Loosened timings when using two 2x2 GB kits

[Kaos Kid]

I've got an Asrock A790GMH/128M mobo and recently acquired two 4GB kits of OCZ2RPR800C44GK CL4 memory. Either kit by itself runs fine at 4-4-4-15 T1 @ 2.2v (tested for 1 hour with Prime95 blended, lots of RAM tested) but when I try using all 4 modules it doesn't want to post. All indications point to needing to loosen the timings a bit but I've never really messed with the memory much so I'm wondering where I should start on trying to get these going. It is my HTPC (Phenom II x 2 550 unlocked to 3 cores) so these were to be an upgrade from the 4x1GB PC6400 Qimonda memory that I had been using. I guess I can still consider it an upgrade to switch from 4x1GB >>>2x2GB but I had looked forward to seeing that 8GB working in there. If it isn't going to get me any extra benefit I guess I could always sell one of the Reaper 2x2GB kits but I'd really like to try to tweak these a little to see if I can get them all to work together. What would be a good timings set to start at? From what I have gleaned from googling the most important settings are TCL, RCD, TRP, TRAS, MA, and TRFC, I don't know what all the other stuff is in the bios mem settings. I have seen that a few lucky folks have OC'd that memory to 1066 (and there is a setting in my bios that would allow that) but I'd be happy to just get the 4x2GB running stably at the stock 6400 speeds. Your advice is appreciated.


edit: in red

[skier]

first match the qimonda's settings because the other kit would be underclocked rather than forcing the cheaper qimonda to be overclocked. and you can't run 4x1 + 2x2 unless you somehow have 6 DIMMs on your board

but I ran 2x2 + 2x1 1066 CL5 2.1v kits (both kits are totally same spec) with my Q6600, but with the E6300 I have to pull one kit

it's a finnicky scenario regardless because RAM just is finnicky a lot of the time

also, overclocking OCZ REAPER to 1066 is one thing, but random Qimonda kits tend not to be as well cherry-picked as performance desktop kits

[Kaos Kid]

I probably didn't explain it correctly. I want the two Reaper 2x2GB kits to be installed (for a total of 8GB). Since they are identical except for serial numbers and have the same timings they should work well together once I hit upon the proper timings. While OCing to 1066 would be nice it isn't necessary, I'd be happy to just get both 4GB Reaper kits to play nice together at PC6400 speeds. There are about 10-15 timings I could change, but I assume the ones I listed previously are the ones that are most commonly tweaked. The 4x1GB Qimonda sticks will be put up for sale to offset the costs of getting the Reapers, or used on a build that is intended for sale.

[skier]

I probably didn't explain it correctly. I want the two Reaper 2x2GB kits to be installed (for a total of 8GB). Since they are identical except for serial numbers and have the same timings they should work well together once I hit upon the proper timings. While OCing to 1066 would be nice it isn't necessary, I'd be happy to just get both 4GB Reaper kits to play nice together at PC6400 speeds. There are about 10-15 timings I could change, but I assume the ones I listed previously are the ones that are most commonly tweaked. The 4x1GB Qimonda sticks will be put up for sale to offset the costs of getting the Reapers, or used on a build that is intended for sale.

oh okay, yes those are the most/only important timings, at 1066 you would have to run around 5-5-5-18-2T 2.1v I would guess though as that is what my native 1066 Reaper HPC kit runs, but here are my Reapers at 858 MHz, 1.88v

reapers.jpg (67.98 KiB) Viewed 1070 times

[Kaos Kid]

Thanks for the screenpic, I'll check those against the current settings later today when I can reclaim the TV (this is in my htpc).

[Kaos Kid]

Although using 1 kit at a time lets me set timings using the EPP Profile (4-4-4-15 1T) and boots no problem, using two kits shows it at the 5-5-5-18 T2 standard profiles. It did boot to windows (XP Pro64/Server2K3) once but I don't think it was very stable since graphics cut out once or twice for a second (like ATI CCC does sometimes). Even when it doesn't boot all the way, it does show the windows splash screen and the little cursor line runs through 5 passes, so right where you would normally see the welcome screen instead it stays blank (TV still reports a signal, just no picture) and although the mouse light stays on and activated the keyboard becomes dead, even the numlock button goes out. I'm wondering if this is just a problem with my mobo and using two kits (of 4gb each) of this particular RAMkit since either 4GB kit works fine by itself. FYI these kits are not shown on the mobo's QVL list although there are some OCZ kits that are.

I don't have another compatible DDR2/PC6400 computer currently assembled to test these in so I don't know if it is a glitch with the mobo or the memory. This was going to be movie night but I think I'm just going to run memtest86 for a few hours and see if any flags pop up.

Here's the results after 5 hours of memtest86:
Walltime: 05:02:37
Cached: 7679M (I have 512MB shared onboard HD3300 graphics)
RsvdMem: 192k
MemMap: e820
Cache: on
ECC: off
Test: Std
Pass: 3
Errors: 0

If memtest86 shows no errors while testing from a cd does it mean that the mobo is OK but my Windows install has a problem? I can reinstall if I have to since this box is currently only used for HTPC, but as you know it is a PITA more than anything due to the time spent in bringing a new install of any flavor of XP back up to current updates.

[Kaos Kid]

UPDATE


It appears that my install of XP Pro x64 was suspect and somehow responsible. I also could not get it to boot in AHCI mode. I decided to to a fresh install, this time I made myself a nice little nlite package using my XPProX64SP2 disk and added the AMD SATA AHCI drivers, Catalyst 11.6 Display drivers/SB drivers, my USB wireless drivers, and my HDMI sound drivers along with Seraph's Post SP2 update pack and IE8 add-on pack.

So far so good, it boots everytime and all I had to update from the M$ site was the .NET installs (I couldn't find a good X64 update/addon version and it still only took a short while to bring .NET up to full speed). It easily booted at auto 5-5-5-18 2T, and I am able to boot at the EPP settings of 4-4-4-15 2T, I will run Prime95 tonite or tomorrow to check for memory stability at those timings. I wasted so much time trying to troubleshoot this I wish I would have just went for the fresh install at the outset. But at least I learned how to use nlite so it wasn't a total waste

Thanks for your help



edit: Prime95 for almost 3 hours at 4-4-4-12 2T and not a hiccup, even better than the 4-4-4-15 ratings in the EPP. i guess I didn't have to loosen timings after all. So far so good!

edit2: Prime 95 overnite at 4-4-4-12 2T and no errors. Here I was so obsessed to get all 8 GBs of memory functional that from what I see now unless I plan to do some major crunching on this box it won't even be used. Prime95 (even with blended/lots of ram tested setting) never went over 3GB or so of usage, and that was with an Avatar 1080 mkv rip running on MPC-HT and FORTY ( count 'em, 40! ) windows open in Firefox . Since this is just my HTPC running a PH2x2-550 unlocked to 3 cores I am REALLY running overkill on this box.

Oh well, at least I know the memory it torture tested and runs great, I just may go ahead and sell one of the 2x2GB kits. Live and learn, eh?

[skier]

glad you got it figured, I've been running 4GB total memory since 2008, so i agree the other 4GB isnt needed

[Kaos Kid]

glad you got it figured, I've been running 4GB total memory since 2008, so i agree the other 4GB isnt needed

ha ha its your old cpu in the HTPC. I have to disable core 3 whenever cmos is cleared and then core unlocker ran, but core 4 works fine to make it an x3, one of the best purchases I ever made for the money