GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

[arjo_reich]

I'm currently running a 1Ghz O/C on my Q6600 with 8GB @ 4x2048MB of OCZ DDR2-800Mhz and it's stable as a rock but keep thinking that if I could just up the speed on my RAM I might be able to squeeze a little more out of her since she still runs ice cold and at fairly low voltages.

The problem is I can't find anyone that can recommend a product that will run stable at 4x2048Mhz @ DDR2-1066Mhz or higher. I even tried emailing G.SKILL asking for a product recommendation from them (was looking at their PI branded DIMMS) and they simply told me that the GA-EP45-UD3P board was "no good for memory speeds over 800Mhz" and referred me to one of their DDR2-800Mhz products.

So, I figured I would ping the list here and see if anyone has any positive, hands-on, experience with a DDR2-1066Mhz or higher product in a 4x2048MB configuration on this board and if so, with what manufacturer make/model...


----
Attached is my current BIOS Template for anyone that's curious as well as the following thumbnails for the stats and whatnot for the rig.

[kick]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

This may/may not be usefull.
Im running my pc now on my signature spec.pc temps increased a lot whn i put the cover back on,so i turned it down to 490fsb.Now ive drilled some holes and temps are ok again.

I dont use et 6 or otherwise because i had problems with it before.
specifically on the memory Im using g skill black pi 6400 running at 1000mhz (rated 800mhz) voltage set at 2.18 now in bios and stable even with voltage drop.
This memory can run 1066 but apparently not in 45 boards or at least not in mine.best ive managed is 1020.
The memory was $40 so im not complaining.Also its only 4 g(2x2)

my differences to your settings..
memory timings set manually to 5-5-5-15
mch latch set to auto,or 333mhz
400mhz doesnt seem to work for me except at standard speeds
multiplier 2.00C, 2.00D wont work for me
driver strength auto..setting 800 didnt work for me.
performance either standard(looser memory timings) or turbo works for me at both 490 fsb or 500fsb.

cpu voltage 1.40 in bios
mch voltage 1.38 in bios

most everything else on auto except for the energy saving cpiad 2 or whatever it is ,i disabled that.

If this helps great,if not well I dont know about a good set of 4 stick 8g memory.Im at v close to my(safe) cpu temp limits as it is so im not too worried about getting more expensive stuff.
If your memory is as clockable as mine and maybe it is with increased voltages you may not need new memory.
Since your multiplier is 9 you wont want to try and run your cpu at 4.5ghz,unless your in the liquid nitrogen group so you might need lower voltages than me for the memory .
Under 2.3 v wont really shorten memory life(ive read)
The sticky post by moderators mentions needing more mch voltage for more memory sticks,i think too, so you may have to play with that a little.

[Nickel020]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

The G.Skill support guy obviously didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

Anandtech used G.Skill Pi 1066 for their review of the board:
AnandTech: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - P45 at its Finest
I'll should get my UD3P tomorrow or on Saturday. I can test some Corsair Dominator 1066 and OCZ Platinum XTC 1066 then. I would not buy the more expensive stuff like G.Skill Pi or Corsair Dominators though unless they don't cost more than oterh 1066 -5-5-5-18 kits. But they're usually more expensive (mine were not :)).

Before buying new RAM you should try out whether your RAM will run at DDR2 880-900 because that is all you need to run the CPU close its absolute maximum overclock on air. Lower the multiplicator, set RAM voltage to 2.0V or 2.1V, and increase the FSB. Also set Performance Enhance to standard.

[arjo_reich]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

The G.Skill support guy obviously didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

Anandtech used G.Skill Pi 1066 for their review of the board:
AnandTech: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - P45 at its Finest
I'll should get my UD3P tomorrow or on Saturday. I can test some Corsair Dominator 1066 and OCZ Platinum XTC 1066 then. I would not buy the more expensive stuff like G.Skill Pi or Corsair Dominators though unless they don't cost more than oterh 1066 -5-5-5-18 kits. But they're usually more expensive (mine were not :)).

Before buying new RAM you should try out whether your RAM will run at DDR2 880-900 because that is all you need to run the CPU close its absolute maximum overclock on air. Lower the multiplicator, set RAM voltage to 2.0V or 2.1V, and increase the FSB. Also set Performance Enhance to standard.

My problem is that there are distinct differences between running 4x2048MB chips and 2x2048 chips and that's what I'm curious to figure out. If I pull out the second channel and run 2x2048MB I can get my ram to 420-430 Mhz (DDR2-840-860) stable with the FSB set to match (on a lower multiplier) but once I pop in the second set of DIMMs I can't seem to loosen up the timings enough to make it stable enough. Barely topped 50C Tjunc at these speeds, on air, by the way, although didn't have a sensor on my DIMMs or northbridge... :sigh:

---
:shrug: To be honest, I'm _ok_ with the speeds and performance I have now... it's stable enough for me to run three vmware virtual machines w/ 3GB each dedicated to them and having them each pegged out pretty agressively when I'm coding/debugging ... but I've been bitten by the o/c'ing bug and it seems like there's still a _little more_ i can squeeze from it.

I'll try tweaking out a lower multi again with both channels lit up and see where it takes me. Especially if I can squeeze an extra discount on tigerdirect's 300GB Velociraptor for a new primary/os drive, heh...

[kick]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

I just posted to show you can get 800mhz rated ram to 1000mhz (stable) on this series.
Mine wouldnt work at that speed at the lower voltages you have linked btw.
Have you tried running the 800mhz mem(2 sticks) at 1000mhz? with voltages to match?
Obviously you wouldnt go for 1:1 /2.00 multiplier because that would leave your cpu running too fast .
Perhaps if you can get 2 sticks running at 1000..you may be able to run 4 at 900 at the 2 stick vcore2 and mch settings for 1000?
Even that might be too fast for 1;1 on the cpu,but perhaps get 2 sticks running as fast as they will go with safe voltages then use those voltages for 4 sticks at a lower speed that would suit the cpu,if that makes sense.
I havent tried 4 sticks in this board altho i do have 2x 2 gig of generic samsung 5300 mem i could pop in with the 6400,but im not that pushed to try .
If i had 4 sticks of 6400 id be "all over" testing it ,but as it is the above is all I can suggest.
Oh btw its the 2.00 B multiplier im using, the 2.00 C is actually for 200mhz latch speed. weird eh.

[Nickel020]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

If you use 4 DIMMs you just won't achieve the same timings that you would with 2 DIMMs. An example of this is DDR2 1000 at 4-4-4-12. If you ahve good RAM this is really easy with 2x1GB. Try it with 4x1GB and you have to try some serious fine tuning but you still might not be able to get there.
This doesn't depend so much on the RAM itself but on the memory controller. The RAM can obviously handle the timings since it will run them with 2 DIMMs so the memory controller is where the problem lies with 4. Increasing MCH Core and making sure the northbridge isn't too hot may help there.

Also, you won't notice a performance increase with faster RAM anyway, teh difference will be very small. Here's an explanation I wrote for someone else on that topic:

Now the bandwith of the RAM to NB is the same if the 2.0 system memory multiplier is used, i.e. DDR2 667 for a 333 (1333 quad-pumped) FSB CPU, DDR2 800 for a 400 FSB CPU. If you increase the RAM speed without increasing the FSB, data is transferred faster to the NB from RAM, but the NB can't pass it on any faster to the CPU than before though resulting in no performance benefit (there's a litte benefit actually, as latency is improved if RAM speed goes up, but it's small ~5% or so).
If you're not overclocking get DDR2 800 RAM, if you plan on overclocking in the future get 1066 DDR2 (runs at 533 MHz so you can increase your FSB to 533 (2133 quad pumped) without having to overrclock the RAM). The reason why faster DDR2 RAM exists is solely for overclocking purposes, as slower will limit the maximum overclock of your CPU.

[kick]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

Just as some added information
the fsb setting will determine the maximum bus bandwidth(gee you think:))
These figures are for my setup
Running 333mhz(1333)fsb gives 10.4gb/s (max)
with cpu at 333x7(2.33g)
1.memory at 800mhz 4-4-4-12 =6.01 gb/s memory bandwidth
2.memory at 1000mhz 5-5-5-15 =5.96 gb/s memory bandwidth

running at 500mhz(2000)fsb gives 15.6gb/s (max)
with cpu at 500x7(3.5g)
memory at 1000mhz 5-5-5-15 =8.02 gb/s

to run the memory at 1000 at 333mhz fsbref the 3.00A multiplier was used
for 1000 at 500mhz fsbref the 2.00B multiplier.

For me running the memory at higher speeds without increasing the fsb also doesnt give any performance increase.
As u can see the tighter cas timings actually compensate for the extra 200mhz in memory speed.

Also the fsb and consequent cpu speed and bus bandwidth increase of 50% doesnt give a corresponding increase in memory bandwith,its more like 33%.
This could be down to the "secondary memory timings" and refresh rates needing to be looser and general temperature increases.
Still it feels better to be running your pc as fast as you can while remaining stable and without going over voltage and temp limits.

Now that u have me thinking about it and Ive gone as far as I can go,I think i will throw in my 2x2 gig sticks of samsung generic 5300 mem with the gskill 6400 and see what I can get.
Setting mbrd back to optimised defaults before I power down tho

[kick]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

I put in 5300 mem with my 6400 ie 4x2 gig
The best I can get is 400 fsb with full voltages ,but it runs fine at 383fsb on auto voltages.(the mbrd pumps cpu volt up to 1.3 v and memvoltage to 1.9 at that speed(all by itself:)
I settled on that figure for a 50 mhz /15% speed increase
But i will be pulling the memory out ,the pc is running too slowly.

Im not too sure what youre looking for tho,it doesnt seem to be the memory is your limiting factor.
cpu is running 3.4.
Mine starts to get very hot over 3.5 .. not dangerous but the temp is much higher than the easy settings for 3.4 i could use.
It boots up at 3.57 and into windows vista 64 sp1,but temperatures uder load go near 70 and I cant leave the case cover on for 24/7.

Ive read the normal quads hit a wall around 3.6ghz,some wont even reach that.
Your cpu could hit 3.4+ ok with 5300(667mhz) ram probablyif its oclocked a bit. The faster ram wont make muxh difference.
Im on a very low multiplier so need a good mbrd and ram that will hit 1000 to get my max cpu or v close to it

your muliplier is 9 yes? at full speed so unless youre sure your cpu will run stable at 3.6 and above, higher than 800/pc6400 memory doesnt seem likely to be of much use.

The test figures I mentioned above if you tried your cpu at 500mhz fsb that would be 4.5ghz yeh?.. it wouldnt run.Sure you could drop it to the lower multiplier but seems a waste..
Your pc looks pretty good as it is,
My q8200 45 nm better have some better instructions ,because yours overclocks easier

nb memory bandwidth for the 8 gig of mixed stuff tests out at 6.98 g/s at 766mhz mem speed.

[arjo_reich]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

I put in 5300 mem with my 6400 ie 4x2 gig
The best I can get is 400 fsb with full voltages ,but it runs fine at 383fsb on auto voltages...

Kick, I want to thank you, sincerely, for testing out the 4x2048MB configuration for me... especially since it looks like you have some fairly consistent results with what I'm seeing. I can get to 378Mhz rock solid but after that I start having some stability issues and I was curious to know if it was the IC's in my DIMMs or if it was the clock-speed of the DIMMs that was causing the problem.

I am going to try pulling off NB and SB chipset coolers and applying some of my own, fresh thermal compound soon - well as soon as I can afford the shipping on the m-cubed T-Balancer "bigNG" fan controller/thermal sensor - and see if it helps a little.

As for temperatures, however, that's kind of a different story... when I let it run at full-load for several hours it still doesn't get more than +20C hotter than ambient temps. e.g. - when my room ambient measures 24C my rig, under full load, only measures 46C. And since my voltages are still relatively, low across the board, it seems that there would be more for it to give. However, truth be told, a 1000Mhz O/C is still pretty damn good and I'm ok with it, especially after hearing of your results.

Here's a couple pics with temps/etc... (thank you again!)

(need to get my dbA meter and take a screenie of that one too, lol)

[arjo_reich]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

The reason why faster DDR2 RAM exists is solely for overclocking purposes, as slower will limit the maximum overclock of your CPU.

This, primarily, is why I'm looking for better (quality/speed/etc.) ram that I can run in a 4x2048MB configuration. I can't get higher than 378Mhz on my FSB without losing stability and my gut was telling me it was probably the RAM limiting me since my temps and voltages were still very low across the board.

The original question was asking if anyone was running any DDR2-1066Mhz in a 4x2048MB configuration on this board that they would recommend as a purchase so I can see if some better IC's wouldn't help get past my FSB 378Mhz hurdle... not if faster branded/OC'd DIMMs would give me an intrinsic performance increase, although I suppose I may have worded my original question poorly.

And still, the fact remains that I'm still fairly new to the concept of overclocking so there may be some other factor that I've completely missed that's causing me to get 378Mhz rock solid but can't get 400Mhz with the same level of stability.

For example, at 400Mhz, it'll pass IBT or Prime95 on small FFTs but it won't pass running four instances of single-threaded (with processor affinity set) Prime95 set to blend... which is why I started thinking it might be the very affordable "Fatal1ty" branded OCZ ram I purchased on discount that was limiting my FSB. :shrug:

(for some reason, running a single instance with four threads never consumes more than 2GB of memory...so I run four single-worker-threaded instances with their processor affinity set)

[choppa2113]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

Maybe im out of place by saying this as im new to overclocking. I have the p45-ud3p w/ e8400 @ 3.8 and patriot vipers 2x2048 @1080mhz. I cant get my memory past this but im getting a new set of memory g.skill pc8800 1100mhz. Hopefully i can get these to 1150mhz
so i can have my ram running at what my cpu wants it to run at. As far as for running more than 2 stix from what i read its alot trickier than 2 as far as pushing them. You have to start messing with alot of different voltages that im not familiar with. Not sure what brand you got but there is alot of posts on g.skill forum in regards to our board and ppl haveing issues running at 1066mhz. I have not experienced this as im only using to stix for a total of 4 gigs.

[Nickel020]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

I just got a EP45 UD3P as well and I'm about to get a second kit of 2x2GB OCZ Platinum XTC 1066, I'll give you an update when I have them and tell you whether it works or not.

[Nickel020]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P 4x2048MB @ DDR-1066Mhz Recommendations...

The OCZ Platinum XTC 1066 2x2Gb works for me with 8GB installed. I got some Primer errors after some time but I'm 99.9% sure that his was Auto not giving enough voltage. See here:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/please-recommend-ram-ga-ep45-ud3p-30668/index2.html