4 gig memory problem on GA-K8NXP-SLI

[4ccmusic]

I have,

Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI mobo
4 1 gig sticks of ocz titanium ddr 400 memory.
f9 bios
Amd 4400 dual core chip.
1 raptor 75 gig
3 mator 250 sata 2 drives
2 msi 6600 gt gfx card in sli mode!

My problem is that when I install all 4 gig modules and add the /3gb in the boot.ini my sli goes crazy and I can't run my system. My second video card gives me a yellow exclamation mark. I can run this in normal, single card mode fine with the extra ram.
I have tried everything to fix it. I tried to f9 andf10 bios. I added the 4 gig reconfig in the advance bios. I tried different NVIDIA drives; different chipset drivers, all give me the same problem. I tried to slow down my ram speed as well with no luck.

Any help would be great.

 

[Reapsy01]

Perhaps 4 gig is asking too much from the memory controller. I think thats why servers have to use buffered ram so they can support loads of memory. Isn't 4 gig overkill anyway what are you running that would use all that ram?

 

[4ccmusic]

i used the extra ram to load samples in for music. I am using quite large virtual instruments inr eal time to record so i load them all into ram. 1 piano can take 2 gigs and the 3 gig is for the os. I would normally run 3 gigs but then the ram goes into single channel mode and i get pops and clicks from my audio card.

Hope this helps.

 

[Reapsy01]

Well the board is supposed to be able to support 4 gigs of ram but like i said before maybe the memory controller isn't up too it. Is there a newer bios you could try? Otherwise I think your SOL.

You could always sell your 2 6600gt's and buy an 6800gt or 7800gt.

Hold on just reread your post maybe it is a power supply problem, what one are you using?
You've got a lot of stuff drawing power maybe the 4th stick of ram is too much.

 

[Peter]

The memory controller is very well capable of driving four gigabytes of RAM. Your (32-bit) operating system isn't - simply because you got four gigabytes of TOTAL space, and you can't stuff it all with RAM. You need to leave room for system essentials, graphics card RAM, other I/O, and virtualization.

Also, you need to realize that PC3200 with two double-sided DIMMs per channel needs AT LEAST very relaxed timings at 200 MHz, the PCxxxx standards even demand you step back to 166 MHz.

 

[Reapsy01]

yes but it's weird the way it works with 1 graphics card but not with 2 in SLI

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Reapsy01
Well the board is supposed to be able to support 4 gigs of ram but like i said before maybe the memory controller isn't up too it.

The memory controller isn't on the board at all. It's in the CPU(s) for all AMD64 systems.

 

[4ccmusic]

i have a 480 antec neo power supply. Thear shold be enoufgh pwer..no? I'm not running 6800 card whihc draw alot more juice.

I also tried to run the memory @ 166 speeds but i still have the same problem.

How does 3 gigs run fine but not 4? It sounds so strange!

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: Reapsy01
yes but it's weird the way it works with 1 graphics card but not with 2 in SLI

Not weird at all. The 2nd graphics card consumes address space (at least as much as it brings RAM), and that subtracts from the amount of system RAM you can have this side of the 32-bit-addressing limit.

 

[4ccmusic]

so what do i do now? Any recommendations

 

[Steve]

Try enabling PAE, that's just a guess.

 

[4ccmusic]

no go

Any else have any ideas?

 

[funks]

do you have a 4GB Software Remapping option on your board?

On my 9NPA+SLI, I have this option. WinXP64 gives me all 4GB's. WinXPPRO only sees 3GB which makes sense as the 3-4GB range is remapped to 4-5GB range..

 

[4ccmusic]

yes, in bios f10 there is a 4 gig remap and once enabled the bios sees the addtional ram however winxp still reports 3 gigs in it with the switch once its enabled

 

[fire400]

you have to patch the OS environment with the Windows XP 4gig fix

the 32-bit OS of WinXP will have problems running 4 gigs of RAM

www.microsoft.com they explain it very clearly on their website

if you are still having problems, you will probably have to downgrade your motherboard settings so that your system is overloading itself

 

[4ccmusic]

can u give me a specific url please?

 

[Reapsy01]

Originally posted by: Peter

Originally posted by: Reapsy01
yes but it's weird the way it works with 1 graphics card but not with 2 in SLI

Not weird at all. The 2nd graphics card consumes address space (at least as much as it brings RAM), and that subtracts from the amount of system RAM you can have this side of the 32-bit-addressing limit.

ok so the 32 bit addressing limit is 2^32 bytes = 4Gb and the OP says he can only see 3Gb so are you saying that the addressing space = 1 Gb coz that seems like alot. Or am I way off the mark.

 

[Steve]

Addressing space will vary depending on hardware. But you can expect it to include video memory, GART, PCI etc. 32-bit systems with less than 4GB won't observe this phenomena because the hardware will be addressed in virtual memory.

 

[grooge]

ok so the 32 bit addressing limit is 2^32 bytes = 4Gb and the OP says he can only see 3Gb so are you saying that the addressing space = 1 Gb coz that seems like alot. Or am I way off the mark.

well, with newer 512 megs video card, with 2 in SLI or xfire mode, you already hit the 1 gigs that you seem like a lot.. while the video card take care of that adressing spaces, it show you how much adress spaces are needed for today computing

So, add to any other hardware piece (look at the hardware management to see how much individual hardware you have.. al the sub category need address spaces..) and you'll see that there is not that much space wasted ...