ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (Opteron) - What Ram you using?

Soldato
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Hi,

I have been having a problem getting the memory dividers to work correctly? I suspect its something to do with my RAM or possibly a combination of the Opterons memory controller with the (ASUS) NF4-SLi chipset.

I have tested so far:

1GB Kit (2x512) CRUCIAL *Ballistix* PC3200
1GB Kit (2x512) CRUCIAL *Ballistix* PC4000
1GB Kit (2x512) CRUCIAL *Value* PC3200

Both the *Ballistix* sets when run on a memory divider are not allowing the computer to pass the post screen?

The PC3200 set have been tested all the way up to 275MHz (DDR550) 1:1 sync, but if I change the divider from 400MHz (1:1) to 333MHz (5:4) or 266MHz (3:2) the PC won't always boot?

I am having slightly better luck with the 1GB Kit (2x512) CRUCIAL *Value* PC3200 but its still not quite right? (Maybe a Crucial thing?).

Can you guys who are using an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium please post some info on your memory set-ups, particularly if you are using your sticks on a divider while overclocking!

many thanks! :)
 
Soldato
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CS||nuTs said:
What would you like to know mate?
Google is my friend :)

OCZ4661024EBDCPE-K

platinumsingle_pc3700eb_k.jpg


OCZ PC-3700 Platinum Series Enhanced Bandwidth 1024MB CL3

I think I remember that stuff being sold about 18 months ago, I'm just trying to work out which memory is having problems using dividers on the nForce-4 platform. It appears you do not have a problem here!

If this isn't a memory issue, then perhaps its something to do with the on-die memory controller of me opteron, or perhaps the way CRUCIAL memory works on the nForce4?
 
Soldato
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Not had any problems with it at all mate.I would like to get some more of it and see what these boards are like with 4 slots full.
 
Associate
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i have a premium and a 64 venice 3000 - one of the very first ones stable @ 2.8GHz - and i have NEVER been able to run my 2gb Ballstix on either a 333 or 266 divider. it gets to the initial screen where the drives are detected and just sticks, has to be rebooted. i even rma'd the first set because of this very problem. have had them on a poor 200 divider all the time i have had them. this was the same as my cheap generic stuff. the second set was exactly the same and have now also failed and in the process of being rma'd. crucial in east kilbride have no stock and so they are waiting for some from the usa.

bios revisions for this board never made a difference to the problem and i think that the crucial/asus combo doesn't work. since other folk have had the same issue with all different types/steppings of 64, i don't think the cpu is at fault.
 
Soldato
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Augustus said:
i have a premium and a 64 venice 3000 - one of the very first ones stable @ 2.8GHz - and i have NEVER been able to run my 2gb Ballstix on either a 333 or 266 divider. it gets to the initial screen where the drives are detected and just sticks, has to be rebooted. i even rma'd the first set because of this very problem.

bios revisions for this board never made a difference to the problem and i think that the crucial/asus combo doesn't work. since other folk have had the same issue with all different types/steppings of 64, i don't think the cpu is at fault.
Hi Augustus,

thanks for the reply, well yes I have to agree that appears to be the case here. I'm not sure what pieces of the hardware are not allowing the dividers to work correctly, as both sets of Ballistix I have (PC3200 and PC4000) run just fine on an INTEL P4 system (Northwood/Springdale)

so the thing that is preventing the dividers working as they should is either:

  • a) Ballistix + ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
  • b) Ballistix + AMD Athlon64 Processors (Onboard Memory Controller)

9/10 times when I boot the PC using dividers on the memory it will just freeze at the devices screen, but on a rare occasion it did manage to boot and I notice that the memory wasn't quite running at the speed it should have been, i.e 300HTT using a 3:2 divider (266MHz) was running at 180MHz instead of 200Mhz (DDR400), so it looks like its having a hard time trying to work out what speed it should run at, and probably the times it freezes at the device screen is when its set totally wrong, like 240MHz when it should have been 200MHz etc.

The Crucial value is behaving a bit better, if I put that on a 3:2 divider (266Mhz) it will run at a clean 200MHz, exactly as it should be!
 
Associate
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Clownworld
i'm leaning towards the board and asus not being able to write a good bios as being the problem. if you look at the dfi boards they have about a million bios' written, all seem to be covering different combinations of hardware.

when i rma'd my first set, i got the third degree from crucial support and the bloke had never heard of this problem.

also, check out the pcb - they are very thin. i'm surprised they make a good connection in the slots. perhaps this is where all the failures are coming from. not enough layers with not enough tracks to supply the current needed and they are burning out??
 
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