Abit IN9 32X-MAX WiFi & Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC8500

[slymoon]

I recently built a PC for a freind from scan parts and was wondering if anyone can help with the only outstanding issue I have with the PC.

The PC uses:
* Abit IN9 32X-MAX WiFi mobo (LN16879)
* 2 sets of 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC8500 (1066) [4 GB total] (LN15484)
* Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600, 775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB CPU (LN17245)

It all works good BUT I am not having luck getting the memory to run at 1066 speed, instead I am having to leave it on 800 speed. It seems to me that a lot of people like this combo of mobo & RAM and do seem to get the RAM working at 1066 (at least people in america who do) but I can't seem to get it to work at 1066.

I asked on this forum about it: (search google for "Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC8500 (1066) & Abit IN9 32X-MAX") (sorry I can't post url's yet) but then I realized that this was a US board and they may have different boards. I tried various bios upgrades (might have been for US boards only perhaps) and tweaking but in he end have revertd back to my v1.0 bios and setting mem speed to 800.

Does anyone else have this motherboard and this memory (in UK) and have it working at 1066 mem speed? If so PLEASE can you tell me the settings you use (bios version, bios settings etc) or can anyone throw some light on the situation?

Ta

[lxtwin]

Hi mate,
I have had a problem with an Asus MB and the same memory. Mine will not run more than 711 with 4 DIMMs in and, at 800 with only two. I have ordered 2x 2GB (TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX) and will be selling the Dominator PC8500 as it is a waste of money.

lxtwin

[Agent]

Hi mate,
I have had a problem with an Asus MB and the same memory. Mine will not run more than 711 with 4 DIMMs in and, at 800 with only two. I have ordered 2x 2GB (TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX) and will be selling the Dominator PC8500 as it is a waste of money.

lxtwin

The speed drop when using 4DIMMS has nothing to do with your RAM. Selling the dominator and replacing it with something else wont change that.

[lxtwin]

I take your point but the motherboard documentation quotes 4 DIMMs PC6400. Asus say:
"
You can use 4 DIMM's of PC2-6400 run at 800MHz or 2*2G memory. Striker Extreme can support 8GB memory at most."

But 4 DIMM's will only run at 711MHz, so why would you buy more expensive PC8500 (£150 per 2GB) memory when it is running like PC6400 (or slower)?

[Agent]

But 4 DIMM's will only run at 711MHz, so why would you buy more expensive PC8500 (£150 per 2GB) memory when it is running like PC6400 (or slower)?

For more headroom when overclocking.
PC8500 is not an official standard. Its purely for overclocking at the moment. If the board can't reach that speed, it doesn't mean anything is wrong with it, simply that your RAM can go higher than the motherboard allows.

[Boogle]

4 DIMMS also often requires a boost in NB voltage.

TBH the only boards I've seen that consistently handle 4 high-speed DIMMs without fuss are P965/P35 based, maybe 975X too.

However, while you may not get a high clockspeed on the RAM, often you can bring the timings down quite a lot. Just don't expect things like 1T with 4 sticks.

[lxtwin]

Hi Boogle,
I raised some of the voltages to this:

Memory Voltage: 2.2v
1.2V HT: 1.25v
NB Core Voltage: 1.5v
SB Core Voltage: 1.55v
CPU VTT Voltage: 1.25v
TCL: 5
TRCD: 5
TRP: 5
TRAS: 18
Command Per Clock: 2
TRC: 24

and it still did not work at 800MHz. You are defiantly right about the other chipsets as I put my four DIMM's in my Intel MB at work and they worked at 800MHz no problem. How comes our MB's often have a problem with 4 DIMM's at 800MHz when systems like this have 16 slots running at 667MHz.

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/rack/x3850/specs.html

or

12 slots also at 667MHz

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/rack/x3650/specs.html

Is 667MHz just a very stable speed?

lxtwin

[slymoon]

Well for me there is no trouble running the four 1GB sticks at 800MHz (that worked instantly after fitting them with no setup needed). Its just in the Scan description under tech specs it says the mobo supports 533/800/1066 mem speeds so I was assuming I could get it to run at 1066. I know on the official Abit site it quotes 800Mhz as the highest supported 'stable/offical' speed but that it supports higher settings.

The annoying thing is that to me it seems that there are different bios's for the US and UK version of the board (right?) and the US (Version 1.2 Beta 6) is used successfully by the US guys on their boards to get a stable 1066MHz without crashes. I don't think I tried the newish UK v1.2 bios so I might give that a go and hope the settings menu in the bios is more flexable in its values.

If anyone has the Abit IN9 32X-MAX WiFi motherboard & any amount of Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC8500 1066MHz memory (UK versions) and has 1066Hz running please let me know, I am so positive it is possible (needs a lot of experimenting) I am just hoping someone else will have had the exact same problem and already know the solution.

[BUFF]

The annoying thing is that to me it seems that there are different bios's for the US and UK version of the board (right?) and the US (Version 1.2 Beta 6) is used successfully by the US guys on their boards to get a stable 1066MHz without crashes.

No, the US & UK (& indeed other markets) use the same BIOS'.

You might find this an interesting article about the effect of different RAM speeds on 680i
http://www.realworldbenchmarks.com/a...php?cat=&id=55

[Boogle]

lxtwin: Xeon/Workstation systems use buffered memory (or even FB-DIMMS) which removes a great deal of addressing/refreshing load off of the chipset. However, this means not only slower speeds, but also higher latency.

[slymoon]

Thanx BUFF, interesting link.
I just worked out that the bios is in fact the same type accross all boarders.
I think I will just had to try the 1.2 FINAL bios from Abit UK site and see if that works stable at 1066MHz (or keep at 800MHz if no better) if not then I guess only further improvement of the bios will do it.

[ukdanny]

I recently built a PC for a freind from scan parts and was wondering if anyone can help with the only outstanding issue I have with the PC.

The PC uses:
* Abit IN9 32X-MAX WiFi mobo (LN16879)
* 2 sets of 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC8500 (1066) [4 GB total] (LN15484)
* Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600, 775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB CPU (LN17245)

It all works good BUT I am not having luck getting the memory to run at 1066 speed, instead I am having to leave it on 800 speed. It seems to me that a lot of people like this combo of mobo & RAM and do seem to get the RAM working at 1066 (at least people in america who do) but I can't seem to get it to work at 1066.

I asked on this forum about it: (search google for "Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC8500 (1066) & Abit IN9 32X-MAX") (sorry I can't post url's yet) but then I realized that this was a US board and they may have different boards. I tried various bios upgrades (might have been for US boards only perhaps) and tweaking but in he end have revertd back to my v1.0 bios and setting mem speed to 800.

Does anyone else have this motherboard and this memory (in UK) and have it working at 1066 mem speed? If so PLEASE can you tell me the settings you use (bios version, bios settings etc) or can anyone throw some light on the situation?

Ta

hi i have the abit ix38 and 2 gb Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator ram PC8500 runs at 816mhz . so all i did was overclock my intel q6600 i got the ram to run at 1064mhz

[slymoon]

OK - I have fixed this issue since writing this post.

I simply waited for the next UK bios update (from abit UK website) which was not out at the time.
I downloaded m622a13.zip (bios v1.3) and applied it and it worked perfectly, just reset the bios then applied "optimal setting" type option and it showed 1066 as the mem speed in the bios (and that was without cpu overclocking I believe) and also shows as 1066 in all windows software (e.g PC Wizard).

There has been another bios releaese (v1.4) on the abit UK webste since I did the 1.3 update but I have not tried appling the v1.4 yet (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).

My friend is now ultra happy about his PC and gets wicked gaming ^_^

thanks to everyone for advice.

[BUFF]

14 gets good feedback but if it ain't broke ...

[slamdunk]

Hey there Slymoon,

Glad you got it running. I have the same setup as you, but my memory speed is running at 533mhz. Do you mind letting me know what settings in uGuru you have so I can match to them? Can you run the RAM at 1066mhz or is it some multiplier happening at 533?

Thanks!

[Hicks12]

Hey there Slymoon,

Glad you got it running. I have the same setup as you, but my memory speed is running at 533mhz. Do you mind letting me know what settings in uGuru you have so I can match to them? Can you run the RAM at 1066mhz or is it some multiplier happening at 533?

Thanks!

Yours is running fine (i think) its ddr, times it by 2 and you get 1066, always double it .