What chips on my XMS4400C25?

[Highland3r]

Just checked some A64 shots here, mine only goes up to 7 too, so might not be a bios issue. 7 seems to work quite well at anyrate. Theres some A64 tweaker shots with timings that have worked well for me about 2 pages back. Set those in bios and see if it helps at all

 

[sacha35]

As maverik said update your bios first,and then try uping the volts a little but do not go above 2.8V, i dont know about your DFI expert but my memory settings in the BIOS undervolts a little for me to run my ram at 2.66 Volts i need to set this to 2.74 in the coms.

download for DFI bios update

Revision A Date Code2006/04/06File NF4ED406.EXESize851,742 bytesDescriptionDiamondFlash Image for BIOS.

Please Click Here if you are not familiar with the procedure of Diamond Flash Image!!

The BIOS Upgrade for LP UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert Only

Major Reasons of Change:

1. Add CPU temperature calibration option.

2 . Fix S1/S3 temp error after resume.

3 . Fix startup VID option fail.

4 . Fix C 'n' Q .5 multiplier not working with opteron CPU.

5 . Fix day of month alarm can not set as 0 for every day usage.

6 . Fix ATI X1000 series logo error.

7 . Remove Write CAS latency item and replace it by Odd Divisor Select.

8 . Add support for SST 49LF040B LPC flash ROM

 

[BigAndy]

Only problem is i don't have a floppy drive on my PC .

As far as i know i won't be able to do any BIOS update without floppy drive, do i???

Cheers

 

[Highland3r]

Only problem is i don't have a floppy drive on my PC .

As far as i know i won't be able to do any BIOS update without floppy drive, do i???

Cheers

Use winflash and flash from windows.

Theres not really any need for you to update the bios IMHO... It's not going to stabilise the ram to any huge extent. Bypass max of 7 will do you fine, which you should have access too in your current rev...

 

[BigAndy]

Use winflash and flash from windows.

Theres not really any need for you to update the bios IMHO... It's not going to stabilise the ram to any huge extent. Bypass max of 7 will do you fine, which you should have access too in your current rev...

Could you explain a bit detailed about winflash (how it works and what should i do), never did anything like this :$.

 

[sacha35]

yes you will need to get a floppy drive even if you just rig it up temporary, try upping the volts a Tad and see if this helps if not then you have the you can loosen the timings up abit and run a higher bandwidth or keep the settings and run a lower bandwidth, i would say what you have got with tighter settings would be better than looser timings and higher bandwidth, but you do need the bios update for it all to work right. if you dont want any problems then get a floppy drive and dont use winflash.

 

[Highland3r]

Could you explain a bit detailed about winflash (how it works and what should i do), never did anything like this :$.

Basically it allows you to flash the bios from windows.

The ECS guide http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/winFlash.html

is pretty good tbh. Should tell you everything you need to know. Just make sure you back off to a known stable FSB before flashing. Best bet is to back the system down to 200 HTT and flash then.

I'm struggling to see why you guys are recommending a bios update in this situation. The timings are available and theres no real benefit to updating. ODS is about the only useful addition and thats going to add confusion to the matter.

Theres more work that can be done timing wise without needing to flash the bios. There may be a need in the future if timing tweaks yield no gain, but we're no where near being out of options..

As the old saying goes, "if it aint broke, dont fix it...."

 

[maverik-sg1]

I'm struggling to see why you guys are recommending a bios update in this situation. The timings are available and theres no real benefit to updating. ODS is about the only useful addition and thats going to add confusion to the matter.

Theres more work that can be done timing wise without needing to flash the bios. There may be a need in the future if timing tweaks yield no gain, but we're no where near being out of options..

As the old saying goes, "if it aint broke, dont fix it...."

Newer DFI BIOS allows more memory compatable 'tables' to be loaded into the BIOS and broadens the capabilities in that respect. Also, I think it needs fixing for that RAM to perform I feel (or change the RAM) .

 

[Highland3r]

Newer DFI BIOS allows more memory compatable 'tables' to be loaded into the BIOS and broadens the capabilities in that respect. Also, I think it needs fixing for that RAM to perform I feel (or change the RAM) .

Well you are the best bencher in the uk... who am i to argue

 

[maverik-sg1]

Well you are the best bencher in the uk... who am i to argue

Mate you are every bit as capable I have no doubt - I guess it's just DOO (diff of opinion).

Just my own experience with that particular RAM leads me to believe that this BIOS would benefit - could be wrong, but nothing to lose trying.

Boardy has some rather nifty PC5000 (Thats DDR623) TCC5 for sale @ only £75 - I know it goes up that high coz I had before him (in Expert and SLI-DR) and Gollum had it before him

Mav

 

[Highland3r]

Mate you are every bit as capable I have no doubt - I guess it's just DOO (diff of opinion).

Just my own experience with that particular RAM leads me to believe that this BIOS would benefit - could be wrong, but nothing to lose trying.

Mav

Probably... Always tend to think of bioses as a last ditch attempt really... Once you run outta tweaks timings wise, then switch the bios.

What timings for 613 outta interest, also btw max BP max you can set on A64 is 7 afaik.. (probably wrong on this though....)

Anyway less of this, more helping this dude get the max from his ram.. Be interested to hear your TCCD tweaking tips, grab me on MSN if you want...

 

[sacha35]

The memory settings that i listed have come from an OCZ tec of which uses the same chips as your ram, also as mav said try updating the bios becouse this has been updated with OCZ input for the memory timmings.

 

[BigAndy]

Ok, i'll go tomorrow morning to local PC shop (wich sucks) and hopefully they will have some floppy drive.

I tried, on 2.5-3-3-8 @ 260MHz, to use 2.74V and 2.80V instead of 2.71V, but it didn't helped .

And sacha are you saying that 2.5-3-3-8 @ 250MHz is better than 2.5-4-4-8 @ 275MHz ( or maybe 280MHz):? .

 

[BigAndy]

Newer DFI BIOS allows more memory compatable 'tables' to be loaded into the BIOS and broadens the capabilities in that respect. Also, I think it needs fixing for that RAM to perform I feel (or change the RAM) .

Are you saying that my RAM isn't good enough ???

 

[BigAndy]

I found this one:

Memory MAX

It depends what you want and type of mem you chose, LL or Bandwidth but must keep 1T (command rate) because A64 suffers big time with 2T.

-For high bandwidth set mem setting to 200 and 2.5-4-3-7 1 T and give it boards max volts, or for LL set mem setting to 200 and 2-2-2-7 1 T and give it boards max volts. (up to 2.9Vdimm is safe with all ram) ( Caution DFI/ABIT users -- do not exceed 3.0V unless you know what you are doing!!!)

-Set CPUs multi to 6-7, again to take it out of equation.

-Raise HTT up to boards max or until you start failing memtest86 test 5 and 6 http://www.memtest86.com/

-When you start failing memtest86 test 5 and 6, back down 5%, (HTT * 0.95), thats your max MEM speed.

I took this from http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1497607&frmKeyword=&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear, posted by Zebo.

He is saying 2.90V is safe with every RAM???

And why DFI&ABIT users should be afraid of 3.00V and over???

 

[sacha35]

Yes that voltage will be safe upto 3 volts but all ram is different, take mine it is happiest at 2.66 volts, if i go less i have problems and if i go above i have problems, but as the voltage settings in the Com's is not correct i have to set this at 2.74 volts for it to give 2.66 volts, as for tight memory settings these are best as it will allow the data to pass though the memory faster, with higher bandwith this allows more data to pass though but at a slower speed, take maverik's memory he runs his well over 250MHZ with tight memory timings so his ram will perform better than mine running at 300MHZ with looser timings.

 

[Highland3r]

Use winflash. Its easier (and safer) imo than flashing via floppy since its idiot proof! Just make sure the systems stable (ie run stock) before flashing.

Timings wise, as has been said before, set bypass max to 7 and try again

Set cas3 too as that might well gain you a little.

 

[BigAndy]

Check This Out

Last night i changed RAM volts to 2.92V (BIOS), Smartguardian is reading 2.84V 8) and left memtest over the night with settings (wich didnt worked before):

CPU 1.82GHz x7.0 HTT260 1.425V

RAM 260MHz 2.5-3-3-8 2.92V 1:1

Over 7h no errors!

As well i left Bypass max on x4 8)

 

[Highland3r]

Nice, now pass 12 hours SP2004

 

[sacha35]

Hi there Andy, just keep trying the memory first see if you can go higher, see if you can get it to 270 or at the worst 265, have you tried mem test in the Bios as you only need to run this for a couple of hours mate, onec you found your max then you need to back of a bit and tighten your memory settings up, you do still need the Bios update though for the memory to work at its best.