Not compatible? EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra and (1GB x 2) of OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 1T (Dual Channel)

[TriggerHappy101]

Well some of you know already that my new PC is having a little problem with memory.

Specs:
eVGA 7800GT
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
2 Gigs of OCZ PC 3200 2-3-2-5
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m...z_el_ddr_pc_3200_dual_channel_platinum
One, 160 gig barracuta Segate 7200.7 RPM drive ATA
EPoX nForce4 Ultra (939) EP-9NPA+Ultra
http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=335
Forton Source 450w

Mainly - my problem is getting my PC to run stable with both memory sticks inserted into dual channel configuration. It fails prime 95 within minutes and my games either bluescreens and restarts on me or it bombs out erraticly.

I can put both sticks in my dads PC that has a Chaintech VNF4 Venth Edition motherboard with a AMD 64 3000+. It can run prime95 for 11 hours fine with no errors and at the same timings as I would try on my PC.

Ive been trouble shooting this back and forth with Ryder on the OCZ tech support forums.

ANYWAYS...

1) Does anyone have the SAME board as me AND the same RAM as me? If so: Can you run your RAM at the 2-3-2-5 1T in dual channel?

2) Could my CPU be at fault instead of my motherboard?

Thanks!

 

[fixxxer0]

Im using that exact ram and mobo at the timings you said and haven't had a problem. Prime95 is a CPU test program mainly. Use MEMTEST96 to test memory.

 

[MDE]

Try RAM slots 3 and 4. I had to switch mine to get my Mushkin XP4400 to run 250MHz+.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Im using that exact ram and mobo at the timings you said and haven't had a problem. Prime95 is a CPU test program mainly. Use MEMTEST96 to test memory.

Thanks for confirmation

Originally posted by: MDE
Try RAM slots 3 and 4. I had to switch mine to get my Mushkin XP4400 to run 250MHz+.

Tried that - same problem.


I think im going to RMA my CPU first.....

 

[Jiggz]

There was a mention of ram voltage incompatibility from OCZ and Muskin Redline with the Epox mobo. AT review mentioned it in Here.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Originally posted by: Jiggz
There was a mention of ram voltage incompatibility from OCZ and Muskin Redline with the Epox mobo. AT review mentioned it in Here.

My ram only requires 2.6v, Epox board can handle up to 3.1v. They must be talking about some other (more power hungry) OCZ ram.

 

[TheGlassman]

Have you tried 2.7v? (EVP to 2.8)
It is rare for 2 gigs to run 1T at 400ddr. Regardless of board or CPU. It is not an rma issue, it is a cpu limitation.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Originally posted by: TheGlassman
Have you tried 2.7v? (EVP to 2.8)
It is rare for 2 gigs to run 1T at 400ddr. Regardless of board or CPU. It is not an rma issue, it is a cpu limitation.

Ive tried raising (and even lowering) the voltage from 2.5 to 2.8. No luck.

My problem is not running it in 1T, its running it in dual channel.

I can run the ram on my dads board at 2-3-2-5 1T in dual channel just fine (even WITH my CPU in his board, i just swapped it into his board.) It ran Prime 95 for 8 hours without any errors.

 

[RobbyG]

Originally posted by: TheGlassman
It is rare for 2 gigs to run 1T at 400ddr. Regardless of board or CPU. It is not an rma issue, it is a cpu limitation.

Not quite true, A64's can run 2 sticks at 1T, it is running 4 sticks that forces you to run at 2T.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Originally posted by: RobbyG

Originally posted by: TheGlassman
It is rare for 2 gigs to run 1T at 400ddr. Regardless of board or CPU. It is not an rma issue, it is a cpu limitation.

Not quite true, A64's can run 2 sticks at 1T, it is running 4 sticks that forces you to run at 2T.

yeah.

 

[RobbyG]

Have you tried running Memtest first to see if you are stable outside of Windows? That would be the first thing I would check to take Windows out of the equation.

BTW - the Prime95 torture test doesn't test all of your memory, there is a limit on the amount of memory it can allocate (check Task Manager to see how much it was able to allocate). When I tested my memory in Windows I used Superpi and also Memtest for Windows (which you run 2 copies to make sure all 2gb are tested).

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Yeah I ram Memtest. It would spit errors at me when I run the memory in dual channel, but not while they are alone.

Ive ran superpi also but not memtest for windows.

I am 99% sure my problem has to do with dual channel and my motherboard is at fault.

 

[Megatomic]

I might have missed where you stated this earlier, but have you tried raising your CAS to 2.5? I had the exact same problems with my Corsair TwinX2048 C2PT on my ASUS A8N-SLI Premium when CAS was set to 2. Raising it to 2.5 fixed my instabilities. Not that I'm happy about having to do so, but it did fix my problem.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

yeah i tried that. Even raised it to 3 and still had problems.

But you shouldnt have to raise the CAS to something higher than what its rated, it should just work.

 

[Megatomic]

I agree wholeheartedly. I bought the wrong RAM and am now shopping for something better as I type this.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

hehe

 

[Megatomic]

We could always trade and see if the other stuff works better than our own.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

ill pass

 

[RobbyG]

Sounds like you did this but just to throw it out there, did you test both sticks by themselves to see if one of the two was causing the problem? Also, just a shot but what Bios version are you running? I remember reading in the big 9NPA thread that there was one version that some people were having memory problems with. I'm running version 6103 (dated 01/12/06) and haven't had any problems so far.

Sounds like you are heading for an RMA.. I would probably RMA the board first since it sounds like that may be the culprit.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Yes i did test both sticks lone and they worked fine.

I tried using the BIOS that came with the board (whatever that one was.) And that didnt work - so I updated my bios to the latest one and it still didnt work.

I am RMAing the board first.

 

[Jiggz]

It sounds like you've tried everything and the only thing left is a RMA. We'll see when you get your RMA'd board if this is actually the problem. Goodluck and post your results when you get the new mobo.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Yeah. I think the computer gods hate me or something.

Ill keep you peeps updated.

 

[Gagan]

BUMP.

I have 4 sticks , 2 titanium and 2 platinuM( 1 powerswap set allows 4 gigs to come to me and swap all 4 faster and EASIER ) With the 2-3-2-5 timings.

Evne at 2T i cannot hit 2-3-2-5. It will FREEZE. 2.5-3-2-5 Will not work it freezes as well

It seems at ddr400 3-3-3-8 works but that's not what I paid for and that's significantly lower timings than I paid for!

ANyone have suggestions? Ihave a OCZ POWERSTREAM 600W, So POwer is not the issue.

SLi-DR Expert DFI Motherboard, so it's not hte board either

Any suggestions?

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Try bumping the timings to 2-3-2-8 1t.

If that doesnt work RMA it.

Does OCZ have a problem with their quailty control?

 

[Gagan]

OCZ apparently must have problems with people using 2-3-2-5 on their SLI-DR I guess
Even the timings on the damn website for 1t is 3-3-3-8, this is sad, RMA here I come