OCZ Dual Channel or Single on a gigabyte mobo

[jjj807]

Hello, I have ocz reaper edition pc6400 ddr2 800 dual channel accepted RAm i bought for my motherboard which is a gigabyte MA57 570 sli. It has 4 DIMMS, 2 are yellow and 2 are red I have both in the yellows slots 1 and 2 which is considered dual channel. bios posts it is in dual channel 128-bit and 800mhz 2048 ram. However I have been noticing some random crashes in windows, such as when i got to install things or head into control panel, system. device manager. I will get Windows has caused so and so to close would you like to send info to microsoft, etc. Does this have anything to do with the memory, i just built this system and have no other memory to test. thanks!

 

[Quiksilver]

Manually set the timings and voltage to what the OCZ spec's, if the crashing does not go away run memtest ( http://www.memtest.org ) and see if it comes with any errors. Also to answer "does this have to do with the memory" in short yes, it sounds like bad memory and needs to be RMA'd but I would do the above to be sure.

 

[QuixoticOne]

I wholeheartedly agree with what Quicksilverx1 said.

Don't use your system in a "real" OS until it passes with zero errors
18 hours of memtest booted from CD at the settings you intend to use for your OS.

Also OCZ memory OFTEN is specified to run at ***DRAM VOLTAGE***
DIFFERENT than the default of most motherboards. Do not expect
it to run at its advertised timing / speed unless you ensure the
DRAM VOLTAGE and the MHZ and TIMINGS are all what OCZ specifies.

Some motherboard BIOSes will get thay right "by default" in which case it
should not be necessary to change those settings manually, but other
motherboards will set the timings or DIMM voltages wrong and it'll crash
just like you experience.

Don't try to overclock or overvolt the CPU or motherboard either until you
verify 100% stable under MEMTEST and then move on to
test with ORTHOS or STRESSPRIME on every CPU core at once.

Both the memory and CPU tests must pass for 18+ hours with zero problems
before you can assume it's working right.

Also some motherboards overclock / overvolt the CPU and MOTHERBOARD
***BY DEFAULT*** when you use "AUTO" or "AI OVERCLOCK" type settings,
and that could lead to your crashes. Set the CPU, memory, motherboard
timings and voltages all manually on "MANUAL" if you have to so you can
ensure it's all working at stock frequency / volts. Then you can incrementally
improve from there.

 

[ryderOCZ]

The motherboard will default to 1.8V for the ram, please set the DDR2 Overvoltage to +0.2 - +0.3V for your ram to perform to spec.

Thank you.

 

[jjj807]

ok i went to the motherboard intelligent tweaker

so i set voltage to 1.8? but where do i do th over voltage for the DDr2? thanks everyone!

 

[ryderOCZ]

If it has a voltage setting...you need to set 2.0 - 2.1V, most Gigabyte board require you to just set +0.X volts, that is why I described it like that.

If you can actually set the voltage number, you want 2.0 - 2.1V.

You may have to press CTRL-F1 while in the bios to unlock all the options.

 

[jjj807]

thanks so much ryder. Ok well before i set the voltages i took out one stick of ram. I left one in the 1 DIMM slot and windows seems to be running fine, its not crashing in internet explorer right now. i reversed sticks and i got a registry error on bootup and couldnt get into windows. Is one stick bad? i cant use memtest i dont have a floppy drive. or should one stick be in slot 1 and one in slot 3 instead of slots 1 and 2 for dual channel? thanks

 

[Quiksilver]

You don't need a floppy drive for memtest, they give you a bootable .iso for cd's.

 

[jjj807]

ok well is it possible for one ram stick to be dead? it seems to be running fine on this other one, or should i just try putting 1 in dimm slot 1 and 1 in dimm slot 2 before i spend 18 hours on the diagnosis memtest

 

[ryderOCZ]

1 stick may run on lower voltage, you can't declare 1 stick dead if you have not set the right voltage.

You need to test both modules at the rated speed and voltage before you can say anything about dead or faulty ram.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: ryderOCZ
1 stick may run on lower voltage, you can't declare 1 stick dead if you have not set the right voltage.

You need to test both modules at the rated speed and voltage before you can say anything about dead or faulty ram.

But didn't you said that all DDR2 800 OCZ RAMs should run fine at JEDEC's 1.8V default? If they don't, then they should be RMAd.

 

[jjj807]

well nothing came up wrong on memtest i reseated them and have both gigs in 2 in total. everything seems to be fine. the only thing i having trouble with is steam and launching a few games, but COD4 and windows runs fine.

 

[ryderOCZ]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal

Originally posted by: ryderOCZ
1 stick may run on lower voltage, you can't declare 1 stick dead if you have not set the right voltage.

You need to test both modules at the rated speed and voltage before you can say anything about dead or faulty ram.

But didn't you said that all DDR2 800 OCZ RAMs should run fine at JEDEC's 1.8V default? If they don't, then they should be RMAd.

Please do not start trying to catch me out about what I have said elsewhere, in a thread where I am helping a customer. You are merely trying stir up trouble which I will not tolerate.

For clarification, I said that all OCZ ram will BOOT (as in when the CMOS is cleared) any board at the default 1.8V. I never said that it will run rated speeds and timings that are on the sticker for the ram.

 

[jjj807]

thanks for your help ryder

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: ryderOCZ

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal

Originally posted by: ryderOCZ
1 stick may run on lower voltage, you can't declare 1 stick dead if you have not set the right voltage.

You need to test both modules at the rated speed and voltage before you can say anything about dead or faulty ram.

But didn't you said that all DDR2 800 OCZ RAMs should run fine at JEDEC's 1.8V default? If they don't, then they should be RMAd.

Please do not start trying to catch me out about what I have said elsewhere, in a thread where I am helping a customer. You are merely trying stir up trouble which I will not tolerate.

For clarification, I said that all OCZ ram will BOOT (as in when the CMOS is cleared) any board at the default 1.8V. I never said that it will run rated speeds and timings that are on the sticker for the ram.

Right...let me find that post. So now the official story is that these sticks DO NOT conform to JEDEC standard of 1.8V? They will POST at 1.8V, but they may not remain stable at 400MHz, right?

Would be interesting to see if Intel will start a new line of OVERCLOCKING CPU. The user need to pump 10% more Vcore to run at rated speed.

V=IR. With the same resistance R value, higher voltage will translate to higher current I. Power is the product of current to the second order, and resistance. A small bump in current will result in a significant increase in power.

In general, look for RAMs that can run stable at 400MHz with only 1.8V (that's the official JEDEC standard for DDR2 667 or 800). The RAMs and PC will run cooler due to lower heat output.

 

[jjj807]

ok i set the timings to 4-4-4-15 and voltage at whatever stock is plus +.175 i tried .3 to get to 2.1v

because apparently stocvk is 1.8v and when i did that i got a white bulge on the screen and didnt boot, so i set it at .175 and it seems fine. that gives me a voltages of 1.98 does that sound ok?

 

[ryderOCZ]

Originally posted by: jjj807
ok i set the timings to 4-4-4-15 and voltage at whatever stock is plus +.175 i tried .3 to get to 2.1v

because apparently stocvk is 1.8v and when i did that i got a white bulge on the screen and didnt boot, so i set it at .175 and it seems fine. that gives me a voltages of 1.98 does that sound ok?

Yes, just fine.

 

[jjj807]

ok ryder these are the timings. thanks

Freq: 373.3 Mhz
FSB: DRAM CPU/7
tCL 4.0 clocks
TRCD 5.0 clocks
tRP 4 clocks
cycle time tRAS 15 clocks
bank cycle time rTC 23 clocks
command rate 2T

SPD:
JEDEC #1 is 3-4-4-10-15- freq 266
JEDEC #2 is 4-5-5-13-19 freq 333
JEDEC #3 is 5-5-5-15-23 freq 400
EPP #1 4-4-4-15 command rate 2T at 2.0v freq 400mhz

 

[ryderOCZ]

Everything looks fine....what CPU are you running? It must have an odd multiplier, that is why you only have 376 instead of 400 showing there in CPU-z.

 

[jjj807]

amd windsor amd 64 x2 5000+

these are the stats from CPUZ

core voltage 3.70 average
tech. 90nm
core speed 2613.4 mhz
mmultiplier x13.0
bus speed 201.0 mhz
ht link 1005.2 mhz

i know the specs for voltage are between 1.30 and 1,35v should i lower the voltage on the cpu? thanks maybe i need to change the cpu voltage. idk what multiplier is either. thanks ryder!

 

[ryderOCZ]

If you don't know what the CPU multiplier is, then I don't suggest you go messing around overclocking the CPU unless you want to.

CPU-z on the memory tab should say 400MHz, that equals DDR2-800, right now your says 373.3 MHZ which is DDR2-746 because of the way that AMD calculates the memory speed. They always divide by the CPU speed.

So, to figure out ram speed it works like this:

When you set the DDR2-800 divider on an AMD system with a 200 MHz base HTT (this is what yours is on your 5000+ 200 x 13 = 2600 MHz or 2.6GHz for stock speed) That means your Ram divder needs to be 1/2 your CPU multiplier in order to get to the right memory speed.
In your case 200 HTT (or FSB as some call it) x 13 = 2600 / 6.5 = 400 MHz or DDR2-800, do you follow me so far?

The problem here is that no 1/2 divider exists, AMD doesn't recognize or allow it as a memory divider, so 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, etc do not exist. Therefore you round up to 7 (and you can see that in CPU-z right under the speed it says CPU/7)
So now you have 2600 / 7 = 371.4 MHz which you are close to (clock generators run slightly fast or slow so the actual numbers change by 1 or 2)

Now in order for you to get DDR2-800, you need to run the CPU at 2800 MHz, so that when you divide by 7 you get 400 for the ram speed.
In order to do this, you need to raise the HTT to 215MHz from 200 MHz.

If you want to do that to get the full potential from the ram, that is fine, if not that is fine also. I just wanted to explain why you didn't see DDR2-800 from your DDR2-800 ram.

No, you do not need to mess with your CPU voltage, if it is set to Auto right now, then you are just fine for stock speeds, it is right where it should be.

 

[jjj807]

ok thank you! i just have one more question, my voltage seems high? or is not high? for the cpu 3.76? its reccomended on the specs to be between 3.0 and 3.5v

 

[ryderOCZ]

Your voltage is not 3.76...it is 1.3x something.

If you have not touched the setting in the bios for the CPU voltage...then its not too high or too low, the board is setting the correct voltage based on the CPU microcode.

 

[jjj807]

ok i have the bios set on auto. the voltage is 1.36 i mean