Instability Problems? -- Which RAM should I get?

[Bob Davies]

Hi, New to dfi street.

Ive searched the forms but havent found out why my system is so unstable. I have tryed lots of things (bios and others) but nothing seems to work, doesnt even make it a bit better! I think i have narrowed it down to the RAM as it is a low quality ram. I am going to purchase some new ram soon (1gb) any suggestions? And do you think the RAM may be the problem? Thanks Rob

(ps, i think the DFI motherboard Rocks!)

[kitfit1]

Hi Bob, welcome to the street. I'm afraid that if you want to be helped, your going to have to come up with a lot more detail than(Ive searched the forms but havent found out why my system is so unstable). What is unstable? at what point is it unstable? what have you done to make it stable? As to your ram, if you are trying to up the fsb then yes it could well be a sticking point PNY is the stuff you get from a PCWORLD. It's ok for a bog standard pc for surfing and Word ect, but not a good choice for a LPB. If you look at other people's sigs on the street you'll get a good idea of what ram works on these mobo's. I do know that there can be issues with the XP 3200 on these boards as well, although some people have overcome them very well. Do a search on the forums for the XP 3200 and have a read.

[Bob Davies]

Hi thanks for the reply, as for the unstability. It runs game for a few mins and restarts ,freezes, you name it its done it! As for the ram i have heared stories that it is crap for gaming (got it before i new what i was doing). As i said i am going to purchase some new ram at least 1gb. Any ideas?

 

1. Samsung 512 Corsair Twinx/XMS4400V1.1 512MB Double

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XMS.html

 

2. OCZ PC4800 Platinum 512 x 2 ddr

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Enh...dth_Series.html

 

3. G.Skill 1GB DDR pc 4800 512 x 2

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/G_Skill.html

 

Any other ideas? Thanks

[Elano]

Hey Bob,

 

I recently got some instab issues...

 

The main problems for me was:

 

Southbridge and Northbridge cooling. Added some decent heatsinks with a 40x40 fan on each one.

 

Also your problem can be memory related. Can you run some Memtest on them and tell us the results?

 

When I used 7-2-2-2-2-9-12 timings, I had some game crashes, lan drop outs and usb locks.

 

After changing it to 9-2-2-2-2-13-15 I really got something going, and keep in mind I have excelent rams.

 

Witch timings do you use?

 

You ask for me I´ll really love OCZ, especially the BH5 ones, I´m runing my PC stable and I´m positive that if someday I could give them more then 3.3v they will respond!

[medianOCer]

Hey Bob,

 

Looks like you have a desktop Barton 3200+, which is a locked 200MHz/400DDR 2.2GHz CPU?

If so, then you probably ought to check which BIOS version you are running and maybe consider

a different BIOS, but depending on what you're current BIOS is and if you're having desktop CPU

issues with that BIOS.

 

As Elano mentioned, you also ought to check how hot your South Bridge and North Bridge

are getting, as well as your CPU, and to see what is going with those components. What

voltages are being fed to them would also be another area of consideration.

 

Are there heatspreaders on your PNY RAM? If not, can you take a look at what the part

numbers are on one of the chips on the RAM and report those in here. You might need

some BIOS tweaking related to those, and possibly other settings. Depending on the RAM

and what chips are on it, it might be less desirable on your board. Unsure on that though,

it could be okay as well. NMI on the RAM.

 

Also, what version of the nForce motherboard/chipset drivers are you using, if you loaded

them? If you did load them, did you load the SW-IDE drivers? Those can sometimes

cause issues when running in Windows. If you're using Windows?

 

You could throw some more info in your sig. Like part/model numbers of components and

revisions, what OS you're using, which BIOS you currently have, and any other

meaty tidbits of 'pute info you'd want to put in there.

[king of nothing]

Bob -- Are you looking for advice on your instability problems or just advice on which RAM to buy?

 

If you just want advice about the RAM I'll move the thread to the recommendations section.

 

If you want advice on the instability problems it would be helpful if you gave us more info about what you have tried and what your BIOS settings look like right now.

 

thanks

[Bob Davies]

Hi, well i ve been thinking about getting new ram to see if it can sort out my problems. So for now can you please advise me on what RAM to get. (money no object, within reason)

Thanks Rob

[medianOCer]

In your first link, if those are rev1.1 you then you might want to steer clear of them, as they might

have Hynix chips on them. Some users have apparently had decent results with them on NF2s,

but I had some that were Hynix DT-D5s and had trouble getting them stable above 216MHz/433DDR,

and I threw everything I had at them but the kitchen sink. They, DT-D5s, might do better on some

newer NF(x) platforms and/or Intel platforms though. YMMV with those on an NF2, and could

possibly be a bit more of a gamble.

 

Although, if they're not rev1.1 then they could be TCCD/5 type chips and those would be more

along the lines of what I'd choose.

 

With the OCZ, those look like they could be TCCD/5 type chips. If so, then I'd say they're

definitely worth considering.

 

The G.Skills could also be TCCD, maybe TCC5, and might be a good choice also. If you can find out

what type of chips are on each model/brand of RAM, then that would help you eliminate one

over another, or choose according to price and etc.

 

Old BH-5s would be the good 'ol standbys on these boards, they might be harder to find though.

You might be able to find some in for sale threads. Also, some of the newer UTT chips

(UTT CH-5) are reportedly excellent also. But both those types of modules usually require more

voltage to attain higher FSBs and OCs.

[Bob Davies]

Hi, thanks for the help. I have also seen some nice http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memo...ual_channel_kit. Which are looking very nice, big 2Gb and had some great reviews. Not shore about them on my board though? Thanks Rob

[medianOCer]

Unsure what chips might be on there. Maybe do some digging and see if you can find out, or maybe

someone else will add to the info on those.

 

2GB might run well on NF2s, unsure on that as well. I suppose you might be able to get it to run

okay at lower FSBs somewhere near 200MHz/400DDR and maybe a bit higher(?), or less.

That's a guess though. OCing could be a bit rougher with 2GB, especially with tCPC of 1T..?

Maybe others will chime in who've used 2GB on NF2s.

 

Sorry, guess I'm only good for questions with 2 x 1GB sticks on NF2s. One question that you might

really want to pay attention to though... Are NF2s going to support up to 512MB per side on a RAM

stick? In other words, would they not support single sided 1GB sticks, which some 1GB sticks

might be? Maybe most 1GB sticks are double sided?

[Bob Davies]

Yes i think that most 1gb sticks are double sided, and the board supports up to 3gb of ram. Thanks

[Huey-San]

Maybe you should look for this

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20000

Change the ACPI Mode helped me much to get stable...