Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard problems with 4GB Ram

[Smaugsfury]

I have been having a lot of problems with my computer since I changed over from my "loaner" 2x 1GB Ge il Ultra DDR2 1066Hz RAM to a full complement of 4x 1GB Corsair Dominator DD2 1066Hz RAM. Even tweaking the Bios, I still had sporadic blue screens and failed Mem test.

 

Doing an web extensive search, it seems to me that despite the fact Gigabyte say the GA-X38-DQ6 mobo supports 1066Hz RAM, it does not support 4GB of it. The solution appears to be to run 2x1GB (as I am doing now), or to configure your 4GB to run at 800Hz. To me, both seem to be a waste (of speed and of my money in spending >$450 on my Corsair RAM).

 

My questions -

(1) Other than the users I have identified on this website using a simple "GA-X38-DQ6" search, has anyone else had problems with running 4GB at full 1066Hz?

(2) Can Corsair suggest any fixes to allow users to run 4GB RAM to run at full speed on this Gigabyte mobo?

(3) If not, is Corsair going to amend their compatibility documentation to highlight this?

[seatra]

I purchased two sets (4GB) of the TWIN2X2048-8500C5D and installed it on the GA-X38-DQ6. It loaded just fine but CPU-Z didn't recognize it running at 1066. I manually configured the BIOS to the 5,5,5,15,2T and 1066 and everything ran just fine. I did send each module through memtest and one seems to be bad with 269 errors in 4 passes. Other than that, they all seemed to work ok with the board for me.

[DerekT]

With four slots populated, I would reduce the bandwidth from 1066 to 800Mhz since the issue normally is that the memory controller can not keep up with the extra DRAM at the rated 8500 speed. You will very likely need to drop the speed of the DRAM from 1066Mhz to 800Mhz. If you had purchased 4 X 1024MB of PC6400 (800Mhz) DRAM, then you would have had to drop to PC5300 (667MHz) DRAM, etc. 2 X 2048 will not issue this problem. This is a problem of all 4 banks being populated. This is an issue of stability and also stability in the long term.

 

Think of it this way. If you have a small phone book, then when you go into the index to find the page where you will find the phone number you are doing so at a certain speed due to the pages of the Index. Then you have to drive through the pages to get to the number. Now if your index is twice as large and the pages twice as many, then it takes longer to access the data. Now DRAM has a Strobe and the length of the strobe is how long the rows and columns can be left open before they must be refreshed. There is not enough time for the dram to be refreshed and then accessed with 4GB at the full access speed of the DRAM. The chipsets are optimized for 2GB, not 4GB and for 2 DRAM slots, not 4 DRAM slots populated. You can overclock the FSB (and hence the Memory Controller Hub = MCH) to gain some extra bandwidth and thus access the capabilities of the DRAM since the chipset is now clocked up. Usually when you clock up the FSB and concurrently the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) you need to raise the voltages of the CPU/MCH a bit as well.

[Smaugsfury]

So, DerekT, if what you are saying is true, I would have been better off getting 2x2GB rather than 4x1GB - probably the case. But I've seen a lot of postings with people who get Memtest problems with 2x2GB on the GA-X38-DQ6, whether small (like the poster above) or more significant (depending on the postings).

 

I found this at the O CZ forum:

 

http://www.oc*technologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34029

 

(place a z where the * is)

 

They got around the GA-X38-DQ problems by manually configuring a whole lot specific settings (screen shot on the link). I haven't tried this yet - but I will when I get a free weekend.

 

Note that a lot of people have also mentioned DA-X38-DQ memory problems.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245927-30-ballistix-8500

 

While I take your point that 2x2GB may have been better, or that I should just be happy running my 4x1GB at 800, I maintain I purchased the mobo based on the fact the specs said it is rated to run up to 16GB at 1066! It is far from meeting those claims in my book.

[DerekT]

I maintain I purchased the mobo based on the fact the specs said it is rated to run up to 16GB at 1066! It is far from meeting those claims in my book.

 

Motherboard manufacturers do state a maximum DRAM amount "AND" a maximum supported speed. They do not say that the board supports 16GB at 1066, rather that it supports a maximum of 16GB and a maximum speed of 1066. They should state that they do not support 16GB at 1066Mhz and I understand your feelings. You can very likely recoup some of the bandwidth (if not all) on the overclock though. The overclock raises the speed of the Northbridge Memory Controller Hub and thus allows the DRAM to run closer (or at) it's rated speed, even when four banks are populated. This again, depends on your board though.