# Which RAM is compatible with my mobo?



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I'm not sure which ram to use.. I'm looking to buy 4GB

My Motherboard is the Intel DQ35JO motherboard

All I know is the mobo box says "Supports 1333/1066/800 MHz FSB"
Also does DDR3 work with my board


----------



## hhnq04 (Mar 19, 2008)

From http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dq35jo/sb/CS-027946.htm



> System Memory Features
> The board has four DIMM sockets and supports the following memory features:
> 
> * 1.8 V (only) DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs with gold-plated contacts
> ...


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

What's so special about gold plated contacts?

I have 2GB OCZ gold plated RAM


----------



## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

> What's so special about gold plated contacts?


Bare copper and aluminum contacts will corrode over time, especially so when in contact with other metals and when conducting electricity. The gold plating provides a corrosion-resistant electrically conductive layer.


----------



## hrlow2 (Oct 14, 2008)

And going by post 2, DDR3 will not work.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I understand, so I should look for RAM that's either 800 or 667 DDR2, and rated at 1.8V correct?

Also would an upgrade from 2GB RAM to 4GB make a big difference, even in games like DotA? Just wondering because sometimes during intense games theres a lot of things going on at once


----------



## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Mixing RAM brands/specs very often causes problems. If you want to upgrade to 4GB the matched 2X2GB pair that Team Mate hhnq04 linked to would be a good choice.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Oh no, I meant completely buying a new pair.

Would an upgrade from 2GB RAM to a new 4GB kit make a big difference, even in games like DotA? Just wondering because sometimes during intense games theres a lot of things going on at once

I also have a bunch of other questions:

I've decided to get a HD6850, but I'm having trouble deciding which brand to get, all I know is I will be using it for a while, as well as slightly, SLIGHTLY overclocking it.
So, which brand? c:

Are noise dampening kits worth the money? I'd be happy to pay a few bucks to keep the computer quiet, as I am on the computer most of the day. My case is the Thermaltake V3 Black edition.

If they are, I will pick up a bunch of : 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=019929&sid=d9n782d2u8940rvirro78rois6


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Depends on what's creating the noise, if it's all fan noise then no the damping kit won't quiet it down, how many fans do have and how are they hooked up directly to the power supply or to the motherboard fan ports?
What Brand and Model Power Supply are you running?


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I'm using a RaidMax 450w that uses 2 fans, they're really small.
-I have a push pull config. with the Hyper 212+ CPU heatsink, both fans 120mm.
-1 intake fan 120mm, I believe this is the main culprit (when I get a piece of paper to cover the front intake grill behind the extra mesh, the noise drops immediately).
-1 exhaust fan 120mm.

Total: 4 120mm fans, 2 80mm(?) PSU fans.

They're all given power via molex, when I try to put it in the motherboard ports, the LED's start flashing and the fan speed drops drastically.

I remember pulling 1 stick of ram out and the fans stopped flashing and span at normal speeds, if that helps.
If you are going to tell me to get a new PSU, I'm already planning to get a Seasonic S12ii 620w PSU on boxing day.


If the fans are the culprit for the noise would this solve it?:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=019937&sid=d9n782d2u8940rvirro78rois6


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The Seasonic will drop the noise level considerably from the PSU, the motherboard may have 2 chassis fan headers the fans can be set in the bios to run auto or to a set speed.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I've found out that the noise comes heavily from the front intake AS WELL as the PSU, thank you for pointing that out Wrench.

Under fan control there are 3 options;

Processor Zone Response > Normal
Processor Zone Damping> Normal
Automatic Fan detection > Next Boot

(I have tried setting it to Always already).
The fans connected directly to the motherboard move slowly, and the LEDs blink rapidly.
How can I fix this?!


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

What LEDS are blinking?


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

The LEDs on the fans connected to my motherboard.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Oh the fans have LED in them, there blinking because the motherboard is controlling the speed by pulsing the power to them(PWM), the only way I know to stop it is to use a fan speed controller that varies the voltage instead of pulsing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=fan_controllesr-_-11-998-065-_-Product


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

So aside from fixing the PSU noise, how would I go about fixing the intake fan noise?

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-133-094-TS?$S300W$
That's the case im using, 
First there is a layer of mesh that filters dust,
Behind it is a layer of steel that has holes punched into it.

I believe the turbulence is causing all the noise, how would I fix this?!


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Also, is my motherboard INTEL DQ35JO compatible with the Seasonic 620w S12ii?
When making power supply purchases, what should I look for to make sure it works with my computer?

I know that 12V rail is the most important nowadays.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The power supply will work with your board, ATX is the form factor or size as long as you have a case(you do) that takes a ATX supply it'll work.

The fan controller or fans without leds is the only way I know to slow the fans and stop the blinking.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

They ran out of Seasonic 620W's, I'm about to buy an Antec HCG 620W.
It looks pretty high quality, bronze 80+, Fan RPM responds to the load

Anyone know anything bad about this particular antec PSU?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Antec used to be top line, but they started switching suppliers now you don't what your getting from one month to the next, the Corsair 620HX is a Seasonic supply rebranded if they carry them.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Will a Seasonic M12ii 620W Power my soon to be computer?

Intel Core 2 Quad 6600
ASUS HD6850
Intel DQ35JO motherboard
1 CDROM
1 Western digital 7200.11rpm 500GB BARRACUDA 500gb
4 120mm fans


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yes, I would normally use a Corsair 650TX with that setup but the 620 is very close.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Wrench, does it matter if the PSU has more than one 12v rail?

And this new PSU should have EVERYTHING AND MORE than what my old Raidmax 450W offers correct?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I prefer a single rail but dual are ok in quality supply.
There are big differences in noise levels of power supplies, Seasonic and units based on Seasonic internals are the quietest in my opinion.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

And this new PSU should have EVERYTHING AND MORE than what my old Raidmax 450W offers correct? 
As in it already has the cables that the Raidmax has?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yes it'll have all the cables if not more.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

One of the pins from the 24pin cable are missing o: Is that normal?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yep it has not been used since the ATX connector came out.


----------



## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

The Antec HCG 620W is also Seasonic built. Looks to be a rebranded S12II 620


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Alright um, now I'm having troubles starting up, maybe I connected the stuff wrong by accident lol.

So when I usually boot, the screen is black with a white hyphen at the very top left of the screen, it usually goes away in like 5 seconds.

Ever since I installed the seasonic, the hyphen just stays there and the boot doesnt proceed. So I'm forced to hit the restart button

Help? c:


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Check the 24 pin main and 4 pin CPU connectors are fully seated in the motherboard.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

They are properly seated, yet it happened again. Btw there is an 8pin(?)cable thats not connected to anything, am I forgetting to connect something?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The 8 pin will either be for a motherboard that takes a 8 pin EPS12v connection instead of the 4 pin ATX12v or a PCIe 8 pin if you old supply did not use the 8 pin you don't it.
Hook the old supply up and see if it boots.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

It boots with both, if it gets stuck I just need to reset it.

And I do believe this happened a few times before with the old psu.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I dont know about you, but since it happened with both power supplies I think the hard drive is messed.. I'm gonna go ahead and backup all my media.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Disconnect the hard drive and see if it does it when booting to the Windows disk or a bootable Linux CD.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

My windows disk got scratched hardcore.. sorry

I've also noticed it does it after an extended period of time. I will confirm this by tommorow morning, as well as check the event viewer.


(BTW could the solution have anything to do with removing the CMOS battery? I've browsed a bunch of pages in google by entering "Blank screen hyphen boot"."


Found these in Event viewer: 

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: ATItool

Unable to start a DCOM Server: {FFF2D28F-E4EE-44D9-8104-8E71556757F6}. The error:"740"
Happened while starting this command:
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\UPDATE~1\agent.exe -Embedding

Those 2 things happen everytime my computer is turned on(?)


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Only if it does it every time would a CMOS clear be helpful.
D/L a copy of Ubuntu burn it to a disk and try booting to it with the HD unhooked.
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I don't have any spare disks around so could we try figuring out the event viewer stuff in the mean time?

I will get them ASAP, also thanks for staying with me c: most people just sort of walk off..


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

See if you have any dumps in the C:/Windows/Minidump folder. if you do follow the instructions here > http://www.techsupportforum.com/f217/blue-screen-of-death-bsod-posting-instructions-452654.html


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

It says it's empty.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Run through the steps there anyway lets see what the logs show.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I guess I'm going to post em here, since you asked for it


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Looks like your missing some drivers?

Get the VEN and DEV numbers from the device manager and lets see what they are.

To open "Device Manager", right click on "My Computer" (Computer in Vista/Win7) select Properties, On the Hardware tab Select Device Manager, if you see any yellow question marks, right click on the device and select properties, on the Details tab select Hardware IDs copy the PCI/VEN and DEV numbers and post them on your next post.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

"Other Devices"

PCI Serial Port:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B7&SUBSYS_4F4A8086&REV_02
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B7&SUBSYS_4F4A8086
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B7&CC_070002
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B7&CC_0700

PCI Simple Communications Controller:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B4&SUBSYS_4F4A8086&REV_02
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B4&SUBSYS_4F4A8086
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B4&CC_078000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B4&CC_0780

If I remember correctly this has something to do with Intel AMT.. I remember deleting something like that LONG AGO.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

There both part of the Intel Q35 chip set AMT(Active Management Technology) package, There is not a Windows 7 driver for it and if you are not looking to manage the PC remotely through a server as part of a domain you really don't need it.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=13935&ProdId=2783&lang=eng


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Yeah that's what I thought, what about the stuff I found in event viewer?


The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: ATItool

Unable to start a DCOM Server: {FFF2D28F-E4EE-44D9-8104-8E71556757F6}. The error:"740"
Happened while starting this command:
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\UPDATE~1\agent.exe -Embedding


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Was that a one time thing or it happened repeatedly?


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

They show up in the event viewer ( Windows Logs>System )
EVERYTIME the computer is turned on, I confirmed it


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Uninstall the ATI driver and the Catalyst Control Center, D/L the latest Catalyst package and reinstall.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

I'm using a nvidia card.. and I already uninstalled them


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Use driver sweeper to remove the remnants(there must be some left behind)
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Unhandled exception has occured in our application. blahblah
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

??


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

In what app?


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Alright it turns out my older version of Driver Sweeper was messed up, and so I updated it and it seems to have removed the ATI stuff. (I selected ATI Display then I pressed clean)

When it asked for reboot, I pressed ok, windows shut down etc
When it booted, it was a black screen with hyphen at top left again, as usual I pressed the reboot button and it worked.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Is this by chance a WD green drive?
Try running the WD diagnostics on the drive, D/L burn to a CD and boot from it.
"Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD)" use a free program like Imgburn  to burn it to a cd.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=6&lang=en


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Another thought, in the Bios look for "Hard Disk Pre-Delay" add some time to the current setting.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

It's a Seagate 7200.11 rpm 500GB Barracuda Hard Drive I believe, my bad!
Not a WD!, Will try that

EDIT: I have changed the value from 0 to 5, that's the smallest interval it can go o:


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Use Seatools for Dos in that case


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

SeaTools for Windows has determined that an important firmware update may be available 
for your disk drive. Click the Firmware Information link below to read more about firmware updates.

The top link shows Serial Number Checker. The Serial Number Checker will connect you to Seagate's online firmware support system.

Should I update?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yes update the firmware.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Two 9QM1C4QJ's show up under PATA-SATA, Which test do I do?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

How many drives do have physically installed 1 or 2?
Is the drive partitioned into more then 1 partition?


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

1 drive, they're completely identical according to the drive info, and yes I believe so


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Pick one and see if it reads it.
When your done with that one pick the second listing and see if it reads it 2.
If the bios is seeing 2 drives for some reason this may be the issue.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

The 2nd partition is a backup if that should help in any way,

Both drives pass the short DST's and Generic Tests.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Run the long test. 
It'll probably pass then reboot see if the bios setting or firmware flash took care of the no boot issue


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Sorry about the firmware update thing, it was just a prompt window staying there MAY be an update, I went further to try and update the firmware but there is none lol.
Which long test? The Long DST or Long Generic Test


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Long DST.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Both partitions passed the Long DST.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

How have the boots been?


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

This morning it booted fine, the "stalls" tend to happen after a long period I believe.. or it's just a coincidence


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The delay setting in the bios may have given the hard drive just enough time to spin up before detection,


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Oh my god, it required me to reboot 2 times this morning..

I've noticed my mouse usually lights up once during boot, but during the stalls they flicker like 7 times if that helps in anyway


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Reinstall the old power supply and see if boots ok everytime.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Aw darn it I just had all the cables managed, will do


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Just plug in the connectores you don't have to mount the supply.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Okay both worked in the morning, I tried pluggin in old one first for the first morning, then the next morning it also worked with the seasonic


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Strange, leave it hooked to the Seasonic and see what happens.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

This morning it booted fine again. (btw that ATItool thing still shows up even after using Driver Sweeper ): )


EDIT: I've tried cmd, and typed sc delete ATItool

and it gave me [SC] DeleteService SUCCESS


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The ATI tool must have been hiding in the registry.


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Alright aside from that I dont know how but I've somehow gotten the "Libraries" Folder stuck on the bottom-right of my screen (taskbar?).. When I right-click it it only gives me options Open, Restore Default Libraries, Copy, and Create Shortcut..


----------



## brianluo199 (Jan 21, 2010)

Nevermind, solved c;


----------

