I've heard BH-5's love a bit of voltage and i'm thinking maybe it needs a higher dose to stay stable.

I'm also thinking my Nf7-S 2.0 may be one of the older steppings therefore a bit worse at overclocking than the newer ones too. I reckon my CPU could also be a bit to blame as it hasn't been the greatest overclocker so far, but i'll confirm that when I test my new 1800+ next week.

My Bios is version 1.8, is there a better BIOS for overclocking or are they all pretty much of a muchness?

I just want to squeeze all the performance out of her that I can, even if it means spending a bit more money on a new Northbridge cooler like the Northpole one that is supposed to be really good and comes with the mosfet coolers too. A Southbridge cooler may also be a good idea, a passive one most likely.

Any other opinions on how to maximize my overclock? I'm not doing volt-mods though. :beer:

 

[Technonut]

I have had no problems running BH-5 or BH-6 @ 2.9V, but I only go as high as necessary for stability. When I was running my NF7-S, 2.8V was all that was needed to run 2 TwinMOS BH-5 sticks @ 225MHz FSB / 450MHz DDR.

The NorthPole worked well on my NF7-S, and is currently doing a nice job on an 8RDA+. The fan is loud though, and if I purchase another one it will be the MCX159-A....

 

[pelikan]

IMO if you aren't doing volt mods the NF7 doesn't need extra cooling. Just set the vdd at 1.7V, the ram at 2.9V and see how high it'll go. The only mod you may need, if are want to get past 225 or so FSB, is the L12 on your cpu.

 

[joe2004]

217 not runing at 2-2-2-11? No surprise there, I guess you have been misled by many exaggerated claims. Try 2-3-2-6, that should run, if not you have a good reason to return but it is not certain that replacement would do any better. Mushkin claim of 2-2-2-6 at PC 3500 is exaggeration and runs only for some sticks. Many of their sticks won't run that. They run 2-2-2-6 anywhere between 210 and 220 on NF2 boards. On the Intel boards they run anywhere between 215 and 220 at 2-3-2-6, and only very lucky people get those to run 2-2-2-6 on Intel boards. That is it.

For one I take all the reviews with a grain of salt. Mushkin, Corsair, and OCZ make a choice of the best sticks and then they send them to reviewers, like Anandtech, and of course these run like a charm. When you buy that, it is all a different story. I'd buy Kingston, at least with Kingston you might get better than expected. Mushkin, Corsair, and OCZ are all small potatos that are making PC xx00 declarations based on the top clock they could squeeze out of their sticks. You can only expect less or equal to that.