BSOD and instability X38-DQ6. Please help me configure my ram.

[palehorse864]

Hello, I am using an X38-DQ6 motherboard flashed to the F8 bios, a Q6600 processor, and OCZ2n1066 PC2-8500 (1066) ram. I've been having instability problems for a bit, worse with a previous ram manufacturer but somewhat with this one, and before I declare the ram bad, I would like to make sure my timings aren't misset. Plus, if I'm going to actually test if one stick is bad, I need to configure my ram properly first.

The system is least stable at 1066, so I have currently downclocked it to 800mhz to get some stability. It normally runs well, plays games, etc. but in Win7 I get Memory Management BSOD's and a win7 memory test found problems.

I believe my Q6600 and Mobo is supposed to run at 266mhz x 9multiplier, so that's what I have it set at, but CPU-Z recommends that for 1066, the ram be running at 333 mhz? (I will include CPU-Z info) but I have tried the B setting in the bios for my ram (333mhz). I'm really unsure about how to set both the cpu fsb and ram to settings they both prefer. I don't want to overclock, just to have a stable system. The q6600 is fast enough as is.

Here are my current BIOS settings.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1875/biosimage.png

Here is what CPUZ tells me about my system.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4807/cpuzimage.png

And here is how the bios deals with memory.
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4...rysettings.png

What do I set to make sure everything is right? I'm assuming if I go 1066 I should set 5-5-5-15, bump the memory up +.30 v or +.35 v to bring it around 2.12 or so to 2.17 and try that . What is it ideal to set a 2.4ghz processor to though and still maintain the 333 the ram seems to want? Should I overclock the processor to 2.6? (333x8) to match with the ram's preferred speed, or is tehre something else I should be doing.

Please look at the pics and help me out.

Also, here is the site of the ram.
OCZ Technology | Products | Memory | OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel


What's the best combination of settings for this system to make sure the ram is actually the thing failing and not me. :) Please give me the most stable settings that run at spec.

[palehorse864]

I should also mention that according ot an OCZ rep, the memory tab, not the SPD tab should be used to determine ram, and that shows 400mhz.

I believe my processor is meant to run at 266 x 9 on this board, so there are three options in bios for memory, A which matches up with the 266 speed of my processor before the multipliers, c which is 200mhz and may match up with the 400mhz CPuz is showing (DDR 2 ram, 200x2 = 400? Is that right?) or D, which I don't think I can match up to the proper numbers which matches exactly with what cpu-z is showing at 400mhz (But I'm assuming that's per module so it would actually mean 800instead due to two modules per ddr unit (though I have 4x1gb sticks)

If this is confusing, please ignore it. I just need the proper timings, as all these memory timings have been rather confusing, and the previous ram manufacturer didn't work well with my board either. Considering that this system boots every time though (with the last ram manufacturer and this board, I wound up with endless reboot). With my current ram, everything boots every time and goes for hours until the eventual memory bluescreen.

[Chike]

DDR(Double Data Rate) mem transfers data twice it's clock frequency(which is what you see in CPU-Z), therefore 400 in CPU-Z is DDR-800, 533 is DDR-1066, and so on.

Leave all advanced timings on auto for now.

It would be a good idea to run memtest86+ on each stick for several passes.
Load BIOS optimized defaults save and reboot, enter BIOS again set Performance Enhance = standard and any other changes you made before for disk boot order RAID etc, save and reboot.
Check BIOS PC Health for applied memory voltage, change it manually if needed.
Test one stick in slot #1 and the other in slot #3.
Then with two sticks try to increase MCH OverVoltage, start with +0.05 and continue up to +0.15 until the system is stable.
Run memtest86+ again before you start windows, then you can run Prime95/Orthos blend torture or OCCT medium/large data set for 6+ hours, recomended 8+ hours.

Please fill your forum signature with your system specs, including the BIOS vers. and the link to the memory specs.
Could you post a screen capture of MemSet main(click >>) and SPD(click spd) windows for the settings I recommended?
If standard timings don't match the EPP profile set them manually in BIOS.

[palehorse864]

I'll add the information from my original post to my signature later. Thank you for the tip, as that would save me a lot of time.

To give you an idea of my system running at stock speeds based upon my cpu and what is printed on my ram, I've bumped it back to 1066 with 5-5-5-15 timings nad everything else on auto. I double checked that the system was booting at 2.1v (recommended and printed on the ram) by changing these settings, rebooting, and checking the voltage after reboot.

Here's an imageshack gallery with I believe everything you've requested and a touch more. I think the 4.00a 2.00b 2.00c settings are actually based on the cpu FSB so you match it to whatever the cpu is showing before multipliers, which is what I have done.

ImageShack -

Take a peak at that and see what you think.

[Chike]

MemSet shows more settings both applied and in spd. I just wanted to see if auoto settings sets everything right.
Even at stock settings usually more MCH voltage is needed with large performance memory configuration.

[palehorse864]

Once I get a usb stick burned with memtest86, I will first try to tweak voltages and stuff and see what happens. If it starts running stable, it may have been my settings. If I can't make it stable no matter what though, I'll begin checking ram.

I'm now exploring how to burn memtest86 to a usb stick in windows. I may use my linux laptop to do it later or have my brother who is more of a linux guru burn it to the stick.

[Chike]

There are instruction how to create a bootab;e USB flash drive in BIOS Flashing - A "How To ~ Qflash Guide"