Sunday Ironfoot Posted June 14, 2006 Share Posted June 14, 2006 Motherboard: Asus A8N32-SLI (1205 BIOS) Memory: CMX1024-3200C2PT (pair) Processor: Athlon X2 3800 Nothing overclocked and BIOS settings are default. I think I have faulty memory but want to run this by you people before I RMA. I have tested this memory on two motherboards, the one listed above and the other was an Asus A8N-VN CSM (nForce4 430). It runs stable at CAS 3-4-4-8 but not at it's rated 2-3-3-6 settings. It seem to pass MemTest fine but fails in Prime95 (using two instances) after about 5-10mins. I've tested both motherboards with another memory pair, Corsair 2x CMX512 4000Pro DDR500 (1GB total) and both boards are 100% stable at CAS 2-3-3-6 timings, even when overclocking (CPU not RAM). So Surely not an issue with rest of hardware? Now I was about to go about RMAing this memory (CMX1024-3200C2PT) so I decided to test it one last time, I plug it in and my mobo (A8N32-SLI) BIOS totally crashes. I have to reload the BIOS off a floppy. I tried both the memory sticks again and suddenly my PC doesn't even POST into the BIOS, just a blank screen, my other memory (CMX512 x2) works fine at this point and boots into Windows no problem. I test each module (CMX1024) individually and both seem to work fine at 2-3-3-6 settings. Then I put both back in how they were, before the BIOS crashes, and maraculously my machine boots into Windows fine and both modules seem to work fine at 2-3-3-6 (passed 12 hour Prime95 test). So basically the gist is that "sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work". At the moment to seems to work. When I first bought it and used it in my Asus A8N-VM-CSM, it worked fine at first then gradually went downhill (odd crashes in games, general protection faults, wouldn't get though Prime95 more than 10mins etc.). Problems started happening when I upgraded to Windows Xp x64 (could that be related?). I'm still running Xp x64 and things seem fine. So what are my options? I've got the feeling I ultimately have bad memory and that things will start to go wrong again, but I'm afraid I'll end up returning it only to find Corsair finding no problems and end up returning it back to me etc. Many thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted June 14, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted June 14, 2006 Can you tell me the make and model of your PSU along with the CPU speed and it’s FSB as well? In addition, please tell me the bios settings you have set for both CPU and memory and any performance settings that you may have set? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Ironfoot Posted June 15, 2006 Author Share Posted June 15, 2006 Can you tell me the make and model of your PSU along with the CPU speed and it’s FSB as well? In addition, please tell me the bios settings you have set for both CPU and memory and any performance settings that you may have set? Antec TruPower 2.0 ATX 480W Athlon X2 3800 (2.0 GHz) - 200MHz FSB Basically for BIOS everything set to Auto/Defaults (no overclocking) Memory at 2T command rate - CAS 2-3-3-6 I sent this problem to Corsair and they replied with the following... Please make sure you have adjusted the DDR voltage to the required 2.75v in bios manually prior to changing th latencies. Currently I have DDR voltage settings set at default/auto. Does anyone know the default voltage settings for an Asus A8N32SLI (I though it was 2.75v), or does this vary depending on the memory? I've continued to use the memory and it still seems fine so far, no crashes etc. I think I know the cause of the computing not booting, this I think is the so called 'warm boot' issue reported by A8N32 users, as I've experienced it with my other memory modules. Perhaps the voltage thing was what was causing the issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted June 15, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted June 15, 2006 No the default voltage for memory would 2.6-2.65 Volts on most MB's. You will need to manually set the memory voltage to 2.75 Volts and then test the modules again please, if they still fail then let's get them replaced, please use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace them or it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garvin Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 The default/auto ddr voltage setting value is set by the motherboard manufacturer and not lifted from the spd on the ram. As far as I've seen with all of the Asus NF4 chipset based ddr1 boards, the default value is the lowest value shown in the list when looking at the manual setting values for ddr voltage, usually 2.6volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Ironfoot Posted June 18, 2006 Author Share Posted June 18, 2006 OK, now running at 2.75v and everything seems fine so far, done loads of gaming etc. So that's maybe what the problem was all along. Strange how memory doesn't have voltage set as an SPD value (like CAS etc.) so it can be read by the mobo and automatically set. Also maybe Corsair could make it a little cleaner in the instructions, as no where did it say to set voltage to v2.75 except on their website (not in the instructions that cam with it etc.). Thanks for the help. One more thing, can extra voltage help memory run at 1T command rate (got it at 2T at the mo), or this purely a motherboard issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garvin Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 It's a memory controller issue, either on the motherboard, Intel, or on the cpu, Amd, mainly. With two matched sticks, you should be able to run at 1T; with four matched sticks 2T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted June 20, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted June 20, 2006 Yes but Command Rate is not really a memory setting and would be dependant on the make and model of MB and PSU and the specific CPU you have installed. You might look this setting up on http://www.rojakpot.com and get a better explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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