A8V-Deluxe w/ Crucial Ballistix DDR500

OK, so I read a lot of different things about this ram......
Im wondering if anyone can give me a heads up as to where the source of my problem could be coming from.
My understanding is that this ram is not very compatible with this mobo. But some other guys specs and reviews with different hardware leads me to believe that the ram isnt really the source of the issue. While still on the ram topic, I have noticed that this stuff runs extremely hot to the touch so my plans are to custom make a frame that will support 2x 60mm fans directly above the ram banks. I have rigged a dodgy 80mm at the moment and the finger test has reduced heat drasticaly! Could this heat issue be a cause unstability?

Anyway, Im also wondering, the bios.....it seems that if asus got off their arse and provided correct support for the ram things would be utopian.

Reason being is I can oc my cpu well with dividers and standard DDR400 frequencies. But with any configuration the ram becomes unstable at anything 230Mhz and above

Even though I so want to get the ram running at its rated DDR500 specs, in the long run its not a huge issue as I did only pay $188 for 2GB (4x512MB) of the stuff and stabily its a great impovement over my replaced Corsair ValueSelect DDR400.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated

I assume you found this thread discussing the incorrect memory divider settings in BIOS versions 1012 and higher? I was able to run 255x10 with a 5:6 divider on that board, but my original Ballistix modules were defective and couldn't run much faster than 220 MHz. I RMA'd the modules and the replacements can do 265+ MHz with 2.85V, albeit I never tried to reach those speeds on the A8V Deluxe board.

hmmmmm, no i havent read that thread, thx. after reading that my thoughts are, even if the dividers are screwed up, that shouldnt stop the ram from being clocked to their rated speed, correct? btw i am running the latest 1018.001beta bios. i am a little confused as you mention "BIOS versions 1012 and higher" above, but in the link it is suggested "1011 through 1014". What is your recommended bios ver from experience, 1009 or 1010? I am happy to try whichever.
I will also memtest each module to eliminate the fault being there........
I only want to get them running at DDR500 and no more, which is why i got them.
thx

also just a quicky, as i mentioned before, is this stuff meant to operate at such a high deg temp? (never had any ram other than standard before)

OptiK said:

hmmmmm, no i havent read that thread, thx. after reading that my thoughts are, even if the dividers are screwed up, that shouldnt stop the ram from being clocked to their rated speed, correct? btw i am running the latest 1018.001beta bios. i am a little confused as you mention "BIOS versions 1012 and higher" above, but in the link it is suggested "1011 through 1014". What is your recommended bios ver from experience, 1009 or 1010? I am happy to try whichever.
I will also memtest each module to eliminate the fault being there........
I only want to get them running at DDR500 and no more, which is why i got them.
thx

also just a quicky, as i mentioned before, is this stuff meant to operate at such a high deg temp? (never had any ram other than standard before)

Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant to say versions 1011 through 1014, and I think I tested 1015 as well and it did not correct this problem. However, once I got my new mobo, I stopped following what was going on with the A8V BIOS versions. But you are right: assuming you know what the memory dividers are doing, hopefully you can run your memory at 250 MHz. If you keep memory at 1:1, make sure your CPU has enough voltage to remain stable. The best thing to do would be to take the CPU stability out of the equation by decreasing CPU multiplier before you raise the HTT. Make sure that the Hypertransport is set to 800 (4x), or 600 (3x) if you go above 250 MHz HTT.

My A8V Deluxe shipped with BIOS 1009, which doesn't OFFICIALLY support Venice cores. However, that BIOS seemed to work okay, and the memory dividers were labeled correctly. There were a few small bugs that prompted me to switch to 1014, including a CPU fan warning that would always appear because my Big Typhoon spins at a speed lower than the threshold. I can't remember the other bugs offhand, but I can tell you that I didn't notice a big difference in overclockability with the later BIOS versions.

I have always heard that the Ballistix modules run very hot, especially when overclocked/overvolted, but I actually have never touched mine while running. It's probably not a bad idea to rig up some active cooling like you suggest. Remember that the default voltage for these modules is 2.8V, so make sure the BIOS is feeding them adequate voltage. You have the right idea: use Memtest86 to determine the capability of each module. Good luck.

I am looking for a 1010 bios file if anyone could provide. It seems to have disappeared from existance if it ever did exist. The BIOS hosting in the A8V-D sticky is not operational so any help with that would be appreciated.

I am going to wait until I get some sort of cooling mod rigged up for the ram, just need to wait for my dual 60mm fans to arrive then making a custom mount for them to do further testing.
I happened to get my hands on an Infrared Thermometer and tests were as follows in relation to ram temps:
With bios specs of: 220HTT x10.0 2:1(DDR400) 2.5-4-4-10 2.8V MBtemp@71degF
--0%Load w/ no air flow = 110.5degF
--0%Load w/ air = 97.5degF
--100%Load w/ no air flow = 121.5degF
--100%Load w/ air = 101degF

Pretty interesting outcome. I would think that with a better setup the temps would drop even more drastically. Maybe a good reason for individuals to look into it further and at least prolong the life of your modules.
I will retest the temps when I get something more accurate rigged up!

Still need to memtest each module as well...........

OK, so I have sorted my head around all the variables that come with overclocking. One of my main issues was the relationship of HTL to FSB. I see the issue in full as to where the bios is incorrect in what it displays as a memory divider. So if I could ask, when I setup the bios and run memtest, it gives me a reading of DDR500 but in CPU-z it gives a reading of DDR450 I should be taking memtest for being the correct reading???
Also I have memtested my modules and am a little confused at the outcome. (all tests done at DDR500 2.5-4-4-10(the rated timings)) First I tested all 4, 512 modules and in the first pass it gave me errors. I then removed 2 modules and ran the test again, same deal with the errors. So I took the A1 module out and ran test again only to get a clean test after 2 passes! The conclusion is that all modules tested without errors at 250Mhz Single Channel (64bit) but when I run any combination of 2 sticks it returns errors.
the only difference I can see is the mention of Single and Dual Channel @ 64bit and 128bit respectivley, why would this be? Anyone have any solution or info as to why?

Cheers

It seems that the VIA chipset really sucks ***! Reason being I ran the Ballistix modules in an ASRock DualSATA2 and they OCed to DDR500 within about 30 mins of playing around in the bios.
Therefore I have purchased one of these boards and will rid of this expensive piece of crap soon after........
Gotta love how a $70 mobo can out perform a $140.
Lesson learnt!!!!