It's The Nfii Chipset At Fault :)

[markiemrboo]

After all that, seems like it's a known issue. nForce2 chipset can't cope with double sided 512MB RAM with CPC on (like in newer official BIOSes for the NF7 atleast). That would likely explain the randomness of everything, like the chipset voltage making things better/worse at even lower FSBs.

 

I'll lost some performance with this CPC off thing I suppose, but never mind. It was running at 225 for over an hour priming while I was out. I'm not too sure when to stop though, should I go as high as possible before prime bottles out after the first few minutes? Then after I found that step back down a few and leave it overnight? I'm aiming for a higher FSB than multiplier... and to hit my goal of 2.7GHz I need atleast 216 I think it was, 216*12.5 ...

 

This had better have my instability problems solved or i'll seriously just cry!

[r_target]

Yeah, that's what I would do. Take it to the point where P95 goes bananas in the first ten minutes, then work your way down.

[markiemrboo]

Ok cool I figured that was probably the best idea. I am gonna leave it priming for ages at 231 JUST to make sure it's not still all screwy though... i'll give it until, hmm, 6PM I think

[ShadowPaktu]

I cant remember exactly, but the official word was that it can only cope with 1 stick of 256mb double sided, and the rest single sided, or single sided 512mb stick, with the rest single sided. I honestly cant remember the exact specs that can be allowed, but in 99.99% of systems built with the nforce II chipset it really doesnt effect it if you put 3 sticks of double sided memory in at 512 each (if you wanted. It's a resilliant chipset and those limitation that it states about the RAM are nearly always overlooked because they dont seem to hold true (i guess not in your case :/)

[markiemrboo]

lol it seriously wasn't having it with my double sided 512meg stick, at all. Couldn't do 200MHz FSB stable, it's fine with a modded CPC off BIOS now though. Just need a new PSU so I can overclock...

[exeter_acres]

thats not a shipset...thats a RAM issue...

 

My 512 sticks (Mushkin LvlII BH-5)can't go over 220 with CPC enabled...

while some people with single sided 256mb sticks can hit 250 WITH CPC....

 

 

do some testing though...

 

some people have found that a lower FSB with CPC enabled is actually better than a higher FSB with CPC disabled....

 

for me...I was able to go far enough past the 220FSB thresehold that I was able to overcome the "CPC disabled" hit in performance