Hi, Just built my new system and everything seems fine apart from the memory. System Specs: E6400 @ Stock with Stock cooler GA-965P-DS3 @F7 BIOS GEIL 2X512MB PC2-6400 CAS3 Enermax Liberty 500w X1950PRO After the system was installed I have had a few application errors and wondered if the memory was ok so I ran Windows Diagnostic and Memtest86+ to check for problems and I found lots of errors. I read up and found that this board has a standard mem voltage of 1.8v and high spec memory can have problems so I ran tests at different voltages, here are the results: Geil Stick 1: +0.1v = errors on the MATS+ test Windows Diagnostic +0.2v = errors on the MATS+ test Windows Diagnostic +0.3v = No errors on either Windows Diagnostic or memtest86+ Geil Stick 2: +0.1v = No errors on either Windows Diagnostic or memtest86+ +0.2v = No errors on either Windows Diagnostic or memtest86+ +0.3v = Loads of Errors +0.4v = Loads of Errors I am not sure what else to try, played about with the timing but didn't seem to do anything. Should I just return the sticks or is there anything else I can try? Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Dave
Well, make sure all power connections are plugged in, and that you have the latest BIOS version. I don't know what's the latest, but memory compatibility has been improved over the BIOS releases. If possible, try running those sticks in a different motherboard. I do know that the P965 boards can be a little picky about the RAM, so it wouldn't hurt to check. You might read a few reviews to see what RAM has been used too as well as check the recommended memory pages. Failing the above, yeah, I'd return them and get a new set. Just make sure that particular stuff is on any recommended memory list that Gigabyte has.
Thanks for the reply. All power connectors are in place and double checked. The motherboard came with Bios F4 and I have flashed it to the latest F7. These particular sticks are not on Gigabytes recommended memory list, there is not many, however some other Geil products are on the 667mhz range. I was originally going to get Corsair but read numerous reports of new built systems failing to boot as they require more than the standard 1.8v, so opted for Geil. Don't have any other P965 motherboards to test Read lots of reviews - bit of a jungle - lost of contradictions. Hard to decide what memory to get. Geil seemed to have the least negative review. Just think its weird that 2 identical sticks work fine on different voltages, makes me even more worried what will happen if overclock.
I don't know if there's any Crucial stuff on the list, but that or any Kingston they list would be a good choice if you can't get that GeiL to work. As far as on a different system, any system supporting DDR2 might help in testing. Either way, it's at least worth your while to exchange it sooner than later.
I thought about returning the RAM and exchanging it for Corsair or Crucial and then I read the Online shops return policy: 'Due to the amount of varied components available today ********* is unfortunately unable to guarantee compatibility between items sold. Therefore, items that are found to be incompatible will not be accepted for return/credit.' So looks like I will be stuck with Geil, unless I can convince them that this RAM does not funcition properly in P965 boards which would be hard. Would want to keep the good stick so my system is alive but doubt they would let me return only 1 stick I will try to find another system so I can rule out the motherboard, I would have thought the Bios updates would have solved the incompatibility issues P965 boards are having, looks like they haven't got round to Geil yet.
The P965 seems to be in the teething stages. I can't remember the last Intel chipset that had this much trouble since the Memory Translator Hub paired with the i820 chipset. I don't know if you've done this, so disregard it if you have, but you did run memtest on each stick individually, correct?
Yeah, I have read about so many memory problems with this chipset, not really supprised I have suffered from it. Just hope they fix it. Want to double the memory to 2Gig within a month as I am getting Vista through my work - that will be a laugh :chk: Would want to get 2x512mb Corsair but would it be compatiable with the voltages that finally make this Geil work if I get a replacement? As I would not want to spend another £88 ($160) on this RAM with the problems I have encountered. Do you think the retailer would accept an offer to return the Geil and get 2x1GB of some other RAM? If so what RAM would you recommend? Yeah I tried trouble shooting the RAM at dual channel first - On the 2 different channel slots- best I got was the errors on the MATS+ test in Windows Diagnostic. Then I did one stick at a time and recorded the results. Put them into the same first slot.
Well going by this .pdf I'd look at the Kingston ValueRAM first, specifically the one in the DDR2-800 category with the Samsung chips. The next would be the Samsung, but I would look explicitly for any of that stuff on the 800 list. Another thing I though of was checking your latency settings in BIOS. You might try loosening the timings to see if that helps any. I could tell you the specifics as I don't have the board off-hand, but with this board in many peoples hands, you should be able to find some idea of what to set them to.
Checked to see what other RAM the retailer provides, which is very few: Corsair Geil OCZ Samsung The Samsung Module is just specified as 'Samsung Original 1024MB DDR2 800 PC6400 RAM' with no code to relate to the manufactures or gigabytes lists. However they do stock a Corsair module: Corsair® 2024MB TwinX XMS2 6400 DDR2 Memory Kit I think this is 2 x CM2X1024-6400 which is mentioned in the Gigabyte compatibilty list. The latency is not as good the at 5-5-5-12 by SPD @ 1.9v. This might be the answer? The latency is set to 'auto' at the moment which according to CPU-Z is 5-5-5-18. Will do some more googles at what to set it too as still very unsure.
That's pretty loose, and given your modules are rated for 3-3-3, I would think that's plenty. I'd probably go for the Corsair, then.
