What are my Proper Memory timings?

[jelifah]

Hello all, (first post, long time lurker)

I just purchased the Mushkin RAM suggested in the System Buyer's Guide

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-146-219&depa=0

After 5 days I ran Memtest, the most current one, and got back errors. I realized the Bios was auto setting the memory as:

Freq 200, Cas#Lat 2.5, Ras to CAS 4, Ras Precharge 3, and Tras 8 (which seemed kooky)

Cpuz info told me to set it as 2.5-3-3-8, which conflicts with NewEgg specs (Mushkin doesn't show specs on their site) but I did it anyway. And got more errors, on average, than the first try!

So my question is, what should the timing on that RAM be? Does Cpuz not report the proper settings sometimes?

Thanks in advance.


Complete System Specs for reference
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra 939 Motherboard, F4 BIOS
BFG 6800OC
BLK3700BQE
CD Burner, DVD Drive, and an 80GB Western Digital Hard Drive

 

[LTC8K6]

I think CPU-Z reports what it's running at, not what it should be set at.

Can you set the memory to SPD?

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
I think CPU-Z reports what it's running at, not what it should be set at.

Can you set the memory to SPD?

You are correct about CPU-Z. CPUZ states you are running tighter times than it should be.

You should be at least running 2.5-3-4

 

[LTC8K6]

Run the latest version of CPU-Z version 1.26.

It will read both the current timings and the timings from the SPD module on the ram.

 

[Viper96720]

Go into cpu-z then about and click on Memory SPD. It'll make a text file of your memory's spd settings.
See what it says. If you use auto those are the settings it should be.

Try increasing the memory voltage. Maybe someone can help if they know what test error your getting in.

 

[jelifah]

I took the Cpuz SPD information and used it the 2nd time I tested, which gave a higher error per average result than the first run.

First test, at BIOS Default of 2.5-4-3-8, was 40 passes with 2 errors in the same spot

Second test, setting BIOS speeds manually with Cpuz SPD info of 2.5-3-3-8, was 35 passes with 9 errors in the same spot as the first test.

What should the timing be?

Default - 2.5-4-3-8
Cpuz SPD - 2.5-3-3-8
or NewEgg spec info of 2.5-4-4-8

?

To be honest, I'm not trying to overclock. I am just looking for what the default settings SHOULD be, since the motherboard auto set apparently isn't doing it right.

Dazed and Confused

 

[Regs]

As a whole, how does your system run? Notice any slow downs or crashes? Any blue screens of death? Sudden crashes in games? Any abnormal errors in the Windows Event log viewer? Lock ups?

If not, I wouldn't worry about it. I have seen it before when memtest get's a little tempermental on some systems. Could even be a program glitch.

If you post your Motherboard type and manufacturer, we could maybe be more helpful. For the most part everything that you need should be under Memory Configuration in the BIOS.

 

[Viper96720]

Try out 3-4-4-10
Your using ver 1.40 not an earlier version? Try the memory in the other slots also.

 

[jelifah]

Sure thing Regs,

I placed the specs at the bottom of the post, to focus on the problem, but I could see where it would have been overlooked.

Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra 939 Motherboard, F4 BIOS
BFG 6800OC 128MB card
512MB of RAM (The 'problem' stick)
Using on board sound

My biggest concern is some problems while running FarCry.

I've read on HardOCP that I should be able to play this game at 1280x1024 with 4xAA. During a fire fight with 3 or 4 guys I have had, multiple, occurrences where the video stops, the sound loops, and the clatter of the gun goes off for 4 seconds or so. Another minor hesitation occurs, roughly 1-2 seconds, when transitioning from indoors to outdoors. Are my expectations for that resolution to high? I've also had occassion when I exit FarCry and the computer's responsiveness slows down until I reboot.

So my concern was either a RAM problem, or onboard sound? But I have a hard time believing that moving to a sound card would resole this problem. After I didn't get a clean memtest, I'm assuming I found a culprit...

Also, Viper thanks for your thoughts. I'll try the voltage increase and timings tonight.

 

[Regs]

If I understand correctly, you will need to hit CTRL + F1 when you in the BIOS to be able to change the RAM timings.

 

[Regs]

Your problem could be many things right now.

It could be a bad PSU, which I suggest running Gigabytes motherboard monitor to find out if your PSU is up to spec.

It could also be the way your hard drives are set up, especially if you have sata drives.

I also heard some people having instability problems with the newcastle core in dual channel. Are you using 256x2 in dual channel?

I advise to go check out www.amdmb.com and search out the Gigabyte forum. Likely someone there has the same problem as you but I'm hoping that changing the RAM timings alone to their rated latencies will fix it.

 

[nick1985]

here is how much timings mean on an athlon64

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: nick1985
here is how much timings mean on an athlon64

Performance is not his problem, it's stability.

 

[jelifah]

First off thanks again for the help, everyone,

The RAM is 512x1 (I know about the benefit of dual channel and I'll be upgrading in a month or so, but I gotta get this stick working first )
Hard Drive is a new 80GB IDE Western Digital, and 2 IDE Optical Drives (Burner, and DVD Player).

The testing went as follows, I'll include All 6 attempts, all errors were at the SAME Failing Address of 00017d05f28 - 381.3MB:

Test 1 * 2.5-4-3-8 ERROR (Mobo Default)
Test 2 * 2.5-3-3-8 ERROR
Test 3 * 2.5-3-3-8 ERROR (With +.1 Voltage)
Test 4 * 2.5-4-4-8 PASS!! (With +.1 Voltage)
Test 5 * 2.5-4-4-8 ERROR (Normal Voltage)
Test 6 * 2.5-4-4-8 PASS!! (With +.1 Voltage)

So I've established that the RAM will run perfect at the 2.5-4-4-8 timings with the +.1 voltage. Even though the CpuZ SPD info was 2.5-3-3-8.

BUT, the RAM failed at the same address everytime, so is the RAM okay?

Like Regs, mentioned I'm not particularly concerned about OC'ing, just stability.

I have a few hours tonight, since my wife will be home late, so a little FarCry, err I mean testing, is in order! Just to make sure things are stable

Thanks for your help Regs, I can see why you are a 'Diamond Member

 

[Poop Shoe]

Call up Mushkin directly. They have pretty good support for their memory and usually know what to do.
18006887678 I think.

 

[Viper96720]

Try going up more with the mem voltage. If not then the ram is faulty.

 

[jelifah]

Not that I was cheating on the wonderful forum users that are Anand, but I had been posting on Mushkin's site as well as here.

As mentioned previously, I can back up the fact that Mushkin Customer support is incredible! The Forum Support admin, ian, responded to me directly 4 times in the span of 24 hours. And after I posted the results from last nights round of testing he said to call Mushkin. When I called I mentioned that I had looked for help on the Mushkin forum, and the guy was like 'Ok, here's your RMA'

They said I should have been getting 2.5-3-3-8 with this stick, which is something that was never stable. *shrug* I figured I had a bad stick, when the error kept occurring in the same spot no matter what voltage I was using.

Also, another shout out to Regs and viper. I appreciate the help

 

[liljoker]

hi, i'm having the same problems. i do have another question tho. does the mobo affect the timing of the memory?

did the 3-4-4-7 timings work fine jelifah?

thanks