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P5AD2 Premium Compatibility Issue


dpatch24

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I have recently assembled a system containing a P5AD2 premium mobo. The system also includes Corsair 2x512 DDR, XMS2 memory (Twin2x512-5400C4). The mobo's BIOS let's you configure the memory to run at DDR2-400, DDR2-533, and DDR2-600. This is where I have encountered a problem. I tried setting DDR2-400 and the system ran fine. The CPUZ program detected a 200MHz memory speed (effectively DDR2-400). I tried setting DDR2-533 and the system ran fine. The CPUZ program detected a ~267MHz memory speed (effectively DDR2-533). I then tried setting to DDR2-600 and the system ran fine. HOWEVER, the CPUZ program detected the same ~267MHz memory speed. This should have been ~300MHz. I'm trying to figure out what the issue is here. The Corsair modules are rated for up to DDR2-667. Some websites have even mentioned being able to oc these chips to near DDR-750. Has anyone encountered any similar problems with this motherboard/memory configuration? My BIOS version is 1004.007. All the hardware websites mention running their boards on a BETA 1005.002 version. I'm wondering if I just need to wait for the new BIOS release? I have asked Asus for help, but they haven't provided any good answers. I can't find the Beta BIOS anywhere. Also, I have tried running a memory bandwidth test with SiSoftware Sandra and noticed that the DDR2-600 results were almost the same as the DDR2-533 setting. So far, I have only been able to achieve the best results by using a DDR2-533 setting and overclocking the FSB. However, my system freezes before I can ever reach an overclocked level of DDR2-600 or more. It seems to me that the BIOS is not applying the 2:3 ratio it is supposed to use under the DDR2-600....instead its using the 3:4 ratio of DR-533. __________________ My System: Cooler Master Praetorian Case Enermax 425 Watt Noisetaker Asus P5AD2 Premium Mobo Intel P4 530 3.0E 1M LGA775 Corsair 1GB (2x512) DDR2, XMS2 PC5300 Cheesey GeForce 4 MX 4000 PCI Video Card Western Digital SATA WD1200JD 7,200 RPM HD Lite-On 16X DVDROM
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  • 2 weeks later...
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Shouldn't have to oc for 600MHz..the ASUS board offers 400MHZ (1:1), 533MHz (3:4), AND 600MHZ (2:3) modes. Yes, to get to 667MHz..I would have to overclock..but thats not what Im trying to do here...I just want to get to 600MHz per the offered setting. I have spoken with ASUS tech support and they have concluded that there is a compatibility issue. So it seems that the Corsair memory I have is not good for DDR2-600 mode on an ASUS P5AD2 motherboard. The only option is 533 with a big overclock..which I dont have a sufficient cooling solution to handle such a resultant OC on my processor. __________________ My System: Cooler Master Praetorian Case Enermax 425 Watt Noisetaker Asus P5AD2 Premium Mobo Intel P4 530 3.0E 1M LGA775 Corsair 1GB (2x512) DDR2, XMS2 PC5300 Cheesey GeForce 4 MX 4000 PCI Video Card Western Digital SATA WD1200JD 7,200 RPM HD Lite-On 16X DVDROM
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  • Corsair Employee
Well if the modules will run at 667 MHz (And all of our modules are tested on a MB at the rated speed before they leave our factory); I fail to see how that is a compatibility issue! That would suggest a bios problem to me or maybe the program you have is not able to detect that setting! In any case that would be up to the MB maker to define any setting not defined by the Chipset maker! I would say whom ever you spoke too at ASUS may not have fully tested this MB!
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  • 3 weeks later...
I agree with dpatch24 to 100%! I have exactly the same problem. Here is a mail I sent to ASUS which has got no reply yet: ---------- Incoming Message ---------- Apply date : 9/11/2004 10:30:44 AM [Product Information] *Product Type : Motherboard *Product Model : P5AD2 Premium *Product S/N : 47ZG022427 Place of Purchase : *Date of Purchase : 2004/9/3 [Motherboard Specification] *Motherboard Revision : 1.xx *Motherboard BIOS Revision : 1005 [VGA Card Specification] *VGA Card Vendor : ASUS *VGA Card Model : EAX600XT HDTV *VGA Card Chipset : 1.xx *VGA Card Driver : ASUS driver 8.03 [CPU Specification] *CPU Vendor : Intel *CPU Type : Intel P4 520 Socket 775 *CPU Speed : 2.8GHz [Memory Specification] *Memory Vendor : Corsair *Memory Model : DDR2 CM2X512-5300C4 667MHZ *Memory Capacity : 2x512MB [HDD Specification] HDD Vendor : HDD Model : HDD Capacity : [Add-on Card Specificatio] Add-on Card Vendor : Add-on Card Type : Add-on Card Model : *Operating System : Windows XP [Problem Description] Hi there! I have written to you a few days ago with a problem I had but I got a totally different answer then the one I was looking for. This is what I wrote: I can not set the memory speed to 600MHz+!!! In the BIOS i have tried many different settings to get my memory to use it´s full potential of 667MHz. Among the settings I have tested are Manual (FSB:200/MEM:600 and FSB:220/MEM:660) and Overclocking profile (FSB:222/MEM:666) but when I look at the CPU-Z and other tools in Windows the FSB is showing the correct value (200-225 depending on overclocking preference) but the Memory is not. It is showing between 266 and 293MHz (533 and 586MHz memory speed). I was expecting the memory to show a value between 300 and 330??? Why is this? I have also tried to input the CAS and RAS values manually but it still shows the same. I have also tried different revisions of BIOS, but no result. The BIOS seems to get that it is PC-5300 memory modules installed because it says so on the post- screen. Help me please!!! PS. The CPU-Z tool also reports the ratio FSB:DRAM to be 3:4. DS. And this is the answer I´ve got: :sigh!: Yes, Dual-Channel Symmetric/Asymmetric mode will be enabled even with different speeds of DDR2 installed. Intel 925X/915P chipset will automatically take the speed of the lower frequency of the two DIMMs and downgrade the DIMM with higher frequency to that frequency. (Example: DDR2 533 + DDR2 400 = Dual-Channel at DDR2 400 speed ; DDR2 600 + DDR2 533 = Dual-Channel at DDR2 533 speed) But this is not what I was asking for! I have a matched pair of corsair DDR2 CM2X512-5300C4 667MHZ modules and even though I set the memory speed to 600MHZ at the manual overclocking options or Overclocking profile (FSB:222/MEM:666), it only goes at 533MHZ (or 2x266MHZ as CPU-Z show it). Why is this happening??? If the DIMMs are supporting well beyond 600MHZ and my BIOS recognize them as PC-5300 modules, what is the problem? Why does it not set the speed to 600MHZ if everything is compatible? Is there some other settings I have to make for this to work? Refer to the start of this message to see what I wrote in my previous message. I am very pleased with my ASUS products and the staff who replies to my mail and I hope that you can solve this problem for me. Thank you very much, Fredrik from Sweden And that was the end of my mail to ASUS. Why this problem??? The BIOS recognize the memory modules as PC-5300 and I can set the speed to 600 (or 667 when overclocking) but cpu-z tell me that it only goes 533-586! Is there another program equivalent to cpu-z that can give me a second opinion (cpu-z might be wrong, but I don´t think so). I hope someone comes up with a solution for this problem soon!!! I did not pay a lot of cash just to run the modules on a near-idle speed! Thank you for having this problem as well. Now i´m not alone. :laughing:
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  • Corsair Employee
The chipset spec would call for the memory to be set at 4200 speed with an 800 FSB CPU. And inorder to get the modules to run at their rated speed you would need to be able to over clock your CPU to 250MHZ is all I can tell you. If a bios setting is not working when it's set that would as I posted before suggest a Bios issue and not a memory problem!
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I just have to tell you that I have upgraded the BIOS to 1006.005! There is no improvement. Still 533 MHz speed. I am thinking of writing an E-mail to the makers of CPU-Z... Maybe [U]they[/U] are wrong... Hmmm... I should also tell you that I have tried a lot of programs besides CPU-Z since yesterday and none of them could tell me the mem-speed. Only CPU-Z could! If you guys hear anything, write it as soon as possible. I have attached my CPU-Z screenshots. To moderator/editor: sorry for the personal info, I just copied the entire mail.
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Yeah, I've been using version 1006 as well. There is no improvement. This is just going to be something that we have to bug ASUS with until maybe they do something. However, I fear little is likely to get done until a large number of people actually start using the P5AD2 Premium. Whether or not that is likely anyway..I don't know....I think most people might just wait for a mobo that supports 1060MHz FSB native. In any case, this issue sucks. Also, I doubt CPUZ is wrong. I have tested with other tools and compared memory bandwidth between both memory settings. The performance was the same.
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Hi! I have written to [email]tsd@asus.com.tw[/email] with a detailed description of our problem and given them the links to the thread of this forum. They have got to be able to change something in the software of the BIOS to make this work! I don´t think it´s a hardware issue. We can only wait and see... :sigh!:
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  • Corsair Employee
Please let us know how you make out! However, I would try this too see if the memory will run at that speed. CPU External Frequency: Manually set to 225MHz DDR2 SDRAM Clock: Manually set to 533MHz (3 to 4) Divider = 600 MHz DRAM Timing Selectable: Auto Yields the following timings SDRAM CAS Latency: 4T SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 4T SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 4T SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 12T DDR2 SDRAM Voltage: 1.9 This setting was implemented to add support for 533 FSB CPU's and with an 800 FSB CPU it will not run stable according too what we have seen as the chipset is optimized for the 3-4 divider setting with an 800 FSB CPU, where as the older I875 chipset would only run DDR400 with and 800 FSB CPU!
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Of course it works, I have tried higher speed settings as well. I have had the cpu speed a little bit beyond 3.6GHz and the memory up to 660MHz but it gets hot if you dont set the fan speed to 100%. And the case here is that I don´t want to overclock. I would like to use the native support of 600MHz. And if that native support of FSB to RAM ratio of 2:3 should start working, then I would overclock a couple of % to get the full potential of 667MHz+ without having to burn my CPU. Take a look at my screenshots that I have taken after applying the settings you told me. It works fine. But as I said... I want the native support to work! I think you are really helpful and I hope ASUS replies to me (us) very soon.
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My system actually freezes at 218MHz. I haven't been able to figure out what is causing it to happen. I made sure to set the PCI bus to run at a fixed 33.3 MHz. I have also tried fixing the PCI Express Bus at 100 MHz as well. What's funny is that my system actually freezes at less than 218 MHz if I have the PCI Express bus fixed at the native 100 MHz . This made no sense to me at all. The only reason why I tried fixing the PCI Express Bus is because ASUS designed the hard drive controllers with connection to that bus. I figured an oc on this bus would cause instability. It seems that leaving it fixed is worse than letting it oc...strange. I'm using an ATI X800 XT video card which is supposed to handle an oc'ed PCI Express bus quite well....so I didn't even worry about that.
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i have the p5ad2 premium also and the same memory as [B]Dpatch24[/B] i have had 3 of the p5 premiums and aqlmost 4 weeks of support from asus until one tech told me it was a memory error and settings had to be set manually. i was trying kingston gig kit first and it wouldnt even boot wiyh one stick. i can now get the board to boot after trying 3 sufficent power supplies 3 processors 3 vid cards (2 pci 1 pci-e(my x800)) . but i can only run single channel ram i can use both of the left dimms yellow and black or one or the other but if i use yellow and yellow or black and black it wont boot at all. i have even put all the setting in manually with help from corsair tech support. who was trying to say this memory is not compatible but corsair recommended it to me this has been a frickin nightmare i wish i had just bought the Abit any ideas why i cant run duel channel?
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  • Corsair Employee
Frostea, If the modules will run one up or with both modules in single channle, but will not post when in dual channel, that would suggest a MB or CPU problem. Can a friend maybe help you test the memory and CPU in another MB? frpe82 No worries mate, just trying to be clear! I am not sure that even if you can set the memory at 600 FSB with a 800 FSB CPU you may see some loss in memry performance. Like you would when running a AMD platform out of sync. This chipset has been optimized to run with the memory at 533 MHx and the CPU at 800 MHz, so I have not seen any real bennifit with the memory at 600MHz. You would get better performance with the CPU slightly over clocked.
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I can absolutely see your point in overclocking a little bit to boost both CPU and RAM speed. But it would be nice if the overclock gave me 3155MHz-CPU/900MHz-FSB/675MHz-RAM instead of just the increased CPU and FSB speed. The first config mentioned must be faster right? With the overclocked settings I get the RAM-speed of the normal 600MHz I would get if the ratio setting of 2:3 worked in the first place. Of course it is nice with some extra CPU-speed but I would really like it if the RAM kept up with it´s (now) theoretical value of 675MHz. I am sure that ASUS will solve this problem in the near future. A friend of mine bought a motherboard early last year for an Athlon platform. The manufacturer promised him that it would have DDR 400MHz support but it never worked out for him. A few weeks later a new BIOS revision was posted on their homepage, and after flashing his motherboard it started to work. Something like this is surely going to happen with our P5AD2-Premium as well. This is a rather large compability issue, and if you have seen the tiny upgrades, additions and changes ASUS have made to their latest BIOS revisions to make their customers happy, this compability issue is absolutely going to be among the top priorities at ASUS. For example, take a look at their latest revision: "Add option "Auto" for "CPU Lock Free" feature in BIOS setup." "Add "CPU Lock Free" item in JumperFree Configuration of BIOS setup." "Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at [url]http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx[/url] " "Support TM2 function when BIOS detects certain CPUs with the ability to support TM2. " "Patch system cant boot from some CD-ROM/DVD-ROM with bootable CD inside after entering Windows and restart. " "Fix Fujitsu MO drive shows wrong transfer mode under WinXP." "Add AiBooster Support item in BIOS setup to enable/disable ATK device(Aibooster related)." "Fix system cant boot up with some single-sided 2GB memory modules." "Fix Intel Extreme Edition CPUs HT function cant be disabled in BIOS setup." Sure, there are some important issues fixed in this revision. But also very tiny ones. Our problem is at least as important as these. Someone at ASUS has to react on this.
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Maybe in the next BIOS revision it would read: "Fix system cant boot up to more than 533MHz with some memory modules at native speed of 600MHz." or "Support more Memory modules at 600MHz. Please refer to our website at [url]http://www.asus.com.tw/support/...yada,yada[/url]... "
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