System fails RAM stress test but CPU stress test OK.

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WhipperSnapper

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Oct 7, 2005
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I'm working on overclocking a Socket 939 Athlon X2 4400 (2.2 Ghz stock, 1 MB cache each core) and when I run the Stress Prime Orthos test to stress the CPU itself it's fine, but when I do it to stress the RAM I get an error.

Now, I previously had a single core Opteron 148 in this computer and it seemed pretty stable at the same RAM settings and at a much higher overclock than the 4400. The computer has 4 x 512 RAM in it.

Is it possible that the RAM is now undervolted because the 4400 is sucking up more voltage? The voltage readings on my computer show it as being about 0.05 V lower than where I have it set in the BIOS.

Should I up the RAM voltage? It's currently set at 2.8 V. Should I start playing around with the RAM timings? Currently at 2.5-3-3-7 and 2T with a divider of 133/200. (Current CPU overclock is 11 x 225.)
 
relax the timing and see if it will help.

also monitor your temps. run memtest86 to see if there are any bad modules.
 
Maybe I should try it with relaxed timings. Runs fine on Stress Prime Orthos at 11 x 200 and 11 x 210 for 10 minutes with the same settings. The RAM has passed a Memtest before.

Is it possible...would it make any sense that the problem is RAM-based even at these lower speeds when it seemed fine with a single core at higher speeds? It seems like the new (to me) dual core CPU needs more voltage in the BIOS to maintain a given voltage on my mobo stats/temp/voltage monitor than the single core Opteron did. Could it be possible that the RAM is getting undervolted now and that even though I have it set for 2.8 in the BIOS that it's lower in reality?
 
WhipperSnapper said:
Maybe I should try it with relaxed timings. Currently running the Stress Prime Orthos RAM stress test at 11 x 200 with the same settings otherwise. So far so good after 10 minutes. Now testing at 11 x 210. The RAM has passed a Memtest before.

Is it possible...would it make any sense that the problem is RAM-based even at these lower speeds when it seemed fine with a single core at higher speeds? It seems like the new (to me) dual core CPU needs more voltage in the BIOS to maintain a given voltage on my mobo stats/temp/voltage monitor than the single core Opteron did. Could it be possible that the RAM is getting undervolted now and that even though I have it set for 2.8 in the BIOS that it's lower in reality?
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That's all dependent on your motherboard. I've seen some motherboards which after a while lose it's ability to oc very high. This goes the same way for RAM. However it happens moreso with DDR2 than the old DDR (rock solid beasts!).

I would suggest getting a temperature monitoring program that will also tell you how much voltage is going to your parts. Sometimes your motherboard will have this information in the BIOS under the pc health status tab.
 
I've been running it at 11 x 220 (2.42 Ghz) and 1.525V for a couple days now, building UT3 maps and playing UT3 some and so far so good. Might start pushing the speed up a little bit and see how things go.
 
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