RAM compatibility issue

[Navyblue]

I have 4 pieces of value DDR RAM:

- 1 x Kingston 512 MB DDR400 CL3
- 1 x Kingston 256 MB DDR400 CL3
- 2 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5

I am using it on a Gigabyte K8NS Nforce3 250 chipset with AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (socket 754). It has 3 RAM slots.

Below are the result of putting the above RAMs in the various combination:

1 x Kingston 512 MB DDR400 CL3
or
1 x Kingston 256 MB DDR400 CL3
or
1 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5

They run at DDR400 as claimed. All is fine with one single piece.

1 x Kingston 512 MB DDR400 CL3 and 1 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5
or
1 x Kingston 512 MB DDR400 CL3 and 2 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5
or
1 x Kingston 256 MB DDR400 CL3 and 1 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5
or
1 x Kingston 256 MB DDR400 CL3 and 2 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5

They run at DDR333 despite all RAM are rated at DDR400. I guess there is some compatibility issue by mixing different brands. However, On another Gigabyte board which runs Intel Pentium 4 I have no problem mixing different brands and still runs at DDR400. Weird but still no biggies. Here are the real problem:

1 x Kingston 512 MB DDR400 CL3 and 1 x Kingston 256 MB DDR400 CL3
or
2 x Cordair 256 MB DDR400 CL2.5

The system won't even boot. I thought that it would be ideal by matching the brand. As I don't have a third piece of Kingston or Corsair so I don't know if they would work if I put 3 RAMs of the same brand. Again on another Gigabyte board which runs Intel Pentium 4 I have no problem.

Any sane explaination here? Is there any BIOS missetting that would lead to this?

Thank you for reading.

 

[avalanche83]

This DFI board is real picky about ram. One of the slots on mine is no good. That could possibly be what is happening on yours. Another thing is that it is suppose to support 3Gb at DDR333 but says nothing about having all three slots filled. I think doing it that way automatically sets it to DDR333.

BTW. Have you tried flashing to Tic Tac's 5/4 BIOS? It adds memtest 86+ and vdimm up to 4v. with some volt modding.

 

[Navyblue]

I guess the reason of running at DDR 333 is because all banks are filled. I'm sort of okay with that. but why can't I put two RAMs of the same brand (even identical) together?

What do you mean by one of your bank is no good? care to describe the symptoms?

 

[avalanche83]

I ran one stick in all three slots and found that the second slot produced errors and the other two was good. I have been trying to run both of my 2 x 512mb Ballistix at 300MHz and having no luck in Single channel. Switching from the bad slot in mine didn't help either.

 

[Navyblue]

Your problem seemed similar to mine. I thought my second slot was bad too, coz when I put the second piece of RAM (of the same brand) the system won't start. But it proved me wrong when it actually runs as long as the second piece is not the same brand as the first one. Firmware problem?

Do you have a link to Tic Tac's 5/4 BIOS? Would it help anything?

 

[avalanche83]

Edit: I thought you had the DFI NF3. Sorry about that. The Tic Tac BIOS that I was talking about wasn't for the Gigabyte. I guess I misread your post.

Either way you could make a bootable copy of memtest 86+ and test your ram that way. It will give you a quick and easy way to fine tune your ram and you will know within a couple of seconds whether your ram is stable or not.

 

[Navyblue]

Yup I have the memtest86. As long as the system got boot up I have no problem passing the etst after some tweaking, However, the problem is it won't boot at all.

 

[avalanche83]

I guess that is an even quicker indication .