8GB On GA-P35-DS4

[gssmind]

Greetings,

I had the following setup:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz FSB 1333MHz
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066
Windows XP Pro SP2
Everything set to [Auto] in BIOS.

However, recently decided to switch to Fedora 8 x64 and decided to run Windows XP Pro using VMware and though of upgrading the ram from 2GB to 8GB.

Went and bought 8GB = 2 x G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) and installed it yesterday and need some help setting it up properly in BIOS as it currently runs as DDR2 800 with 5-5-5-15.

My intention was to run the 8GB at 1066 but am not too savvy with over clocking ram.
With the motherboard I have I can adjust the times manually but am not sure what to set the Memory Multiplier and Voltage override too. Ram specifications say it should be set anywhere from 2.0V - 2.1V

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Thank You.

 

[QuixoticOne]

E6550 has a max CPU multi of x7, so it runs at 333x7=2333
where 333 is equivalent to FSB 1333 stock speed (4x333=1333).

Set the RAM voltage to 2.0.
Set the memory multiplier to make the RAM run at 500 MHz which is equivalent to DDR2-1000 / PC2-8000 frequency,
so that would be a multiplier of 333 CPU : 500 RAM or 1CPU:1.5RAM or 2CPU:3RAM however it shows you the values CPU:RAM.

IDK what your RAM's specified timings are for PC2-8000 stock frequency.. maybe 5-5-5-15, you'd have to check the
spec sheet to see what it is supposed to deliver at that frequency, but 5-5-5-15 is a good guess.
If "AUTO" sets you to 5-5-5-15 timings when you have RAM Voltage = 2.0 and RAM Frequency = 500 then that should be correct for your sticks if the
BIOS still thinks it's right, but doublecheck the ram specs.

get memtest86+ burn yourself a bootable cd from the ISO image download here...
http://www.memtest.org/

and when you get your BIOS set the way you think it should be, run memtest from CD and let it go for 24 hours or until it finds an error.

If it finds an error, bump the RAM voltage to 2.1 and leave the rest of the stuff at stock settings for your memory e.g. 500 MHz 5-5-5-15 or whatever is right.
Try memtest again and in theory it should succeed since you have your RAM set to stock guaranteed settings / voltage / timings / frequency, and the CPU
is also set to its stock 2333 MHz 333 MHz CPU base clock 1333MHz FSB, correct CPU voltage presumably, etc.

Make sure memtest can go for at least 12-18 hours with zero errors, preferably 24-48-72 or more hours with that much RAM before you start
messing with Fedora or you'll just be crashing all the time.

You might run some Prime95 on both CPU cores blended FFT settings on each core under Windows for 12 hours too just to test the CPU and RAM
stability in a different way before you get going assuming everything is perfect.

If you OC the CPU keep in mind the base frequency for the CPU also goes to the RAM so reduce the RAM multiplier accordingly to keep the RAM within some reasonable frequency. The RAM will work up to 500 MHz RAM frequency at its stock voltage/timings so if you set the multipliers CPU:RAM 1:1 then you can play with any base
frequency from 333 up to 500 MHz and the RAM will not be overclocked but the CPU will be... Obviously you aren't likely to get the CPU/Motherboard to 500 though.

Originally posted by: gssmind
Greetings,

I had the following setup:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz FSB 1333MHz
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066
Windows XP Pro SP2
Everything set to [Auto] in BIOS.

However, recently decided to switch to Fedora 8 x64 and decided to run Windows XP Pro using VMware and though of upgrading the ram from 2GB to 8GB.

Went and bought 8GB = 2 x G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) and installed it yesterday and need some help setting it up properly in BIOS as it currently runs as DDR2 800 with 5-5-5-15.

My intention was to run the 8GB at 1066 but am not too savvy with over clocking ram.
With the motherboard I have I can adjust the times manually but am not sure what to set the Memory Multiplier and Voltage override too. Ram specifications say it should be set anywhere from 2.0V - 2.1V

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Thank You.

 

[DSF]

Do you have an application that you know will benefit from running your RAM faster than your FSB? If not, it's probably not going to matter whether your sticks are running at DDR2-667, DDR2-800 or DDR2-1000. On that Gigabyte board, I believe you want to set the RAM multiplier to 3.0 to get DDR2-1000. A multiplier of 2.0 should run the RAM in sync with the FSB, and as QuixoticOne said, you're looking for 1.5 times that.

 

[gssmind]

Originally posted by: DSF
Do you have an application that you know will benefit from running your RAM faster than your FSB? If not, it's probably not going to matter whether your sticks are running at DDR2-667, DDR2-800 or DDR2-1000. On that Gigabyte board, I believe you want to set the RAM multiplier to 3.0 to get DDR2-1000. A multiplier of 2.0 should run the RAM in sync with the FSB, and as QuixoticOne said, you're looking for 1.5 times that.

Well, I was hoping that VMware would take benefit of the faster RAM besides that; No, I don't have any other special application that could benefit from fast ram. Intention was to have VMWare use 4GB and Fedora use the other 4GB.

Also I did not mean to run the RAM faster then the CPU. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought since my CPU would run at 1333 and my ram run at 1066 would make my ram run slower than my CPU. Am I understanding this correctly?

My Intentions are to run CPU at 1333 and Ram at 1066. So would I achieve this by doing the follwoing:

Set CPU Multiplier to x7 with 333 giving me FSB or 1333
Set Memory Multiplier to 2.0; Timing to 5-5-5-15; Voltage Stock 1.8 + Voltage Over 0.2 = 2.0

Thanks for the quick response guys.

 

[DSF]

You're a little bit mixed up, but it's a common misconception.

Your chip has a FSB of 333. Intel only reports this as 1333 because the CPU makes four transfers along the FSB per clock cycle: 4x333 = 1333. DDR RAM on the other hand makes two transfers per clock cycle. So to run RAM at 1:1 on a 333 FSB, you need 333x2 = 667.

DDR2-667 will run 1:1 with your processor. If you punch in the settings quoted below, you'll be running your RAM at DDR2-667.

Set CPU Multiplier to x7 with 333 giving me FSB or 1333
Set Memory Multiplier to 2.0; Timing to 5-5-5-15; Voltage Stock 1.8 + Voltage Over 0.2 = 2.0

 

[n7]

You won't get that RAM running stably @ DDR2-1066, not with 8 GB anyway.

It's nearly impossible to get 8 GB truely stable anywhere over DDR2-1000 speeds, if even that.
And no, Prime 95 won't shows errors, but HCI Memtest or Memtest 86+ will.

But you can certainly try.

Remember a nice loose TRFC will help.
Try at least 50+.
Some extra voltage to the NB will almost for sure be necessary as well.

The other question you had were already answered

 

[gssmind]

I set everything as below:

CPU Multiplier: 7x
FSB: 333
Ram Multiplier: 3.20
Ram Voltage: 1.8 + 0.2 = 2.0V

I ran the system stable now for 48 hours and think that should be sufficient to say it runs stable.

When I get to Fedora and run system monitor it shows that it has got 7.8 GB of RAM any reasons why it wont say its eitehr 7.99 or 8.0 GB?

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: gssmind
I set everything as below:

CPU Multiplier: 7x
FSB: 333
Ram Multiplier: 3.20
Ram Voltage: 1.8 + 0.2 = 2.0V

I ran the system stable now for 48 hours and think that should be sufficient to say it runs stable.

When I get to Fedora and run system monitor it shows that it has got 7.8 GB of RAM any reasons why it wont say its eitehr 7.99 or 8.0 GB?

Impressive, but i'm wondering what your definition of 48 hours stable is?

 

[gssmind]

After setting everything as mentioned above, I used my desktop like I usually do.
Every now and then I ran VMware and booted windows and used it for an hour or so and let windows run for few hours and shutdown and closed VMware.
Browsed the internet; watched a few videos; watched a few dvd iso on my network; watched 1 full 2 hour movie and a couple of xvid and mpeg half hour clips and system is still running ok. Today at 6 PM it would be 96 hours if when I go home and its still running.
Since, I never rebooted the box and as it had not crashed or shutdown ambitiously I figured it was safe to assume that its running stable and is happy with the settings.
Is that safe to assume?

But like "QuixoticOne" said I need to run memtest for as long as I can to properly see if my ram modules are ok.
So, I wanted to know how to properly run memtest 86+, I got the package and ran memtest-config and it says configuration complete.
But have no clue as to how to run it, any suggestions?

 

[n7]

No need to configure it really.

Just burn the v2.01 .iso, & boot off the disc.

It will automatically start running all the different tests.

It will take a long time to complete one full pass with 8 GB, so i'd leave it overnight a least, which should get you a few passes completed with no red [errors will be red ].

I personally prefer HCI Memtest in Windows as it finds errors a lot faster with 4+ GB, & tends to stress the northbridge more, which can also mean finding issues that Memtest86+ tends to miss.

For HCI, you'll need to run multiple instances to stress all 8 GB.
Something like 4 instances around 1350-1500 MB each is what i'll usually do.