Memory upgrade dilema

[ZacMan]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

I would check to see if there is a bios update for your board. Check in the bios that the memory timing is 5-5-5-16 and set the voltage to 2.4v.

I already updated to the latest bios and set the timings manually and set the voltage to 2.4 ran Memtest with no luck.

I should have just bought 4GB on 2 modules when I built the machine.

[SRTDodge05]

Try to run your memory at say 800mhz vs the 1066 to see if that gets you anywhere. Also does your bios have the option Command Rate CR? If it doesnt make sure its set to 2T.

[ZacMan]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

Try to run your memory at say 800mhz vs the 1066 to see if that gets you anywhere. Also does your bios have the option Command Rate CR? If it doesnt make sure its set to 2T.

Okay so running the memory at 800mhz has me past the point in Memtest where the errors were occurring. I'm only on test #5 at 14% total complete without the errors I was getting previously.

I haven't been able to find an option to change Command Rate in the BIOS even after hitting ctrl-F1 to get to the advanced overclocking features. I will have to search some more to find this option, once the memory test is done, to see if it is available and can be changed.

[ZacMan]

So the Memtest finished without errors.

I guess I'm stuck with 1066 memory running at 800.

There is no option for changing the CR in the bios.

[Rickwell]

Well that is at least working for you.It's really hard to get 4 sticks of ram to work right.The only other good point is that you have 4 Gigs of ram now.But that doesn't mean you have to be stuck at 800.You might try to set the vdim voltage to around 2.1 volts and then clock the front side bus upwards.You may get a boost to around 900 or 1000 if you walk it slowly.Even if you have to loosen the timings of the ram it may let it go a little higher.But really you won't notice a whole lot of performance boost anyway between 800 & 1066 with the human eye.It all depends what you do with your pc.I had 4 sticks at one time also.But chose to stay with two sticks and gave the other two away.I might go with a couple of 2 gig sticks soon.Good Luck

[SRTDodge05]

Some boards cant handle 4 sticks running higher then 800mhz without overclocking.

[ZacMan]

Thanks everyone for all of your help.

I mainly use this machine for video and 3D rendering work and I'm just looking for a stable working box. I'm not really knowledgeable about voltages, timings, multipliers etc. After a while of tweaking all of these settings my head begins to spin. I'm sure I could figure it out but I have work to get done and spending an entire day of tweaking settings has already put me behind.

I will stick with this for a while and run some benchmarks with the current settings against what I was getting before. If there is little to no difference I'll stick with what I have otherwise I'll just have to upgrade to 2 sticks for 4GB of 1066.

[ZacMan]

Got home from work yesterday and there was the old BSOD on my machine once again. I pulled the 2 additional sticks out of the machine and put all my settings back to the way there were before the upgrade. I'll get by with 2GB for now and use the other memory for my next PC build.