EP35-DS4 4x1G not work

[Lez]

I have a GA-EP35-DS4 with 4x1G Kingston HyperX KHX8500D2K2/2G (1066, 2.2 V)
But the board work only with 3 sticks ram.
with 4 sticks its not boot, stuck at ram test, get into boot loop or if it manages to boot the os (vista64) crash in several minutes.
I tried hundreds of settings in ram timing, voltages, etc.
Now i spent weeks of workhours to get it work without success.

Is there any magic combination of settings to get this rig work with this 4G Kingston ram ?
or forget it ?

[Nickel020]

YOu may need to increase (G)MCH which is the northbridge voltage if you use 4 RAM sticks. Try to set it to +0.2V with only two sticks installed then isntall all four and see if ti works.

Also have you tried each stick individually to check if all work fine? One bad stick causes the whole computer not to work.

[Lez]

All sticks tested invidually and in pair, and i tried with mch +0.1 +0.2 +0.3 and +0.375 (as i remember that is the max)

[Nickel020]

Please fill out a BIOS template for me with your BIOS settings or make pictures of the settings that won't work and post them.

[Lez]

for example this one is not working either


Robust Graphics Booster___________ [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio ____________ [8]
CPU Host Clock Control_ [Disabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz)__________ [333]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)_______ [100]
C.I.A. 2__________________________ [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)____ [3.20]
DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]
Performance Enhance = [Standard]

CAS Latency Time________________ 5
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay_________ 7
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_______7
Precharge Delay (tRAS)__________ 24


ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD)_________ 4
Rank Write to READ Delay________ 5
Write to Precharge Delay_________ 16
Refresh to ACT Delay______________ 56
Read to Precharge Delay__________ 6
Static tRead Value_______________ 8
Static tRead Phase Adjust________ 0

System Voltage Control____ [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.400V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control_ [+0.1V]
FSB OverVoltage Control___ [+0.1V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+0.2V]
CPU Voltage Control_______ [1.25]

[Nickel020]

Increase static tRead value, try values from 9-12.

[Lez]

9 - stuck at post memory test
10 - boot into vista crash after 10 sec, restart stuck at post
11 - not even post
12 - stuck at post

[Nickel020]

Ah I just noticed you're trying to get the RAM to run at 1066. 1066 is *very* hard to get stable with 4 ram sticks, you should lower your system memory multiplier.

You're not missing out on performance anyway:

Memory is linked to the northbridge and the northbridge forewards data to the CPU. Now the bandwith of the RAM to NB is the same if the 2.0 system memory multiplier is used, i.e. DDR2 667 for a 333 (1333 quad-pumped) FSB CPU, DDR2 800 for a 400 FSB CPU. If you increase the RAM speed without increasing the FSB, data is transferred faster to the NB from RAM, but the NB can't pass it on any faster to the CPU than before though resulting in no performance benefit (there's a litte benefit actually, as latency is improved if RAM speed goes up, but it's small ~5% or so).
If you're not overclocking get DDR2 800 RAM, if you plan on overclocking in the future get 1066 DDR2 (runs at 533 MHz so you can increase your FSB to 533 (2133 quad pumped) without having to overrclock the RAM). The reason why faster DDR2 RAM exists is solely for overclocking purposes, as slower will limit the maximum overclock of your CPU.