DFI NF4 Thread - Page 826

johnrr6 · 05-31-2006, 01:50 PM

Quit my experiment with trying to go to 4 gigs.

with the DFIs----your 4 sticks just have to all be the same or the additional 2 Gigs won't be recognized.....

Oh and BTW....

You have to enable memory hole in BIOS

and

You have to force 2T in BIOS by setting "Disable" not auto on CPC-----Auto just doesn't work.....

And-----you may have to enter a line into your boot.ini file......

And------here's the kicker....

if you are running XP SP2-----even if you do all of the above and by some miracle it works-----the MOST windows will recognize and use is 3.5 Gigs!!!!

Vista and Win XP64 fixes this-----but right now-----even if you spend the money and plug in the Extra 2 gigs-----and somehow get them to play nice.....

The most it will ever use is 3.5 Gigs-----and usually a lot less than that, normally around 3.0 gigs.....

Found the whole exercise enlightening but in the end, a total waste.

One guy over at DFI-street had the exact model of four 1 gig modules of OCZ memory----and it wouldn't recognize the additional 2 gigs of memory.....same model-----same voltages---same SPDs----same everything...

He thought......

Turned out that OCZ had slightly changed SPDs on two of the sticks (newer release) so even having the same model meant nothing. OCZ sent the guy 4 perfectly matched sticks and the DFI recognized it (with the above tricks)..

It was recognized just fine----all 3.2 gigs of it!!-----even though he had four-1 gig sticks!!!!

The whole experience was a real eye opener!!!!

Eldonko · 05-31-2006, 03:12 PM

Wow, that's crazy, didn't realize it was that much hassle. I've never had any luck running 4 x 512 even myself.

tarrcm · 05-31-2006, 05:47 PM

interesting...mobos tout up to 4G RAM or better but it seems getting the benefit is questionable, nice work johnrr

AHLnut · 05-31-2006, 07:26 PM

I read somwhere that XP can only recognize 4GB of ram, including the swap file. Did you happen to check the swap file size when it recognized 3.5GB? It would be interesting to see what ram was recognized if the swap file was disabled.

johnrr6 · 06-01-2006, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarrcm

interesting...mobos tout up to 4G RAM or better but it seems getting the benefit is questionable, nice work johnrr

In my mind, going to 4 gigs right now is totally questionable.

Xp 64 fixes that now-----and Vista will fix it.....and here's the funny thing----windows XP 32 recognized fine under SP1----but "broke" under SP2 (security settings microsoft imposed)

Basically with XP 32 and SP2 you are stuck with that 3.5 gig limit which probably won't even reach 3.5.....

Most of the folks who I researched and accomplished this----and applied the tricks capped out at 3.2 Gigs "recognized"----nobody had 4 gigs unless they were using XP 64

And I couldn't find ANY benchmarks to show ANY advantage over 2 Gig though it stands to reason that certain apps like video editing would certainly benefit from more RAM.

AHLnut-----I never got it to work at all for me so I can't tell you on the swap file question.

John

tarrcm · 06-01-2006, 05:06 PM

How about when running dual core? I would suspect it could be handy when running multi apps maybe?

MacGyverSG1 · 06-01-2006, 06:01 PM

johnrr6, When you tried out the 406 BIOS on Ultra-D, did you use the modded one or from DFI? I tried modded one and had no problems, but the new settings for DRAM Drive Strength and DRAM Data Drive Strength have me thrown off. What did you choose? With older BIOS I used to use 7 / 3. Now it's a choice between weak 1-4 and normal 1-4.

BTW, has anybody tried running 3GB RAM? I have 2 @1GB and 2 @ 512MB that run 260+, but never tried them together. Guess the only way to tell is to try it. I just hate running 2T, but if it doesn't matter much, I'll give it a go.

johnrr6 · 06-02-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarrcm

How about when running dual core? I would suspect it could be handy when running multi apps maybe?

I think you are right-----makes sense----I just could never test it....

johnrr6 · 06-02-2006, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacGyverSG1

johnrr6, When you tried out the 406 BIOS on Ultra-D, did you use the modded one or from DFI? I tried modded one and had no problems, but the new settings for DRAM Drive Strength and DRAM Data Drive Strength have me thrown off. What did you choose? With older BIOS I used to use 7 / 3. Now it's a choice between weak 1-4 and normal 1-4.

BTW, has anybody tried running 3GB RAM? I have 2 @1GB and 2 @ 512MB that run 260+, but never tried them together. Guess the only way to tell is to try it. I just hate running 2T, but if it doesn't matter much, I'll give it a go.

Let me check my settings tonight and I'll let you know-----I'm using the straight 406 BIOS----not the modded 406

All that drive strength stuff is confusing-----you're right.

kcstock · 07-06-2006, 10:30 AM

Has anyone put a waterblock on the SLI-DR chipset? It has been a while since I have been on and there are about 250 new pages

I could not get my northbridge fan off without taking out the motherboard (as far as I could tell) and I need to get a different mounting bracket before i can try to fit my waterblock properly, but it looks like the nozzles my interfere with my graphics card.

is there a good/quite replacement fan for the SLI-DR chipset, if the waterblock does not fit?

Thanks
Ken

MacGyverSG1 · 07-07-2006, 07:38 PM

Has anyone tried the new app by AMD for dual-core? Don't know if it does anything else than what is mentioned in the dual-core guide on page 1, except maybe make it easier.

johnrr6 · 07-07-2006, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacGyverSG1

Has anyone tried the new app by AMD for dual-core? Don't know if it does anything else than what is mentioned in the dual-core guide on page 1, except maybe make it easier.

I have and it seems a positive move....

A little better improvement in games----not much for me (about 3-5 frames on average) but some over on XS are claiming whopping improvements....

It WAS a general improvement though so I deem it a good thing...

This method seems to work best

new AMD drivers
MS Hotfix
Dual Core Optimizer

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...74&postcount=1

Eldonko · 07-10-2006, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcstock

Has anyone put a waterblock on the SLI-DR chipset? It has been a while since I have been on and there are about 250 new pages

I could not get my northbridge fan off without taking out the motherboard (as far as I could tell) and I need to get a different mounting bracket before i can try to fit my waterblock properly, but it looks like the nozzles my interfere with my graphics card.

is there a good/quite replacement fan for the SLI-DR chipset, if the waterblock does not fit?

Thanks
Ken

I saw a few people change the chipset cooler, but it did not result in a difference in performance or a better OC. Not worth the effort IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnrr6

I have and it seems a positive move....

A little better improvement in games----not much for me (about 3-5 frames on average) but some over on XS are claiming whopping improvements....

It WAS a general improvement though so I deem it a good thing...

This method seems to work best

new AMD drivers
MS Hotfix
Dual Core Optimizer

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...74&postcount=1

Havent tried the optimizer yet, will give it a run and post result.

Reverend Sin_abx · 10-04-2006, 06:22 PM

So my motherboard died and I've got to send it in for RMA (for any of you that have it I get no display and the diagnostic LED's get down to the last red light and then give one long loud beep, tried clearing the CMOS settings like the DFI tech support team told me to via email and nothing happened so they suggested I send it in for RMA)

Anyway, the person that suggested I buy this in the first place around a year ago told me that the DFI boards are naturally finnicky and aren't to be trusted unless you can finetune them and (from what he made it sound like) posess a hardware engineering degree. I'm going to RMA the board one way or the other but should I get a new Mobo that will be more reliable and dependable for me in the long run? Have a lot of people had problems with DFI? I admit I didn't do a huge amount of research on this one in the first place because the person that referred it to me is a very close friend and generally knows what he's talking about.

I am running:

DFI LanpartyUT NF4 Ultra D socket 939
Dual Core Opteron Processor
2GB Dual Channel DDR RAM (XMS Value RAM I think)
eVGA 7800GTX
WD 320gb SATA drive
Antec TruePower 2.0 Truecontrol 2 550w ATX12v PSU
Soundblaster XFI Xtreme Music sound card (Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra )
I do have the Thermalright SI-120 and a Panasonic 80MM fan on top of it. So things are a bit cramped. On the DFI board my video card was right over top the little mobo fan but that died after a month or so anyway so no worries.

So should I RMA the Lanparty and buy a new one and hope nothing goes wrong with it or just wait on the DFI and hope I can get someone to help me fine tune the motherboard so it doesn't crap out on me in 9 months of use. (Was using all stock settings, no overclocking, using built in optimized settings.)

tarrcm · 10-04-2006, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reverend Sin

So my motherboard died and I've got to send it in for RMA (for any of you that have it I get no display and the diagnostic LED's get down to the last red light and then give one long loud beep, tried clearing the CMOS settings like the DFI tech support team told me to via email and nothing happened so they suggested I send it in for RMA)

(Was using all stock settings, no overclocking, using built in optimized settings.)

I'm not sure about your board BUT with the diagnostic LEDs on my board, LED #4, the last one to go out is for VGA Detection according to the manual. If yours is the same you might want to try a different graphics card.

Another thing I'd try is one stick of RAM at a time.

My suggestion is that if you need a new mobo and you don't overclock or tweak, then you probably don't need DFI.
Good luck to you!

05-31-2006, 01:50 PM	#12376
johnrr6 Lucky Amateur Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Virginia Posts: 2,370	DFI Ultra-D and 4 Gigs Quit my experiment with trying to go to 4 gigs. with the DFIs----your 4 sticks just have to all be the same or the additional 2 Gigs won't be recognized..... Oh and BTW.... You have to enable memory hole in BIOS and You have to force 2T in BIOS by setting "Disable" not auto on CPC-----Auto just doesn't work..... And-----you may have to enter a line into your boot.ini file...... And------here's the kicker.... if you are running XP SP2-----even if you do all of the above and by some miracle it works-----the MOST windows will recognize and use is 3.5 Gigs!!!! Vista and Win XP64 fixes this-----but right now-----even if you spend the money and plug in the Extra 2 gigs-----and somehow get them to play nice..... The most it will ever use is 3.5 Gigs-----and usually a lot less than that, normally around 3.0 gigs..... Found the whole exercise enlightening but in the end, a total waste. One guy over at DFI-street had the exact model of four 1 gig modules of OCZ memory----and it wouldn't recognize the additional 2 gigs of memory.....same model-----same voltages---same SPDs----same everything... He thought...... Turned out that OCZ had slightly changed SPDs on two of the sticks (newer release) so even having the same model meant nothing. OCZ sent the guy 4 perfectly matched sticks and the DFI recognized it (with the above tricks).. It was recognized just fine----all 3.2 gigs of it!!-----even though he had four-1 gig sticks!!!! The whole experience was a real eye opener!!!! __________________ 1st Rig:-----------------------------------------------------2nd Rig: Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz------------------------------------------9850 BE at 2.6 Ghz Vista Ultimate Edition 32 Bit SP1--------------------------Vista Ultimate Edition 64 Bit SP1 AB9QuadGT, BIOS .13-------------------------------------AsRock 780G BIOS 1.50 Thermalright SI-128 HS w/JMC 120 PWM Fan------------Thermaltake Blue Orb II 4 x 1 Gig Gskill PC 6400 Micron D9's---------------------Mushkin 4 x 2 Gig PC8500 eVGA 8800 GTX--------------------------------------------ATI HD 4870 4 x 250 Gig Western Digital SATA II HDs in RAID 5-----2 x 500Gig Western Digital SATA II HDs in RAID 0 Lite-On 20x DVD Burner w/Lightscribe--------------------Samsung SATA Tru Direct DVD Burner w/Lightscribe OCZ 700 W GameXstream PSU---------------------------Silverstone 500 Watt ST50EF PSU Creative X-Fi sound----------------------------------------Azalia Onboard Sound Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Black Case--------------------------Silverstone SG01 SFF Black Case Speedlink Medusa 5.1 headphones----------------------Hauppage 1600 TV Card
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05-31-2006, 03:12 PM	#12377
Eldonko Revolutionary Mule Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 2,987	Wow, that's crazy, didn't realize it was that much hassle. I've never had any luck running 4 x 512 even myself. __________________ PM me for Mushkin questions or support.
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05-31-2006, 05:47 PM	#12378
tarrcm Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Lewiston, Maine Posts: 863	interesting...mobos tout up to 4G RAM or better but it seems getting the benefit is questionable, nice work johnrr __________________ FX57_DFI Expert_Crucial Ballistix Tracers_Mushkin Redline XP4000's_Turbo-Cool 850W
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05-31-2006, 07:26 PM	#12379
AHLnut Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Virginia Posts: 1,124	I read somwhere that XP can only recognize 4GB of ram, including the swap file. Did you happen to check the swap file size when it recognized 3.5GB? It would be interesting to see what ram was recognized if the swap file was disabled. __________________ System 1 Asus A8N-SLI Premium - AMD X2 3800+ - OCZ 2x1GB EL Platinum - 2 BFG 7800GT OC in SLI - Soundblaster X-Fi - 2 36 GB Raptor in Raid 0 - WD 400KD - WD 250JB - Plextor PS-716A - Plextor 48x24x48 - Antec Neo-Power 480 - Antec Super Lanboy - WinXP Pro SP2. System 2 Abit IC7 - 3.0C Intel CPU - 2x512 Geil Golden Dragon DDR433 - BFG 6800 GT OC - WD 200JB - Seagate 200GB 7200.7 - 3COM 905CX-TXNM NIC(PCI 2) - Audigy 2(PCI 3) - Plextor PX-708A DVD+- RW combo drive - Plextor 48x24x48 CD-RW drive - Antec 3700BQE case with TP430 PSU - XP SP2 slipstreamed.
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06-01-2006, 05:06 PM	#12381
tarrcm Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Lewiston, Maine Posts: 863	How about when running dual core? I would suspect it could be handy when running multi apps maybe? __________________ FX57_DFI Expert_Crucial Ballistix Tracers_Mushkin Redline XP4000's_Turbo-Cool 850W
(Offline)

06-01-2006, 06:01 PM	#12382
MacGyverSG1 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 102	johnrr6, When you tried out the 406 BIOS on Ultra-D, did you use the modded one or from DFI? I tried modded one and had no problems, but the new settings for DRAM Drive Strength and DRAM Data Drive Strength have me thrown off. What did you choose? With older BIOS I used to use 7 / 3. Now it's a choice between weak 1-4 and normal 1-4. BTW, has anybody tried running 3GB RAM? I have 2 @1GB and 2 @ 512MB that run 260+, but never tried them together. Guess the only way to tell is to try it. I just hate running 2T, but if it doesn't matter much, I'll give it a go. __________________ EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra, Opteron 148, G.Skill FX, GeForce 7800 GT , WD Raptor 74GB, OCZ Powerstream 520
(Offline)

07-06-2006, 10:30 AM	#12385
kcstock www.kenstock.com Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Detroit, Michigan Posts: 505	Has anyone put a waterblock on the SLI-DR chipset? It has been a while since I have been on and there are about 250 new pages I could not get my northbridge fan off without taking out the motherboard (as far as I could tell) and I need to get a different mounting bracket before i can try to fit my waterblock properly, but it looks like the nozzles my interfere with my graphics card. is there a good/quite replacement fan for the SLI-DR chipset, if the waterblock does not fit? Thanks Ken __________________ TESTING \| DFI NF4 SLI-DR (704-2BT) \| X2 4200+ @ 2.65 (250x11) 1.50v \| Koolance Exos (300G - 180 L06) 2x1024 BALLISTIX PC4000 1:1 3-3-3-8 2.8v 2x eVGA NVidia 7800GTX 256mb in SLi 1 74Gig WD Raptor \| 1 120Gig WD SATA \| 1 40Gig WD 7200 on PCI-SATA Audigy 2 Platinum \| Klipsch Promedia 4.1 \| LianLi V2000 3D Mark 01: 29172 \| 3D Mark 03: 13614\| 3D Mark 05: 8469 RIP: Romeo365 9/75 - 4/05
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07-07-2006, 07:38 PM	#12386
MacGyverSG1 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 102	Has anyone tried the new app by AMD for dual-core? Don't know if it does anything else than what is mentioned in the dual-core guide on page 1, except maybe make it easier. __________________ EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra, Opteron 148, G.Skill FX, GeForce 7800 GT , WD Raptor 74GB, OCZ Powerstream 520
(Offline)

10-04-2006, 06:22 PM	#12389
Reverend Sin_abx Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 3	So my motherboard died and I've got to send it in for RMA (for any of you that have it I get no display and the diagnostic LED's get down to the last red light and then give one long loud beep, tried clearing the CMOS settings like the DFI tech support team told me to via email and nothing happened so they suggested I send it in for RMA) Anyway, the person that suggested I buy this in the first place around a year ago told me that the DFI boards are naturally finnicky and aren't to be trusted unless you can finetune them and (from what he made it sound like) posess a hardware engineering degree. I'm going to RMA the board one way or the other but should I get a new Mobo that will be more reliable and dependable for me in the long run? Have a lot of people had problems with DFI? I admit I didn't do a huge amount of research on this one in the first place because the person that referred it to me is a very close friend and generally knows what he's talking about. I am running: DFI LanpartyUT NF4 Ultra D socket 939 Dual Core Opteron Processor 2GB Dual Channel DDR RAM (XMS Value RAM I think) eVGA 7800GTX WD 320gb SATA drive Antec TruePower 2.0 Truecontrol 2 550w ATX12v PSU Soundblaster XFI Xtreme Music sound card (Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra ) I do have the Thermalright SI-120 and a Panasonic 80MM fan on top of it. So things are a bit cramped. On the DFI board my video card was right over top the little mobo fan but that died after a month or so anyway so no worries. So should I RMA the Lanparty and buy a new one and hope nothing goes wrong with it or just wait on the DFI and hope I can get someone to help me fine tune the motherboard so it doesn't crap out on me in 9 months of use. (Was using all stock settings, no overclocking, using built in optimized settings.)
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