1T command rate? EPOX related

[vrm4]

I'm having problems getting my epox ep-9nda3I running @ 1T.
I have done some research and have read that it is/ or may be
a problem w/ mobo support and NOT ram ability to do so, is this true?, can anyone shed some more light on this?
Basically the reviews I have read on my ram (see sig) can do 1T on DFI boards, but there seems to problems with lots of ram on running 1T on EPOX nf-3 250 boards.
Anyone had any success w/ 1T on this board?

 

[Munkul]

most motherboards can do 1T with only 2 sticks of ram, but as far as i know, only dfi boards can do 1T with 4 sticks of ram.

 

[vrm4]

the thing is I'm running only 2 sticks, 2x1gb crucial ballistix pc-4000 @285 3-4-4-8-2T 2.8v.
Is there something I'm missing as to why 1T isn't cooperative, or is it mobo related?

 

[Munkul]

By "getting some trouble" i guess that its crashing?
sorry,no can help. try more voltage to the ram? better still, get the most recent bios update for the motherboard - i think all ram SHOULD run at 1T because ALL the ram i have bought (about 8-10 512meg sticks) runs at 1T and most of it was cheap stuff from varying brands.
maybe its to dowith the fact its 1gb sticks.

 

[largon]

i think all ram SHOULD run at 1T

You'r right.
All DDR memories are "capable" of 1T command rate simply because CMD rate is a memory controller's internal timing, and infact, the RAM itself doesn't even know whether 1T/2T is used.

Command rate related problems are always issues with the motherboard and/or memory controller.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Well its pretty clear to me that if you are running memory rated at DDR500 at 560+ then thats your answer in as much as at those speeds you are not able to boot at 1T as its stressed.

As suggested, firstly I would raise my volts to 2.9 or 3V and see if the extra bit of juice does the job and if not, test by lowereing your FSB to run the memory at DDR500 and manually configure 1T in BIOS and see if she will boot to 1T, if she does, you know that its the speed, this is not uncommon when you push memory to its limits.

 

[vrm4]

Raising the volts is not an option as this board only offers max 2.8 vdimm. I will try running
1T@ stock speed and go from there I guess. Thanks. will check for a newer bios revision as well.

 

[DonZ]

Got Mine To Run At 1T

For reference, I have flashed my 9NDA3I M/B with latest BIOS dated 9/2006. I am also using std. single sided DDR400 Crucial memory with 3-3-3-8 2T SPD timings .

I also initially had problems setting memory to 1T timing. When I set it to 1T, I noticed the BIOS reduced my FSB speed to 166 versus 200.

Now it appears that this latest BIOS rev. changed the location of some parameters over those shown in the EPOX manual. For example, I finally found the Memclock setting under the Power BIOS settings. I set that to DDR400 and went back to DRAM Configuration in the Advanced Chipset section and set Memory Timing to 1T.

Walla - that did the trick. Now running 1T at 200 Mhz. Ran Memtest for over a half an hour with no errors.

Sandra 2007 memory benchmarks with this 1T setting are fantastic! 5737 Int. and 5705 Float. A good 20% better than the 2T timing settings as to be expected.

 

[Zebbo]

Just to clear few things up, but if your memory does not work with 1T at all, its not issue or problem (unless you make it one), 2T is what it says in AMD's specs.

 

[DonZ]

1T versus 2T memory timings

Everything I have read on the web says that the memory timing setting has nothing to do with memory but with the memory controller on the M/B. Ref. http://short-media.com/review.php?p=12&r=300.

 

[mortal]

i had a lot of problem with that mbo, it doesnt like all memories. With TCCD i had also problems with 1t, and i solve it with DFI NF3 ultra-d

 

[vrm4]

mortal, this memory uses Micron chips and I'm having no probs w/ this board except trying to get 1T, it just may not be possible with my setup (ram 1:1 @ 285)

 

[vrm4]

Update, threw a divider (ddr333) on the ram, now at 233, tightened the timings to 2.5,3,3,6 and got 1T to work. It definitely feels more responsive. Sandra reports 6853 MB's Int, 6794 MB's Float. Does that sound about right? It is just ahead of thier 3rd reference model, the first 2 blow it away (DDR2 1066) and such.

 

[DonZ]

You might want to check out a review of Crucial Ballistic Tracer memory at www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/memory. The best speed they could attain with this DDR500 memory in Sandra 2005 was 6518 Int and 6412 Float using a 280 FSB and memory timings of 2.5-4-4-8 2T. The highest 1T speed attained was with a 220 FSB and memory timings of 2-2-2-5 with Sandra showing 6251 Int and 6175 Float.

Did you try to force the memory to DDR500 in the BIOS when setting the memory to 1T with changing any FSB speeds? As noted in my above post, that's was I did to get my std Crucial DDR400 memory to run at 1T. I have a 3800+ Venice E6 rev. CPU running at std. 200 x 12setting; i.e not overclocked. Again, I have flashed my BIOS with the latest 9/2006 version.

 

[vrm4]

I just left my system as in sig and instead of running the ram 1:1, I threw the ddr333 divider on (instead of the ddr400, 1:1 ratio). Adjusted timings and command rate, rebooted and ran Sandra mem benchmark. So the ram is running @ 233, 2.5,3,3,7, 1T. cpu @ 280 x 10, right now. I'm gonna mess w/ it a little more but I am happy w/ the results thus far.

 

[DonZ]

More Testing Completed

This weekend I spent a lot of time testing the 2 x 512 MB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000 if have and wanted to pass on the results.

As I indicated in my prior posts, I have a Epox 9NDA3I motherboard and a 3800+ 2.4 GHz CPU. Also as noted previously, I originally ran this system with Crucial PC3200 stock 512 x 2 MB memory I had. The best Sandra benchmarks with the PC3200 memory at 3-4-4-8 1T timings was in the 5700 range for Int and Float.

As for Ballistix PC4000 memory, I tried every FSB speed, memory timing, etc. and could not go over approx. 5900 Int. and Float on Sandra. I came accross at couple of posts on the web stating that there are problems with the 9NDA3I trying to run at any FSB above 230 at 1T memory CMD rate. I can comfirm that emphatically!

I finally used VRM4's reference timings as a guide since his rig is similiar to mine in configuration. I did not want to O/C my CPU that much, so I set my FSB and multiplier to 280 x 9 and left the HT = 4. Like he, I used the DDR333 divider in the BIOS and set my memory timings to 2.5-3-3-8 1T and my VDIMM to Auto. This defaulted the VDIMM voltage to 2.7 and a memory speed of 229. I ran Memtest +86 and received errors in test #8 of all places. I upped the VDIMM voltage to 2.8 and no more errors in Memtest.

The results are that Sandra is showing 6487 Int and 6410 Float and system is stable so far.

One final comment is I was able to run the PC4000 memory at 200 x 12 with memory timings of 2-2-2-5 1T up to a memory FSB speed of 218. However, Sanda bandwidth results stayed in the 5900 range.

My opinion is with this motherboard, you might just want to stay with the stock Crucial PC3200 memory and run it at 1T since this motherboard seems to have a lot of FSB issues and the stock memory is still a lot less in cost.

 

[vrm4]

DonZ, Good work, you did some thorough research as well. My rig is still running well and am at 283 x 10 right now. I really like this ram, getting 1T working made a big difference.

 

[DonZ]

Correction

My specs. corrected are 280 FSB x 9 CPU mult. = 2520 GHz.

HT = 3 not 4. HTT = 280 x 3 x 2 = 1680 GHz.

Anyone run any benchmarks with this motherboard and Crucial Ballistix PC4000 memory using RightMark's Memory Analyzer? I downloaded it yesterday and it appears to run rings around memory benchmark utilities like the one in Sandra Utilities. All I have had is problems with Sandra since they went to a .net core in the 2006 version.

 

[vrm4]

i'll download it and report back

 

[SpoonMuffin]

im currently testing my ram for max speed/lowest latancy with 4 sticks, its ddr2 so 1t vs 2t dont matter on this system(not much of a diffrance between them unlike ddr1) but damn it can be work to find the most reliable performance settings for ram