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Problems w/ GA-P35-DS4 running RAM at 1066MHz

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I have a new system with the GA-P35-DS4 (V2). I'm using a pair of Corsair Twin2X2048-8500C5 RAM. These memories are listed on the Gigabyte Qualified List for 1066MHz memory. The CPU is Intel E6850 at 3.0GHz.

This system is for audio and video production, and needs to be high performance and extremely stable. I purchased all parts with explicit support of 1066MHz, since I don't want to risk reduced reliability from overclocking. I wanted everything to support 1066MHz with standard settings.

The first thing I noticed is the the DS4 recognized the memory as 800MHz according to the SPD. Corsair says that is normal since 800MHz is the maximum for the DDR2 spec, and it is safe for booting. Corsair gave instructions for setting it up - change memory multiplier to 3.2, change timing to 5-5-5-15, change memory voltage to 2.1V, (adding +.3 from normal 1.8V), and boost (G)MCH voltage by +0.1V.

This seemed a lot like the procedures for overclocking, but since the DS4 and the Twin2X2048-8500C5 are both allegedly designed to support 1066 and are compatible with each other, I thought everything would be fine.

Unfortunately, everything is not fine. Running the memory at 1066MHz, Memtest reports thousands of errors in 2 hours. Dropping back to the default settings for 800MHz, there are no errors when running Memtest overnight.

I have tried variations on the settings, updating the BIOS to the latest (F12), moving the memories to the other pair of sockets, and various tweaks on the values. There is no reliable operation at 1066MHz. There is no memory multiple value available between 2.4 and 3.2, so I can't try any memory clocks between 800 and 1066MHz. I have spent hours performing the overclocking tweak / test / repeat loop that I was trying to avoid by buying parts that explicitly supported 1066MHz.

Where do I go from here? Do I have bad memory? A bad motherboard? (no, I don't have any compatible "spares" to swap out) Are there some other settings that I have missed?

More about : problems p35 ds4 running ram 1066mhz

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I would go with DDR2 800. Get some money back if you are going to run your 1066 at 800 or sink it into more RAM. You could get 2x2GB DDR2 800 for around the same price. If you get a quality DDR2 800 set with micron ICs it will run solid with most FSB settings.

Peruse through the forums for a bit, 1066 is causing a lot of troubles for people for some reason.

Who do I ask for money back? The company I bought the 1066 RAM from? Or the company I bought the GA-P35-DS4 motherboard from? They are just going to point the blame at each other. Unfortunately, I paid quite a bit extra for the Corsair Twin2X2048-8500C5, because they were on the supported list.

Has anybody succeeded in getting a GA-P35-DS4 to run with 1066MHz RAM (PC8500)?
If you have this motherboard working at 1066, please post the type of memory you have, and the BIOS settings.

get your money back from the memory and indeed buy some DDR2-800 instead...

But you do realize that the cpu is a 1333 or base 333FSB part, so you only 'need' DDR2-666 memory to run it with 1:1 ratio, running the memory at higher speeds asynchronously doesn't really improve performance that much, couple of % perhaps at the best....
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Motherboard Expert

Most likely the errors are due to bad memory.
You can try putting the memory in different slots, one stick at a time and run memtest86+. If you still get errors, I would think it is the memory.

I have that very motherboard and have had the same problem,sort of. Mine runs completely stable for around 9-10 days and then the random reboots start.And I get a bsod right before xp opens(too fast to read)and then it goes to that screen that asks you how you want to start windows.(normal or safemode).The first time it happened my registry got corrupted and I had to reformat and do a fresh xp install.I just recieved my "3rd" set of ballistix 1066 and will try one more time and if it happens again I will call crucial and demand a refund or that they replace it with tracer this time.My build runs perfect with pny 667mhz memory I picked up at bestbuy the day I sent back the first set.I found this on the support list. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Here's an interesting bit of trivia. I can set the CPU host frequency to 400MHz and the CPU multiplier to 8X. This clocks the E6850 at 3.2GHz. The RAM multiplier remains at 2.4, so the RAM is running at 960MHz. That is not 1066, but close, and the memory throughput (4692MB/Sec) is the same as when running Memtest with 1066MHz (4687).

This configuration is stable - it runs Ramtest for hours without an error. I left all the voltages at "Auto" as well.

So maybe there is something wrong with the implementation of the 3.2 memory multiplier for the GA-P35-DS4?
Too bad the BIOS doesn't offer a 3.0 multiplier - even ratios usually work better in digital systems where synchronization is an issue.

Is anybody familiar with the System Memory Multiplier settings?

I noticed in the DS4 manual, it describes a setting called "High Speed DRAM DLL Settings". This is supposed to provide options for memory timing. However, this setting is not present on the MIT screen of my bios (F12). Is there some other way to adjust memory timings?

I encountered the same issues. I have a GA-P35-DS4 motherboard with a Intel Q6600, I purchased 4G of Mushkin XP2-8500. Immediately I had issues, I kept thinking I had bad ram. I had memtest for each module separately, each one was fine. When I tried running my system with only 2G everything ran stable, as soon as I added more than 2G everything crashed. It wasn't until I changed from 1066MHz to 800Mhz that everything would run stable with more than 2G of RAM. Does anybody know why there are issues with running the ram at 1066MHz?
Motherboard Expert

It may just be some of the other timings need to be adjust when increase the memory and bandwidth. You would not run an Indy car on a stock Chevy suspension. Memory manufacturers could probably solve this problem by just slowing down all memory - but customers keep demanding more speed and the silly memory and mobo manufacturers keep trying to push it as far as possible to give the customer the higher performance she/he demands.

If you are having trouble with current Gigabyte boards, I recommend going to tweaktown.com where they have a Gigabyte forum to provide free technical support for their motherboards, graphics cards and other products!

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/

I had memory timing issues on my P35-DS3L that I could not resolve and posted on their board and got a response within 2 hours - on the 4th of July. There are several moderators - if you get lsdmeasap, tell him hello for me. He was a lifesaver for me. Helped me tweak memory timings to make my memory work properly.
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