Did I get some poopy RAM?

Did I get some bad RAM?

I just got and installed some KingMax 1GB 512x2 PC4000 DDR ram into my XPm2600 rig listed below and am now running dual channel. I'm rather baffled right now. The stuff is rated at 3-4-4-10. I was running 512mbx1 PC2700 RAM at 207mhz before in single channel before. I was getting 2.6 ghz stable and 2.7ghz off and on. When I popped in this new RAM the most FSB i could get out of it was 240mhz but only at x10 so I was losing 200mhz-300mhz off my OC and benchmarks were notably slower. I tinkered around to where I have it at 235.5X11 right now or roughly 2.6ghz but I'm turning slower times in benchamarks like RenderTest and CPUMARK99. Not a lot lower but still I figured it should be a lot higher. I then tried to change the timings thinking that it's running 65mhz below its' spec rating so I went to try 2.5 and it didn't like that at all, so I decided not to waste any more time with the timings just yet and have it running at 3-4-4-9. I'm going to try PCMARK and 3DMark tests in a bit. I'd like to get this stuf running well, but I'm wondering if you guys think I got some poopy ram and should RMA it for something else. I paid $150 for it and could easily get some PC3200 a lot cheaper.

edit: Okay, ran PCMark04 and 3DMark03 and got 200pts higher in PCMark and 300pts higher in 3DMARK03 so it looks like it's faster in suite tests and slower in CPU specific tests like Render and CPUMARK.

I also forgot to add that the specs on the PC4000 are at 2.6V and I have mine at 2.7 right now.

Any ideas?? I'm stumped and it's passed bedtime, gotta get up for work at 3:30am. See you in the morning.

I normally don't do this, but......BUMP

I don't know why you would be having different OC on your CPU...
Maybe someone smarter can awnser this.

maybe your putting too much stress on the chipset, 1x512mb before probably didnt do much to stress it, but 2x512mb, possibly in dual channel, not sure, is hurting your oc-ability as well. and those are hynix d5 chips, so they are binned at ddr500, so they should make ddr500 speeds. maybe bump the chipset voltage.

What were the timings of your old ram, and what are the timings you're using on the Kingmax? Did you test this memory in memtest and how did it do? Keep in mind this is K7 architecture which means it's not the best overclocking stuff out there. 230 and above on xpm systems is not bad at all...... Just because you buy memory that is rated to do 250fsb doesn't mean you're system will be able to accomidate it. The reason you're having all this trouble is the memory controller on K7 systems has a hard time with fsb. You may need to tinker around with the chipset voltage to get higher stability or perhaps you've maxed out your board already.....

I don't have a chipset voltage adjustment on this board. My old timings with the 512mbX1 Corsair were a bit odd as they were 2.5-4-4-8 the KingMax is 3-4-4-9. I can't fathom though why it was good at 207mhzX12.5 or 2588mhz completely stable or 207mhzX13 2691mhz at mostly stable, but 235X11 or 2585mhz seems to be all I can get now. That isn't bad, it's still 2.6ghz, but I should be able ti tighten the timings and it's showing up slower in cpu tests when it should be faster due to the increase in FSB, right?

i have good news and bad news for you.
the good news is your a good ocer.
the bad news is your system is hitting a wall.

the wall is caused by the your good ocing and you pushed it so far it just wont allow things to happen that they normaly would at lower mhz.
ive run into this many times myself as i always keep my cpu's until i find the last mhz it has to offer.and i always find when i get there i can never get my ram to run like it did during low cpu mhz testing.

some can be overcome by better chipset cooling,but mainly its the cpu just being overloaded.

best advice i can give is find a happy medium between cpu mhz and ram fsb and timings.
its just almost impossible to run both the ram and cpu at max oc's and get them to play nice together.

on my end i can do 2.6gh with my 754 cpu and my ram will do upto 235 2.0-2-2-5 but when added to such a high cpu oc i only can do 216fsb 2.0-2-2-5 on the ram.
so it even happens on other platforms.

i get rather dissapointed at times as this always seems to happen to me.but then i make myself relise its because im a good tweaker and have just went to far.

Isn't there a major issue with NF2 and 2x512 RAM? I know I had this problem with my NF7-s and had to switch a CPC off bios.

looks like there is no cpc-off option for the shuttle

2x512 and 1x512 is totally different. Just like 2x256 and 2x512, you can't compare the two. You will get different clocks. Try one stick at a time.

Looks like everyone has pretty much covered it Monster

The AN35N doesn't particularly like CAS3 nor does it like double sided 512mb sticks run in dual channel, single sided seem to fare much better but they are few & far between.

The AN35N NB/SPP chip is pretty flat but I found that a quick lap of the chip itself, the sink & adding a small quiet 50mm fan helped my OCs, make sure mosfets & voltage regulator are sinked as well. This is about all you can do w/o making some voltage mods to the board itself - its the lack of VDD & VDimm thats the real killer IMHO - the standard VDD voltage has been measured a few times @~1.7V which is higher than many boards but w/o an option for 1.8V & VDimm limited to 2.7V theres only so much that other quality components & an experienced OCer can do.

Either way you're doing well, I'm currently stuck at 2.6Ghz & 227FSB with my gear -the watercooling only seems to make things run cooler & quieter, haven't gained much headway yet.

Good Luck!

Regards, Balrog

Well, I've tried everything I can and it's not going to run 1mhz over 235mhz fsb. It also refueses to run at 2.5CAS so right now I've got the timings at 3-3-3-7 running dual channel. I tried single channel and dual performs better, I also tried changing timings around and have not yet tried below 3-3-3-7. Will any lower do any good?

Maybe you want to try the 3V vmod they have here, it doesn't seem to difficult:
http://www.rhcf.com/sisubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/32/108.html

Other than what Balrog said about better cooling the NB and maybe even the SB I don't know what to suggest other than an intensive and risky VDD mod.

Another thing to consider is the fact that Powmax isn't the most respected brand of power supply and perhaps you aren't getting enough power to run all your components at their individual max. Of course thats just conjecture, I'm not sure that a 580W PSU from any company should have trouble with an AXP system.

Well, seeing as how this ram is supposed to run at 250mhz at 2.6V, I think I'm chipset/cpu limited right now. Those guys on that site do some crazy stuff getting 3ghz mobiles will 300/600mhz fsb. I'm not that extreme. I'm going to concentrate on tweaking now. This setup is just to last me until the A62x2 becomes reasonable priced.

^^^ WOW deathstar, now that's something i've NEVER heard of when it comes to OCing, you should make a thread about that or soemthing, I had no idea that kinda thing happens.