Advanced RAM question

Problem 1: 4GB (4 x 1GB) of Kingston HyperX 1066 RAM is appearing as 3GB under some programs with Vista x64. See:
Solved: Enabled "Memory Remap Feature"

Problem 2: I am not sure what to set some of the timings to. The data sheet only mentions 5-5-5-15 at 2.1V. My bios needs:


System specs:
-Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 @ 3.00Ghz (333 x 9, thinking of changing this to 375 x 8 to take advantage of memory bandwidth better)
-ASUS P5B Deluxe
-ATI 4870 512MB (sorry Rahja GTX260 was overpriced in Australia)
-4GB Kingston HyperX 1066 RAM
-Vista Ultimate x64

what is the voltage set at in your BIOS?

As you probably know, 3gigs is the max memory available for 32-bit windows. My gues would be that some 32-bit apps can't (or won't try to) see more than that even when running under 64-bit Windows.

As far as the timings are concerned, my recommendation is that, unless you are into overclocking, you should set "Configure DRAM timing by SPD" to ENABLE and let the system handle it.
If you are into overclocking, then you need to spend some time googling some tech sites to read up on RAM timings and what they are. www.overclockers.com would be one place to start.

2.15V. My bios gives me the option of undervolting them (2.15V) or overvolting them (2.25): no 2.2V option is offered. I figured undervolting them was the way to go considering I actually have them running at 1000Mhz (not 1066Mhz) and with the SPD timings enabled.

As QUaker said - some 32 bit programs aren't going to recognize that you have 4gb of RAM, even under a 64bit OS. I don't think that not having an exact 2.1volt setting is going to make any difference for that. Is your system running stable with these programs?

You will need to slightly overvolt your modules to get them to run at XMP settings at full stability.

My advice would be to do the following settings (starting at CAS and ending with write to precharge in this EXACT order)

5
5
5
15
6
40
9
9
9
12


Try those settings @ 2.25V. Also, check for a BIOS update for your board, which will most likely allow for more precise voltage settings. 2.225 would be prime for the settings I gave you. The overvolting will produce more heat, but also provide more stability with the tightening of the timings. Be aware, the settings I just gave you are very advanced and should be used at your own risk. While I can personally say that my suggestions are sound, if by some slight chance they damage your RAM, I am not responsible. Kingston will cover it though under warranty.

If your PC will not post after applying the settings, reset the CMOS on your motherboard (in your user manual) Reboot and use default settings. Best of luck, and any other questions ask here.

I updated the bios to V1236 from V1101 and then tried configuring the FSB, memory speed, memory timings and voltages. There was no option for DRAM TRFC = 40: if I recall correctly it was 38 or 42. Setting the timings to the ones suggested by Rahja (albeit DRAM TRFC = 42) resulted in the system failing to boot. This was what I tried:
CPU FSB = 333
Multiplier = 9
Clock speed = 3000
VCore = 1.325
Memory speed = 1000
Memrory voltage = 2.25
Memory timings =
5
5
5
15
6
42
9
9
9
12
I can't actually set the memory clock to 1066 when the FSB is at 333 due to FSBRAM ratios and memory dividers so I put it to 1000. I might try different FSB and multiplier ratios, but I'm not too sure what FSB these boards can handle (officially the P965 chipset supports 1066, ASUS support 1333 and have seen FSBs of 2260 when fully voltmodded). There is no need to reset the CMOS on my board: it actually has a feature that isn't purely ASUS marketing called CPR (CPU Parameter Recall). All I did was turned it off at the power point then turned it back on.

I am not really sure if I can be bothered going after a nano second or two tighter timing. Thanks for the suggestions Rahja, Elder and Quaker.

Edit: By the way, I fixed that memory quantity issue: the solution was staring me in the face. In the photo of the bios you can see I had "Memory Remap Feature" set to disabled. Enabling it allows all programs to recognise 4GB.