WTH is wrong with this chipset (SIS 645DX)?

[Booster]

It's impossible to run it stable at DDR333 speeds no matter what. System specs are:

Celeron 1.7
1*256MB Kingston DDR333 CL2.5 Value RAM
ECS P4S5A/DX+ motherboard
Good quality 300W Fortron PSU which worked 100% stable in a high power consuming Athlon XP 1800+ rig (which I ditched in favour of a Celeron).

No, please don't tell me it's a bad PSU. Because I know it isn't. Anyway, the PSU is more expensive that this mother of a board so if I have to choose between the two I'd rather ditch the moboard.

Funny thing is that the system is absolutely stable at 100/133, 'normal' RAM timings and CL2.5. If I set it to 100/166, it would display application crashing errors shortly after booting into Windows. If I set the timings to 'safe' and CL to 3 it seems to work some time (haven't hanged yet). I have to use it longer to be sure, though. But man, these are slower than normal timings and CL3 instead of the advertised 2.5! WTF is this? What did I pay for? For DDR333, which this board can't run. I'm sooo pissed :|. This finally got me.

Do you have any ideas if such behavior is normal for this third-party chipset or is it the board? Any input?

 

[paralazarguer]

Um...that's a great chipset. It's very stable. The first culprit I would accuse (instead of the chipset as you have done) is the ECS motherboard. Not known for quality...

 

[Lord Evermore]

What posessed you to switch from an XP 1800+ to a Celeron 1700?

It may just be a bad board (ECS isn't exactly known as the best board maker), or a bad chipset out of the batch, or maybe your memory module is bad. Only way to tell would be trying the module in a different board, or a different module in the same board. Just because the memory is sold as 2.5T DDR333 doesn't mean it will be fully compatible with all motherboards, either.

 

[Booster]

What posessed you to switch from an XP 1800+ to a Celeron 1700?

XP's cooler was too loud as opposed to an Intel boxed fan. OMG this ECS board got me. I think it's cheaper to get a new one than to continue worrying and troubleshooting this POS. ECS, what a shame!

 

[paralazarguer]

XP's cooler was too loud as opposed to an Intel boxed fan. OMG this ECS board got me. I think it's cheaper to get a new one than to continue worrying and troubleshooting this POS. ECS, what a shame!

Yeah, it's not impossible to get a board from them that will work in most configs but they're not as reliable/versatile as many others. Their QC is also a joke. At any rate, wouldn't it have simply be better to get a quiet cooler for your athlon?

 

[lorlabnew]

Ditch the motherboard - ECS brand is a junk (had 2 ECS boards, both had problems, already ditched them myself).

 

[splice]

Originally posted by: Booster

What posessed you to switch from an XP 1800+ to a Celeron 1700?

XP's cooler was too loud as opposed to an Intel boxed fan. OMG this ECS board got me. I think it's cheaper to get a new one than to continue worrying and troubleshooting this POS. ECS, what a shame!

Wouldn't it have been easier to just get a heatsink that supports a quieter 80mm fan? Athlon system's don't have to be loud to be cooled effectively.

 

[Booter]

Booster did you read my reply to your earlier *Semi-official* ECS P4S5A/DX+ thread post? I still think that the ram or mobo could be 'buggy' and as Lord Evermore points out "ECS isn't exactly known as the best board maker" (it's a win or loose thing) You could be one of those who have bad luck with a bad mobo.

A pal of my had all kind of weird problems with his ESC board. He retirnend it to the shop and got it replaced with a new one (excactly same board). And it works flawlessly.

'nuff said,

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I have had no problems running at DDR333 with my Asus P4S533, which uses the same chipset. Sounds like your board is the culprit.

 

[elwood03]

I have an XP 1600+ with a heat sink that supports a low RPM fan 80mm. Along with my Barracuda HD the system's nearly silent - even in my quiet bedroom. I wouldn't give up the performance of an XP for a 1.7 GHz Celeron - that's a dog!! Return the stuff and go back to the XP!!! (And I'm not any kind of AMD fanatic!)

 

[sharkeeper]

Alpha PAL 8045 with Pabst 80 mm fan. That combo runs cooler than the retail cooler and will handle the XP 2800+ with aplomb.

If you don't want to rip out the mobo, Thermalright's SLK900 does nicely.

Of course ripping out the mobo would be less effort than switching platforms!

Cheers!

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper

If you don't want to rip out the mobo, Thermalright's SLK900 does nicely.

The SLK-900 uses the same four motherboard mounting holes as does tha alpha, the SLK-800 and lower use the socket lugs.

 

[sharkeeper]

The SLK-900 uses the same four motherboard mounting holes as does tha alpha, the SLK-800 and lower use the socket lugs.

Well damned if it isn't!

Ok, SLK-800 then! I know that uses a 3x3 clip, as I use it myself!

You'll have to excuse my sloppiness as of late! I've had a total of about 26 hours of sleep since Feb. 1. :Q

Cheers!

 

[Duvie]

If you wnet the route of sis645dx to get a cheap ddr chipset then look at Epox or MSI's sis645dx...both decent and the chipsets are very stable up to 400+mhz ddr....

I would recommend shop around and even look into our local forsale forum here and get a nice i845 (intel chipset) in either the E,G, or PE chipset. These can be found from 40's-70's quite regularly and are far more stable.

 

[Adul]

so u gave yourself a headache and a slower system when a simple switch to a better heatsink would have solved your noise issue