Problems upgraded to 8GB ram

[ditmarsb]

First here are the specs on my rig:

Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz @ 3.2Ghz
ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 590
XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) PDC24G6400LLK
Vista 64bit Ultimate

Now my issue is I recently bought 2 kits of the Patriot memory listed in my specs (so 4x2GB) the listed timings are 4-4-4-12 @2.2v I have manually set these timings in my bios. My mother board supports up to 8gb of ram however when I have all 8gb installed the computer post fine, the bios shows 8gb but when I get to booting up Vista it loads extremely slow at the loading bar screen and after that it goes to a blank screen like its about to load up but it never does. It should be noted that when I first installed the memory I thought two of the modules were bad so I sent in an RMA replacement now that doesn't seem to be the case. I've received my replacement have mixed and matched the modules in various ways and they all work fine but only boot Vista normally when only 4gb is installed. My bios is upgraded, I have also tried running my CPU at stock speed, I tried to reinstall Vista with the 8gb installed but even the installation is extremely slow and hangs on the product key input screen, nothing seems to be working. Any suggestions? I would really like to get all 8gb working instead of settling for 4gb.

 

[theAnimal]

Try with only 2GB when installing Vista.

When you put in 4 sticks of RAM it is harder on the mobo. Relax the timings and run 1:1 with the FSB. You may need to adjust other voltages to get it working (such as NB).

 

[cliffro]

You may even have to lower it to DDR2 667.....I'm wondering myself about these situations, is it the memory's fault or the motherboards?

I upgraded a friends computer from 3gb to 8gb, Had to lower it to 667 to get it to boot. After getting it to boot, I was able to raise the speed to 709. The memory used was OCZ Fatality PC2-6400 5-5-5-18 @ 2.1v (4x2gb).

He has an Asus P5Q SE2.

And it will flat out not boot @ DDR2 800 as evidenced when the bios somehow forgot the settings I had used, and wouldn't boot for him, and I received a help call.

Even with Super Loose timings and increased voltage, it won't run @ 800.

 

[ditmarsb]

Well thanks to all that replied but to my disappointment I have taken your suggestions and tried them and neither worked. Also when I originally installed Vista I did only have 2gb of memory before my memory upgrade I had a pair of Corsair XMS2 1gb sticks.
So I tried adjusting the timings of the ram to 5-5-5-18 @2.2v and at both 667 and 800 neither worked, I even dropped it to 400fsb and it wouldn't even post then. I've tried auto settings and everything also. It seems my mother board just doesn't want to run with 4 sticks of ram.
However I can run with 4Gb with timings of 4-4-4-12 @2.2v and my cpu OC @3.3ghz just fine.

 

[theAnimal]

Well thanks to all that replied but to my disappointment I have taken your suggestions and tried them and neither worked. Also when I originally installed Vista I did only have 2gb of memory before my memory upgrade I had a pair of Corsair XMS2 1gb sticks.
So I tried adjusting the timings of the ram to 5-5-5-18 @2.2v and at both 667 and 800 neither worked, I even dropped it to 400fsb and it wouldn't even post then. I've tried auto settings and everything also. It seems my mother board just doesn't want to run with 4 sticks of ram.
However I can run with 4Gb with timings of 4-4-4-12 @2.2v and my cpu OC @3.3ghz just fine.

Did you try increasing NB voltage?

 

[ditmarsb]

Did you try increasing NB voltage?

I had tried increasing both the NB and SB speed, they run at 100mhz stock I tried 125mhz which didn't help and 150mhz which at that point it didn't post. I hadn't changed the voltage though, I don't know much about the voltage settings besides the CPU vCore and the memory voltage other than those I wouldn't know what to set it to. Any suggestions or could anyone explain to me the other voltages besides CPU and Memory, and safe settings?

 

[ditmarsb]

A quick update on this I have tried increasing my NB voltage up to 1.55v and still wont work. My problem is that Vista will not load up, I'm starting to wonder if this is an issue specific to my Vista install. However I wouldn't know how to correct this, I tried to reinstall with the 8gb ram installed but that to goes very slowly and doesn't finish. The installation of Vista I currently had was installed back when I had only 2gb of ram (which has also been suggested to install with 2gb only). So I'm at a loss again.

 

[Scotteq]

(1) Loosen the timings - Cas 4 with 8GB is VERY VERY aggressive. You may end up having to run Cas 5 or Cas 6 in order to get that much RAM to run stably.

(2) In the Bios, find tRFC (Refresh to Activate Delay) - be advised it could be named something else. Ensure it is set to 54 or higher.

(3) The Command Rate will definitely need to be 2T.

 

[geofelt]

Run memtest86+ with all 4 sticks installed. If it runs properly, then the problem is not the ram.

If it fails to boot or run withoug any errors, then verify that each stick os good. Most likely they are good.
Try good sticks in each of the slots to verify that all 4 slots are good.
8gb implies that you have gone from using 2 ram slots to 4. This puts additional load on the mobo. I found that 8gb with 4 sticks on a P35 mobo worked, but it could not handle overclocking. This may limit your overclock and timings. Don't worry too much about the speed and timings. Synthetic benchmarks may suffer, but your real application performance will not. The extra ram will make up for the minor difference in application performance.

1) Look to see if there are any bios updates for your mobo that might address ram problems.
2) Access Patriot support. They have good info on what settings are appropriate for their ram in different mobo's.

 

[ditmarsb]

Well I have gotten Vista to load with all 8gb installed with timings of 5-5-5-18 and also 4-4-4-12 for that matter but I have discovered the actual problem. The reason why Vista is loaded so slow is because my CPU is on 100% load with all 4 ram slots being used. So my question now is what would cause my cpu to go crazy, has anyone else had or heard of this problem while using 8gb / 4 slots of ram? How might I go about troubleshooting this?

Also to Scotteq I tried changing my tRFC my mobo calls it just tRC and the highest I can manually set it to is 31 and my other maximum timings are as follows 6-7-7-31.

 

[Asupasolja]

I have just installed 2 4gb kits in mine (8gb total) You have to have windows vista os and it has to be a 64-bit version, or it recognize that much. I have the hp pavilion m8430f now with 8 gb of ram and this thing is lightning. If you hold ctrl and alt and hit the delete key, it will bring up the task manager and you can see what is taking up so much of your cpu under processes and performance. This is my first pc ever, and out of all the people I know, this is the fastest by far..When I hit the E button for google, I can type right away. well anyways hope I was of some help.....

HP Pavilion Media Center m8430f
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 / 2.4 GHz
Quad-Core - 64-bit processor
8.0 GB (max)DDR2 SDRAM
Data bus speed 1066.0 MHz

 

[ditmarsb]

Task manager does not show anything out of the ordinary when this occurs.

 

[geofelt]

Task manager does not show anything out of the ordinary when this occurs.

The task manager has a performance tab. Look for the task that contributes most to 100% cpu.

 

[ditmarsb]

There is no process zapping my CPU enough to make it run at 100%. This issue has something to do with using 4 modules of ram which causes my the cpu overload. A setting in the bios... something I've done wrong along the line, I am really not sure and don't know where to start.

 

[markiv_81]

There is no process zapping my CPU enough to make it run at 100%. This issue has something to do with using 4 modules of ram which causes my the cpu overload. A setting in the bios... something I've done wrong along the line, I am really not sure and don't know where to start.

I have the same problem with my MB Asus P5N32SLI Premium. The only way it works stably is to overclock the CPU to around 1186 and underclock the RAM to 725 or increase the memory voltage between 2.4 - 2.55. Some reason the memory voltage is the cause and it has more to do with the motherboard. Asus just does not accept this and unfortunatley I am forced to live with this problem.