Mushkin XP4400 2x512 mb

Hi all,
hopefully someone can answer me a few questions on this problem. I got my Mushkin XP4400 LL 2x512 mb Dual pack yesterday. After installing the sticks correctly I tried several settings just to verify everything works fine.

At fsb 200 (2/2/2/5/Pat:A/N/A/D/D) everything worked fine and I ran memtest without any errors. But since my aim was to get a high fsb of somewhere between 260-270 mhz I tried to setup 250. Ran perfectly without errors in memtest.

EVERYTHING higher than 250 was horrible. Even with 251 mhz memtest reported some thousands of errors within shortest time. System crashed, blue screens, freezers even in bios after restart (<- never had that before). I tried fast/relaxed timings, I set Vdimm 2,6-2,9 V. Nothing worked. I´m sure the Ram is broken, but I want to get really sure I didn´t miss something.

But strange thing is: with 250 fsb system crashed some 30 mins later, too. But memtest didn´t report any errors before....

Now for my questions:

1. How reliable is memtest? I.e.: memtest reports no errors. Then how sure can I be that a following crash isn´t due to bad RAM? 90%? 10%?

2. Is there any incompatibility issue with these Mushkin memory on 875p chipssets?

3. Any other idea what I could have done wrong?


My specs: Abit Max3 (bios 18); 3,4 ghz Pressie SL7E6; Enermax 600 W


Regards & Thanks
Alex

Geist said:

Hi all,
hopefully someone can answer me a few questions on this problem. I got my Mushkin XP4400 LL 2x512 mb Dual pack yesterday. After installing the sticks correctly I tried several settings just to verify everything works fine.

At fsb 200 (2/2/2/5/Pat:A/N/A/D/D) everything worked fine and I ran memtest without any errors. But since my aim was to get a high fsb of somewhere between 260-270 mhz I tried to setup 250. Ran perfectly without errors in memtest.

EVERYTHING higher than 250 was horrible. Even with 251 mhz memtest reported some thousands of errors within shortest time. System crashed, blue screens, freezers even in bios after restart (<- never had that before). I tried fast/relaxed timings, I set Vdimm 2,6-2,9 V. Nothing worked. I´m sure the Ram is broken, but I want to get really sure I didn´t miss something.

But strange thing is: with 250 fsb system crashed some 30 mins later, too. But memtest didn´t report any errors before....

Now for my questions:

1. How reliable is memtest? I.e.: memtest reports no errors. Then how sure can I be that a following crash isn´t due to bad RAM? 90%? 10%?

2. Is there any incompatibility issue with these Mushkin memory on 875p chipssets?

3. Any other idea what I could have done wrong?


My specs: Abit Max3 (bios 18); 3,4 ghz Pressie SL7E6; Enermax 600 W


Regards & Thanks
Alex

Click to expand...

Interesting.....ok, to answer your first question. Memtest is very, very good at picking out errors in ram. But, I have had times where Memtest did not show any errors, but my computer was not 3d stable at all. I have no way to explain this, as I was under the impression that memtest was the ultimate stability test. I now run 32m super pi instead.

Second question....TCCD has always run better on AMD rigs than on intel, but there aren't really any compatibility issues that I've seen. You have a great board and great memory and a great psu.

Try increasing the chipset voltage, and setting some different timings. That ram should run fine at 2.5-3-3-7. You can try disabling CPC in the bios as well. Best of luck.

-Collin-

Adjusting NB voltage wouldn't do anything in my opinion. Also, you will only have an AGP voltage, which might be tied to the northbridge, but you won't have a dedicated NB voltage setting in your BIOS.

You are having stability problems at 4.25ghz on a D0? That's expected. That's also getting close to the motherboard limit probably. It could even be a heat issue.

I'm guessing that you are on air, if that's the case then that overclock is pretty high on a D0. An E0 is supposed to go higher, but I wouldn't expect it on air if you are already acheiving those speeds.

I think your RAM is fine. I have never had broken RAM. If you want to test it out, run at 251 or whatever, but use a memory divider so it's running lower. If you still have the stability issues you know the RAM is fine.

I think that you've just hit the processor's limit, maybe even if you are on water or a vapo.

Thx for your replies guys!

@NinjaZX6R

I really can´t see how an increased agp/chipset voltage should help me here. Especially not considering the fact that I have no problems at 250x14 with my A-Datas. No, I don´t think it a voltage-thing. And concerning CPC: max 3 bios PAT settings are A/N/A/D/D which is known as the most stable PAT settings. To be precise: CPC is disabled.
Concerning your experiences with memtest - Already thought so. I passed memtest several times and still couldn´t get my rig stable in windows.


@Foxie3a

"I'm guessing that you are on air, if that's the case then that overclock is pretty high on a D0. An E0 is supposed to go higher, but I wouldn't expect it on air if you are already acheiving those speeds." <-> Errr, nope. My cpu has an unlocked multi of 14 and 17 (not 14-17!). Therefore I use multi 14 to achieve higher fsb settings: 14x250=3500 i.e. As far as I can tell my cpu is just fine for 3,85 ghz. And that would be reached with 14x275 (PC4400). But I don´t even come close to that with these Muskins...

"I think your RAM is fine." <-> That´s exactly the point of discussion. I´m not so sure about that...

" I have never had broken RAM." <-> Lucky man.

" If you want to test it out, run at 251 or whatever," <-> Hangs up during boot. Memtest reports some 1000 errors during either test 4 or 5.

"but use a memory divider so it's running lower." <-> N/A, with N/B strap set to fsb800 or "by cpu" there doesn´t show up a devider like 4:5. And with anything different (i.e. 667 etc.) system won´t boot up. So no divider other than 1:1.

"If you still have the stability issues you know the RAM is fine." <-> I never encountered any problems with my A-Data (hynix) up to 257 mhz. Mushkins won´t even boot up on these settings...


Greets
Alex