Does ram ever work at stated speed?

[cafuddled]

Is it just me or does ram never work at the speed that it says on the tin.

Really I am begining to think that value ram is all overclocked from the lower model as every stick I have had through 3 generations of computers has always never worked at the stated speed?

My first system that I had this problem on was a 1700+ with 266MHz memory this would not work (ramdom crashing in games) and would always fail at prime95 at the full speed but as soon as I underclocked it to the next ratio step it would work fine with weeks of stability.

The second system I had was a 3200+ with 333MHz memory (now I know what you are going to say but wait) this ran fine with the ram being at 333MHz it would even overclock to near 400MHz but guess what as soon as I put in 2 sticks of 512MB twinmos 400MHz ram it would need to be underclocked to the next ratio step or it would crash and have random restarts

Now I am on my 3rd generation of a systems a 3500+ 64Bit with first 1GB of kingston value 400MHz ram and now upgraded 2GB's of the exact same sticks. It will and has never ran with out errors at the full 400MHz speed no matter what I do.

List of what I have tryed to get the kingston 512MB PC3200 value CL3.0 ram working at 400MHz:

1) More voltage
2) Upping the memory timings
3) trying every stick on it's own in diffrent slots
4) Turning the HT bus to 4X and 3X
5) Underclocking CPU to 333MHz FSB and puting the ram through at 400MHz

Almost everything I can think of I have done but still at 400MHz it still fails after minuets on prime95 and crashes randomly in games but when I set the ram to 333MHz it runs smooth as silk for weeks with out a single problem.

So is there any super genius people out there that can think of something I'm doing wrong over 3 generations of memory or am I just damn unlucky (specs are as follow)

AMD Athlon 3500+ 64Bit
Kingston Value ram 512MB CL3.0 (X4)
Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939
ATi X800XT PE
Creative Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro
460W

That should be all you need to see what the problem might be any help would be very much apreasheated thanks.

 

[Comas]

Yes, EVEN value ram is able to pull over DDR500(250mhz) which would make it over 50 mhz * 2 overclock.

 

[cafuddled]

You see people using value ram all the time with out problems... it would be against the law to market ram at 400MHz (or 200MHz *2 as Comas pointed out) When it can not do so.

Also a little note on the 3200+ system I had the same problem over 2 diffrent montherboards a Chaintech (came in a big box cost £150) and a Gigabyte GA7N400 Pro2. As I worked at a computer shop at that time I tryed diffrent ram including Adata and Samsung with the same result.

So why is it that I am constantly getting the same problems all the time (I must admit the only comen factor is value ram as everything else is top spec) but really can value ram be that bad (more so value ram branded as kingston)?

 

[unsmart]

I think you are the problem! Have you ran a curse check? Kingston value is good ram if not OCing.
Are you grounding your self before touching the ram?
What in your system has been there with all the sticks?
Are they coverd with cables or anything like that?
Have you set bios to fail save and checked?
what are your temp?
Have you ran memtest?
I've used the cheapest ram ever made and never had a problem. I think the teck gods my hate you, thats some bad luck.

 

[Pain]

You need to check the hardware compatability list for the motherboard, because sometimes certain brands of ram will not with certain brands of motherboards, for what ever reason. In a perfect world you can buy any ram you want and put it in any board you want, but that doesn't always prove true.

You can sometimes take ram from one machine that is working perfectly, put it in another machine and it will fail, and vice versa.

You could also have a power supply problem.

 

[cafuddled]

Q) Are you grounding your self before touching the ram?
A) Yes I always leave the PSU plug in the socket with the actual PSU switch off.

Q) What in your system has been there with all the sticks?
A) Nothing I have been through 4 motherboards, 4 graphics cards, 5 types of ram, 3 Sound Cards, 4 PSU's, 2 cases, 2 floppys, 4 CPU fans and 3 GFX fans.

Q) Are they coverd with cables or anything like that?
A) The only cable that goes near them is the cables that controll the case fan speed. ALthough ram always works when underclocked I dont think this could be a problem.

Q) Have you set bios to fail save and checked?
A) Indeed I have set it to defaults, top speed, and trouble shoot.

Q) what are your temp?
A) Well in normal running peramitors... ram is very cold running.

Q) Have you ran memtest?
A) Prime95 is good enough to test if there is a problem since it always pops up an error when ram is at normal speed and this is show to be a true resault as when I play games like Battle Field 2 it always crashes with in an hour. When running at 333MHz or the next step down can run for 15hours+ with out a error poping up and idle for weeks downloading.

NOTE: Is the same with every motherboard and CPU I have had since my P3 1GHz

P.s. Pain thanks I forgot my PSU is more than enough since I have a power usage reader I have used before and my system bairly runs over 300Watts which is good... I have also had this problem over2 diffrent PSU's with the current motherboard.

Also on the ram being compatible there was a fix for my GA7N400 Pro2 to make this ram work on that motherboard still with same result (tryed Twinmos, Adata, Samsung and Kingston) As far as I know the ram should work fine on this motherboard.

I really do feel like ram hates me now

 

[Pain]

I wasn't necessarily saying the PSU wasn't big enough, but it may be noisy. However, you certainly seem to have been through your share of parts so it's difficult to suggest anything further.

Also, though I doubt it is causing your problem, what you say about the fan wire not causing a problem because it doesn't happen at slower speed is actually wrong. You could have a problem with electrical interferance that would only show at higher speed. That's where you're going to see problems, the faster you get. Again, I don't think the fan wire is causing your problems.

I do agree though, I use value ram and typically never have a problem with it if it meets the compatibility list. Instead of lowering the fsb speed have you tried reducing the memory timings? [If you said that above, I forget]

I have had similar issues before, but not on every machine I build. When I get a prime 95 error that can't be easily resolved, changing memory brands always corrects it.

Another thing you might try is raising the vcore of the processor a little bit.

 

[cafuddled]

I have tryed messing about the the timings although I cant set it to go higher than CL3.0 as there is not setting ove that... One funny thing though when I ran the ram at the lower speed I can set the CL to 2.0 with a little voltage tweak.

Saying that though there is about 10 timing settings for the ram in the motherboard I have tryed setting them all to auto and uping a few of them but never really has change anything much... Although I have made sure the 3 timings listed in the rams specs I dragged off the internet are correct with no avail

I will try moving the cables when I get pack home although knowing my luck it will not do anything.

 

[Pain]

I don't think moving the wire will do anything. I added above that I would also try raising the vcore of the processor a little bit. Put the memory settings back to default and then raise the vcore slightly.

 

[Jim_L9]

Are you running 1T or 2T?

 

[rodney_ws]

My value RAM works fine... I did have to RMA a defective module though... other than that, no issues. Just don't expect overclocking miracles out of it... the good stuff costs more for a reason.

 

[ChipDeath]

The first problem might have been any number of things. I had similar problems but the motherboard was at fault.

The next two, the problem only happened when you added RAM to the system. Since this was also increasing the density of RAM, it would probably have been necessary to slacken the memory timings - the command rate would quite likely need to be 2T rather than 1T for instance.

It is a well-known fact that A64s (especially early ones) had problems with too high a memory density, if you didn't relax command rate (and memory clockspeed in some cases)

I guess this is why someone was asking about 2T Vs 1T above....

 

[ChipDeath]

Actually, just noticed this:

Kingston Value ram 512MB CL3.0 (X4)

Too much RAM. Earlier A64s would run at 333Mhz when all 4 slots are populated. Later ones (Venice core improved the On-die memory controller) I think will run 400Mhz, but still require 2T timings.

Plus, it's not too long since the introduction of Dual Channel had a lot of people complaining that their RAM didn't work, when in fact it was fine, just not in dual channel - so they'd need more voltage and/or relaxed timings to get it to work.

I think you're asking too much of your value memory.

Do you know what core your A64 is? A Venice at least would be advisable for what you're doing.

 

[Pain]

I thought the machine would have automatically set the speed down when 4 sticks were added?

Are you using the default settings, or are you trying to force it to 400?

 

[ChipDeath]

From what I've read, it will default to the slower settings, but I have no idea if it allows you to attempt to put them back up.

Another thing I forgot to mention, was that the motherboard manual might have a table in it, telling you the speeds it'll run at with various memory slot configurations. IIRC my Epox 9NDA3J and my Abit KN8 Ultra manuals both had this.

Worth a look.

 

[cafuddled]

Hi all I have taken a picture of my bios settings for the ram is there anything you can see in there that could be the problem... One note on there being too many sticks is that I had this problem with 2 in and I have also tryed ever stick once with the exact same problem.

Could it just be the motherboard thinks my ram is better than it actualy is and is waping up the settings?

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