Need help with Biostar i45 and RAM issues.

[Flakbait]

Firstly, my system specs:

Mobo > TPower i45 / American Megatrends x080015
CPU & Cooler > Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 / Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler
MEMORY > 2x2gb PC8500 1066 Corsair Dominator DDR2 Ver 1.1 / 2x2gb PC8500 1066 Kingston HyperX DDR2
Power Supply > Tagan BZ series 700w
Video Card > Radeon HD 4870 1024mb
HDD's > 1xSeagate 1TB 3.5" 7200 RPM, 1xSeagate 1.5tb 3.5" 7200 rpm, 1xOCZ Vertex 4 120gb.
BURNERS > LG CD/DVD RW via IDE port
Sound Device > Onboard
USB > Razer Naga, Razer Blackwidow, Razer Megladons.
O/S > Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit. Soon to be 64 bit.

I am fairly new to overclocking, I had tinkered with the bios settings about a year ago when I had a more knowledgeable buddy helping me along, but of course like an idiot I did not write any of the BIOS settings down. That will not be a mistake that I make again. The system was running sound and stable for almost a year, with no issues. Until recently when the system would slow down severely when running multiple applications, etc. So I went out and bought another 4gb of RAM. Long story short, installed the new ram, the computer wouldn't boot past "starting windows" screen afterwards.

The RAM originally running in slots 1 and 3 was 2x2gb PC8500 1066 DDR2 Ver 1.1, Corsair Dominators. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to find any of the exact same RAM, so I purchased 2x2gb PC8500 1066 Kingston HyperX DDR2. I had installed different brands into builds before and never had an issue, I assumed that this instance wouldn't be any different.

Being fairly fuzzy on the topic, I naively loaded the BIOS defaults. With default settings it still would not boot with all four sticks of RAM. It will boot up just fine with either of the sets installed, as long as their are only two.

So is there anyway someone could help me get my machine up and running at 8gb with the current RAM that I have? Or would I be better off returning it and then paying an exorbitant rate for the Dominator RAM on ebay? I would also be extremely appreciative of any help that could be provided for getting my overclock back up and running again.

Sorry for spewing quite a bit, but I read on one of the FAQ's that the more info you can give, the better.

Thanks guys.

I attached a cpu-z .txt file as well encase any of the information I provided wasn't detailed enough.

 

[jazon1]

hmm it dont sound like those two sets like to play well together on that motherboard, you might just want to return the new set and buy two matching sets or keep the new set and buy another matching set.its also possible that one of your ram slots are bad.

 

[Flakbait]

hmm it dont sound like those two sets like to play well together on that motherboard, you might just want to return the new set and buy two matching sets or keep the new set and buy another matching set.its also possible that one of your ram slots are bad.

Hmmm, I am not sure about that. They are both supposed to run at 1066 with 5-5-5-15

When I drop the FSB down to 800 instead of 1066, the computer will boot. Changing the voltages does not seem to make any difference. So I have made at least some progress tonight, and doing a fair share of googling.

I also know that the ram sticks are fine, since I have memtest each of them, and also tried booting from each possible configuration of RAM / Ram slot.

So currently I am running the memory at 886mhz, and the FSB is at 800. Preferably I would like to get the ram runnning at 1066 if possible, does anyone have any ideas? If not, wouldn't it just be possible to overclock the rest of my computer and then it was in turn just push the ram harder? Is the best course of action to just put the ram down low, and then slowly bump up my FSB until it wont boot, then add a small amount of voltage, see if it boots, repeat? Then prim95 it for a few hours after that?

Thanks

 

[redduc900]

What's the rated voltage of each set, and what's the current setting? What's the current NB / Chipset voltage and FSB voltage w/ all 8GB installed, including the FSB(Bsel) To NorthBridge Latch at a FSB of 266MHz?

 

[Flakbait]

The kingston HyperX's rated voltage is 2.2v, and the Dominators is 2.1v, at least i am pretty sure that is the rated volatge as its printed on the ram. Currently the voltages set in the BIOS are:

Part Numbers pulled from CPUZ
Kingston - 2G-UDIMM with a serial number of 2A16C077
Corsair - CM2X2048-8500C5D the serial number field is blank.

CPU Voltage - 1.360
NB/SB voltage - 1.184
DDR2 Voltage - 2.192
FSB Voltage - 1.280

This is with the Multiplier set at x9, the CPU frequency is set at 333, the FSB Bsel To Northbridge Latch is set to FSB 1066, and the DRAM Frequency set at DDR2 999mhz.

The DDR2 RCOMP Configuration is set at - Configuration 3
Timings are set at 5-5-5-15.

At these settings the computer is booting, and was able to run Prime95 for the last 5 1/2 hours without any errors or concerning system temperatures processor is at 3.0ghz, but the ram is still not operating at 1066.

Thanks for the help, its appreciated.

 

[redduc900]

At a FSB of 333MHz change the strap from 266 (1066FSB) to 333 (1333FSB), this w/ the DRAM frequency set to DDR2-1066 (3.20 DRAM mult.); 5-5-5-18 and 2.2V (all sub-timings on Auto).

 

[Woomack]

@Flakbait
I think you will need some higher NB voltage to make them run on this board. If all 4 slots are working fine with both of these kits ( like single sticks only ) then you should be able to run all 4 sticks but on some higher NB voltage than stock ( can be 1.3V+ I don't really remember now ).
I was testing some ram on the same board some time ago -> http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=583842 . Mainly overclocking thread but maybe you will find some tips there.

 

[Flakbait]

@Flakbait
I think you will need some higher NB voltage to make them run on this board. If all 4 slots are working fine with both of these kits ( like single sticks only ) then you should be able to run all 4 sticks but on some higher NB voltage than stock ( can be 1.3V+ I don't really remember now ).
I was testing some ram on the same board some time ago -> http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=583842 . Mainly overclocking thread but maybe you will find some tips there.

I was also thinking about increasing the NB voltage, but I guess I am just slow. I don't see any option in the BIOS to directly increase the NB voltage...I will try the suggestion from redduc as soon as I get home in about 30 minutes.

 

[Woomack]

screenshot is in the link in my last post:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/151/bios4ei3.jpg/
that thing which is red ... well there is too high voltage for what you need but try about 1.3V if anything else won't help
iiik... that thread has 4 years .... probably you have some newer BIOS version but all should be called the same

 

[Flakbait]

Yeah, after many hours of tinkering I was able to get it stable. I ended up just under clocking everything else and working strictly on the RAM. Once the northbridge voltage was at 1.3 and the DDR voltage was bumped up to 2.2 I was able to get it running at 1066.

Then I went back and bumped up the CPU. It's currently running stable for the last 14 hours on prime 95 at 3.4ghz. Not bad for a little old 2.4ghz processor.

thanks for the help guys.

 

[jazon1]

glad you got it working=)