Crucial Ballistix Memory Stability Testing and Review

[Dodgexander]

Lsdmeasap, I have a couple of questions:

Several posts seem to suggest that you reccomend GSKILL and MUSHKIN memory modules to use with Gigabyte boards. Do you intend to test any Gskilll memory in the future?

Also, is testing 4x1GB also a reliable indicator of what each board can run at 8gb (4x2) or is this something you chose not to do due to potential problems?

[Lsdmeasap]

For several reasons I will no longer be making suggestions by brand names. It is just not fair to anyone involved (Companies or Users) and tends to lead to improper conclusions by others based on my opinions, which was never my intentions.

Those suggestions you mention were more for P35 then anything, and generally to users who seemed to be having issues with other sets. Mainly in P35 boards a few models from a few brands seemed to have various issues with P35 (Not sure why, or which exact models from various brands though).

That is why there is QVL lists, some memory just does not work properly for some boards, sometimes. Memory manufactures and motherboard manufacturers try their best to test things together, but with the 100's of products they both make often times everything cannot always be tested together for compatibility. There will be times when something from any brand may not work with another brand simply due to physical issues, manufacturing processes, or for various known/unknown reasons. Companies on both sides of this fence do their best to solve these issues but a resolution is not always as simple as it may sound.

Crucial's new 2.0V kits prove to be fine in my tests for P35 and P45. I do know though some of the older Crucial 2.2V sticks did have issues sometimes with P35 boards. Again, I am not sure why as I have only tested the new sticks recently. I have not done any testing with the older kits, aside from a set of LanFest sticks and one set of 2x1GB 2.2V sticks I did a year or two ago with P35.

Yes, I have thought about testing some G.Skill but just have not had a chance to contact them as of yet.

Hmmm, about your 4x1GB vs 4x2GBGB question....

I only tested 4x1GB as it seemed to be giving a lot of users issues, so I thought 4x1GB would be best to see if Crucial could help me test so that I could help those users with issues.

I did not ask for 8GB for testing as I think that would be asking a bit much as this was my first time even speaking with them. I do not see any potential problems with 8GB. I think P35 and P45 can both easily run 4x2GB with the proper settings of course.

[Dodgexander]

Lsdmeasap, thanks for the input.

Its a strange situation that the QVL's for Gigabyte P35 and P45 boards do not include 4x2GB modules. Whether this is because of out of date infromation or not, how can you be sure that the correct settings wil run such memory without a problem?

As you mention, there is no guarantee unless a module has been tested with 4 dimms and this is a rarity, even for the more modern P45 Extreem DDR2 board that you will find 4x2GB modules rated at 1000mhz failing the test.

What is your opinion (and this is off topic) of Gigabyte advertising "Upto 16GB DDR2 1200 Memory" when they have no such modules tested for that configuration on their QVL?

[Lsdmeasap]

Well I assume they just do not have the time and resources to be testing 4x2GB is why you do not see that.

I am sure they do test 4x2 and 16+ GB, they just likely do not publish results from those tests as it is not a normal configuration and it is a YMMV type of thing. So making any official list of such would cause issues I would imagine.

There has been a few users here running 16GB, let me know if you need me to find the thread about it.

I have ran 8GB at 1000 without issue, are you having issues with it or just inquiring about things?

[Dodgexander]

I was just wondering because i'm a bit confused about different QVL's etc. I just contacted Gigabyte support regarding a QVL and they directed me to Kingstons compatibility list that different even mention the module that was listed on their QVL!?!?

And yes, ive had issues for months on end. You should remember this thread, simply because it wasted so much of your time! EX38-DQ6 8GB G Skil PQ Ram

[Lsdmeasap]

Well QVL's are often only made before the companies even ship out the boards, so they rarely get a update or rarely cover what really will work or not anyway. They are only a small % of what will work most of the time.

So, have you ran memtest86+ on each of your sticks of Ram one by one to be sure they are not faulty? I help with so many threads here I often forget who has done what, so sorry if you have already done that. I will get to your thread here soon as I just got back into the forum this morning from a long absence.

If you feel your settings are correct (Voltages and timings) and have tried all things higher even settings-wise then it may just be that board does not work well with that ram. Is it ok fully with only 4GB? If it is, then it may just be a faulty stick, or you still need some adjustments to something.

[Dodgexander]

Looking forward to your EP45 Review Lsdmeasap, hows it going?

[Lsdmeasap]

Doh!!

I have most of it done, it is posted here just hidden. I have a few things on my guide to correct/update and add to it. Then all I need to do is find time to take some nice images of the board and I can post it.

That review has taken me far to long to get posted, I am sure that I am in trouble for taking so long and may not receive another board from them for taking so long! I feel terrible, but I am always so busy and never seem to get caught up with anything

[FABIGUI]

I don't know so much about memories, but the experience I have some of the memory settings depends in the bord and the cpu you use. Even is not the same running 2 stiks than 4. Also 2, 4 or 8Gb ram sometimes have diferent settings.
I have a EP45-UD3R mainboard with 4 sticks x 2Gb Crucial Ballistix (2.0V set) of ram running @1000Mhz - FSB 417 - E7300 @ 3336 -stable; I can push it higher I tested at 1066 stable, the problem don't wakeup after sleep state, I try many times to fix the problem without success.
I have been using Crucial Ballistix Memories for long time, in other boards too, once you find the stocks speeds, they work fine without any problem.

[Dodgexander]

As far as I amware, this bug has existed for a while with the UDR Gigabyte boards (Even the whole EP45 range maybe??)

L, have GGTS told you that its going to be fixed in an bios update?

Ofcourse! CPU and Memory have their ram limits, as does the MCH bridge, this is why more memory and larger dimms require slacked memory timings, causing less stress to the MCH.

Each CPU and Memory also has max FSB, depending on the MCH strap as well.

For instance, most memory wont post past 450FSB on the B strap, the D strap can be used however and of course for CPU's, quad cores can run on a much lower fsb compared to dual core.