Whats the trick to running stable with all 4 dimm's full?

[klepp0906]

Everyone knows that running with all dimms packed with ram can be finicky. But so finicky that people just dont use 4gigs period? Are there timings or anything that I should adjust or change if im running with 4 dimms packed? Or is it 2 gigs or bust if you wanna OC at all?

The difference is night and day with 4 and 2 as far as stability goes and overclocking goes for me. Although the difference is also night and day playing an MMO with 4 gigs of ram vs two =)

Any ideas/tips/tricks?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

What are your system specs?

Can't give any meaningful advice without them

 

[klepp0906]

e6300 @ 460fsb (using 2 dimms!)
Gskill 6400 2x1gb (till i can use the other 2 dimms!)
Gigabyt 965ps3 mobo

if ya need any other specs let me know =)

 

[GuitarDaddy]

In general 4 sticks is always harder to O/C than 2. It usually takes more volts and sometimes looser timings also. With DDR systems it was easier because 2 sticks used a 1T command rate and when you put in 4 it went to 2T to compensate.

With C2D's and DDR2 your already at 2T so the board is not compensating, you have to.
You can try upping the voltage and/or loosening the timings. But if you were already pushing the limit of your sticks at DDR920, you won't likely be able to get it stable at the same speed with 4 sticks.

Since your running an E6300 which requires high FSB you may have to lower your overclock to use 4 sticks, or upgrade to PC2-8000 ram if you want to keep your overclock and use 4 sticks

Not the news you wanted to hear

 

[KBM]

The problem is that the mother board manufacturers are not handling the
PCI / device / resource memory mapping properly. So, once you start using
4GB you are overlapping device memory area which causes problems. To confirm
this, you can try running every thing at stock with 4GB and see if you still have problems. If not, contact Gigabyte support.

 

[Bob151]

Is there a motherboard/chipset which does handle 4 DIMMS well? I haven't bought anything yet, but I'm strongly considering the P5B Deluxe. I figured I would start out with 2 GB(2 x 1GB), but I don't know if that will be enough. I had always thought it would be relatively easy to get to 4GB with either XP, Vista, or a Linux flavor as my primary OS.

 

[klepp0906]

Ok maybe I'll try again when I put vista back with loooser timings and more voltage. Even with a mild OC i was getting problems w/ 4 dimms though.

Whats the max voltage I should hover around with the gskill 6400? I know if i set the mobo to +.5 i believe it puts it up to 2.29 so says everest anyhow. That safe? higher safe? I know the stuff gets damn hot especially with 4 right next to one another. As long as its pretty reselient then I'll go for it with a +.6 which is the max the board gives me and would be 2.4? That safe for regular operating?

 

[Bob151]

Klepp1214,

Are you trying to OC the RAM/FSB above 400 with 4 DIMMs, or just trying to get 4 DIMMs and the FSB running at 400? I don't get that from you past postings. If its the alternative, that you can't get your CPU above 266, then that is very discouraging. Could you explain?

 

[klepp0906]

Yes its getting the memory to a higher fsb with 4 dimms full. I can get into windows with 500fsb w/ the cpu at stock voltage on the chip w/ 2 dimms. But with 4 dimms full I cant even get windows stable @ 450. Thats @ +.4 on the memory .. curioius how far to push memory voltage is safe too? For regular use in fact.

 

[Xvys]

What about 4 X 512mb? Would that hinder o/c performance compared to 2 X? Or would the doubling of ram to 2G overcome any drop in FSB or ram timings??

 

[genec57]

No problem with 4gigs here. I am running with timings of 5,5,5,15,1t. From what I have seen and read the 680i boards do better with this setup.

 

[klepp0906]

hmm maybe ill have to fidget more. Is +.6 ie: 2.4 volts to 4 sticks of memory safe to run at permanently?

 

[MTDEW]

hmm maybe ill have to fidget more. Is +.6 ie: 2.4 volts to 4 sticks of memory safe to run at permanently?

Wow, i personally would not run at that voltage.

Im running 4x1gb sticks in my Asus P5WDH DLX mobo with no issues.
But you dont want a 975 board with an e6300, the 975 boards just dont do a high enough fsb to do an e6300 justice.

Anyway....
You'll probably have to play with your timings to get all 4 to run together as stated above.
Another piece of good advice ive read elsewhere is..
If you didnt buy all four sticks at the same time and even though they are the same "brand" , they could be different.
If you can tell they are different, most people try using matching sticks on one channel and the other two matching sticks on the other channel.
But when mixing ram, its best to one of each set on one channel and one of each set on the other channel.

Did that come out making sense? LOL

 

[klepp0906]

yes it made sense =) They were bought about a week apart from newegg. bought 2 then 2. So assuming theyre the same, however they are mixed up now lol cause one of the first things i did was try switching slots etc =p

What kind of voltage are you running to get yours stable OC'd?

And where do I give up loosining the timings for fsb? I mean I know after timings get so loose, your performance suffers. @ what point do you continue to loosen for fsb increases.. or tighten for gains over fsb?

there a general roundabout number for that?

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: klepp1214
Everyone knows that running with all dimms packed with ram can be finicky.

Any ideas/tips/tricks?

Um, I disagree with the very first statement. I ran my PC for three years with 4 DIMMs and never had any problems with the memory or general OS/system stability. I think you've got a dodgy stick or possibly a damaged DIMM slot somewhere in there.

 

[TRD3SGTE]

I have 2x512MB Patriot DDR2 1066 PC2 8500 , and 2x512MB Patriot DDR2 667 PC2 5300.

CPU-Z shows that my DDR2 1066 is actually a DDR2 800, and the DDR2 667 is actually DDR2 533.
They are sold as DDR2 1006 and DDR2 667 since they are hand-picked and binned at higher speed.

I have all four of them running on my DS3, and test them at 450FSB.

That means the DDR2 1066 is running under spec , but the DDR2 667 is running at DDR2 900.


SCREENIE of DDR2 1066 AND DDR2 667 RUNNING TOGETHER AT 450FSB, DDR2 900

I don't have issue running 4 sticks, but then, they totalled 2 Gigs, not 4 gigs.

 

[klepp0906]

hmm not sure what my problem is then. I just tried it again and loosened timings to 6 - 8 - 8 - 20. Upped voltage on the ram to 2.2 and the proc to 1.425 even though w/ a 2.0 divider @ 400fsb the ram is running completely in spec. Guess what i got? Not into windows thats for sure. So i tried it @ 350fsb. Nothin blue screen before windows and reboot.

So i yanked the 2 sticks, bumped the fsb back to 470, turned the timings back to 5 5 5 15, posted fine and went about my night. @ less voltage too.

Dont think I hvae a bad stick, cause ive swapped em around quite a bit and i'd be hard pressed to believe even with all the mixing around I did i still ended up with the 2 "supposed" good sticks.

Sucks bigtime, I was soo excited to get the new ram (gf bought it for valentines day) so i could run my 4 gigs and only way im doin that it looks like is @ default speeds or not at all.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Well, theres your problem! It's girlfriend ram!!!

Girfriend ram like girlfriends don't overclock

 

[lopri]

2.4V for 4 sticks is a little too high. Remember with only 2 sticks of RAM, there is a much bigger space between each stick. And for your situation, I'd think your board just don't like a high FSB with all 4 slots populated. Have you tried flashing with a different/later BIOS? But before flashing BIOS I'd make sure to run Memtest to check all sticks are good.

 

[klepp0906]

maybe thats what ill do then. memtest all 4 sticks, assure they are all good. Then dig for someone thats running my board w/ 4 dimms and find out what bios theyre using. If still no go.. guess im screwed >.<

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
girlfriends don't overclock

maybe yours doesn't

RMA!

 

[Yellowbeard]

You are most likely going to need to increase the MCH aka NB voltage. Since you are OCing AND doubling the load on the NB you will need extra voltage. You may also need better NB cooling. On 2 975 based boards, I have run at 430mhz FSB 1:1 using 4 x 1gb DIMMs without issue. IMO, from what I have read and seen, the 975 boards are the best at OCing with 4 DIMMs even though they do not generally clock overall as fast as 965 and 680i based boards.

 

[klepp0906]

Well memtest gave me the AOK on the ram. And yes ive tried w/ the northbridge voltage up, the mem voltage up, both up.. and just had little to no luck with 4 dimms full. Maybe I just got a bad board. I guess a different bios might be worth a try, but memory aside..e ven with 2 dimms.. all bio's ive tried have absolutely stunk compared to the one im using now OC wise.

Tried S3 F6 and F8

Tried DS3 F7 F8i F10

 

[lopri]

Well, if your sticks proved to be healthy and you have problem overclocking only when you plug the extra 2 sticks then I can't think of anything else but the board/BIOS. I'd say your board just don't like all 4 slots populated.

 

[nerp]

Running four dimms here with glee, no issues at all. I lowered the commandrate from 1T to 2T and the performance hit is negligible. The additional memory more than makes up for it.

I ran 1T as a test and it seemed just fine, but I stuck it to 2T just to be on the safe side.