Gigabyte GA X38 DQ6 Blog

[supershanks]

depends really what os & what apps you run. Personnally i'm on xp with 2gb crucial 8500 & don't plan on buying any more despite the cheap £. Will move up to ddr3

Crucial are very good though also in their support which is excellent.
There are some other good 4gb deals around :-
geil black dragon 6400
OCZ 6400
probably worth a google

luck

[Clunk]

If you use 4x1GiB, make sure you cool them well, they can get warm.

I've recently picked up a set of Geil Black Dragon PC2-6400 2x2GiB and they work great, and have replaced my Ballistix for day to day use

[lokeey]

running prime longer will give more certainty of stability , but sounds like cpu is stable.

correct...i plan on doing so this weekend where I can sit by and monitor. i only ran it for 3 hours because i didn't want to wake up to another bsod.

If your at the speed you want to be & are happy with temps, suggest you run prime in blend mode, ie large & small ffts, so that both memory & Cpu are tested. Again the longer you can run it the more certainty you have that the rig is stable.

cool! that was my next question...if i should move up to a blend test instead of another small fft. i'll run a longer small fft and then try blend. is 8 hours a good time to run each test? or should i aim for 10-12 hours?

also, i noticed that after placing my system on 'stand-by' when i attempt to start up again, it just goes into a constant power on/off state...it starts to crank back up and then goes off. it does this constantly until i literally have to unplug the psu and shut off the psu to power it back on. could this be something related to my voltages not being set correctly somewhere on my system?

[supershanks]

Hi lokeey.
It might be that the memory isn't yet stable & that's causing the standby issues.

So you might try either blend or large ffts'

I usually run prime overnight, with a couple of hours overlap either side, which gives around 12 hours. I find this is generally good. You'll find with your q6600 you can run prime & browse internet etc.,
Another trick you might like is with CoreTemp Before starting coretemp. go to C:\Program Files\CoreTemp\ & delete the file Temp Log.log This is the coretemp log , if it's deleted coretemp starts a new log . So start prime then open coretemp. when you end prime end coretemp.

Use excel or something & open the coretemp log.
I use it to check my temps.
Gives a good indication of temps. The fluctuation occurs on running blend. CPU temp maxes on small ffts & is lowest on large ffts , which stresses memory.


If prime fails on large ffts yoiu'll need to tweak mmemory timings and or vdimm.

luck

[Marcus]

supershanks:
I have vista 32...I use my pc for work(dev), gaming, media center, virtual server
so 2 gig is a bit short... :-) I might just get an other set of HyperX it does 1200Mhz out of the box :-)

you were saying that the ddr2 voltage is a bit higher from what is set in the bios
Is there a tool in windows to check the ddr voltage?

thanks

[lokeey]

It might be that the memory isn't yet stable & that's causing the standby issues.

So you might try either blend or large ffts'

sounds good! i'll give blend a try first. i tested it out this morning, but decided to stop before coming into work.

I usually run prime overnight, with a couple of hours overlap either side, which gives around 12 hours. I find this is generally good. You'll find with your q6600 you can run prime & browse internet etc.,

I've noticed that. I was rather impressed by that as there was zero lag.

Another trick you might like is with CoreTemp Before starting coretemp. go to C:\Program Files\CoreTemp\ & delete the file Temp Log.log This is the coretemp log , if it's deleted coretemp starts a new log . So start prime then open coretemp. when you end prime end coretemp.

yep! that's what i've been doing. i clear the log before starting a new session. i didn't notice this when i first kicked it off and when i opened the log i was scrolling forever, but i'm doing it now. thanks.

If prime fails on large ffts yoiu'll need to tweak mmemory timings and or vdimm.

okay, cool! i'll give that a try. oh yeah, what exactly is vdimm?

thanks, again s'shanks!

[supershanks]

I might just get an other set of HyperX it does 1200Mhz out of the box

The set you have are either damaged or don't rum well, certainly you've not managed 1200 stable, i personally would think twice about getting any more hyper x, but it's up to you of course You may not be able to run 4x1gb at 1200Mhz.

In real world applications there is relatively little difference between 800 & 1200Mhz you might be as well looking at the

geil black dragon 6400
OCZ 6400

Higher cpu speed gives more power than higher memory speed. Main place it looks good is in benches.

[supershanks]

what exactly is vdimm?

sorry vdimm = ddr2 voltage on the gigabyte = jdec std voltage 1.80v + ddr2 Overvoltage control.

so if you want vdimm= 2.20v then ddr2 Overvoltage control = 0.40v

[lokeey]

Originally Posted by supershanks

sorry vdimm = ddr2 voltage on the gigabyte = jdec std voltage 1.80v + ddr2 Overvoltage control.

so if you want vdimm= 2.20v then ddr2 Overvoltage control = 0.40v

okay. yeah i currently have it set to 0.40v. how about my timings? do you think maybe i should go from 4-4-4-12 to maybe 5-5-5-12 or 15?

[lokeey]

So here's what I've done so far.

Advanced BIOS Features
HDD SMART Capability: Disabled
Limit CPUID Max to 3: Disabled
No-execute Memory Protect: Disabled
CPU Enhaned Halt (C1E): Disabled
CPU Thermal Monitor 2 (TM2): Disabled
CPU EIST Function: Disabled
Virtualisation Technoogy: Disabled

M.I.T.
Robust Graphics Booster: Turbo
CPU Clock Ration 9x
CPU Frequency 3.0GHz (333x9)
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
PCI Express Frequency: 100
CIA2: Disabled
Performance Enhanced with: Standard
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) 3.20B
Memory Frequency - 1066
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD): Manual

Standard Timing Control – I changed these from 4-4-4-12
CAS Latency Time: 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5
Precharge delay (tRAS): 15

Advanced Timing Control – I left all these on AUTO expect for Refresh to ACT Delay and CMD
ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD): 3 Auto
Rank Write to READ Delay: 3 Auto
Write to Precharge Delay: 6 Auto
Refresh to ACT Delay: 35
Read to Precharge Delay: 3 Auto
Static tRead Value: 6 Auto
Static tRead Phase Adjust: 0 Auto
Command Rate (CMD): 2T

Clock Driving & Skew Control -
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control: 800mV
CPU Clock Skew Control: Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control: Normal

System Voltage Control -
DDR2 OverVoltage Control: +0.40v
PCI-E OverVoltage Control: +0.05v
FSB OverVoltage Control: +0.10v
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control: +0.25v
MCH Reference Voltage Control: Normal
DDR Reference Voltage Control: Normal
DDR Termination Voltage Control: Normal
CPU Voltage Control: 1.33125v
Normal CPU Vcore: 1.3256v

Just curious, what are DDR Ref, DDR Term Volt Control & MCH Ref Volt Control used for?