A8N32-SLI & Gskill PC4000 2x1GB kit

I have just finished my first computer build ever.
My first testing measure was to run Memtest86 v3.2.
I am getting about 5 errors in test #7 each run. The other tests passes without errors (mostly). By limiting the ramclock to 233MHz the errors disappear.
I wonder what could be causing this. I could think of three scenarios:

1) The autodetect feture isn't working properly.
Clearly this is the case with the timings, since I get 3-5-5-10 as opposed to the specified 3-4-4-8. Manually setting the tighter timings didn't help though.

2) The motherboard and RAM does not play well together.
I have seen some posts along these lines, but there are some guys here running the particular combination I have without complaints.

3) One or both RAM sticks are at fault.

What do you think about this?

I run that same memory and the same MB with zero problems, I had mine at 270mhz running 1:1 too. Check your memory, and what bios are you running (im running 1205)?

For some strange reason there where no errors when I ran memtest86 today.
However the reported CPU speed, L1 and L2 cache bandwidth where about
0.15% less than before. The RAM bandwidth was about 5% less. By running
on 1T as suggested in one of the stickies here, I was able to get 2973MB/s
with 250MHz. Is that what I should expect?
Anyway, thinking that some settings in the BIOS was causing the original
problem. Since I didn't change anything I thought the auto feature was
the explaination. To prevent future problems I udated the BIOS to latest version
(1205). Big mistake! To problem returned and was worse than ever. Instead
of getting 5 errors per pass I got about 100. Also the RAM clock doesn't matter. The errors does not only appear at 250MHz as before.
Do you think I am making some big mistake here, overclocking the memory
heavily without realizing that I do? Also I wonder how you could get 270MHz,
in principle. I can't find I way to go beyond 250MHz. Even on version 1205
you can't set the RAM clock any higher.
I'm going to do some final tests tomorrow, if there is no serious improvement
I'll have to return these sticks.

Wait before you do disable legacy USB in bios. I am running 250mhz at 1:1 and 1t at stock timings too. Also make sure your overvolt options arent selected in bios.

Zx2Slow said:

Wait before you do disable legacy USB in bios. I am running 250mhz at 1:1 and 1t at stock timings too. Also make sure your overvolt options arent selected in bios.

Click to expand...

Zx2Slow is probably spot on/correct...

USB legacy: disable...if enabled it WILL cause problems with Memtest and perhaps with RAM performance. More info about this at the Memtest support forums.

Try disabling legacy usb

I have the same setup as you, and when I first built the rig i had issues with the ram. I found out that this motherboard detects the timings wrong and i have seen even on other motherboard it wont detect the correct timmings it tries to use 2-5-5-10. Dominick Has a thread about this exact ram and if you look at his screen shots you will see a CPUZ screen showing these timings but they arent actually running at that.

But what I ended up doing was manually setting the ram to 3-4-4-8 and manually set it to 1T. Also about a 50/50 chance you will get a good overclocking set of this ram. Mine wont go much over 250mhz. Yours may be the same so if you have your FSB turned up turn your Ram down under the CPU options. Im running at 260FSB and have the Divider set to 183mhz.

hope this helps a bit.

Zx2Slow said:

Wait before you do disable legacy USB in bios. I am running 250mhz at 1:1 and 1t at stock timings too. Also make sure your overvolt options arent selected in bios.

Click to expand...

Ok, I disabled legacy USB but I didn't help. By mistake I discovered the
hardware monitoring tag. I got 47C at the CPU and 44C at the board running
idle.
By moving the CPU fan I reduced the CPU temp to 44C and the board temp
below 40C. That way the errors where reduced significantly. Now I can run at
233MHz 1T without errors. 250MHz is still not stable though.
I am not sure what you mean by overvolt options Zx2Slow. Since we have the same BIOS now you could be specific.

The are still a few questions that puzzles me.
1) I get around 3000MB/s at 500MHz. Is this normal? I guess the theoretical
max would be 4000MB/s, right?
2) Zx2Slow, you say you run at 270MHz. How? What is your RAM clock
setting. I have choose the RAM clock from a list, and there is nothing beyond
250MHz in that list.

Next I am going improve the cooling situation somewhat by removing a few
expansion cards and moving the GPU to the other PCIe slot. Thus I hope
I will get better airflow. Next I will test the RAM sticks one by one.

synthetic_fenix said:

I have the same setup as you, and when I first built the rig i had issues with the ram. I found out that this motherboard detects the timings wrong and i have seen even on other motherboard it wont detect the correct timmings it tries to use 2-5-5-10. Dominick Has a thread about this exact ram and if you look at his screen shots you will see a CPUZ screen showing these timings but they arent actually running at that.

But what I ended up doing was manually setting the ram to 3-4-4-8 and manually set it to 1T. Also about a 50/50 chance you will get a good overclocking set of this ram. Mine wont go much over 250mhz. Yours may be the same so if you have your FSB turned up turn your Ram down under the CPU options. Im running at 260FSB and have the Divider set to 183mhz.

hope this helps a bit.

Click to expand...

Sure enough, I had the same problem with the timings. I also set them
manually. I would guess 'the Divider' is that which is called 'RAM clock' in the BIOS.
So you got 183MHz for RAM clock and 260FSB. What is your resulting
RAM speed/bandwidth? (I guess you could tell I am a newbie asking this
sort of thing.)

Fred64 said:

Next I will test the RAM sticks one by one.

Click to expand...

Well, now I have done that. There where no errors at all.
The RAM bandwidth for one stick was 1877MB/s compared to
3086MB/s with both. Is this normal? I guess you should expect about
half when running one stick, but are these numbers not too low anyway
compared to dominicks 6000MB/s?
Since my numbers are from Memtest (not Sandra) I don't know.

Fred64 said:

Well, now I have done that. There where no errors at all.
The RAM bandwidth for one stick was 1877MB/s compared to
3086MB/s with both. Is this normal? I guess you should expect about
half when running one stick, but are these numbers not too low anyway
compared to dominicks 6000MB/s?
Since my numbers are from Memtest (not Sandra) I don't know.

Click to expand...

I believe my memory is running at like 245mhz and you would be at half because of the lack of dual channel running.