weird memory probs with nf7-s

ok... i was having problems with corsair 3200 xms ram. it would boot, but as soon as i saved any new bios settings it wouldn't boot anymore. Any other ram worked fine. The ram worked in 2 other boards, and the nf7-s worked with a bunch of other 2100 and 2700 i have. To find out what was going on, i bought some ocz 3200 platinum (the local store has this 7 day return policy, no questions asked). I started doing some memtests, and found that the ocz ram was not stable in test 5 and 8 with stock settings. After 5 hours of trying different things, i have found out that:

max with no errors: 197mHz, 2.6v DDR, 1.5v chipset
max with no errors: 216mHz, 2.6v DDR, 1.7v chipset

changing vdimm has no effect, but chipset voltage does. Does this (along with booting problems with corsair memory) mean that my motherboard is messed up, and that I should rma it? I mean, the chipset voltage shouldn't effect the ram overclock, right? If i rma the board, i might be able to get a bunch of money back by returning the ocz ram and using my corsair.

Thanks.

Maybe you should try chipset voltage 1.7, vddim about 2.9, and see what you come out with make sure to use some good timing on your ram.

vdimm does not effect the maximum frequency at all. Oh, and btw, i am sure the ram is the limiting factor, not the NB or anything because i've exprerimented with different dividers with the same results.

Different dividers are often screwed up. Running the board async, even when all components are at stock speeds or below, still produces instability problems with my board. Make sure your ratio is always 1:1.

Are you positive that the RAM is the limiting factor? As you indicated, upping your chipset voltage helped you achieve a higher stable FSB. That would indicate that your chipset and/or motherboard are quite possibly at fault. Chipset voltage WILL effect memory overclock, simply because the NB is what controls the memory interface.

Also, make sure that the BIOS is not setting the RAM to CAS 3 or anything weird. Put in the timings yourself, and try 2.5-3-3-11 to start out with. Disabling CPU interface could also help, just to see if that's your problem.

What BIOS are you using?

thanks for the ideas. I tried bios 19 and 21, with no difference. I tried running the memory in sync, with worse results, maxing out at 205. I'm going to rma the board. i can return the ocz memory to get my money back. I'm hoping that the replacement board will boot with my corsair ram. thanks again