M2N-SLI Deluxe and DDR2 800M

I recently purchased an M2N-SLI Deluxe and, among other things, a pair of Corsair XMS2 512MB DDR2 800 sticks. As Im sure will become clear very soon, this is my first build.

Anyway, I was going in to try some basic overclocking today and noticed that the memory seemed to be running much slower than I expected. The memory frequency was about 400MHz when I was expecting 800MHz. I pulled out the motherboard manual and tried to find the settings I thought would fix this issue, but everything Ive done so far has had no effect.

I changed "DDR2 Voltage Control" from 1.80V to 1.95V.
I changed "Memory Clock Frequency" from Auto to DDR2 800.
I changed "Tcl" from Auto to 5.
I changed "Trcd" from Auto to 5.
I changed "Trp" from Auto to 5.
I changed "Tras" from Auto to 15.

As you can see from the screen shots below, the memory frequency stayed at about 400 and the tRAS value didn't change to 15 on the slots (it remained at 18, the default value).





Any ideas what could be going wrong? Thanks for reading.

I have the same motherboard but different memory I had some issues of my own but I got them fixed but CPU-Z shows roughly the same thing and as far as I can recall, (This is a weak area for me) it is correct b/c it is DDR which basicaly means you would multiple the 400 by 2 to make it 800 but it just shows it's base.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong...but here is a screen of mine.

that is true ddr2 800 should run 400 mhz its 1/2 mhz

Remember, the whole memory divisor issue which needs to be a whole integer/even number, because of the 'Double Data Rate' meaning it will also be even. As example with my X2 4200 using 11 multi, 11/2 = 5.5 which gets rounded up to 6. So this is not the "ideal "cpu for overclocking with DDr2 but cost was right

When I set my memory frequency to 800, which is really 400, and you have a X2 4200 running at 2.2 (11x200), this will force the mem to run at 2200/400 = 5.5. Since this now gets rounded up it becomes 6 so your memory will run at 2200/6 = 367 , multiplied by 2 = 733. So in effect your memory multiplier is 5/6 even though you have set it to 1/1.

If you run a 12x200 (X2 4600) 2400 cpu, you would get 2400/400 = 6 which stays at 6 and so you do have a multiplier of 1/1.

Running my X2 4200 @ 218 x 11 it will be running right about 2400 and the memory will be running as close to 800.

For max memory frequency, a 4800 is the best shot,3800 will work as well just may not go as high all luck of the draw. 4400 gives one the best shot at a high cpu speed, since the memory is automatically underclocked a little.

With my 4200 I am running 11x250 using the DDR2800 mem setting. The best mem for this board appears to be the Corsair XMS2 PC6400C4 and the PC6400C3. I am using the 6400C4 and it will also run 4,4,4,12 at 800 but I have left it to auto but will play more.

Seems for me I have no luck at 260x10 no matter what I try but I can run 2750 and it is stable but I am forced to use DDR667 underclocking the mem further but scoring about 8400 in Sandra, if I could get to DDR800 I would get nearer 10K. Using DDR667 just makes you have to puch your cpu speed higher if you want to increase your bandwidth due to the handicap you are starting with

Hope this helps, btw I am using the same board rev 1.03g with the latest 0603 bios, so far I like it alot and it will be my main gear for a while......

Cisco Kid said:

Remember the memory divisor issue which needs to be a whole integer, because of the 'Double Data Rate' meaning it will also be even. As example with my X2 4200 using 11 multi, 11/2 = 5.5 which gets rounded up to 6.

When I set my memory frequency to 800, which is really 400, and you have a X2 4200 running at 2.2 (11x200), this will force the mem to run at 2200/400 = 5.5. Since this now gets rounded up it becomes 6 so your memory will run at 2200/6 = 367 , multiplied by 2 = 733. So in effect your memory multiplier is 5/6 even though you have set it to 1/1.

If you run a 12x200 (X2 4600) 2400 cpu, you would get 2400/400 = 6 which stays at 6 and so you do have a multiplier of 1/1.

When I run my X2 4200 @ 218 x 11 it is will be running right about 2400 and the memory will be running as close to 800.

For max memory frequency, a 4800 is the best shot 4800,3800 will work as well just may not go as high all luck of the draw. 4400 gives one the best shot at a high cpu speed, since the memory is automatically underclocked a little.

With my 4200 I am running 11x250 using the DDR2800 mem setting. The best mem for this board appears to be the Corsair XMS2 PC6400C4 and the PC6400C3. I am using the 6400C4 and it will also run 4,4,4,12 at 800 but I have left it to auto but will play more. Seems for me I have no luck at 260x10 no matter what I try but I can run 2750 but I am forced to use DDR667 underclocking the mem further but scoring about 8400 in Sandra, if I could get to DDR800 I would near 10K

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

ugg...that made my brain hurt...lol

Thanks for all the responses guys. Your answers helped a lot.

Someone please let me know if thisi s a good system? I just ordered these parts, should i have gone with Corsair memory instead?

Thanks

1 BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814143049 $144.50
2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148140 $189.98
1 ENERMAX EG651P-VE FM(24P) ATX 550W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817103437 $95.99
1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+(89W) Toledo 2.2GHz Socket 939 Processor Model ADV4400CDBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103626 $231.00
1 Pioneer 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Read Black ATAPI Model DVR-111D - OEM
Item #: N82E16827129001 $31.99
1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100008 $15.99
1 ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131011 $198.99
1 Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PDC22G6400LLK - Retail
Item #: N82E16820220144 $232.99

To answer your question NO1B4ME the s939 4400+ will not work in an AM2 board (to the best of my knowledge). I would check and make sure that you got an AM2 CPU to match the AM2 board. Other than that the system looks fine to me.

As for slugless I hope your questions got answered because I am not an AMD guru by any means. Although I do like the 4400+.

~jtjuska

jtjuska said:

To answer your question NO1B4ME the s939 4400+ will not work in an AM2 board (to the best of my knowledge). I would check and make sure that you got an AM2 CPU to match the AM2 board. Other than that the system looks fine to me.

As for slugless I hope your questions got answered because I am not an AMD guru by any means. Although I do like the 4400+.

~jtjuska

Click to expand...

Ohh man thanks for catching that. I cancelled the order, but don't know what to get now : (.

NO1B4ME said:

Ohh man thanks for catching that. I cancelled the order, but don't know what to get now : (.

Click to expand...

You want to get a AM2 Board & AM2 CPU & then you will need DDR2 memory & make sure it doesn't say for Intel Systems only b/c there are a few kits of RAM like that & have heard about people getting it for AMD systems & then when they realize what they did.

oh & BTW go with a eVGA video card, they are good products with superior warranty & tech support plus the stepup program.

If you are going with the AM2 setup and ASUS board, DO NOT get the PCZ platinum ram. It is incompatible.. actually, it is incompatible with many many boards. Stick with the corsair xms2 ddr2 800. great compatibility, and I have mine running at 543.5 or ddr2 1087 at stock voltage.