new mushkin pc3500 not performing

need a little help here. just got my new mushkin pc3500 lvl 2 dual pack (2x256) and i imediately tried going to 220x10 at default vcore and ram voltage cause i figured it could handle it. windows would not boot. tried 219, 218, 217, 216. still no boot. upped the vcore and got partly in before it blue screened at 217. also, my chipset voltage was at 1.7 for all of this. normally my cpu can handle 200x11 at default vcore so 220x10 should also be possible right? i'm obviously using aggressive timings because the ram is rated for 2-2-2-6 at 217fsb. even when up ram vcore for 2.6 to 2.7 (my board overvolts 0.1 so 2.7 is really 2.8 which is higher than mushkin is rated for) i still could get no boot at 217. is my cpu fsb incompetent? when i say doesn't boot i get corruption errors sometimes but most of the time it just reboots as soon as windows starts to load. as i said my chipset voltage is already up and it doesn't feel hot to the touch.

any suggestions or should i call mushkin and say what's up?

relevent specs in my sig. using bios 17.

cujo

Send you tech questions to [email protected] or you can post on our site also and we can help there.

http://forums.mushkin.com/phpbb2

Duonger

seems the site is down. will try again later thanks.

found a good tip in one of the stickies. just ran a memtest with ratio 4:5 174fsb ram running at 434. memtest gave 4 errors in first 30 seconds of testing. i stopped it cause i'd already found my problem. i think i'll give mushkin a call.

thanks cujo....

after being on the phone with mushkin they seem to think there's nothing wrong with the ram. in order to run at 217 i have to put the voltage up to 2.7 which is 2.8 in reality which they said is fine. to go any higher i need to raise voltage again... not very happy with this product. i basically performs the same as my pc3200.

Where'd you get it from?

~THT

only place in canada that sells to end users, kit-tronics.com.

it was about 4 bucks USD cheaper there compared to direct from mushkin. plus there's no border taxes and they had free shipping.

cujo,

The level 2 is BH-5 chips while the level 1 is CH-5 chips. They run different voltages. Typically the BH chips run higher voltages and can use tighter settings while the CH chips can't take as much voltage and require looser settings. Also Memtest failures may results from cpu errors, not just memory errors. Just because you got them doesn't mean you have memory problems by itself.

but my cpu should be fine at 174 fsb. also, both my mushkin pc3200 and pc3500 are lvl 2.

cujo said:

but my cpu should be fine at 174 fsb. also, both my mushkin pc3200 and pc3500 are lvl 2.

Click to expand...

OK, you've completely lost me, my problem not yours.

What does a fsb of 174 have to do with how fast you're cpu is running. It is the fsb*multiplier that determines how fast the cpu is running and I don't think you told me the multiplier since the orginal post, did I miss it?

Also, overclocking the ram via 4:5 doesn't work, at least the last time I tried it on Abit mobos. My guess is your memory is running at 174*2=348, not 434 at you suggest.

I noted that level 2 used BH-5 because it shouldn't be a surprise to have to run at higher voltages. If you were able to your 3200 level 2 at 2.6V or lower at 216 then why did you change to 3500? You already had an awesome pair of memory sticks.

multiplier is whatever i had it at which totals less than 2200. tried at 10 and 11 i think. nothing higher for sure.

i bought the pc3500 cause i could sell the pc3200 for 20 bucks less than the new stuff. i figured the pc3500 could do 217 at 2.6v rather than exactly the same results as my pc3200. it seems like it's just rebadged pc3200 ram to me. actually my ram needs 2.68 volts to do pc3200 and 2.8 to do over 208ish. as it is i'm now selling the pc3500 for 20 bucks more than i payed and just keeping my pc3200. i'm a streak overclocker anyway. i do it for kicks once in a while to see what results i can obtain. if i ever get lucky and find a stable setting with low volts than i'll stay there. i like low noise.

if my ram was at 348 then was memtest erroring cause of too much voltage?

cujo said:

if my ram was at 348 then was memtest erroring cause of too much voltage?

Click to expand...

Haven't heard of that being a result. My guess would be the cpu, 2200 is pretty high for a 2500 at low voltage. Here is the link to Mushkin that discussions it.

Be

but as i said i can run my cpu 200x11 (2200mhz) at default core (actually lower, about 1.63, board undervolts) all day and all night with folding, prime, and any game i might play.

My guess is that it's your board. My nf7-s 2.0 is good to 220FSB and used to do 230 (before a bios update). But it can't get above 210 with tight timings.

i would definitely agree with lithan, even if your cpu can do 2.2ghz, you have no idea if your northbridge can do 220fsb (it's not just ram running @220, it's fsb too!).

here's what you can do to find out. first make sure your memory can do it (which i believe you described doing earlier). so yah, run a 4:5 mem ratio at 174fsb which will run your mem @434mhz. but this time, when you do this, clock your cpu low, (like multiplier of 10 or something), something that you KNOW the cpu will do. then run memtest. if you still get errors, give mushkin a call, and i'm sure they'll give you a hassle-free rma. they even cross-ship

in general though, if that works, see if your fsb can handle the 217fsb. set like 217x8 (again, low cpu, so take it out of the equation), and run memtest again. if that errors, then you know it's your northbridge/fsb that can't hit 217.

pushing to 220, you should do it all again. make sure the ram can do 440mhz (with some ratio, like 4:5), if that works, see if your fsb can do 220 (@1:1), and finally if that gives no errors, bring your cpu up to speed and see what happens. if your ram and fsb can both run at 440mhz, and your cpu can run 2.2ghz (200x11), but you can't run 220x10, then something strange is going on... maybe some combination of high cpu speed and high fsb causes errors?

ideally i'd like to be in the 215-220 fsb range. i mean i bought this board because so many people on here recommended it and it seems they are all running really high. maybe i'll try reseating my nb cooler with some as3.