Need ideas on problem solving ram issue

adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
edited March 2012 in Hardware
First of all, I have this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131368 and until recently I just had 4 Gb of this RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104098

Everything worked great until I added in 4 more Gb of the same RAM ( 4 dimms in all) and then I started having occasional freezes that required a hard reset.

I already know the mobo downclocks the RAM to 800 speed when all 4 RAM slots are occupied. I have the RAM voltage set at 2.2v and timings set to 5-5-5-15. All else is set to Auto.

All RAM modules pass Memtest 86+ with zero errors. Anyone have any ideas on what to do to stop these freezes other than going back to 4 Gb of RAM? THX.

Comments

  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    Ok couple questions-- you said you tested with Memtest 96+. Did you test all modules together overnight??? Folks sometimes test one module at a time, but I think you might have a socket issue or a timing issue, and testing all modules together long enough for them to get real warm might show which socket.

    Did you make darn sure the modules are all seated perfectly??? Even mis-seating module a little can cause this kind of thing, or a dusty socket with just a little dust in it.

    John.
  • I've had several problems running four Dimms on AMD platforms, I think it's more of a limitation with the cpu memory controller than the motherboards chipset. I've had some success lossening the timings to get all four to run.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    Anecdotally, the last 4 systems I've built have all been AMD with 4 sticks and they run fine without issue.

    Have you tried pulling the old RAM out and just running with the new RAM to see if it exhibits the same issues at the same speed/timing settings? It's possible there's something a little bit off about your new RAM.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Thanks for the ideas. All dimms seated fully and Memtest 86+ was run 4 passes without errors. I have not relaxed the timings just yet, but I did switch the command rate from AUTO to 2T. So far, with that change alone, there have not been any more freezes. That may just be chance so I am going to game with it and see how it goes. Will report back with results.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Okay, I gamed for a couple of hours and did some general web surfing. So far, with command rate set to 2T from AUTO, no freezes. I don't know if that is just coincidence or not. I have never seen much effect from command rate changes. Anyway, it's working like it should so I will give it a couple of days to see it that took care of the issue. Will post back either way. Thanks to all!
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Spoke too soon! Had another freeze. That's one in two days instead of one an hour so I guess that's some improvement. Still haven't got the fix though. I'll relax timings as Cliff suggested and see what happens.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    As an aside, don't be too perturbed about loosening the memory timings up. Modern platforms aren't at terribly sensitive to memory timings, preferring instead to simply suck up more raw bandwidth.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Just a follow-up note. With command rate set to auto (probably defaults to 2T anyway) and RAM timings relaxed arbitrarily from 5-5-5-15 to 6-6-6-16, I've had no freezing. I don't know if I should try any other timings but am open to suggestion. Altogether, that seems to have resolved it. Thanks for all the help!
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