Mushkin Redline DDR2 4GB...misery

[PaulieG]

Ok. Just got my DDR2 1000 Redlines today. For now, I'm going to keep it short and sweet, because I'm way too tired to go into detail. All I can say is that despite the assistance of gdogg (mushkin Rep), this has been one of the worst experiences I've ever had with RAM. I cannot get it stable on my IP35 Pro. This is with customized timings, recommended from gdogg.
The best I can do is DDR2 940 with VERY loose timings, 2.1v and 1.48v mch. NOT EVEN RUNNING AT SPEC!! I am very unhappy right now. I'll go into more detail tomorrow.

 

[DanishDevil]

Sorry to hear that Paulieg! When you buy a premium product like the Redlines, they should at least work to spec! :shadedshu @ Mushkin.

 

[Kursah]

The redlines are pretty new also...I'm sure there is something you can do Paulieg, you've done well before, and I have faith you'll succeed again.

I don't blame you for being dissapointed, and fighting something when you're very tired/exhausted is a very aggrivating thing, which I do find myself doing with PC stuff here and there. Just walk away from tuning it for now, and see if you can strike gold tomorrow man.

If not post your results and pics here to share your experience, I guess the old saying goes, nobody can get the same results stands true here. Maybe Mushkin can replace them for you for a set they can verify will hit at least Spec.

 

[Cold Storm]

I'm sorry to hear this man! I wish the best for ya! GRRR!

 

[PaulieG]

The redlines are pretty new also...I'm sure there is something you can do Paulieg, you've done well before, and I have faith you'll succeed again.

I don't blame you for being dissapointed, and fighting something when you're very tired/exhausted is a very aggrivating thing, which I do find myself doing with PC stuff here and there. Just walk away from tuning it for now, and see if you can strike gold tomorrow man.

If not post your results and pics here to share your experience, I guess the old saying goes, nobody can get the same results stands true here. Maybe Mushkin can replace them for you for a set they can verify will hit at least Spec.

Good advice. I often tell people about the same thing. It's hard when it's you.. This is exactly what I did...closed up shop and went to bed. I've contacted gdogg for any last ditch suggestions, and inquired about an RMA for a different set. I suppose I'm spoiled. I've built upwards of 50 systems, and have never had much problem getting any high performance RAM stable before. I have had issues with initial stability at times like everyone else, but I've always been able to get things going with timing and voltage adjustments. It's certainly not the case here. I've tried several different timing configurations and increases in both DDR voltage and mch voltage with no luck over DDR2 800 1:1. I hear so many good things about Mushkin. I'm hoping this all get's worked out. I'm going to play around with it again tonight, but I can't imagine what to do differently.

 

[infrared]

Sounds like you're having as much fun as i am with this Crucial kit lol. Bad luck all round!

Strangely i'm stuck at exactly the same point. Roughly 900mhz with loose timings and high voltages.

 

[Hawk1]

Man, that sucks. I was really pulling for you and these modules. Hope you can get it sorted soon w/gdogg. I guess I'll just be holding off on 4GB kits (for now).

 

[PaulieG]

Sounds like you're having as much fun as i am with this Crucial kit lol. Bad luck all round!

Strangely i'm stuck at exactly the same point. Roughly 900mhz with loose timings and high voltages.

Well, I assure you that the ST's coming your way are VERY easy to get stable!!

 

[infrared]

Can't wait!

 

[ntdouglas]

Good advice. I often tell people about the same thing. It's hard when it's you.. This is exactly what I did...closed up shop and went to bed. I've contacted gdogg for any last ditch suggestions, and inquired about an RMA for a different set. I suppose I'm spoiled. I've built upwards of 50 systems, and have never had much problem getting any high performance RAM stable before. I have had issues with initial stability at times like everyone else, but I've always been able to get things going with timing and voltage adjustments. It's certainly not the case here. I've tried several different timing configurations and increases in both DDR voltage and mch voltage with no luck over DDR2 800 1:1. I hear so many good things about Mushkin. I'm hoping this all get's worked out. I'm going to play around with it again tonight, but I can't imagine what to do differently.

Before you rma, did they pass memtest at 800-900 mhz?

 

[Greg0101]

Ok, then it highly seem like the memory divider is not functioning like I pointed out.

Did you increase fsb to 420 to compensate?

Many have had problem with there motherboards and this kit. This is the first abit i've seen, but tRFC being set over 50 is important, maybe your board needs 60 I don't know.

Since you've got 940 stable, its just like an Asus Maximus user who was stuck with 42 tRFC, until beta bios 1004 came out, now hes 1100Mhz 1.9v.

You also can't adjust one of the most important timings on p35, performance level, so I don't know where this will be on your board.

1:1.25 doesn't work, we've figured out, atleast not at this fsb speed. So lets try something.

Drop fsb speed to default for your processor, see what you can do then.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

May I offer a suggestion? Maybe use memset and post the timings it finds? I'm curious as to what tRFC is set at.

 

[PaulieG]

Ok, then it highly seem like the memory divider is not functioning like I pointed out.

Did you increase fsb to 420 to compensate?

Many have had problem with there motherboards and this kit. This is the first abit i've seen, but tRFC being set over 50 is important, maybe your board needs 60 I don't know.

Since you've got 940 stable, its just like an Asus Maximus user who was stuck with 42 tRFC, until beta bios 1004 came out, now hes 1100Mhz 1.9v.

You also can't adjust one of the most important timings on p35, performance level, so I don't know where this will be on your board.

1:1.25 doesn't work, we've figured out, atleast not at this fsb speed. So lets try something.

Drop fsb speed to default for your processor, see what you can do then.

OK. I just stopped home at lunch. I haven't done anything yet, but I did find the following information on performance level with the IP35 Pro over at the Abit forums.

"Performance Level is the memory ratio."

2 = 1:2.00
3 = 1:1.66
4 = 1:1.50
5 = 1:1.25
6 = 1:1.20
7 = 1:1.00

Hope this helps Greg.

 

[PaulieG]

May I offer a suggestion? Maybe use memset and post the timings it finds? I'm curious as to what tRFC is set at.

I installed memset a couple of weeks ago, but I get an error when I try to open the program. I'm going to try and reinstall it.

 

[PaulieG]

Oh, and it was a typo earlier. The stable settings were 960mhz. This was 1:1.2.

 

[Greg0101]

OK. I just stopped home at lunch. I haven't done anything yet, but I did find the following information on performance level with the IP35 Pro over at the Abit forums.

"Performance Level is the memory ratio."

2 = 1:2.00
3 = 1:1.66
4 = 1:1.50
5 = 1:1.25
6 = 1:1.20
7 = 1:1.00

Hope this helps Greg.

Can you look via memset, doesn't add up, you'd never boot with 2-4 perf level if its like any other p35 board.

 

[Greg0101]

Oh, and it was a typo earlier. The stable settings were 960mhz. This was 1:1.2.

Seem to confirm my thoughts about the divider, did you try dropping cpu multi and increasing fsb to 420 to give you just about ~1000Mhz on the mem?

 

[PaulieG]

Can you look via memset, doesn't add up, you'd never boot with 2-4 perf level if its like any other p35 board.

Yeah, upon reading further, someone dismissed this. There is reference to trd and performance level.

 

[PaulieG]

Seem to confirm my thoughts about the divider, did you try dropping cpu multi and increasing fsb to 420 to give you just about ~1000Mhz on the mem?

This is exactly what I'm going to try when I get home tonight...

 

[Greg0101]

Hope it works out. I'll try to find that guide your talking about. If I can connect divider with a performance level or tRD, it will be much easier to predict which will and won't work at different fsb speeds.

edit

Searching I think I found a new timing that was added in newer bios maybe?
Read to Write delay (tRD_WR) , try 7-10,

 

[PaulieG]

Hope it works out. I'll try to find that guide your talking about. If I can connect divider with a performance level or tRD, it will be much easier to predict which will and won't work at different fsb speeds.

edit

Searching I think I found a new timing that was added in newer bios maybe?
Read to Write delay (tRD_WR) , try 7-10,

I'll take a look at this setting tonight. PM sent with links..

 

[ntdouglas]

I installed memset a couple of weeks ago, but I get an error when I try to open the program. I'm going to try and reinstall it.

Is the error something about using normal size fonts? That was my problem.

 

[Kursah]

Hope you get it figured out Paul, I am egerly awaiting your results as I would like to get the 2x2GB mushkins if they can in fact easily hit 1100 on 1.9v consistently and they look very cool. Hopefully between you, Mushkin and gdogg can get this all sorted and have you running like a champ!

I just purchased a second 2gig kit of the current G.Skills HZ's, which will treat me fine for now. I do have performance level on my DFI MB, along with a plethora of other memory settings (helluva OC board for a $150 P35). I'm sure I can hit 1100 with these (D9GMH's), but 1000, 4-4-4-12, 2.15v is treating me fine...I wanna tune but am gonna wait till I fill all 4 dimms (which I don't usually do for an OC system) and see what happens. I'll probably slack the timings to 5-5-5-15 to ensure stability and see where I can go!

Keep us posted!

 

[PaulieG]

I'm still working on it. After TOO MUCH work, I've managed 1022mhmhz 5-5-5-12 1:1.2 on 2.1v. This has completed one pass on memtest86+. I'm going to try a bit higher now. I've never worked harder for an overclock in my life. I'm not sure I can totally blame it on the RAM. I think my board is VERY sensitive to timings. After testing tonight, I'll need to make a decision on whether to stay with this, or get a set of 4x1 confirmed D9's. I'll report back later.

 

[Cold Storm]

I hope they work for ya! I know my board loves everything but heat... So i'm really looking forward to knowing what you think about them. The month is coming up really soon!