Dominator 1066 RAM with Gigabyte EP45-DS3L MB

[scottmck72]

I have just built a new system. All the BIOS, drivers etc are updated.

 

Once I installed and started trying to play games, my system began freezing, a lot.

 

I took my system to the store where I got the parts from and they put some standard 800 RAM in until they got me replacement Dominator sticks, as they thought the RAM was faulty. The system ran beautifully, until I put the new (replacement) Dominator RAM back in. Then I had crashes galore again.

 

After much reading of your forums I found that the BIOS incorrectly sets the RAM voltage to 1.8v and the timings to 5-7-7-24.

 

I manually changed it to 2.1v and timings to 5-5-5-15. This improved the situation but I still had some crashes.

 

If I manually set the voltage to 2.1v and let the BIOS auto set the timings, the situation is better again but I am still getting memory crashes every couple of days.

 

The RAM passes memtest most of the time but when it's misbehaving will cause memtest to freeze about 1 out of 6 passes. No errors, it just freezes.

 

In short, the Gigabyte EP45 mother board and your RAM have serious issues despite supposedly being compatible.

 

What can I do to alleviate the problem until your companys sort their act out. Unfortunately I have ordered another 2x 1Gb of Dominator 1066, having thought I had solved the problem......wrong!

 

Thanks.

[OldGeezer]

This issue was brought up earlier today. I have a DS3R board that did the same thing. Two days after getting my system together, Gigabyte came out with a beta BIOS flash. That did the trick. I've never had such a fast and reliable motherboard.

 

My advise to you is to try using only one stick until Gigabyte provides a BIOS update for your board. You can also try to slow your memory down to DDR800 or DDR667 and see if that works. It might be frustrating for you right now, but I liked the final product once Gigabyte got everything squared away with my mobo.

[Ragoroo]

Undervolt your mobo chipset mate.

Wokrs much better for me not 100% but way less errors than before and much more stable.

[RAM GUY]

Let us know if one of those suggestions do not solve the problem for you.

[Yigo]

I've been having occasional crashes with Gigabyte EP35C-DS3R and Corsair Dominator 1066Mhz PC2-8500 c5 in 2x1x2 configuration (total of 4 gigs by 4 module).

 

It took me sometime to realize that the crashes were due to RAM - (I previously suspected the video card.)

 

I use UBCD to check for memory faults by booting in with CD. What i have noticed is 2x1 configuration works fine without faults in either mobo slots in pairs. Neither the memory modules nor motherboard slots are faulty. But when i plug in 4 modules together, i receive memory errors.

 

My memory settings are 5x5x5x18 @ 1066Mhz.

 

After playing around with settings I was able to stabilize the system at 4x4x4x17 @ 833 Mhz.

 

The system also works fine at 5x5x5x18 @ 800Mhz with system enhancement set to 'TURBO' at BIOS.

 

I've used passmark test for memory speed benchmarks at tested the system. Odly enough the memory speed tests were very close to eachother (+=2%) at all 3 configurations above. So i leave the system at 5x5x5x18 @800Mhz with TURBO enhancement option in BIOS settings. Everything seems stable for now.

[DerekT]

That's part of overclocking. Playing around with the settings until you find a sweet spot. It's too bad that all motherboards (even ones of the same model) do not perform identically.

 

But that would take the fun out of overclocking. :D: