Welcome to GIGABYTE Technical Support!

[heavyfeul]

I just wanted to thank you guys for the tech support forum. It is awesome to be able to come to a forum like this to get help troubleshooting and setting up my motherboard.

It has made the process a lot easier than normal. The P45 board I bought is definitely more finicky than others I have used, but the tech support here has really stepped up to plate and made the new build easy to fix and get up and running with all my components.

[Lsdmeasap]

Great to hear your kind words, they are much appreciated!

I agree, Even I have had a much tougher time in helping users get P45's stable.

It is a much more advanced BIOS, which is great itself but does leave much more room for instability for users who use Auto or do not have much BIOS tweaking knowledge.

Glad to see your Board is running good for you. Please do point any Gigabyte user you know who may need some help in this direction and we will try to get them the help they need.

[shadowfire]

Hi!

A swede here with a slight problem. Bought this config last week:

PA35-DS4
Intel E8500
2x2gb Adata 6400 gaming / 800mhz
Powercolor Radeon 4850/1GB
Velociraptor 150gb SATA + seagate 200gb SATA

and all installed in Antec Sonata III / 500W

Had several problems the very first two days, with the pc freezing during VISTA-setup, PC got stuck in powerup cycle (it powered off either before POST or hang/froze during or after POST) etc. It ended up with me removing everything and rebuilding the PC from scratch. Then it finally worked and I updated bios to F6 rev (the latest non beta one).

Last weekend I was gaming fine and no friggin problem at all, everything worked smooth, until today. Here we go again, tried loading 2-3 games, but have been hanging (even in a game like Witcher) and PC crashing. Even got stuck in the same poweron-loop, not being able to powerup the PC correctly.

At present I'm only onto 1 of the memsticks and right now its working OK.

What should I do? Nothing is overclocked (but according to easytune pro im in turbo mode).

So far I have:
- checked that everything is correctly slot and that cooling is high (even set the chassi fan to max)
- did set the memspecs to 5/5/5/12 as suggested by the memory provider but havent changed any volts (suggested 1.8-2.1 by provider)
- flashed bios to F6 rev.
- using catalyst 08.9 (8.53 driver)

I have had a great experience with gigabyte earlier and I hope there is some way to get this system stable aswell. What more should I do?

[Lsdmeasap]

2x2GB needs some things manually set. For one, you mentioned Turbo, this should be set to standard in the BIOS. Here is some optimal ranges for 2x2GB at stock >>>

This is Just a template I use to ask people their settings, pay no attention to the numbers in it, replace with yours

Robust Graphics Booster___________ [Fast]
CPU Clock Ratio ____________ [9]
Fine Clock Ratio ____________[0.5]
CPU Host Clock Control_ [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz)__________ [333]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)_______ [100]
C.I.A. 2__________________________ [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)____ [2.40B or 2.40]
DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]

Performance Enhance = [Standard] << Why you was in "Turbo" mode, and have issues

CAS Latency Time________________ 5
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay_________5
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_______5
Precharge Delay (tRAS)__________ 12

ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD)_________3-4
Rank Write to READ Delay________ 3-6 (also benchmark 9-11, sometimes this is best)
Write to Precharge Delay_________ 4-6
Refresh to ACT Delay______________ 52-62 A MUST for 2x2GB to be stable
Read to Precharge Delay__________ 3-5
Static tRead Value_______________7-10
Static tRead Phase Adjust________ [Auto] << Always Auto

System Voltage Control____ [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.300V] = 2.1V, you may only need 2.0 but set to 2.1 for now and lower last to see if 2.0 works out ok
PCI-E OverVoltage Control_ [+0.1V] << For Stability
FSB OverVoltage Control___ [+0.1V] << For Stability
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+0.1V - +0.2V - +0.3V] <<< 2x2GB needs additional MCH Voltage, normally .2-.3 is good.
CPU Voltage Control_______

Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]

Integrated Peripherals
Legacy USB Storage Detect___________________[Disabled] *Note* Must be enabled to flash from USB

[niftyshot]

Hey guys, new user here, please be gentle.

I've got a problem with what I believe is my RAM, but I'm not sure. I got 2x1 GB DDR2 800MHZ Crucial Ballistix sticks in July to add along with my current 2x1 GB DDR2 800MHZ g.Skill sticks. The Ballistix are rated at 4-4-4-12 2.2V and my older g.Skills are 5-5-5-15 2.0V.

I was experiencing no instability issues for the past 2 months, but now I am experiencing frequent blue screens that are not displayed long enough for me to read. My computer will have a hard reset and (does not show BIOS) will go to a screen saying "BIOS Auto-Recovering...". Eventually the "BIOS Auto-Recovering..." process will restart, and the whole thing will run through a couple more times before my system starts up normally. The problem does not seem to happen at any consistency, but I think I can run my system longer if I let it power down for a couple of hours. All my BIOS settings are default settings.

Here's my config:
GA-P35-DS3L (F8 Bios)
Core2Duo E8400
2x1GB g.Skill (Dual Channel Kit)
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix (Dual Channel Kit)
MSI 8800GT OC
Antec Sonata III / 500W EarthWatts
Windows Vista Business SP1 / Windows XP SP3 (Dual Boot, usually use Vista)

I have moderate technical experience, but not enough expertise to correctly diagnose the problem and provide any further analysis. I tried to search online about the issue, and found that the Crucial Ballistix seem to be the problem. I have since then taken the 2 Ballistix sticks out and my system's been running stable for the past day or 2.

My question is: Are there any settings I need to change so that my rig can run all 4 GB of RAM? Should I RMA the Ballistix to Crucial?

I will also be trying to run the RAM in my friend's system to see if he will have any problems with it.

Thanks for your time and help!

[Lsdmeasap]

Well first off you cannot run 2 different brand sticks together. Even using the same brand bought at different times can be bad. I would suggest you use one or the other, And if you buy more of either so you can have 4GB you should BE SURE they have the same timing and voltage ratings so you have the best shot at getting the same actual Chips on the ram.

As for RMA'n either, I would not until you test each stick one by one at the default speed, and rated timings and voltages. I would imagine the crucials are fine, you just cannot mix sticks. Yes, sometimes it is fine, but most often not and is always suggested against. Use this to test >>>
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

And, 4GB of any brand you will need to manually set several things in the BIOS, MCH/NB voltage, ram voltage and Refresh to Act Delay. So I would also imagine if you did not set these things manually they added to your issues of mixing the sticks and only made things worse

[bigmjh]

Hi - I've read that the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P has compatibility issues with some DIMM's. I'm looking at purchasing this board for an Intel Q9550 and using 4 X 2GB of Mushkin - either - DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (5-5-5-15 / 2.0v-2.1v) or DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) (5-5-5-12 / 2.0v-2.1v) or DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (5-4-4-12) (1.8v). Are you aware of any compatibility issues with these? Which of these would you recommend? Or, would you recommend a different set of DIMM's?

[Lsdmeasap]

Either of those would be great for your board. The black and red sticks are better then the Blue.

Black models would really be the best choice, and if you live in the US Model # 996580's are on sale for cheap right now >>>
Newegg.com - mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Mushkin is Great in Gigabyte boards for sure so you have no worries there

[bigmjh]

Originally Posted by Lsdmeasap

Either of those would be great for your board. The black and red sticks are better then the Blue.

Black models would really be the best choice, and if you live in the US Model # 996580's are on sale for cheap right now >>>
Newegg.com - mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Mushkin is Great in Gigabyte boards for sure so you have no worries there

So, you don't feel that going with the faster (PC2 8500 or PC2 8000) would be better to maximize the potential oc on this board?

[Lsdmeasap]

Ahh, ya you can if you want. I just posted that because it is a Great deal. And those sticks will run the exact same speed with those timings. I own them so I can tell you then run 1000+ just fine. I think they are likely the same sticks anyway, 1066 ram is just 800 ram tested to run at looser timings is all.

Give me a second And I will post you a pic of them running 1080. And yes, they will do more then that easy, I just dont have much time to play around today for you. But yes, you could get 1066 ram if you wanted but you may have better luck with slower speed if you plan to get 8GB. But yes, the board will do 1066 with 8GB

*EDIT*
Here ya go 1100, Scores below at 1066 are higher only because of different FSB used, but as you can see they will do 1066 + with ease



Here is one I took a while back with them at 1066 1:1 for some testing me and a user were doing here. And do note that the ram was not tweaked much in this test either! >>>