Some help configuring my RAM (Geil Ultra)

[SiD the Turtle]

Warning, this may be a very n00bish post.

I'm having quite a few issues with memtest errors on my Geil RAM. I had 2x512MB sticks, and just brought another pair to bring it up to 2gig. The system hasn't been very stable since adding it so I did a memtest and numerous errors popped up in the 1.9-2.0gig range of the RAM. I tested just the old ram- no problems, just the new ram- no problems, but all four together, no matter what slot each one is in gives me the same errors. So this leads me to conclude one of three things: the motherboard ram slot is borked, it has trouble with so much ram, or my settings for it are wrong.

I changed the auto-detect settings in the BIOS to the ones listed on OcUK and the Geil website. These changes were changing the voltage down from 2.6v to 2.55v, and the timings from 6-3-3 CAS 2.5 to 6-3-3 CAS 2. All this has suceeded in doing it give me about a 50-fold increase in errors. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.

Oh and I have an Abit IC7G and P4 3.2 northwood.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Thanks for the advice.

After a lot of juggling I found that any voltage below 2.65v would cause errors, the lower the more errors. Also switching from CAS 2.5 to 2 got rid of the remaining ones. The system is now beautifully stable. Though its a bit confusing as I would have thought that a tighter CAS timing of 2 would make the system more unstable. The system won't POST if I set it to CAS 3.

So for anyone in a similar position who finds this thread, my current stable settings for my PC3200 Geil Ultra Dual Channel RAM are:

CAS 2, 6-3-3 @ 2.8volts