Attn OCZ Customers - Need Help? Post Here

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 14, 2006, 03:11 PM

Hi Judas,

I am confused....are you saying your problem is the SATA controller...or not the SATA controller?

Judas · Mar 14, 2006, 03:44 PM

it's the sata controller...

Nvidia's chipsets are apparently plagued with some pretty serious faults... soon as you try to use a Sata2 3gb/s drive, the system start messing up..... it's completely unpredictable.

It just seemed at first like it wasn't hardrive/controller related and more like a memory problem... but now it's fairly apparent..

the problem is, that it's intermitting... so at one point i fired it up with OCZ ram, and it would fail to work.... next i'd fire it up with generic ram and it would work... ironically the cercumstances just seemed to be something strange.

But i've got it narrowed down... it's nvidia's sata controller...

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 14, 2006, 03:52 PM

Thanks for clearing that up.

I have not used Sata II in raid yet...but my Sata II works fine on the Expert board and the Ultra-D I have here. Might want to look into Asus' implementation of it.

Earlier NF4 chipset's had to be modded before they accepted SATA II IIRC??

Judas · Mar 14, 2006, 03:55 PM

well the thing is... it's effecting even the latest Nforce 4 chipsets... my Asus A8N32-SLI (using the 2x(x16 pci-ex)) doesn't except any one of the Sata2 Drives i've got here..

Seagate
Maxtor
and i just played with a WD that doesn't work either...
just tried the 1 maxtor 160gb sata2 drive on a MSI Nforce 4 board as well with no luck..

Just check that thread out i posted.... it's effecting DFI/Gigabyte boards as well.....

BWX · Mar 14, 2006, 06:18 PM

I figured out the deal with this HTT..

-now is that the best way to configure these modules or what??

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 02:53 AM

Judas do you OC that A8N-E at all? I need to know if you can use 1t command... when the FSB set to over default..

Judas · Mar 15, 2006, 11:14 AM

1T command and was solid @ 215fsb with the previous and current sticks...

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 12:50 PM

Did you ever take the HTT down to 4x to OC the CPU?

If I select 1T I am lucky to boot into windows, if I leave it at 2T it is completely stable no matter what- In my old NF7 it was ALWAYS run at 1T, so it isn't the memory that can't do it.. it's the mobo or chipset or something.

Right now I am running it like this... (experimenting with the limits to see whats up)

Maybe it is a compatibility thing, or a bug with this board, or just the weird configuration I have, I dunno. Even if I relax the timing to 2.5-3-3-8 it still won't run 1T even at a much lower frequency, or with much more voltage.. Pretty much no matter what.

On my old socket-A I never ran it at 2T once... ever.

Judas · Mar 15, 2006, 12:55 PM

i'm guessing you have the identical Asus board i have? (rev 2?)...

i'll go play around with it... i haven't tried much of any OCing with it.. i haven't completely figured out how to use the HTT and fsb and all those little things

all i've done is increased the fsb from 200 to 215mhz..... that's it.... (currently running stock yet again cause i'm doing diagnostics on some SATA2 drives that apparently do not work at all with nvidia chipsets.... my gaud.... theres still no news of this anywhere on any site.... how is that possible? )..

Got any suggestions on perhaps say ocing my x2 4400+ from 2.2ghz to 2.4 (what i should attempt to set the fsb and HTT and all those other things at)

i just wanna understand how all the different things work together to make up the HTT bus speed and fsb and pci-ex bus and cpu speed..... what effects what in what way.

i know i can sustain 2.7ghz on this cpu..... @ 2.4ghz i had it stable and running a little over 31*C (stock it runs 29

)

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 02:40 PM

Yeah same board... rev 2.

I took the HTT down from "auto" to "4x"
Then put the memory at 333 instead of 400.. (loose timings at first and 2T)
Then set the "CPU" which is at 200mhz default up to 250..

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

here is what one guy said....

.

Quote:

when OCing set PCI clock to fixed 33mhz 2. PCI-E clock to 100mhz 3. leave DDR and CPU voltage AUTO 4. RAM to manual, DDR333, begin @ 2.5-3-3-8 2T (when OC CPU runs stable you may try fine-tune to 2-3-3-6 1T but try that later!) 5. CPU multiplier to 11 6. HT frequency to 4X now set CPU frequency to 250, maybe machine will not boot or run stable without raising CPU voltage. in that case try lower CPU frequency or higher CPU voltage (watch cpu temperatures. with the abouve settings (& 250mhz HTT) you would get 11*250=2750mhz, 1000mhz HT and 196mhz RAM (=392DDR) to get RAM running at 200mhz, CPU frequency would be 255*11=2805 bt that gives you HT 1020 instead of max 1000mhz, but should work too... i prefer fixed CPU multi to max since i can use CnQ feature; other CPU multis may give you more (other) OC'ing options but using CnQ would let freeze your machine. sorry for bad english

I pretty much did that, then tightened up timings, I raised the vcore a little, but could never get 2T command to work.

I got one hell of an OC though.. and I think I could hit 2.9ghz on air no problem with this CPU. It would be much faster if it was 1T though. I have been just playing the FEAR demo and HL2 to test it.. solid as a rock. Does Prime95 no problem max 44C.. All 3dmarks no problem, etc..

I found a few other things that apply.
Gogar's Athlon 64 OC Optimizer
http://math.gogar.com/athlon64.cgi

HTT CPU Memory Hypertransport (lower is better)
254 11 x 254 = 2794 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 199.57 (DDR399) 3 x 254 = 762 0.0463
254 11 x 254 = 2794 3:4, 150, DDR300 = 186.26 (DDR373) 3 x 254 = 762 0.5174
250 11 x 250 = 2750 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 196.42 (DDR393) 4 x 250 = 1000 3.2206
250 11 x 250 = 2750 3:4, 150, DDR300 = 183.33 (DDR367) 4 x 250 = 1000 3.8832
255 10.5 x 255 = 2677.5 3:4, 150, DDR300 = 191.25 (DDR382) 3 x 255 = 765 19.332
255 10.5 x 255 = 2677.5 17:24,141,DDR283 = 178.5 (DDR357) 3 x 255 = 765 20.2962
250 10.5 x 250 = 2625 3:4, 150, DDR300 = 187.5 (DDR375) 4 x 250 = 1000 39.4531
236 11 x 236 = 2596 11:12,183,DDR366 = 199.69 (DDR399) 4 x 236 = 944 53.0818
247 10.5 x 247 = 2593.5 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 199.5 (DDR399) 4 x 247 = 988 54.3912
255 10 x 255 = 2550 3:4, 150, DDR300 = 182.14 (DDR364) 3 x 255 = 765 80.5165
255 10 x 255 = 2550 17:24,141,DDR283 = 182.14 (DDR364) 3 x 255 = 765 80.5165
228 10.5 x 228 = 2394 11:12,183,DDR366 = 199.5 (DDR399) 4 x 228 = 912 210.2506
200 11 x 200 = 2200 1:1, 200, DDR400 = 200 (DDR400) 5 x 200 = 1000 459.1836
200 11 x 200 = 2200 13:12,216,DDR433 = 200 (DDR400) 5 x 200 = 1000 459.1836
200 10.5 x 200 = 2100 1:1, 200, DDR400 = 190.9 (DDR382) 5 x 200 = 1000 625.2066
190 10.5 x 190 = 1995 13:12,216,DDR433 = 199.5 (DDR399) 5 x 190 = 950 826.5631
181 11 x 181 = 1991 7:6, 233, DDR466 = 199.1 (DDR398) 5 x 181 = 905 834.7992
171 10.5 x 171 = 1795.5 7:6, 233, DDR466 = 199.5 (DDR399) 5 x 171 = 855 1287.0162
163 11 x 163 = 1793 4:3, 266, DDR533 = 199.22 (DDR398) 5 x 163 = 815 1293.4313
163 11 x 163 = 1793 5:4, 250, DDR500 = 199.22 (DDR398) 5 x 163 = 815 1293.4313

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 15, 2006, 02:47 PM

@BWX,

You are in the wrong slots....you are running single channel, you need to have the ram in the blue slots...that is why you can't run 1T

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

i know i can sustain 2.7ghz on this cpu..... @ 2.4ghz i had it stable and running a little over 31*C (stock it runs 29

)

I forgot- yeah these run cool too... That is a stock aluminum sink- dinky fan, no copper. Amazing.

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyderOCZ

@BWX,

You are in the wrong slots....you are running single channel, you need to have the ram in the blue slots...that is why you can't run 1T

Oh really? Do you mean "only" the blue slots?

I need all three sticks right now to make 1 gig..

Edit- here is a pic- the one one the right is the 512mb stick

The other two on the left are a matched pair 2 x 256mb..

In the mobo manual it said to put the first one (the 512mb stick) in that slot I believe. It definitely works, but I don't know if I can get 3 sticks to run in dual mode. I did on my NF7 though, it worked pretty good actaully... somehow. :-)

It would make sense if it doesn't work though, I mean it probably shouldn't work as good as it does.

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 15, 2006, 03:00 PM

What modules are you running again please?

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 03:05 PM

I have 2x 256 PC3200 Platinum EL limited edition (2-2-2-7)

Then I have 1x 512mb PC3200 Platinum EL

(as reported in everest home edition)
the numbers on the sticks say 2-2-2-7 on the 2 x 256mb pair
DIMM1: OCZ OCZ400512ELPE 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.0-3-2-5 @ 200 MHz default)

DIMM2: OCZ OCZ400512DCPELE-K 256 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.0-3-3-6 @ 200 MHz default)

DIMM4: OCZ OCZ400512DCPELE-K 256 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.0-3-3-6 @ 200 MHz default)

EDIT- also I will need to buy a 2x 1gig pair sometime.. Maybe you could recommend a set?

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 15, 2006, 03:14 PM

Right click the "My Computer" icon, choose properties....what does it say there for available ram at the bottom? Does it say 1GB?

Thanks

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 03:23 PM

yup 1.00GB ram

It's an oddball configuration, just what I have right now.

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 15, 2006, 03:32 PM

Well that is really weird that CPU-z is reporting Single channel. By everything I am looking at, you should be Dual.

Try putting the 512 stick in the closest slot to the CPU and the 2 sticks into the 2 "B" slots where the 512 is now. Then open CPU-z and see if it says Dual or Single.

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 03:35 PM

Oh ok, sounds logical.. that would have been my next try.

I have to take my big fat video card out to do that, LOL.

*RyderOCZ* · Mar 15, 2006, 03:41 PM

ooo, hmmm well its up to you.

I think I read something about 3 sticks in the Asus board being this way actually....will have to see if I can find it.

BWX · Mar 15, 2006, 03:44 PM

Oh I am definitely going to do it... it's just going to take a few minutes. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Judas · Mar 15, 2006, 04:03 PM

gotta hand it to you bwx, you explained it way better in the most basic and easiest understandable words..

it was like reading my own mind....clear..

go it all figured out.. running test right now..

first result on my first load... running 34*C