CPU/Mobo New board, old problem

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Skilled
So I bought an Asus A8V-Deluxe to match my 3000+ Venice. I Uninstalled my previous nforce2 drivers, ran driver cleaner etc. and Windows booted seamlessly and detected my new processor and motherboard.
All seems fine, except that when I run CPU-Z (v1.30), the memory FSB shows up at 100 Mhz, which is basically DDR200. To reinstate this, I get matching performance in both Sandra and Everest i.e. about 2900 MBps.

Okay now the memory I sport is Corsair XMS 512MB x2, model number being CMX512-3200C2PT. It's running in dual channel mode, with latencies 2-3-3-6. Now, regardless of what settings I try, the memory simply refuses to run at anything higher than DDR200.
I've tried setting the command rate to 2T, tried latencies 2.5-3-3-6, 2.5-3-3-8, and even 3-3-3-8 but DDR200 remains. I've even tried forcing the memory to run at DDR400 or DDR333 and upping the voltage to 2.7 from within the BIOS but nothing makes a difference. Oh and I've even flashed the BIOS to the latest 1014 revision.

An interesting point to note is that if I remove either ram stick, i.e. have only 512 MB in my system, then the memory runs correctly at 200 MHz (DDR400).

The only thing I can think of is that my 2 corsair sticks where not bought at the same time and hence aren't from the same batch. I picked one up almost a year ago, while the other came in sometime last month. From the information I've gathered, the older stick apparently uses BH-6 which the newer one has CH-6 chips, in spite of the fact the the memory is technically the exact model.

Are there any workarounds we know to make the memory in dual channel run correctly at DDR400? Before my A8V, the chips ran perfectly on my DFI nforce2 ultra.
 
Try running memtest with one stick in place for both the sticks just to be sure. This doesnt seem like a RAM issue though... more of an issue with the chipset/RAM combo.
 
Yeah seems to that RAM isn't compatible with that mobo.

I just checked the A8V Deluxe manual and 512MB CMX512-3200C2 is mentioned while 256MB CMX256A-3200C2PT is also mentioned.
 
anishcool said:
Yeah seems to that RAM isn't compatible with that mobo.

I just checked the A8V Deluxe manual and 512MB CMX512-3200C2 is mentioned while 256MB CMX256A-3200C2PT is also mentioned.
Click to expand...

If it's mentioned in the manual then it ought to be compatible. Let's see, when I get home later tonight, I'll be taking along identical transcend modules just to confirm that the board isn't messed up. If those give the same problem, then the board could be faulty, in which case I'll get it exchanged.

If they work fine, then I'm without a conclusion. I will still need to find a workaround for my corsair sticks, they worked fine on my nforce2 so they bloody well work fine on this rig too.
 
try going back to an older bios, remember the last stable bios i tried before i sold the board was 1009. not sure how well the newer bios work
 
Have a look at this link on the Asus forums.

The same problem! This guy has exactly the memory I'm using and the same motherboard too, and he can't get his memory past DDR200 in dual channel. Unfortunately there's no solution mentioned.

Okay update, I tested the board with Transcend DDR400 modules 512MB x2 @ 2.5-3-3-6. Everything's as it should be. CPU-Z reports memory at 200 MHz, and Sandra shows a healthy bandwidth of 5000 MBps.

The top memory company and the top motherboard company have incompatibilities amongst each other. Absolutely unbelievable.
 
Sorry dude.... bad luck....

And I still suggest that you do as Bottle suggested. Go back to 1009 BIOS. I am on 1009 and it is by far the best BIOS.

There have been a lot of memory issues with the 1011 and the later BIOSes.

If you are using 1009 and this problem is still there, sell that RAM and buy some other RAM.
 
There can be incompatibilities.As the RAm you are using is a persormance series RAM and incompatibilities between performance boards and performance RAMs is well known.

Just to give you an example,
I had Asus K8N-E-Deluxe motherboard.I installed my Twinmos based BH-5 on it and it acted weird,dumps,crashes..everything you cud imagine.Then i feared the RAM to be bad so installed them on the DFI and everything was fine,even Memtest.Infact that RAM was stable @ 250 [2-2-2-5, 1T, 3.2V]

Whereas if i installed my Geil based CH-5 in it, the K8N worked flawlessly,for that matter any god damn RAM worked,Transcend,Hynix...everything.
 
Update..
Well, I've temporarily traded modules with a friend who's using an nforce2 chipset. I've given him my 512MB x2 Corsair sticks in return for his 512MB x2 transcend sticks. These work fine on my system and mine work fine on his system. All is good.

But the plot thickens. It definitely isn't a chipset incompatibility as much as I think it's an ASUS/manufacturer incompatibility. Let me explain. I've tested the sticks on two other s939 motherboards. Both were Asus A8N-E models and both had Winchesters running. And I experienced the same problem. The modules in dual-channel will not run at anything higher than DDR200. When I tried using A64 tweaker from within Windows and forced the memory to run at 400MHz, the system froze.

I know that the memory works just fine on nforce2 chipsets as it's running perfectly in my friend's machine. What I need to do is test the sticks in an MSI or DFI (or any other) s939 motherboard and see if the problem persists.

Anyone living in Mumbai and owning a non-Asus socket 939 board put your hands up. I'd like to test my memory in that rig, if that's fine by you :)
 
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