About A-Data Vitesta DDR2 800+ Extreme 2GB Dual Kit

Hello!

I just bought myself a new system which looks like this:

CPU: E6750 (stock cooling)
MB: GA-P35-DQ6
RAM: A-Data Vitesta DDR2 800+ Extreme 2GB Dual Kit
Video: Palit 8600GT Sonic+
PSU: Corsair HX 620 W
HDD: WD 320GB
Case: Antec P182

...and I thought maybe you can help me understand smth. about my RAM and give me some advice about it and also maybe an overclocking advice... So... This RAM is advertised with 4-4-4-12 timings but it runs by default with 5-5-5-18 timings. I remember that I read somewhere that it works with 4-4-4-12 only if I increase the voltage from bios with 0.40 to reach 2.2v. My mobo doesn't show the voltages but I think it is 1.8v default for RAM. I didn't have the balls to give it 0.40v. Instead I increased it with 0.20 to 2.0v and now it works with 4-4-4-12 without crashing on startup. Still I get occasional BSODs in Windows (IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL) though I'm not sure that it's because of RAM. I'd be grateful if someone could tell me which is the correct voltage for my RAM or... what should I do.
About overclocking... do you think that I could hit 3GHz on my config. with stock cooling and with this RAM (since I can modify only the FSB...)?
I hope it's not too much... Thank you!

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to hit 3GHz... Those P35 boards can hit high fsb's pretty easily from what I've seen.

Post some CPU-Z shots. Show all the tabs.

your right that the mb defaults the memory voltage to 1.8v.i wouldnt sweat upping the voltage to 2.2v.i really dont care for the way gigabyte configures their memory bios options.it would be so much easier on the user to simply state the voltage rather than the possible increases.
anyhow lol.you are likely getting the bsods because your memory is undervolted.once you increase the voltage you should be golden.
thats a solid rig btw.

Here they are:
I don't think that I might destroy the mobo with a 2.2v setting but I might destroy the RAM. I'm not sure about which the correct voltage is for this type of RAM.

Your multi is too low. (Should be 8) Change your CPU multiplier to 8 instead of six. You won't kill your ram. If you want to be on the safe side you can up the voltage to 2.1.

Should be fine.

rainless said:

Your multi is too low. (Should be 8) Change your CPU multiplier to 8 instead of six. You won't kill your ram. If you want to be on the safe side you can up the voltage to 2.1.

Should be fine.

Click to expand...

The multi is low because of some new technology... It saves power. If I need more speed it jumps from 2000 to 2666 (6 to 8). Maybe I'll try that value (2.1v) though I'm a bit scared... For 3GHz CPU speed which will be my RAM settings?

Nyck26 said:

The multi is low because of some new technology... It saves power. If I need more speed it jumps from 2000 to 2666 (6 to 8). Maybe I'll try that value (2.1v) though I'm a bit scared... For 3GHz CPU speed which will be my RAM settings?

Click to expand...

You just need to set it to be at a 1:1 ratio with the CPU (it's labeled 2.0 in Gigabyte's bios... which I much prefer to Asus btw... )

Then you change your FSB to about 375. That should get you 3ghz.

Don't worry about the voltage. If your system is crashing its because it's already unstable. I'd be more worried about damaging something because of that.

Can you be more explicit about that ratio thing? How can I modify it? I thought it changes automatically when you modify fsb/multiplier values...
I modified the voltage from BIOS (+0.25) and Hardware Sensors Monitor shows 2.13v and it still doesn't smell like burnt electronics. My RAM could get damaged in time though if this is too much.
I also tried to overclock (375fsb and 2.1v for RAM - this means 900MHz for RAM) but the system crashed in Windows.

Do you see how it says FSB;DRAM 5:6 in your 2nd CPU-Z screenshot? You want it to say 1:1. There is a BIOS option called DRAM...something (I can't remember, but it's relatively close to the top of that BIOS page...not near the bottom like the voltages). It's a memory multiplier....not the same as the CPU multiplier. The memory multiplier has options like 2.0, 2.4, 2.5,..., 4.0. The CPU multiplier has options 6, 7, 8. Set the memory multiplier to 2.0. Your RAM should then be at 750MHz instead of 900MHz.

jason4207 said:

Do you see how it says FSB;DRAM 5:6 in your 2nd CPU-Z screenshot? You want it to say 1:1. There is a BIOS option called DRAM...something (I can't remember, but it's relatively close to the top of that BIOS page...not near the bottom like the voltages). It's a memory multiplier....not the same as the CPU multiplier. The memory multiplier has options like 2.0, 2.4, 2.5,..., 4.0. The CPU multiplier has options 6, 7, 8. Set the memory multiplier to 2.0. Your RAM should then be at 750MHz instead of 900MHz.

Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself. (And it's very rare that I'll admit that )

My ram is rated for 2.2V, and I've run it at 2.5 before. I'm not suggesting that you go to 2.5V, just know that 2.2V is nothing.

Ok. I've done that. Now the ratio is 1:1. Could someone explain to me (i'm noob, I know) the benefits of such a ratio? Thank you!
Edit: Yea... I hit 3GHz no problem. CPU stays 50 degrees C and under while running Prime95 and playing a 2D game. Pretty cool, eh?

Good job.

It's me again. Today I've just had another BSOD after a week of stability. I noticed that it is very likely to happen after I open a number of videos in Youtube and it always happen at the moment when I click the link. The error is IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL. The system is not overclocked, the memory runs at 4-4-4-12 timings and 2.13v (reported by Hardware Sensors Monitor). I have no problems with games, no BSODs at all even after hours of gaming. So everything is stock, temperatures are fine 30/40. I have Windows XP freshly installed. What could it be?

Nyck26 said:

It's me again. Today I've just had another BSOD after a week of stability. I noticed that it is very likely to happen after I open a number of videos in Youtube and it always happen at the moment when I click the link. The error is IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL. The system is not overclocked, the memory runs at 4-4-4-12 timings and 2.13v (reported by Hardware Sensors Monitor). I have no problems with games, no BSODs at all even after hours of gaming. So everything is stock, temperatures are fine 30/40. I have Windows XP freshly installed. What could it be?

Click to expand...

My first thought was a bad video driver but you can play games just fine. Youtube videos don't really stress anything about your system. Very odd....

Ok... I tested again by opening around 20 videos in Youtube consecutively and surprise (or not?), I can trigger the BSOD. The only thing left to do was to check out my memory settings again and I found two things that might have an impact. In BIOS there is a setting for memory dll or something and it was set to Option1. I switched it to Option2. And since I had to manually modify the settings in order to achieve advertised timings, I overlooked something. There is a certain setting called "Refresh to ACT Delay" which is set to 42 by default. But when I switched to manual it was automatically set to 0 (zero), so I changed that to 42. I don't know if these two things will make a difference but I kind of ran out of ideas so any help is much wanted and appreciated.

I guess I found which the problem is. There seems to be an incompatibility between Firefox 2.0 and Outpost Firewall 4.xx. So I have to choose between changing my browser or my firewall. For now I decided to try Opera. It looks better than Firefox and is certainly much faster. I tested again with Youtube and so far everything runs smoothly. However thank you for trying to help me. This was not a common issue. I hope BSODs are gone for good.