- Joined
- Jan 9, 2005
- Location
- Livonia, MI
Asus A8N-SLI Premium w/ Opty 170: Poor behavior with 2x1GB kit installed. Help pls!
I've had this A8N-SLI Premium mobo and Opteron 170 CPU for about a year now, and I have used 3 different memory kits, including 2x512MB Crucial Ballistix PC3200, 2x512MB Corsair VS PC3200, and 2x1GB Corsair VS PC3200. The behavior of the memory divider and overall board stability is completely different depending on which kit is installed, and it's driving me nuts!!!
The 2x512MB of Ballistix caused flaky behavior in that some of the memory dividers simply refused to work properly (DDR266 and DDR333), and I ended up having to severely underclock the memory using the DDR200 (1/2) divider in order to get most out of the CPU. However, the system was perfectly stable at those settings and I could always POST without a problem.
The 2x512MB of Corsair VS PC3200 has worked the best. It allowed me to use any memory divider while cranking up the CPU to 295x10, and it was rock-solid stable. This is what I had been using up until a few days ago when I decided that I needed 2 GB of memory. First I tried adding another 2x512MB of the same stuff for a total of 4x512MB, but the system was extremely unstable with the 4 modules, regardless of how much I lowered the memory speed and reduced latencies (including 2T). I returned the extra 2x512MB kit and instead got a 2x1GB kit of the Corsair VS.
To my dismay, the behavior of the system with only the 2x1GB kit installed is very erratic, and I have been unable to correct the problem by increasing voltages, lowering speeds, relaxing latencies, etc. The main symptom is a refusal to POST/boot properly while the CPU is heavily overclocked (even when memory is UNDERclocked). The strange thing is that *sometimes* it will POST and boot into Windows just fine, and Orthos seems to indicate that the system is stable. I can also play games without a problem. However, when I reboot there is a very good chance that it will hang at the POST screen. In this situation I usually have to lower my CPU speed to make it past the POST screen. I'm down to 260x10 right now, and I just don't understand why it's having trouble. As I stated before, I know this CPU is capable of close to 3 GHz, so there's obviously something about the memory that's giving it trouble. The memory divider is set to DDR200 (1/2) at 2T with its rated latencies, and I have bumped up the chipset and HTT voltages, CPU voltage, and VDimm. Nothing seems to help.
Can anyone give me some suggestions, or at least offer me an explanation as to why my system is acting so strange? Again, I am UNDERclocking the memory and running the CPU at speeds lower than what I know it can do.
I've had this A8N-SLI Premium mobo and Opteron 170 CPU for about a year now, and I have used 3 different memory kits, including 2x512MB Crucial Ballistix PC3200, 2x512MB Corsair VS PC3200, and 2x1GB Corsair VS PC3200. The behavior of the memory divider and overall board stability is completely different depending on which kit is installed, and it's driving me nuts!!!
The 2x512MB of Ballistix caused flaky behavior in that some of the memory dividers simply refused to work properly (DDR266 and DDR333), and I ended up having to severely underclock the memory using the DDR200 (1/2) divider in order to get most out of the CPU. However, the system was perfectly stable at those settings and I could always POST without a problem.
The 2x512MB of Corsair VS PC3200 has worked the best. It allowed me to use any memory divider while cranking up the CPU to 295x10, and it was rock-solid stable. This is what I had been using up until a few days ago when I decided that I needed 2 GB of memory. First I tried adding another 2x512MB of the same stuff for a total of 4x512MB, but the system was extremely unstable with the 4 modules, regardless of how much I lowered the memory speed and reduced latencies (including 2T). I returned the extra 2x512MB kit and instead got a 2x1GB kit of the Corsair VS.
To my dismay, the behavior of the system with only the 2x1GB kit installed is very erratic, and I have been unable to correct the problem by increasing voltages, lowering speeds, relaxing latencies, etc. The main symptom is a refusal to POST/boot properly while the CPU is heavily overclocked (even when memory is UNDERclocked). The strange thing is that *sometimes* it will POST and boot into Windows just fine, and Orthos seems to indicate that the system is stable. I can also play games without a problem. However, when I reboot there is a very good chance that it will hang at the POST screen. In this situation I usually have to lower my CPU speed to make it past the POST screen. I'm down to 260x10 right now, and I just don't understand why it's having trouble. As I stated before, I know this CPU is capable of close to 3 GHz, so there's obviously something about the memory that's giving it trouble. The memory divider is set to DDR200 (1/2) at 2T with its rated latencies, and I have bumped up the chipset and HTT voltages, CPU voltage, and VDimm. Nothing seems to help.
Can anyone give me some suggestions, or at least offer me an explanation as to why my system is acting so strange? Again, I am UNDERclocking the memory and running the CPU at speeds lower than what I know it can do.
