msny Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 RAM GUY ! This is the new Shuttle nForce 4 barebones board. I'm going to use the Athlon 4000+ processor 939. I am an avid gamer and want the best I can get. What memory would you reccomend for this system ? Thank you ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 RAM GUY ! This is the new Shuttle nForce 4 barebones board. I'm going to use the Athlon 4000+ processor 939. I am an avid gamer and want the best I can get. What memory would you reccomend for this system ? Thank you ! Basically it depends on your usage. If you are not going to OC, the PC3200XL is awesome. However, if you want to OC the system, the PC4000 is the ticket. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Basically it depends on your usage. If you are not going to OC, the PC3200XL is awesome. However, if you want to OC the system, the PC4000 is the ticket. Mike. Well I have 2 sticks of CMX512-3200XLPT and I'm hoping that there RAM timings are not to aggresive (2-2-2-5) ? Do you think the 'PT' will work OK ? http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-521&depa=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 The timings should not be too aggressive for an AMD 939 rig. I have a pair of PC3200XLs running in an ASUS A8V at 2,2,2,12 timings and it does fine. From what I have seen that last timing is the one that some times requires a bit of manual tweaking. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 The timings should not be too aggressive for an AMD 939 rig. I have a pair of PC3200XLs running in an ASUS A8V at 2,2,2,12 timings and it does fine. From what I have seen that last timing is the one that some times requires a bit of manual tweaking. Mike. Here is the order in BIOS. Please tell me if correct. Cas Latency 2 RAS# Active (tras) 12T (lowest this can go is 5T, boots but crashes in windows) RAS# to CAS# delay (trcd) 2T Row precharge (trp) 2T Is this the 2,2,2,12 setting. Seems the order I have does not match ? other settings memory timing 1T MTRR mapping continuous (or discrete) Anything to try. Looks like I can't do 2,2,2,5 if I have the order correct. RAM voltage is set to AUTO. Is this something I can mess with ? Thanks for your help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 In the order you have listed, it is 2,12,2,2. The timings are in different orders on various MOBOs. The rest looks good. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 What about changing the RAM voltage, then trying more aggresive settings again ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 CAS Latency: 2 RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3 Row Precharge (tRP): 2 Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 5 Change the tRCD to 3. Some of the Athlon64 memory controllers require that. try 2.8 volts as well. They're warrantied up tp, but not over, 2.9 volts, so no worries there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 CAS Latency: 2 RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3 Row Precharge (tRP): 2 Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 5 Change the tRCD to 3. Some of the Athlon64 memory controllers require that. try 2.8 volts as well. They're warrantied up tp, but not over, 2.9 volts, so no worries there. Those timings allowed me post and boot into windows fine. Would they be considered more aggresive then 2-2-2-12 ? I will run them through memtest overnight and benchmark each one. What's a good benchmark memory program ? I've used Sandra in the past. Thanks loads ! ;): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Sandra's pretty good, but it's synthetic, so it may not show real world expectations. Active to Precharge Delay can be a higher number (looser timing) but give better performance. The RAS to CAS Delay helps when it's lower, but there's a limitation with some of the Athlon 64 memory controllers (which is located on the CPU itself) where setting it to 2 may cause instability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 Sandra's pretty good, but it's synthetic, so it may not show real world expectations. Active to Precharge Delay can be a higher number (looser timing) but give better performance. The RAS to CAS Delay helps when it's lower, but there's a limitation with some of the Athlon 64 memory controllers (which is located on the CPU itself) where setting it to 2 may cause instability. I have a Athlon 64 4000+ does the limitation apply to it ? I ran Sandra for both timings. Cache & memory 2-2-2-12 6903 2-2-3-5 6937 mem bandwidth 2-2-2-12 6023 2-2-3-5 6024 I'll memtest both for stability. You have been a great help ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Dunno which ones have the issue. It's odd that it crashes with Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 5 though. Tried settings between 5 and 12? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 27, 2005 Author Share Posted March 27, 2005 Dunno which ones have the issue. It's odd that it crashes with Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 5 though. Tried settings between 5 and 12? Well, I took the RAM voltage away from AUTO. I beleive Shuttle is using 2.70v as the default and that is to low. I moved it to 2.80v and set the timings to 2-2-2-5 and waa...la it boots fine and windows does not crash. Will now run memtest overnight to check stability. If it pans out it will match my Asus rig you see in my sig. Then it's on to gaming on this hot rig ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 How's the heat in that thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 27, 2005 Author Share Posted March 27, 2005 How's the heat in that thing? nView says: CPU 34C and system 45C very quit I have not heard the fans yet just the HD from time to time. I will put it under some stress tomorrow. Here is a nice review if you want to look at it. Don't pay attention to the RAM 2T, that was fixed before release and my Sandra mem bench settings are way higher then there test numbers. http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2005q1/shuttle-sn25p/index.x?pg=1 Check out this thread I started for more info: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=873940 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Temps aren't too bad. Nice writeup on the install @ [H]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 27, 2005 Author Share Posted March 27, 2005 Temps aren't too bad. Nice writeup on the install @ [H]. Thanks I appreciate that. I'll let you know how memtest fairs overnight. Just glad that 2-2-2-5 is possible with corsair. After all one review was using OCZ and it had no problem with that timing. :bigeyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Haven't seen anything OCZ can do that Corsair can't :) Nice board, but I don't like the higher CPU usage when using the NIC though. Looking for a SFF case myself, probably for an Athlon XP or Duron I have sitting around though. REALLY tempted to get one of those external SATA cases that are basically a PSU just for 4 HDDs with SATA connection that connects through a backplate of a case to an onboard SATA connection. Uber small server when combined with SFF case :) I think Mashie has a thread over @ [H] where he modded a SFF case for the same purpose, but I think the CPU and whatnot were still in it. Too hot for my tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted March 27, 2005 Author Share Posted March 27, 2005 Ran Memtest overnight to about 80% and 7 full tests. No errors at all. So the trick is RAM voltage at 2.8v works for 2-2-2-5. The default AUTO sets it to 2.7v which is to low for my RAM. Increments are only .1 only. Tonight it's Prime 95 break in time. So if anybody asks this may work for there Shuttle SN25P also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted March 29, 2005 Corsair Employees Share Posted March 29, 2005 Thanks for letting us know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvlee Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 Hi RAM Guy, New to this forum, great to see such a medium exists for helping others with problems like mine! I purchased the SN25P along with an Athlon64 4000+. Just got it in two days ago, but have been unable to install Windows due to blue screens/freezes, each one different from the next. POST is fine, and I have not played with the BIOS except to disable onboard USB for now...everything as far as timings are set at default. I am using RAM from the system I am replacing, which is the TWINX1024-3200LLPT formerly used in an A7N8X deluxe. Bought the Corsair VS1GBKIT400 to replace the RAM in the A7N8X. I never ran memtest86 on that system when the pair of CMX512-3200LL were installed, but I never had any stability problems either. After running into all these problems, I ran memtest86 on the new system and found something like 15000 errors after one pass, so something's obviously up, and I'm trying to distinguish between the memory/cpu/mainboard. My plan of attack is to test out the value RAM in that system and see if any errors occur, along with testing the XMS RAM in the older system with memtest86, even though I never had any Windows problems. Quick question though: what is the voltage supposed to be for this TWINX RAM? One article I found stated 2.5V, and a post on this thread stated the default RAM timings for this Shuttle is 2.7V, so I'm wondering if that could be a problem right there. I have no intention of overclocking the new system, and the CPU/System temps have remained under 50 degrees C. If I do experience problems in the other system, though, or the value RAM is clean in the new system, I wanted to at least get the ball rolling for a potential RMA. My gut, unfortunately, is that I was dealt a bad Shuttle or CPU. Thanks, -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 XMS Qualification and Testing 2.7x volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvlee Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 Thanks for that WIRED...so I the default timings should be correct. Wanted to double check because I saw some people with XL XMS RAM using this system had to bump up to 2.8V for stability. Will test further and reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msny Posted April 15, 2005 Author Share Posted April 15, 2005 Thanks for that WIRED...so I the default timings should be correct. Wanted to double check because I saw some people with XL XMS RAM using this system had to bump up to 2.8V for stability. Will test further and reply. You won't hurt anything at 2.8v, try it. If you still get errors you may want to get different sticks. My system is running flawlessly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvlee Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 I'm writing from what was a dead computer only a few hours ago. Good news certainly, but I'm still left somewhat confused. Before I swapped out the RAM, I ran memtest on the old nforce2 board, found 2 errors after one pass. The faster RAM in the new machine was producing about 10000 errors per pass. After swapping the RAM, placing the faster memory back into the machine it came from and the value RAM in the new machine, both memtests on both systems ran without a single error for two passes. Installed Windows without a hitch on the new shuttle, and the other machine is running flawlessly as well. The only thing I can figure out was the faster RAM was very hot when I took it out of the Shuttle. I'm assuming that In the older machine, the RAM didn't get so hot because the first and third RAM slots are spaced apart. Unfortunately, this isn't an option in the new machine, where only two slots exist, and the heat spreaders make the RAM so thick that they practically touch one another. I'm wondering if whoever owns one of these systems might give some suggestions for which RAM might not cause heat problems? Perhaps the XL RAM is not as wide as the LL? Thanks again for the helpful comments. -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.