4x512 ram wont overclock! Help!

[THunDA]

Ive also found that playing with Max Async and Preamble helps to stabilize certain dividers in some situations.

[Praz]

I doubt that it's a motherboard issue. And it's definitely not a DFI issue.

I'm getting ready to post a new entry in the OCDB. 3050 4x1024 to go with my 3050 2x1024. You can't just put 2 more sticks in and press the power button. You're going to have to readjust MAL/RP and a couple of the secondary timings. You may also have to bump the DRAM voltage up a little.

[loc.o]

Ive tried 4x512 a while ago. Not same mem but maybe some secondary timings might help. Ran both 150 and 166 divider. Bios 510-2FIX.

[spine]

Believe me when I tell you I've extensively played about with memory settings till I'm blue in the face, especially preamble and async. The fact is, with my board at least, 4 sticks of 512 memory just causes problems where 2 sticks does not. async at 9, amble at 7 seems to be slightly more stable than my ram's default of 7/5.5, but only slightly. I've also used A64 tweaker to attempt to play about with DQS skew control and have seen only minimal success.

 

One of the biggest improvements I've done is use a resistor to overvolt my PSU's 3.3 line to about 3.6. That has given me a slight boost in overclock. That and watercooling my ram with a home made waterblock.

 

Also, in my case, more voltage to the ram reduces stability. Yup, true, so I have to set my ram voltage to the lowest possible (2.5) in order to stably overclock it as far as possible. My first thought too was a memory controller issue, but why then would the problem go away with just 2 sticks? Maybe you just need a hilariously OTT PSU with an overkill 3.3 rail.

 

I blame the motherboard. Frankly, no board has ever been made that plays just as nice with all it's ram banks filled opposed to only half. It's better than the Athlon XP days, but not by much.

 

It's just one of those things people have either forgotten or don't know about. But I now know to NEVER attempt to use all of a board's ram slots and expect maximum overclockability. I've had problems in the past also with double ranked ram on NF2 boards and that's almost as annoying. Lesson learned.

[cuoficr]

you didnt mention in this thread, but you are using 2t CR correct?

[Praz]

I blame the motherboard. Frankly, no board has ever been made that plays just as nice with all it's ram banks filled opposed to only half. It's better than the Athlon XP days, but not by much.

Try as I may, I just don't understand a statement like that. Other then running 2T and changing a couple of settings 4 sticks haven't had an effect on my overclocking at all. The memory isn't even all the same brand. 2 sticks are OCZ EB and the other 2 are Mushkin Redline.

 

[TheFlowerKing]

Try as I may, I just don't understand a statement like that. Other then running 2T and changing a couple of settings 4 sticks haven't had an effect on my overclocking at all. The memory isn't even all the same brand. 2 sticks are OCZ EB and the other 2 are Mushkin Redline.

 

I'm much the same, I've run numerous 4x512 setups and the only problem I've ever had was when the strong sticks were in the strong slots as opposed to the weak slots.

[spine]

I am indeed running at 2T. 1T won't even post at stock clocks no matter what the settings with 4 sticks.

 

 

Bare in mind I have an NF3, and not an NF4. I suspect NF4 boards are vastly superior in stability and overclockability.

 

 

 

If I had to guess what causes the problem, I'd say that the board has issues with power regulation to the ram slots, or maybe there are too few and weak capacitors used there. It's also likely that the graphics card is drawing too much power through the AGP's 3.3 line and thus sucking it away from the ram slots. Actually that's probably the most likely problem. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare low power AGP card to test that theory with.

[Praz]

Sounds like you've got it all figured out. Good luck.