Kingston memory with Winbond BH-5 chips in DFI socket 939 motherboards

[Tech Tweaker]

I've been fighting to get a set of Kingston HyperX PC3500 memory to run in my DFI SLI-DR Expert motherboard lately.

This same memory runs flawlessly in my Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard, but has given me nothing but fits with my DFI SLI-DR Expert.

I tried running them in the Yellow slots as I had seen suggested in multiple forums (including this one), but that always resulted in a no-POST scenario regardless of timings, frequency, which slot I used, or voltage (I could volt these sticks to the moon and the system wouldn't POST).

With one stick configuration it wouldn't even attempt to load the OS, and in the other it would start to load the OS but ultimately crash the system shortly after starting to load.

It passes Memtest86+ just fine, but results in blue screens and lockups in the OS.

Anyone ever encountered a situation similar to this? Or has anyone ever gotten Kingston HyperX PC3500 BH-5 memory to run in a DFI board?

 

[jaymz9350]

I haven't tested them in another board yet but the set of kingston 3200 bh-5's I bought won't post in my ultra d either. Those dfi's can be really picky about RAM.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

I haven't tested them in another board yet but the set of kingston 3200 bh-5's I bought won't post in my ultra d either. Those dfi's can be really picky about RAM.

Nice to know I'm not alone.

Yeah, I'd heard they could be picky about RAM before, just never experienced any issues with that before myself.

Though I'd always mainly heard stories about DFI boards not liking Corsair memory, which is ironic because I use Corsair memory all the time and have never had any issue with any of their sticks (or models) not working in my boards (at least with sticks that were confirmed working in other boards). I've used TWINX1024-3200C2's, TWINX1024-3200XL's, TWINX1024-3200XLPRO's, TWINX2048-3200LLPRO's, etc. The chips on those have been Hynix D43, Infineon B-5/BE-5, Samsung TCCD, Winbond BH-5, BH-6 & CH-5, etc.

Up until now I'd never found a single stick or brand that my DFI boards didn't like, and I've ran Corsair, Hynix, Infineon, Kingston (other kits), OCZ, Patriot Memory/PDP Systems (The Patriot sticks didn't like my Asus or DFI boards, had to set timings manually to get them to run in either, as they didn't like Auto/Default timings.), Wintec, and probably a few others I can't recall at the moment.

Odd thing is I have another Kingston BH-5 kit here that runs flawlessly in the same system, but when I put this other kit in the difference is like night and day.

Really odd thing is this one particular kit that's having problems went through multiple passes of Memtest86+ at the sticks' default settings without a single error, but then when I get into the OS I get nothing but blue-screens and lockups.

What's up with that?

 

[Woomack]

I should get DFI/SLI + 2x256 HyperX PC3200 ( probably BH5 ) in some days so I will for sure check it. I got these HyperX for like $4 so I said why not. I won't cry if it won't run good as I was mainly looking for some better board for my Vitesta 566/TCCD which was limited by A8N-SLI at about 320MHz ( DDR620 ).
I remember that my old Ultra-D was working fine with BH-5 so maybe it's BIOS or some settings.

 

[WarHippy]

I have a Lanparty UTnF4 SLI-D board that i restored for my daughter. It's running Kingston KHX3500/512 433MHz Hyper X . I left the bios stock so it woulds be stable for her, but i had no problems with it.
Now, when i first bought the ram, I bought an ASUS A8N SLI board and it wouldn't post. Thinking it was the board failing, i returned it and bought a Gigabyte G8N (i think), and couldn't get it to post with the Kingston ram. Gigabyte told me it was incompatible with their boards because they didn;'t support 433 MHx. Kingston told me Gigabyte was full of crap, just install it at 400MHz. It still wouldn't post. I forget how I came across the Lanparty board, but the ram didn't affect the post in the least, i was tired of fighting the ram, so i let the bios configure the timing, and it works great.I did notice when i was building my last pc, their website is all about intel cpu support. I'm a diehard AMD supporter, even if I think their radeon video cards are trash. I've owned several and keep forgetting how many times I've sworn never to buy another. But, that's my experience with similar board/similar ram, i hope it helped

 

[Woomack]

I'm testing now 2x256MB HyperX 400@500 2-2-2-5 on SLI-D and so far it's passing memtest.

 

[WarHippy]

BIOS revisions probably accept a wider range of memory now, than when I tried to make this memory work. The sticks I have are 512mb each and that was about as big as you could buy then. Those two sticks cost me over $3oo , si I think around 2006 or 2005. But, my opinion of Kingston remains, they cater to intel chips with a couple grudging offers to the AMD world. I'll take my business to a memory supplier who wants to support the cpu I support

 

[Tech Tweaker]

I thought I would add on a little bit here to say that I have now tested this same Kingston BH-5 memory in a workstation at my workplace.

Not only did it run, it ran flawlessly even when paired with mis-matched memory modules of another model line (had to, 2x256MB sticks aren't enough for the OS and programs we run). Once I got the OS up and running I put them through their paces with some MaxxMem, SuperPi 1m, and Prime95. The computer they were in completed all of these benchmarks without any issues, even while being run with a completely different memory kit in the neighboring slots.

On another note, it seems as though my DFI SLI-DR Expert board just doesn't like memory with BH-5 chips, period. Three of the kits I've tested, though rated to run at their default timings (ranging from 2-2-2-6 to 2.5-3-3-8) with 2.5V, require 2.7V to remain stable (some requiring 2.7V just to run at all).

The best so far has been a Corsair TWINX512-3500C2 (2xCMX256A-3500C2) kit which ran its default timings of 2.5-3-3-8 with just 2.63V, tightening the timings up to 2-2-2-6 at 200MHz required a voltage bump up to 2.71V though.

It seems my board just doesn't like running BH-5 memory at 200MHz with 2-2-2-6 timings, loosen them up to something like 2.5-3-3-X and it runs beautifully with relatively low voltage though (at least on the Corsair kit).

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Okay, this board has a few weird quirks.

Some memory with BH-5 chips will run in the yellow slots just fine, some other brands won't even POST with memory in those slots though and just absolutely has to be in the orange slots.

Some Kingston BH-5 sticks will run just fine in the yellow slots, some other Kingston memory won't run properly in either orange or yellow (but do better in orange for whatever reason), Corsair memory doesn't seem to mind either unless you want a 1T Command Rate (in which case I had to use the orange slots, or else the system won't POST), Mushkin memory is the same story because as it will run fine in the yellow slots or orange, only the orange slots will allow it to run with a 1T Command Rate.

 

[Woomack]

On most DFI/NF4 you have to use orange slots as 1st. I have exactly the same on my board.
Also on most BH5/6/CH5 you have to use 2.6V+ to make it stable on 400/2-2-2-5. Most actually have 2.6V on the label. Even if you have Winbond BH/CH then it doesn't mean that you will make CL2-2-2. Actually most cheaper kits on BH/CH 5/6 were quite bad for OC or needed much higher voltage but if you have specs on label then it should run with these timings and clock.
Did you check if your corsairs are really BH5 ? There were many on Promos and other IC and at least 3 different IC in 400 2-2-2.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

On most DFI/NF4 you have to use orange slots as 1st. I have exactly the same on my board.
Also on most BH5/6/CH5 you have to use 2.6V+ to make it stable on 400/2-2-2-5. Most actually have 2.6V on the label. Even if you have Winbond BH/CH then it doesn't mean that you will make CL2-2-2. Actually most cheaper kits on BH/CH 5/6 were quite bad for OC or needed much higher voltage but if you have specs on label then it should run with these timings and clock.
Did you check if your corsairs are really BH5 ? There were many on Promos and other IC and at least 3 different IC in 400 2-2-2.

Yep, I'm sure.

All XMS3500C2 modules are based Winbond -5 Rev B IC's.

 

[WarHippy]

Corsair's XMS memory was my choice after the Kingston failure, and I never had a problem with any that I bought.On the flip side, after failing to get their Vengeance or Dominator sticks to run as indicated, I went to their forums and was told that it was because of my AMD cpu, that the memory wouldn't post at the rated speed. In my opinion, they've turned to the dark side, and want the world to embrace Intel

 

[Woomack]

I can't complain for Dominator series. All my sticks are running even better on AMD/FX than on Intel/IB but Vengeance series just look cheap and there are little problems with some kits on AMD ... well you can always set everything manually and it will work fine

Back to DDR1. I always had best BH5 in HyperX and I never had luck to Corsair. Also there were lot of other ICs in Corsair DDR-400 kits. Many were on Promos that look nice on rated 2-2-2 timings but are not overclocking so good. Almost all Corsair sticks that I see on auctions now are on Promos IC.