wombatpete Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 ABIT AV8 board, 2 pairs of Corsair TWINX CMX512-3200XL memory, 400MHz. What should the BIOS settings look like, ideally? Slightly aggressively? Thanks in advance for any and all help/counsel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 3, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 3, 2008 With 4 modules I would suggest setting the memory frequency at DDr333 and set the memory Voltage to 2.8 Volts and set the timings to Cas 2-3-3-6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 4, 2008 Author Share Posted October 4, 2008 Someone left me THIS reply, too: As soon as you install 4 dimms to that board, the memory speed will drop to 333mhz because of the CPU memory controller. You can try and manually raise it back to 400mhz, but a bump in memory voltage, CPU Voltage and northbridge voltage might be necessary. Do you agree - and, if so, how much of a bump to each of those three things would you recommend? Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 6, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 6, 2008 Yes I agree and 2.9 Volts max on the memory and about +.2 Volts max for the CPU and NB voltage but it will vary with the make and model of MB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 First of all, I've set the first three settings of 2-3-3-6, but there's nothing that's obviously tRAS (active to precharge delay), I don't remember which of the available settings corresponds to that. I added the new memory sticks, and ... NOTHING, not even the opening screen that allows me to access BIOS. So I went back to the old set-up, changed the BIOS settings, shut off the machine, switched the old sticks to the other two (purple) slots & added the new ones to the first slots - and it boots up normally, showing the full amount of memory, to the point where XP should boot... which it never does, leaving me with a black screen. These memory sticks were running perfectly in a machine identical to mine (my friend & I built them in parallel). Can anyone tell me which BIOS setting on this board requires the "6"? Anyone have any ideas about solving the problems described? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 Also, here are the BIOS settings I believe to be relevant: DRAM Timing Selectable: Manual DRAM Clock: DDR400 DRAM Command Rate: 1T CAS Latency Time: 2 RAS# to CAS# Delay: 2 Min. RAS# Active Time: 10 RAS# Prelaunch Time: 3 Row Cycle Time: 12 Row Refresh Time: 14 RAS# to RAS# Delay: 2 Write Recovery Time: 3 Write to Read Delay: 2 Read to Write Delay: 3 CPU Voltage: 1.550 (up from 1.500) GP VDDQ Voltage: 1.55 DDR SDRAM Voltage: 2.8 (up from 2.7, and it the BIOS doesn’t seem to provide any higher setting) NB Voltage: 1.6 (up from 1.55) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 10, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 10, 2008 Do you have any problems when running all four modules together at DDR333? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 Didn't try it. Incidentally, the MB did NOT reset automatically to 333. I'll test that when I'm back at that comp and post later tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 At 333, it begins to run Windows, but never gets to the log-in screen, either hanging or rebooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 Possibly the BIOS didn't automatically shift to 333 with the four sticks because, as indicated above, I had already set the DDR memory settings to manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 In your first post, you say you have XL sticks, but in your spec post (all info moved to your profile as per the registration process!) you say C2. Which part #s do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 Sorry, I must have borrowed some of my friend's specs from after he changed the memory recently (thus my inheriting the second TwinX pair). Corrected now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 All right, we have progress! At T2 and 400 it boots into XP. The next question - what are optimal settings for BIOS, given this? What have I sacrificed, in practical terms, in moving from T1 to T2? (As a note - the machine does seem palpably, if slightly, faster.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 13, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 13, 2008 Command Rate will have to be 2T with more than 2 modules installed with that MB. Command Rate is not really a memory setting and would be dependent on the make and model of MB and PSU and the specific CPU you have installed. You might look this/those setting /'s up on the BIOS Optimization Guide at Techarp and get a better explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 OK, it's at T2, and that did appear to be the key. What would you recommend as the optimized settings for the other BIOS settings (given the list of BIOS options included, above)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 14, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 14, 2008 DDR333 at Cas 2.5-3-3-7 at 2.8 Volts would be suggested with 4 modules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 The only remaining questions: what are optimal settings for BIOS, given this (and given the available BIOS options, which are listed above)? What have I sacrificed, in practical terms, in moving from T1 to T2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 16, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 16, 2008 The system will not run at 1T with more than two modules as stated before. Ad we have given the suggested settings, you are welcome to try anything you like but I would suggest testing the system with http://www.memtest.org to be sure it is stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatpete Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 I guess I'm asking whether more memory at slower settings is a net gain, and if so, how much of a gain. Also, you did recommend the 2-3-3-6 (if I remember correctly, which isn't key here) - but I have to admit that I'm not clear on which of the BIOS options listed above takes the "6". And I thought that the recommendations might change a little with the 400-&-raised-voltage scenario. And that you might have recommendations regarding the other settings, beyond those four numbers. Again, my appreciation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 17, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 17, 2008 The memory will have to be slowed down with more than two modules installed if for example you have 4 CMX512-3200XL modules installed DDR333 would be suggested and the suggested settings would be Cas 2.5-3-3-7 but you might get them to run at Cas 2-3-3-6 (Cas, TRCD, TRP, TRAS) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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