If I remember correctly, these chipsets always work better with just 2 sticks.

I'm not sure if you can get 2 GB sticks of DDR memory though.

I like to use such machines with two 1 GB sticks and Windows XP.

Maybe your issue is caused by overclocking the FSB. 865PE's official maximum FSB frequency is 800 MHz, and Q6600/QX6700 use 1066 MHz. You can try to downclock to 200 (800) MHz. QX6700 has unlocked multiplier, so you can compensate frequency drop by increasing the ratio.

CAS latency must be increased to allow DRAM sticks to work at higher frequencies.

Yeah I suggest sticking with 800 MT/s CPUs with 865. The chipset has various memory quirks when run at 1066 FSB. I used to have a 775i65G board.

Can you get hold of a socket 775 board that supports ddr2 ?

If you're gonna do fast LGA 775 + AGP + DDR/DDR2 find a good VIA® PT880 Pro/PT880 Ultra based board (Abit, Chaintech, Asrock) The i865 doesn't like to go above 800MHz. Stay away from Asus, Gigabyte or MSI board with VIA chipsets. They didn't take the PT880 seriously, branding it as entry level and the quality of the boards you can get with the said chipset from these manufacturers is toilet-worthy. Also most don't support C2Q CPUs.

I recommend the Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2. It has both AGP and PCI-E, DDR1 and DDR2 and it can run a Q9550 effortlessly.

I do wonder, if you plan to run win7 on it, why bother with AGP and DDR1? Intel P35 / P45 or nforce 680i / 780i boards are much better suited. Some P35 boards even have DDR3 support. Most P45 boards run DDR3. On an nforce 680i/780i you can SLi two 6800 / 7800 cards making the system really capable, and PCI-E versions of these video cards are abundant and cheaper.

What memory are using for the 4x512mb configuration? Officially the 865 does not support CL2 memory at 400mhz many 865 boards will reduce the speed to 333mhz if you put CL2 memory in it CL2.5 at 400mhz is ok in most. I am currently working on my own 865 project an Abit AS8 and to run 4 sticks of memory command rate had to be set to 2 even with 4 sticks it was able to run at 250mhz bus but some optimizations had to be turned off, I don't know much about the Conroe865 and what memory optimizations it does or does not have but that may be part of your problem as the 865P is a fussy chipset but very nice when you figure out it's quirks. Phil is remembering correctly that the 865 is better with 2 sticks rather than 4 even the manual from my Dimension 46000 recommends only using 2 sticks of ram for optimum performance

Thank you for your replies.
I am doing this just for fun, to se how DDR1 and AGP can handle "modern" applications.
I have a XFX 790i Ultra and a qx9650 to max out Core Duo capabilities, but now I want to use AGP.
With 4 x 1gb Mushkin xp4000 cl3 ram (4gb total).
As for your hints, I set the FSB to 800mhz, with no changes at all. Same behaviour.
Guys on a Conroe865pe forum say that the board can work with 1066mhz without major problems, but I need those DDR1 pc4000 class2 to work properly.
No luck finding them so far.
Maybe I should search for simple DDR400.

I have a 775dual vsta also, that is similar to the 4core, but that system is configured with DDR2 and a q6600.

Yes I am a scavenger of junk... I know.

I remember some boards having trouble with 400 x4 ram and running ok with 333 x4, have you tried 166 fsb with 1:1 divider?

Yeah, did that, I underclock the CPU @ 800MHz FSB, same problems.
Maybe I have to get rid of those XP4000 and find some real CL2 DDR500 ram, wich is really difficult to find in 4 sticks.

That's not the same as running the RAM at 166/333 instead of 200/400.

So you are thinking that CAS 2 PC4000 is more likely to work at 200MHz on that board? You aren't trying to run the PC4000 at 250MHz?

swaaye wrote:

That's not the same as running the RAM at 166/333 instead of 200/400.

So you are thinking that CAS 2 PC4000 is more likely to work at 200MHz on that board? You aren't trying to run the PC4000 at 250MHz?

I am thinking that maybe native cl2 ram could run properly on the conroe865pe, ddr500 could be better for further overclocking, but first step is 200mhz.

Ok, now with a more robust set Up (a Silverstone s12 psu) my system is more stable with 4 sticks of ram.
The memory divider is 3:2 by default, can do nothing about that.
I am using the Bliss 7800GS+ (G71), with latest legacy drivers and I find it really slow....
On Crysys it is totally crushed by a humble hd3650!!!!
Is it possible?

Should I use another driver set?

Mamba wrote:

Ok, now with a more robust set Up (a Silverstone s12 psu) my system is more stable with 4 sticks of ram. The memory divider is 3 […]
Show full quote

Ok, now with a more robust set Up (a Silverstone s12 psu) my system is more stable with 4 sticks of ram.
The memory divider is 3:2 by default, can do nothing about that.
I am using the Bliss 7800GS+ (G71), with latest legacy drivers and I find it really slow....
On Crysys it is totally crushed be a humble hd3650!!!!
Is it possible?

Should I use another driver set?

I think it makes sense for it to not perform well on Crysis, it's a game from late 2007, more adapted to newer architectures with unified shaders, the 7 series performed pretty poorly in some games from that era, even compared to the Radeon x19k

2600XT should be comparable to the HD3650, 7900GS to the 7800GS g71

SPBHM wrote:

I think it makes sense for it to not perform well on Crysis, it's a game from late 2007, more adapted to newer architectures wit […]
Show full quote

Mamba wrote:

Ok, now with a more robust set Up (a Silverstone s12 psu) my system is more stable with 4 sticks of ram. The memory divider is 3 […]
Show full quote

Ok, now with a more robust set Up (a Silverstone s12 psu) my system is more stable with 4 sticks of ram.
The memory divider is 3:2 by default, can do nothing about that.
I am using the Bliss 7800GS+ (G71), with latest legacy drivers and I find it really slow....
On Crysys it is totally crushed be a humble hd3650!!!!
Is it possible?

Should I use another driver set?

I think it makes sense for it to not perform well on Crysis, it's a game from late 2007, more adapted to newer architectures with unified shaders, the 7 series performed pretty poorly in some games from that era, even compared to the Radeon x19k

2600XT should be comparable to the HD3650, 7900GS to the 7800GS g71

I was also looking at this and I tend to agree with the above here, the 7900GT may simply be too slow for Crysis.
Mamba, better just put that HD4670 1GB in there 😄

I know you are right, but I could never tell a HD3650 to be faster than a G71 ona DX9 game.
Things changed a bit with 197.77 Forceware drivers, but nothing so substantial, maybe I should install XP64, I have a copy of SuperiorXP64 somewhere.

Another strange thing I am experiencing, is "ground noise" when HD is active thru the speakers.
It seems that the activity of the SSD somehow is distorcing the audio output, nothing serious, but I can hear that.

At first I was thinking that it could be related with the poor ALC850 onboard, so I installed a Xonar D1, and it does the same!
Really strange...

Mamba wrote:

I know you are right, but I could never tell a HD3650 to be faster than a G71 ona DX9 game. Things changed a bit with 197.77 For […]
Show full quote

I know you are right, but I could never tell a HD3650 to be faster than a G71 ona DX9 game.
Things changed a bit with 197.77 Forceware drivers, but nothing so substantial, maybe I should install XP64, I have a copy of SuperiorXP64 somewhere.

Another strange thing I am experiencing, is "ground noise" when HD is active thru the speakers.
It seems that the activity of the SSD somehow is distorcing the audio output, nothing serious, but I can hear that.

At first I was thinking that it could be related with the poor ALC850 onboard, so I installed a Xonar DX, and it does the same!
Really strange...

That's odd. We had someone on Vogons recently who had similar issues, but in his case it was mouse movement causing the auditive distortion when the mouse cable was too close to the speaker audio cables. Moving them further apart solved the issue.

What's the exact specs of your PSU? And if you happen to have another data cable for your SSD, might be worth it so exchange it with another one?

I forgot to mention that the SSD is mounted behind the motherboard in a Fractal Design Core 3300 (this retro set up is costing me a lot! 🤣 ) maybe they are too close?

The PSU is a Seasonic S12-II Bronze 520

The motherboard tray should be shielding it already....
Anyway, you could try wrapping the SSD in tinfoil xD or maybe part of the SATA cables.

alexanrs wrote:

The motherboard tray should be shielding it already....
Anyway, you could try wrapping the SSD in tinfoil xD or maybe part of the SATA cables.

I'd think it's the data cable.
If the data cable is long, he could try and move it around a bit. Or just test it with the SSD removed from the system (on a table next to it and see/hear if it still does that).