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Mismatched DDR2 sticks pairs stability tips (ASUS P5B)

post #1 of 5
8/7/12 at 7:04am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys, I've been running for quite some time a rig built this way:

Intel Q8200 @ 445*7 (3.12Ghz) - 1.265v
Asus P5B
2x2Gb of Buffalo Select PC2-6400U-555 @ 1.9v - Auto Timings
Cooler Master GX550w PSU
Windows 7

It worked stable and all, and i've deviced to add an extra 2*2Gb of DDR2, the best pick I could have was a pair of matched 2Gb G.Skill Extreme2 PC6400 PK
Now, obviously, I'm getting some serious issues with keeping the same overclock and 2 pairs of mismatched memory sticks.
The same OC with the G.Skill only apparently shows no stability issues.

So far I've been testing all available memory slot configurations for the sticks and I've been hitting a rough wall, anything above 350Mhz will lead me to heavy unstability, BSODs during Windows boot or right to the login page. Weirdly enough, keeping the FSB to 445Mhz allows me to boot Windows and surf on the Internet but would BSOD as soon as I start heavy softwares (After Effects/Cubase).

Is there any tips or memory settings I wouldn't be aware of that could help me get back the compatibility right? I'm suspecting the Auto timings to be messing up with the Buffalo ram as the G.Skills can deal with much tighter timings.


Thanks, Ig

Edit : I have found out that as long as there are 3 sticks, it's stable too ( now it's A1 : Buffalo A2 : Empty B1 : GSkill B2 GSkill)
Edited by Eggehh - 8/7/12 at 8:11am
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post #2 of 5
8/7/12 at 10:47am
Even without mismatched sticks, it's common for OC capabilities to change with two DIMMs per channel.

Manually setting memory timings should take care of any potential problems from the mismatch. You don't want anything that says auto, manually input everything for the lowest common denominator amongst your DIMMs.

After you find settings that will work with both sets independently, you will still likely need to increase command rate and tRFC, as well as give MCH voltage a bump. Even then you may not be able to reach the same FSB with four DIMMs as you could with 2 or 3.

I would also recommend getting a rough idea of memory stability before booting into windows. Flaky memory is one of the fastest ways to corrupt an OS install.
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3930K (C2) @ 4.3GHz, HT on, 1.308v GA-X79S-UP5 (F4v) Radeon 7950, 1053/1650, 1.163v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... Radeon 7950, 1080/1675, 1.081v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... 
RAMHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
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i7 970 3012B113 @ 4GHz, 1.264v, HT On Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 Radeon 6870 1GB Radeon 5750 @ 918/300 (cryptography coprocessor) 
RAMHard DriveCoolingOS
6x4GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3 @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2, 1.4v 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.C, 2x250GB Seagate 7200.10s Prolimatech Genesis Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 
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AMD FX-8150 @ 4.52GHz (210x21.5), 1.45v load GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 (F8a BIOS) Radeon 6950 @ 945/1425, 1.2v 4x8GiB G.Skill Ares @ 1680, 9-10-9-28-T2, 1.5v 
Hard DriveHard DriveCoolingOS
Samsung F3 1TB 2x Samsung F3 500GB RAID 0 Lapped TRUE + Panflo FBA12G12H1BX Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 
MonitorPowerCase
Dell S2740L (27", 1920x1080, 7ms, IPS) Corsair TX650w Cooler Master HAF 932 
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Primary (SB-E)
(15 items)
 
Secondary (Gulftown)
(12 items)
 
Tertiary (Bulldozer)
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
3930K (C2) @ 4.3GHz, HT on, 1.308v GA-X79S-UP5 (F4v) Radeon 7950, 1053/1650, 1.163v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... Radeon 7950, 1080/1675, 1.081v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... 
RAMHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
32GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3D/US @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2,... Kingston V+100 96GB 4x WD Scorpio Black 500GB RAID 10 3x Hitachi 7k1000.C 1TB RAID 0 
CoolingOSKeyboardPower
Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 + 2x NF-P14 + PK-1 (TIM) Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise Flico Majestouch Tenkeyless (MX Brown) Antec True Power New 750w 
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Fractal Design Define R4 + 6 Cougar CF-V14HB CM Storm Spawn (firmware 61) Realtek ALC898 
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
i7 970 3012B113 @ 4GHz, 1.264v, HT On Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 Radeon 6870 1GB Radeon 5750 @ 918/300 (cryptography coprocessor) 
RAMHard DriveCoolingOS
6x4GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3 @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2, 1.4v 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.C, 2x250GB Seagate 7200.10s Prolimatech Genesis Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 
MonitorMonitorPowerCase
ASUS 22" Acer 22" Enermax Modu82+ 625w Antec P182 
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-8150 @ 4.52GHz (210x21.5), 1.45v load GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 (F8a BIOS) Radeon 6950 @ 945/1425, 1.2v 4x8GiB G.Skill Ares @ 1680, 9-10-9-28-T2, 1.5v 
Hard DriveHard DriveCoolingOS
Samsung F3 1TB 2x Samsung F3 500GB RAID 0 Lapped TRUE + Panflo FBA12G12H1BX Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 
MonitorPowerCase
Dell S2740L (27", 1920x1080, 7ms, IPS) Corsair TX650w Cooler Master HAF 932 
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post #3 of 5
8/7/12 at 11:14am
Thread Starter 
Interesting, thanks. I was about to start working with Memtest for the timings, got some bad winload corruptions in the past that I can't afford now. I think I'm gonna be stuck at some point anyway, there's no MCH voltage setting with the regular P5B. There's just one thing that bothers me, beyond the regular 5 timing things I've got a couple of extra options I don't know what to do with them
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post #4 of 5
8/7/12 at 11:45am
That Buffalo select is rated at DDR2-800 5-5-5, and as far as those sub timings, I can tell you that setting everything to 10 certainly isn't optimal.

Try starting with these, in order, going down the list: 5-5-5-15 7-60-5-5-5-7

Static read control is a chipset timing that depends on FSB, memory ratio, and CAS. It can probably be left on AUTO for now, but once you figure out what it's being set to, adding one to that figure may help stabilize a higher FSB with this amount of memory.

Regarding voltages, MCH voltage may be called NB vcore. Also, increasing FSB termination voltage may help as well.
Primary (SB-E)
(15 items)
 
Secondary (Gulftown)
(12 items)
 
Tertiary (Bulldozer)
(11 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
3930K (C2) @ 4.3GHz, HT on, 1.308v GA-X79S-UP5 (F4v) Radeon 7950, 1053/1650, 1.163v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... Radeon 7950, 1080/1675, 1.081v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... 
RAMHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
32GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3D/US @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2,... Kingston V+100 96GB 4x WD Scorpio Black 500GB RAID 10 3x Hitachi 7k1000.C 1TB RAID 0 
CoolingOSKeyboardPower
Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 + 2x NF-P14 + PK-1 (TIM) Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise Flico Majestouch Tenkeyless (MX Brown) Antec True Power New 750w 
CaseMouseAudio
Fractal Design Define R4 + 6 Cougar CF-V14HB CM Storm Spawn (firmware 61) Realtek ALC898 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
i7 970 3012B113 @ 4GHz, 1.264v, HT On Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 Radeon 6870 1GB Radeon 5750 @ 918/300 (cryptography coprocessor) 
RAMHard DriveCoolingOS
6x4GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3 @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2, 1.4v 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.C, 2x250GB Seagate 7200.10s Prolimatech Genesis Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 
MonitorMonitorPowerCase
ASUS 22" Acer 22" Enermax Modu82+ 625w Antec P182 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-8150 @ 4.52GHz (210x21.5), 1.45v load GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 (F8a BIOS) Radeon 6950 @ 945/1425, 1.2v 4x8GiB G.Skill Ares @ 1680, 9-10-9-28-T2, 1.5v 
Hard DriveHard DriveCoolingOS
Samsung F3 1TB 2x Samsung F3 500GB RAID 0 Lapped TRUE + Panflo FBA12G12H1BX Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 
MonitorPowerCase
Dell S2740L (27", 1920x1080, 7ms, IPS) Corsair TX650w Cooler Master HAF 932 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Primary (SB-E)
(15 items)
 
Secondary (Gulftown)
(12 items)
 
Tertiary (Bulldozer)
(11 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
3930K (C2) @ 4.3GHz, HT on, 1.308v GA-X79S-UP5 (F4v) Radeon 7950, 1053/1650, 1.163v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... Radeon 7950, 1080/1675, 1.081v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... 
RAMHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
32GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3D/US @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2,... Kingston V+100 96GB 4x WD Scorpio Black 500GB RAID 10 3x Hitachi 7k1000.C 1TB RAID 0 
CoolingOSKeyboardPower
Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 + 2x NF-P14 + PK-1 (TIM) Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise Flico Majestouch Tenkeyless (MX Brown) Antec True Power New 750w 
CaseMouseAudio
Fractal Design Define R4 + 6 Cougar CF-V14HB CM Storm Spawn (firmware 61) Realtek ALC898 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
i7 970 3012B113 @ 4GHz, 1.264v, HT On Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 Radeon 6870 1GB Radeon 5750 @ 918/300 (cryptography coprocessor) 
RAMHard DriveCoolingOS
6x4GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3 @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2, 1.4v 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.C, 2x250GB Seagate 7200.10s Prolimatech Genesis Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 
MonitorMonitorPowerCase
ASUS 22" Acer 22" Enermax Modu82+ 625w Antec P182 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-8150 @ 4.52GHz (210x21.5), 1.45v load GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 (F8a BIOS) Radeon 6950 @ 945/1425, 1.2v 4x8GiB G.Skill Ares @ 1680, 9-10-9-28-T2, 1.5v 
Hard DriveHard DriveCoolingOS
Samsung F3 1TB 2x Samsung F3 500GB RAID 0 Lapped TRUE + Panflo FBA12G12H1BX Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 
MonitorPowerCase
Dell S2740L (27", 1920x1080, 7ms, IPS) Corsair TX650w Cooler Master HAF 932 
View all
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post #5 of 5
8/7/12 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
Cheers for all these infos. After a couple of tests I think I've hit the maximum that the memory controller can bear, I'll stay with 3*2Gb as I really can't afford to put the FSB lower (some of my Cubase projects are on the verge of maxing out the CPU charge). A full memtest86+ pass showed me bazillions of errors on test 5 and only this test, which doesn't happen when only three sticks are in.
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Overclock.net › Forums › Intel › Intel Memory › Mismatched DDR2 sticks pairs stability tips (ASUS P5B)