# Adjust ram timings on Asus P5B Deluxe



## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Hi !

System specs are under my system.
RAM : 2x1GB DDR2 667Mhz (PC2-5300) Corsair VS1GB667D2
No overclock, everything is at stock speeds.

Everest gives the following from the SPD :

@ 333 MHz	
5-5-5-15 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 19-35-3-5-3 (RC-RFC-RRD-WR-WTR)

Corsair only gives the 5-5-5-15 part on their website.

I'm trying to set those values manually in the BIOS of my Asus P5B Deluxe (mobo rev 1.04g, bios rev 1226). I already had to reset the CMOS after changing some settings so I figured I'd better ask your help. Here are the options I have in the BIOS :

```
DRAM CAS# Latency             (3-6)
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay       (2-6)
DRAM RAS# Precharge           (2-6)
DRAM RAS# Active to Precharge (4-18)

DRAM Write Recovery Time      (2-6)
DRAM TRFC                     (20, 25, 30, 35, 42)
DRAM TRRD                     (0-15)
Rank Write to Read Delay      (0-31)
Read to Precharge Delay       (0-15)
Write to Precharge Delay      (0-31)
```
4 first parameters and DRAM TRFC are ok (5-5-5-15-35), but I'm not sure about the others.

DRAM Write Recovery Time (2-6) = ?

RC 19 = Rank Write to Read Delay or Write to Precharge Delay ?

RRD 3 = DRAM TRRD ?

WR 5 = Rank Write to Read Delay, Read to Precharge Delay or Write to Precharge Delay ?

WTR 3 = Rank Write to Read Delay, Read to Precharge Delay or Write to Precharge Delay ?

Thanks in advance.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Bump

Anyone knows what are RC, RRD, WR and WTR in everest and at what value I should set DRAM Write recovery ?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

hello Justpassing :wave:



I personally advise you ignore the settings past the first 4 of them the only ones that impact performace are the 5-5-5-15 the others have little if any effect whatsoever, even the die hard extreme overclockers dont play with them


if you want to dabble with them anyway . let me know and I will dig thru my overclockign notes, I played with those settings about two years ago, very unimpressed with their offerings


best regards


joe



PS what is the rated voltage of your memory sticks ??? what does the manufacturer say you can top them out at ???? probably 1.8 or 1.9 volts ?????


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks a lot for your reply Joe !

Stock voltage for my ram sticks is 1.8V.

Problem is the Asus motherboard doesn't use the exact timings of the SPD when I let it adjust the settings automatically :
- Automatic timings when BIOS is set on SPD : 5-5-5-15 / 19-35-3-8-5 (taken from everest)
- SPD values according to everest : 5-5-5-15 / 19-35-3-5-3
Google shows that other users have reported that behaviour with other Asus motherboards and could adjust their timings manually but I can't figure out the correspondances between everest's labels and my P5B Deluxe's settings.

If I set the RAM settings to manual in the BIOS I need to give a manual value for each timing. Since the BIOS doesn't offer useful default values (it gives 10-10-10-11 for the 4 last settings) I can't figure out what timing is which. I've already had to reset the CMOS after entering wrong values.

I'm having BSOD's with my computer (I'm already investigating the OS side of the problem with fellow MS techs and managers) and I'm trying to test the memory with the right timings from the SPD.



BTW, what do you think of Windiag ? 


10 hours of Memtest on both memory sticks => no error 
8 hours of Windiag on both sticks => errors which I believe to be false positives
10 hours of Windiag on one stick at a time (leaving the stick being tested in its own slot) => no errors

Here are the errors I got on the first Windiag test :

4 normal passes :
3 errors during the Stride6 test of the 1st pass, not the singlest error during the next 3 passes

7 extended passes :
155 errors during the MATS+ test of the 1st pass, not the singlest error during the next 6 passes

Also note that the error reported in windiag at different addresses had always the same pattern :

Stride6 : expected : 00000000 Actual : 00FF0000
(3 errors at addresses 0E0A472C, 2E0A470C and 2E0A473C)

MATS+ : expected : FFFFFFFF Actual : FF00FFFF
(155 errors at addresses between 296C62A4 and 308ECA3C)


The second Windiag test consisted in 4 normal passes and 10 extended passes on one stick at a time and as I said there were no errors at all.

Could the fact that I took the memory sticks out of their slots have cleaned some dust or something like that? Could dust in the slots have had an impact on the system ? 

Haven't had any BSOD today but I've already seen them disappear for 2 days then come back so I can't say anything yet. On 7 BSOD's there's only one that says something about possible memory corruption. It's an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD while all the others were PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA or BIOS not ACPI compliant. I've run chkdsk /R on the drives, there are no bad clusters nor error indicating that the problem could be with the page file.

The 2 sticks are same brand and exact same model, they physically look identical (8 chips on each side) and are on my motherboard's QVL. It's a dual channel configuration.

My UPS takes care of bad tension from the wall socket. The UPS reports that it outputs 130W and that's with the LCD monitor and external hard drive on it too. When stress testing the CPU, GPU, RAM and internal hard drives at the same time (OCCT + rthdribl x3 + moving big files) it capped at 150W meaning the tower probably draws less than 125W from the UPS. My video card requires less than 50W so I know my 1 year old Antec NeoHE 430W is sufficient. Voltages and temps were monitored in the BIOS and in Speedfan and are rock solid.

Google shows that other users have had problems on only the Stride6 and MATS+ test when their ram wasn't faulty. Windiag hasn't been updated since *2003* and the oldest piece of hardware in my computer is from 2006. Anyone else has seen windiag report false positives with recent hardware ?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

I gave up on win diag along time ago >>>>> one stick at a ime with memtest is my measuring tape !


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks for the tip about windiag, it's reassuring to know that it might be wrong. I'll test them one at a time with memtest this night and tomorrow night and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

12 complete passes on stick 1, 30 passes on stick 2 (left it running overnight) and no errors.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

what is the voltage range for your ram you may need to lift it


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks for the input dai. Stock voltages are 1.8v. Everything is set at default and appears to work fine now. Do you suggest I up the memory voltage to 1.85 or 1.9v if problems reappear ?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

my range is 1.8-2.1 i run 4 sticks so i upped it to 2.1


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

I'll up it to 1.9v. Never thought of that, thanks. Other users seem to have problems with corsair ram at stock 1.8v.

Just read on Corsair website that the VS512MB667D2 was warranted up to a max of 2.1v so I guess my VS1GB667D2 is fine up to that voltage.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Ok, there could be a problem with my ram at 1.9V. 

Got a new page fault BSOD 5 days after changing the RAM voltage from 1.8V to 1.9V. The BSOD happened when I was scrolling down a page, I've often seen this as a result of bad ram so I ran memtest again. It found numerous errors during the very first pass.

After setting the voltage back to 1.8V it ran 3 complete passes without any error. I'll run longer tests once I'm back home.

Should I have changed some other setting when I upped the ram voltage ? I left everything on auto in the BIOS.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

bum memory is starting to be common


if you get errors at all / you will get more


most all memory is lifetime warranty

you will need to RMA the matched pair if you bought them as a matched pair

if your ram is corsair be prepared for a looooooong wait ...... their RMA turn around is pityful


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Thx for the reply Joe !

If the sticks were bad wouldn't 12 or 24 hours of memtest find errors on them at 1.8V ? Isn't it possible that I need to set tighter timings if I up the RAM voltage, or that I need to increase the voltage of other motherboard components ?

I think there's a lifetime warranty. Too bad the 1 year warranty I got at the shop I bought them at is over, they would have given me replacement parts right away. I'll have to mail those sticks oversea and I could as well buy new memory sticks directly, I can't stand working on another computer than mine.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

sorry my bad


if the sticks can pass memtest 2 hours then they are golden provided they are tested solo for 2 hours ?

timings dont get easier as you tighten them 

example

if sticks wont stay stable at 5 5 5 15 then going to 4 4 4 12 isnt going to be the answer by a long shot


starting to sound like a memory incompatability than bad memory


do they test out good @ solo ??????


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

I'm not at my place now, I'll test them as soon as I come back and I'll let you know how it goes. I had tested them @ 1.8V one stick at a time for a whole night last week and all was fine. Then I upped the RAM voltage to 1.9V and 5 days after when I run memtest on both sticks at the same time I get lots of errors. I'll have to test them one at a time @ 1.9V.

Could a corsair DDR2 value select stick be stable at 5 5 5 15 and 1.8V and unstable at 5 5 5 15 and 1.9V ?

The sticks are identical and their exact model is on my motherboard's qualified vendor list. I'm using the latest stable BIOS for the P5B Deluxe.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

There's definitely a problem with my motherboard or my RAM.

I got a new page fault BSOD. Restarted the computer and I got an error during POST :
*memory R/W test failed*

I removed one memory stick and the computer booted properly.

I ran memtest for more than 10 hours on each stick then on the two sticks together and not a single error :
Stick 1 on DIMM 1 : passed (26 passes)
Stick 2 on DIMM 1 : passed (36 passes)
Stick 1 on DIMM 1 (DIMM_A1) and stick 2 on DIMM 3 (DIMM_B1) which is the usual dual channel config : passed (28 passes)

Computer is working fine with both memory sticks now (1.8V and auto 5 5 5 15 timings, didn't change anything there). I'm stumped.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

strange but you are not the first to see such weird happenings / its frustrating for sure

I would look to a diff matched pair of memory and sell off your existing one on ebay


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