*points at sig*
DFI NF4. I've also played with many of the NF2's aswell. I'm not new to the whole DFI timing fun
He gets severe instabilitys with 3 sticks, and 4 sticks won't POST. That points to instabilitys in the memory controller and/or settings.
AUTO automatically sets the timings to SPD. The A64 memory controller was supposed to, IIRC, default 4 sticks to a lower speed BECAUSE of this issue, and runnign 4 sticks at ddr400 wasn't possible on the first revision A64's.
DFI's bios probably overrides this feature, if it even still is there. (or if it was maybe a bios feature to begin with).
Auto setting it to 2-2-2-5 (because thats the SPD) was flaky running single or dual sticks on my Winchester, 4 sticks could very well do the same... I had a bunk 2-2-2-5 rated stick, aswell that was unstable at those timings, despite the chips being TCCD.
They aren't really "random" timings. They are mid-range timings intended for stability.
I really doubt he's worried about a little bit of bandwidth right now, he just wants his system to boot and run properly....
Unless DFI's ati chipset has changed the whole A64 memory timing game on me?