Roll-call: GA-K8NSNXP-939 (nf3) + dual-chan DDR

H

Hornswoggler

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
2,325
I am taking roll-call for anybody with the nforce3-based socket 939 Gigabyte motherboard GA-K8NSNXP-939.

What I want to know, is if you are successfully running your DDR memory in dual-channel mode, and what RAM you are using.

I am taking this roll-call because I cannot get my mobo to run Corsair XMS 3200XL (2-2-2-5) in dual-channel mode (atleast not reliably). I have encountered numerous other people on this forum, anandtech forum, and the house of help forum, many with the exact same symptoms and most with the same ram.

It would be nice to know what memory modules can successfully run dual-channel mode on this mobo, and which ones can't. I also would like to determine if I should replace my motherboard, or replace my RAM.

Here is the survey:

Memory: <brand, model#, rated timings, capacity>
Mem timings: <BIOS settings, auto or manual. what manual settings? Ctrl-F1 in BIOS for adv. settings>
Measured bandwidth: <Sandra score, helps verify if you are really running dual-chan>
Motherboard BIOS: <version number>
Stable: <i.e. have you ran Prime95 torture test? Any blue screens, etc.>

Answer what you can. Thanks!
 
Memory: Corsair 3200LLPRO TWINX 1024 (2x512)

Mem timings: Stock, Auto on a 3800+

Measured bandwidth: http://www.weckstrom.com/perf/a64sandra-3.jpg

Motherboard BIOS: Stock, though I don't have this board in anymore. I replaced it with the MSI 939 nforce3, which is a slightly better performer and has a MUCH better layout than the Gigglebyte.

Stable: Prime95 ran overnight with no problems. 11hrs max run before stopping manually.

"Matched Pairs" have always meant the difference between a stable and a non-stable system for me. Most recently, I tried 4 Kingston HyperX PC4000 modules they had on sale at Best Buy to see how they'd do, and even at stock w/SPD Prime95 would crap out in a matter of a couple hours. One pair in my "mix n match" session BSOD'd frequently. I had tried several combinations of the four as well.

But when I stick in my 3200LLPRO TWINX modules, they run forever and ever amen. I can't make 'em break at stock or slightly above.
 
I finally got mine stable but forget about 2-2-2-5.

Right now I have a 3500+ and a pair of Corsair 5123200XLPRO. From default I had to bring the cas upto 2.5 and all my problems have seemingly been crunched. Prime would fail after 1min, now I've run it for 9 hours with zero faults.

I hate to do this but my previous thread was ignored. I need to know for you guys that got the board, did the install CD say Nforce3-250GB? And in a program like CPU-Z does your mainboard come up as nForce3 250? This board is supposed to be an Nforce3 Ultra (which I know are basically the same just want to make sure I have things setup properly).


That all said, now that my board is up and running stable *knocks on wood* this beast is fast. :D
 
Smacknca said:
I finally got mine stable but forget about 2-2-2-5.

Right now I have a 3500+ and a pair of Corsair 5123200XLPRO. From default I had to bring the cas upto 2.5 and all my problems have seemingly been crunched. Prime would fail after 1min, now I've run it for 9 hours with zero faults.

I hate to do this but my previous thread was ignored. I need to know for you guys that got the board, did the install CD say Nforce3-250GB? And in a program like CPU-Z does your mainboard come up as nForce3 250? This board is supposed to be an Nforce3 Ultra (which I know are basically the same just want to make sure I have things setup properly).


That all said, now that my board is up and running stable *knocks on wood* this beast is fast. :D
Click to expand...

I'm back on this board myself after discovering MSI's SATA is really slow for some reason (despite it being the same NF3 PHY SATA).

And yes, my CD did say it was Nforce3-250GB.
 
Ice Nine said:
I'm back on this board myself after discovering MSI's SATA is really slow for some reason (despite it being the same NF3 PHY SATA).

And yes, my CD did say it was Nforce3-250GB.
Click to expand...


So are you able to run your memory at the low timings or just letting the bios run its defaults?
 
Smacknca said:
So are you able to run your memory at the low timings or just letting the bios run its defaults?
Click to expand...

I can run 2-3-2-6 with no problems (on my 3200LLPRO stuff). I'm not overclocking though.
 
I have some news to report.

I am running the Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 and it fails the Prime95 torture test (always within the first two minutes) with BOTH Corsair 3200XL and Crucial Ballistix PC4000.

With the Corsair, I have tried all sorts of memory timing combinations (some even received from the "RAM GUY" himself) with no success.

The Crucial I just installed a few minutes ago and let the motherboard auto-detect SPD timings. Windows boots and appears to be working right, but Prime95 gives me this awful rounding error (same error as with the Corsair 3200XL).

So... I shift my blame back to either the motherboard or the nforce 3 chipset. Fortunately, I have an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo here that I can pop-in and test with either the Corsair or the Crucial.

Hmm, the more I think about it, the K8 does have an integrated memory controller... maybe the CPU is the cause of all these problems? Especially if the VIA guys are having dual-channel issues.

This sucks.
 
Hmm the Corsair defaults to 2.5-4-4-10...

That could either be the motherboard or CPU, if it happens on both then it is the CPU. Did you run memtest86?(run ALL test, not standard and let it go for 12 hours)

With my NF7-S I would fail Prime95 in about 2 minutes at 215mhz but memtest ran fine all day. Could be a motheboard issue with yours. I'd say give it a shot with the K8N Neo2.
 
Memtest would run fine (just boot and run, I never did see anything about advanced) with my Corsair memory.

I'll try memtest with the Crucial and see if the results are any different.
 
If memtest runs fine on the Ballistix for 12 hours its either the CPU or motherboard. If the problem happens on both motherboards you might have to consider a RMA for the CPU .
 
Just ran memtest but this time I ran "All" instead of the standard test.

The system failed even with the Ballistix.

It's definately time to look at the motherboard/chipset/cpu. I think I can rule out memory.
 
I dunno, at stock my 3200LLPRO (corsair) modules run 100% fine. Prime95 gave me 11hrs on both the Gigabyte and my MSI Neo2 Plat 939.
 
Try out your Neo2, if the same thing happens it could very well be your CPU.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top