A8V-Deluxe Dual Channel Config

[mrphysics]

From my stats below you can see that I have a 3500+ Newcastle. I purchased 2 more Corsair CMX512-3200C2 chips with the intent of running 2 Gig @ DDR400 settings. At first I could not get the board to recognize the second 2 chips. It still showed 1 gig on boot. I then swapped the chips, same thing. So I flashed to 1014 from 1009. I could then see all 2 Gig. However, here in lies the problem. With 2 Gig of RAM in the board, it is not running at DDR400 Dual Channel. I know this from looking at CPU-Z. It shows the memory running at 100MHz, which should be DDR200. It should be running at 200 MHz not 100 MHz. I manually set all of the memory settings in BIOS to get to DDR400 and no dice. It did the same thing running AUTO as well. Nothing I do changes the 100 MHz the CPU-Z reports when I have the board populated with 2Gig of RAM. Is this a limitation of the board, or as I suspect the 3500+ Newcastle. I have read some other posts that you should have a newer AMD64 such as a Venice chip or possibly a Clawhammer. Can anyone confirm this??? I am trying to decide if I should send this memory back or keep it.
Thanks for the help!

[Boogie]

Does this help?

HERE

[mrphysics]

Well, I tried the both manual and Automatic settings. It was a no go on both. No matter what I did, CPU-Z reports 100MHz when the board is populated with 4 chips or 2Gig. Sandra gives me 4750 MB/S when I have a Gig of RAM in, 2350 MB/S with all 4 chips in. All 4 chips should be the same, as I ordered exactly the same part number again. I orderedHowever, when I look at the chips the 2 older ones show the following: XMS3202v4.1 0435026-3. The new ones show XMS3202v1.5 0527030-2. I don't know what this means, but both sets of memory were Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 Dual-Channel Memory with the same vendor part number.
Thanks for the help!

[Senor Panadero]

So you got the same model of memory. Problem is, looks like Corsair changed the memory that it uses with this model, so you really have two different kinds.

Corsair uses a forum to deal with support issues, and I'd ask about this there. From the sticky post link: http://www.houseofhelp.com/v2/forumdisplay.php?f=146

The Ram Guy is an identity used by the actual technical support guys. They can do an RMA or exchange for you if necessary.

[mrphysics]

Thanks for the advice Senor Panadero. I was starting to wonder about that. I will try your suggestion and post to their support forum. I guess the only other question I have is weather my 3500+ Newcastle will run 4 memory chips @DDR400 Dual Channel. Any idea? Everyone's continued help is much appreciated.
Thanks!

[Senor Panadero]

Thanks for the advice Senor Panadero. I was starting to wonder about that. I will try your suggestion and post to their support forum. I guess the only other question I have is weather my 3500+ Newcastle will run 4 memory chips @DDR400 Dual Channel. Any idea? Everyone's continued help is much appreciated.
Thanks!

Well, you need to qualify that question some.
As far as I know, this has always been, and is still the spec for A64's:

click


So it will with single-sided sticks, and at 2t.
The ability of newer processors, such as Venice's ability to run four double sided at DDR 400 and 1t, don't seem to make it into the official specs. At least they haven't so far.

Edit: By changing to 2t, you should be able to run at 333.

Edit-2: Here is mrphysic's thread at Corsair forums: http://www.houseofhelp.com/v2/showthread.php?t=41786

[mrphysics]

Senor Panadero, thanks for your reply. I was starting to suspect this from some research, but but nothing concrete. I posted to Corsair's support forum, I'll keep everyone up-to-date on what I find out.
Thanks!

[Grooge]

Senor Panadero, thanks for your reply. I was starting to suspect this from some research, but but nothing concrete. I posted to Corsair's support forum, I'll keep everyone up-to-date on what I find out.
Thanks!

The memory controller in newcastle and winchester have trouble running 4 memory stick at 400, and goes down to 333. This is a limitation of the CPU. Some BIOS seem to be able to fix this particularity but it might not work with all CPU and memory.

By relaxing RAM timing, you should be able to have it running at 333. You wont loose that much performance, the memory controller's efficiency will make up for that. Sure, it wont benchmark as fast, but in normal use, you wont see difference.

[tracerbullet]

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.

[s_allenx8]

I have a similar problem. My setup is all new, (currently using 1gb Crucial CL3 ram instead of the Corsaire - its on order.) and when i boot, it tells me 266Mhz, 128bit 2Gb. Sure it runs a lot better than with 1GB but Im not sure if this readout is a readout error, or if the systems running differently.

I howerver, AM using a Venice core processor.

Also since one ram is CL2 and one is CL3, I could only set the ram settings to CL3 400MHz but this doesnt change anything.

I will write again when I put the corsaire in, see what it reads out.