Mushkin ASUS A7V333

[Alhaz]

Mushkin

At Mushkin, our highest goals are quality and performance. In the current
environment it is impossible to qualify every single DDR mainboard with our
memory products. However, we have proceeded to qualify a selected number DDR
of mainboards. As the number of mainboards available increases, we will
continue to qualify additional mainboards to be guaranteed compatible with
our line of DDR memory.

All stability tests were performed at room temperature with a minimum of 2
DIMM slots populated with 128 MB DIMMs for a total system memory of 256 MB
running Windows98 in a fully loaded system, including sound and network.
Only boards that ran 5 loops of ContentCreation Winstone 2001, Sysmark2000,
Rage "Expendable timedemo" and Quake 3 Arena Demo001 without crashes are
considered.

MODEL CHIPSET Notes
P4S533 SIS645DX *12
A7V333 VIA KT333 n/a
P4S333 SIS645 *12
A7M266-D AMD MPX *11
A7V266-E VIA KT266A *3, *7
A7M266 AMD 761 n/a
A7N266-E nVidia nForce 420 *10
P4B266 Intel i845D *8,
CUV266 VIA Apollo Pro266 *3

Notes:

*1 POST problems with NEC-based DIMMs for PC2100 operation with the original
BIOS, more below.
*2 More than 128 MB system RAM will strongly decrease the overclocking
capabilities of the 8K7a(+).
*3 Above 138 MHz FSB, the VIA KT266 chipset loses USB capability, in the
KT266A revision, this problem has been fixed.
*4 Ultra and Ultra2 memory settings are reserved for PC1600 operation only
and can cause errors in PC2100 mode.
*5 Relatively poor overclocking capabilities.
*6 Only 3 DIMM slots can be filled with unbuffered DIMMs, details below.
*7 Rather high Core voltage makes this board run very hot, the 1007 BIOS
revision fixes this issue
*8 The 845D chipset only supports 4 banks or 2 double sided unbuffered DDR
DIMMs
*9 With more than 2 DIMM slots populated with double-sided DIMMs, the board
can only run in PC1600 mode
*10 With all 6 banks populated most nForce boards default back to
SuperCompatibility Mode. New BIOS revisions fix this issue.
*11 A bug in the AMD Opus SouthBridge can cause USB devices to malfunction.
Chances are about 1/1,000,000 for this to happen.
*12 For PC2700 operation, only 2 DIMM slots can be used, registered DIMMs
and/or ECC are not supported.

ASUS P4S533

ASUS P4S333: SIS645DX DDR chipset (SIS website)

Memory Bandwidth of the P4S533 at default setting (133/4:5, 2:2:2 7 latency
settings) using one 256 MB Mushkin PC3000 DDR DIMM

We have qualified the ASUS P4S533 as fully compatible with the Mushkin
Level2 (2:2:2) PC2100 and PC2700 or higher DDR DIMMS.

USER TIPS: Depending on the CPU used, the P4S533 supports FSB:memory
frequencies of 1:1, 3:4 3:5 with the current 100 MHz FSB-based P4 revision
and 4:5 or 4:6 with the 133 / 533 MHz version. Unlike some other boards, the
P4S333 allows for full user control over the memory timing settings in the
Advanced / Chip Configuration menu in the BIOS.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512Mb Level 2
256Mb PC3000
256MB PC3200
256MB PC2700
512MB PC2700

ASUS A7V333

ASUS A7V333: VIA KT333 chipset (VIA website)

We have qualified the ASUS A7V333 as a representative board of the VIA KT333
chipset-based mainboards. Since the board supports DDR 333 (PC2700) we
recommend using high end memory only, that is, either PC2700 or Level2 (222)
PC2100.
USER TIPS: The default memory voltage of jthe A7V333 is out of spec which
causes DDR DIMMs to run hot and eventually fail. The voltage can be adjusted
by moving the undocumented jumpers JP1 and JP2 to close 1-2 or else remove
both jumpers completely. We found the following voltages when measuring
directly at the DIMM slots:

ii 2.59 - 2.63V (same with one or both jumpers removed completely)
i! 2.78 - 2.83V (default setting, out of spec according to JEDEC guidelines
!i 2.88 - 2.94V
!! 2.95 - 3.06V

The latter two settings are almost guaranteed to destroy the memory modules.
We found that by reducing the voltage from default to the lowest setting, we
were able to achieve approximately 3% system performance increase (not in
SiSoft Memory benchmark, though but in real applications)

We found that running the memory bus asynchronous at 166 MHz with the FSB
does not overall increase system performance because of the higher latencies
and the buffers required for synchronization of memory and FSB. Many of the
boards exhibit some problems when DIMM Slots 1 and 2 are populated
simultaneously. Moving the DIMMs to slots 1 and 3 usually solves these
issues.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512MB High Performance Level2
256 MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM
512 MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM

ASUS P4S333

ASUS P4S333: SIS645 DDR chipset (SIS website)

We have qualified the ASUS P4S333 as fully compatible with the Mushkin
Level2 (2:2:2) PC2100 DDR DIMMS.
USER TIPS: The P4S333 supports FSB:memory frequencies of 1:1, 3:4 and 3:5
with the current 100 MHz FSB-based P4 revision. Unlike some other boards,
the P4S333 allows for full user control over the memory timing settings in
the Advanced / Chip Configuration menu in the BIOS. At default voltages and
"By SPD" settings we were able to run the P4S333 up to 117 / 194 MHz (FSB /
memory), with manual timings set to 2:2:2 we still managed to run at 103 /
170 MHz using a single 512 MB Level2 DIMM.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512MB High Performance Level2
256 MB PC2700 ddr sdram
512 MB PC2700 ddr sdram

ASUS A7M266-D

ASUS A7M266-D: AMD MPX (762-768) SMP Hypertransport chipset (AMD website)

We have qualified the ASUS A7M266-D as fully compatible with Mushkin High
Performance PC2100 and Registered ECC DDR DIMMs up to 512 MB density for a
system configuration of 2GB. Note that Windows 9x does not support Dual CPU
configurations and neither memory configurations above 768 MB.
USER TIPS: We found that increasing the AGP aperture to 64 MB (in the BIOS)
will greatly increase the performance in texture intensive 3D applications
like 3DMark2001(SE).

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512mb Level 2
512MB High Perf
512MB PC2700
512MB "64Mx4" Registered ECC
512MB "32Mx8" Registered ECC
256MB High Perf Unbuffered ECC 2:2:2
256MB High Perf Registered ECC
256MB High Perf
256MB PC2700

ASUS A7N266-E

ASUS A7N266-E: nVidia nForce 420 Twinbank DDR chipset (nVidia website)

We have qualified the ASUS A7N266-E as fully compatible with any Mushkin
PC2100 DDR DIMMs up to 512 MB density for a system configuration of 1.5 GB
(not supported in Win9X).
USER TIPS: Keep in mind that even distribution of banks between the two
memory controllers yields the best results, that is one double-sided DIMM in
Slot#1 and any combination of 2 banks for DIMM slots 2 and 3.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512mb Level 2
512Mb Special
512mb High Perf
256mb Special
256mb High Perf

ASUS P4B266

ASUS P4B266: Intel i845D DDR chipset (Intel website)

We have qualified the ASUS P4B266 as fully compatible with any Mushkin
PC2100 DDR DIMMs up to 512 MB density for a system configuration of 1 GB
(not supported in Win9X). We reached 2749 MHz using an overclocked Intel
Northwood processor.
USER TIPS: With the integrated USB 2.0, the P4B266 is an excellent board for
multimedia content creation. overclocking of the FSB by means of the dip
switch will keep the memory bus in a 4:3 ratio to the FSB, meaning that at
125 MHz FSB, the DDR will run at 333 MHz, at 133 MHz, it will be 360 MHz DDR
data rate.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512mb Level 2
512Mb Special
512mb High Perf
256mb Special
256mb High Perf

ASUS A7V266-E

ASUS A7V266-E: VIA KT266A chipset (VIA website)

We have qualified the ASUS A7V266-E as a representative board of the VIA
KT266A chipset-based mainboards. All PC2100 DDR DIMMs offered by Mushkin
Enhanced are running 100% reliable and stable on the A7M266 using 2 x 128
and 256 MB DDR DIMMs. With 512 MB DIMMs, the latencies have to be relaxed to
2,5:3:3; 2T CMD Rate tRAS=6. With the Level2 222 DIMMs, this cautionary
statement does not apply, we have run the A7V266-E at 2:2:2-6T 1 T CMD rate
with 2 x 512 MB as long as the modules were used in DIMM slots 1 and 3.
Using 3 x 512 MB we have been running the A7V266-E stable but it depends on
the speed grade of the memory what latency settings need to be relaxed for
total stability.
USER TIPS: There are frequent BIOS updates available for the A7V266-E that
address disabling the on-board Promise controller and voltage / temperature
issues still present in the first BIOS revisions. Windows XP-users need to
disable PnP OS in the BIOS otherwise the board will not function correctly
with WinXP.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512mb Level 2
512Mb Special
512mb High Perf
256mb Special
256mb High Perf

ASUS A7M266

ASUS A7M266: AMD760 chipset (AMD 761 North Bridge) (AMD website)

We have qualified the ASUS A7M266 as a representative board of the AMD
761-based mainboards currently available. All PC2100 DDR DIMMs offered by
Mushkin Enhanced are running 100% reliable and stable on the A7M266 using 2
x 128 MB DDR DIMMs
USER TIPS: On the A7M266, the VIO1 jumper should be completely removed to
lower the memory voltage to the specified 2.5V. Some revisions allow to
manually set the voltage to 2.5V, please check the manual. Under Windows98
in a fully configured system, The Mushkin PC2100 DIMMs were running 100%
reliable up to 148 MHz front side bus (DRAM bus) frequency.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512mb Level 2
512Mb Special
512mb High Perf
256mb Special
256mb High Perf

ASUS CUV266

ASUS CUV266: VIA Apollo Pro266 chipset (VIA website)

We have qualified the ASUS CUV266 as a representative board of the VIA
Apollo-Pro266-based mainboards currently available. All PC2100 DDR DIMMs
offered by Mushkin Enhanced are running 100% reliable and stable on the
CUV266 using 2 x 128 MB DDR DIMMs
USER TIPS: We demo'd the CUV266 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3),
running 166 MHz FSB / memory bus for 3 days straight without a single glitch
using two Mushkin PC2100 DIMMs at 333 MHz data rate at 2.5:3:3:6 timing
settings. For home or office use we do not recommend these extreme settings
since the PCI and AGP buses are running out of spec which can result in
instablity and hardware damage unrelated to the memory.

RECOMMENDED DIMMS:
512mb Level 2
512Mb Special
512mb High Perf
256mb Special
256mb High Perf