New build woes... cant get 4gb (4 x 1gb)

[boles]

so this is the first build where i have hit a wall.

As is says i have P5N32-E plus and:

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Cas Latency 4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16820146565


I got 4 sticks but cannot get it to boot with all four sticks. Any advice? Will trying every timing under the sun work? Please help with any advice

 

[lopri]

You mean,

1) Can't boot to the OS?
2) Can't POST?

 

[boles]

well i can post but 1/2 the time it freezes @ post


4 gigs would boot at low voltage (unstable as hell)

but as soon as i took it up to correct voltage everthing stopped

 

[lopri]

Are you overclocking anything?

'4 gigs would boot at low voltage' -> what does this mean?

You should give a little more detail. If you haven't really touched anything in the BIOS yet, try raising vSPP (voltage for the northbridge) or vDIMM (voltage for memory) by a notch or two. If you're using 'auto' memory setting (which probably is 2:3), you might have to change it to 'Linked-Sync', too. But like I said, try raising the SPP voltage first.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: boles
well i can post but 1/2 the time it freezes @ post


4 gigs would boot at low voltage (unstable as hell)

but as soon as i took it up to correct voltage everthing stopped

On my P5N-E SLI I had to increase the Northbridge voltage to ~1.56V for 4 sticks of RAM.

And it has a memory "hole" between 711MHz and 860MHz. You can do frequencies below 711 and above 860 (like 667MHz, and 875MHz). And do all the settings manually with 2T command rate; leave subtimings on Auto. Set voltage on the higher rather than lower side.

Same Northbridge as yours - hope it works!

 

[boles]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek

Originally posted by: boles
well i can post but 1/2 the time it freezes @ post


4 gigs would boot at low voltage (unstable as hell)

but as soon as i took it up to correct voltage everthing stopped

On my P5N-E SLI I had to increase the Northbridge voltage to ~1.56V for 4 sticks of RAM.

And it has a memory "hole" between 711MHz and 860MHz. You can do frequencies below 711 and above 860 (like 667MHz, and 875MHz). And do all the settings manually with 2T command rate; leave subtimings on Auto. Set voltage on the higher rather than lower side.

Same Northbridge as yours - hope it works!

i upgraded ram to http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820148076

Then tried 1.55 volts on NB but as soon as i log into windows i get blue screen o'death.

Timings set 4-4-4-12 2T. Tried 5-5-5-15 T2 and that was worse.
What about this DDRII ref voltage?
Any help please?

 

[JustaGeek]

Try to read about our various experiences from P5N-E SLi thread, page 186 and above...

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Hope some of the settings discussed there work for you...

 

[boles]

Finally stable for a week now. Here is more info on my setup, maybe it can help someone down the line

First 4x1gb sticks Crucial Ballistix (BL2KIT12864AA804) wouldnt work but upgraded to 4x1gb sticks Crucial Ballistix Tracer (BL2KIT12864AL804) and got stable @ 867 & 4-4-4-12 2T.

PM me if you want any more info for settings i used. NOW just gotta cool that NB!

Other Specs: E6420, EVGA 7900GT0, ARECA 1220, 10 Seagate 320gb 7200.10, m-audio 7.1

 

[JustaGeek]

Great! Try this for cooling the North and the Southbridge:

http://www.compusa.com/product...&Pn=Chipset_Cooler_Kit

Put the larger silver/gold (?!?) heatsink with the included 3M thermal tape on the Southbridge (leave it "glued"/stuck to the chip)

Remove the little fan from the black base. Use sheetmetal or drywall screw ~1.5" long to attach the fan to the Northbridge. Check the diameter of that screw (you probably have some of them laying around) - it should fit tightly through the mounting hole in that little fan.

With that diameter screw you will be able to screw it between the fins of the Northbridge stock heatsink.


Wait a second - I just remembered that yours was P5N32-E SLI Plus... Forget the Southbridge, it looks fine with that heatpipe, but you can just get a little fan for the NB and attach it as I have described above. Or just get a little fan on Newegg...

Good luck!