XPS 630i - WinRAR problems (Q9300 vs Q6600)

Hello,

I had the same problem a few years ago.

The result of everything that I did found it to be a memory issue.

Hello e_boulanger, I am not familuar with the XPS 630i system, but the Q9300 1333 mhz may not be compatible with the memory while the Q6600 1066 mhz may be.

Could you advise what the memory module model numbers you referred to are, both the original and the Corsair.

This might give a starting place to try and resolve the issue.

Hope this helps.

The original memory is 4 1GB module from an unknown company (Nanya or something).  Each module has the following inscription: 1Rx8, PC2-6400U-666-13-D1.800.  The part number is NT1GT64U88D0BY-AD 0832 TW.

The Corsair memory is 2 2GB Dominator module ( TWIN2x4096-8500C5DF),  which is what Corsair recommended and said to be 100% compatible with the XPS 630.  The speed is DDR2-1066 (Dominator-8500C5*4GB*SLI), latency is 5-5-5-15-2T. 

The original memory that came with the XPS ( the Nanya or something) was slow.  It was even slower than the memory in my XPS laptop (M1530).  I am now presently using the Corsair memory, which is faster.  Note that I did not overclocked anything in the XPS.  All the parameters in the BIOS are the default ones.

I hope it will help you shed more light on this problem.

Thanks.

E.

Hello e_boulanger, I checked the Dell site HERE , and it shows the XPS630i to support only 667 mhz and 800 mhz.

This may explain why you seem to be having this issue.

The original Nanya memory is 800 mhz, and it is a known brand and I have used it in the past without any issues.

Since I am not familuar with the XPS630i, I cannot offer any real use information, however I have an XPS 420 that supports only 667 mhz and 800 mhz memory.

My system has the same Q6600 CPU as your system was shipped with, at the 1066 mhz speed, and the BIOS uses the CPU/DRAM ratio to run the CPU at 1066 mhz and the memory at 800 mhz.

I suspect that when you have the faster Q9300 CPU running at 1366, the BIOS is trying to run the Corsair 1066 memory at 800 mhz, and this may be where the issue arises, but with the Q6600, it runs at the CPU/DRAM ratio of 800 mhz.

As I mentioned, since I don't have any real time experience with the XPS 630i, I cannot be certain of this, but it would seem logical.

Just to mention, I have had Corsair configure memory for some systems of mine in the past, and the memory Corsair suggested would not run in my systems.

But to be fair, when I contacted them about these issues, they were more than willing to correct these errors very quickly.

Hope this helps.

I did a quick test, with both processors and both memory modules.  Result, I have the problem when using the Q9300 even with the original memory, so I do not think the Corsair memory module are the cause of the problem.  In the BIOS, when the Q9300 is in, the memory speed is set by default to 800 MHz for both type of module (in my tests, I always use the default settings, no overclocking).  And when the computer is running, Everest also show that speed for the memory modules.  So I do not think memory is the problem here. 

I am quite baffled by this problem.

For the moment, I am leaving the Q6600 in the XPS, because I don't trust the Q9300 anymore (and it does not make much difference in term of performance for what I do).

I wish I had another PC accepting Quad Cores so I could test the Q9300 in another PC to see if it's not a problem with the motherboard.  I guess I'll have to find someone at work who is willing to help on this, because I do not see how else I could test it.

Thanks for your help

E.