XFX 790i Ultra SLI memory choice

rab3481

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May 6, 2013
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I'm looking into memory options for XFX 790i Ultra SLI? I had an ASUS P5Q for years but it's fried now. My Q9300 seemed ok and after looking around i've got a XFX 790i on the way! I've seen various posts of people saying you can run up to 16GB. Whether or not that it's possible i'd like to start by getting 2 4GB DDR3 sticks. Is there any particular spec of memory i have to go for? i've read about voltage issues but i'm still not too sure. Would any DDR3 1600mhz 12800 do the job? any to avoid?
thanks for any help!
 

rab3481

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May 6, 2013
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I did it!

Initially it worked with 2 x 4GB kingston hyperx

then i put 2 more into to give it 16GB.

first attempt i got some POST beeps so took them out and went back to 2 x 4GB

I flashed the BIOS with V9 (someone said 16GB worked until they went from V9 to V10 and then it stopped!?)

Second time with 4 x 4GB i got one big long BEEP and nothing happened. almost like it couldn't even start powering up.

The memory was specced to run at 1.65V. For some reason when i went back to 2 x 4GB and checked the BIOS the auto voltage setting had set at 1.5V. I manually set it to 1.65V and put the other memory back in and it worked!

It was possible after all :)
 

Alexlowe88

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Jun 13, 2013
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Hi, I wonder if you can help me. I have the same motherboard but with OX9650, initially only have 4 gb (2 x 2gb DDR3 1333 9-9-9-24). Although I have registered my mobo with XFX, their website seem to withdraw any support for this old product. The reason I say that is because of the issue of BIOS version. Mine one is P06. It seems that the last and latest version is P10. However, from the internet, someone is saying that P09 is more stable if DDR3 2000 is used. I am guessing that later BIOS version allows more than 8 gb which is the max as stated in the manual and the reviews found on the web. My first question is that what version of BIOS your motherboard has? If it is version 9, I wonder if you can email me as I cannot get it anywhere.
My 2nd question is more for expert out there. I have bought 2 sets of 4 gb (2 x 2 gb DDR3 1333 7-7-7-24). My query is that when I inserted what I believed to be faster RAM as compared to previous ones, the actual performance has dropped. I used NovaBench test. With the old memory, 4 gb (2x2), the benchmark was 1048. With the new memory, it was at first 984, then up to 1004 after changing the motherboard to 7-7-7-24 (from 9-9-9-24). I have not changed any other settings in BIOS. Any idea or any suggestion? By the way, both of them are 1.5v. Many thanks in advance.
 

Alexlowe88

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Jun 13, 2013
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Thankyou very much for your help. Sorry for being a noob. I don't have any floppy disk or drive. I read that it is not recommended to use NVidia software to update BIOS. So, is there any other way to update the BIOS from within Window (win 7 32bit)? I have started reading some of the threads from your link. I am really sorry but I don't really quite understand. Are they talking about how to creat an EXE file from a BIOS file?
 

rab3481

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May 6, 2013
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i wouldn't try to update from windows as people have screwed their MBs doing that! I didn't have a floppy either, i just found one and plugged it in for the sole purpose of flashing the BIOS. You need to first make a basic bootable floppy which you can create using windows by formatting the floppy with options to add system files selected. Once you can boot into dos prompt from the floppy you can then copy the BIN file for the update and the and the awardflash program to flash the BIOS with it to the floppy. then when you boot from the floppy again you do-

awd865 YOURBIOS.BIN /py /wb /cd

It's all on the page i gave the link for above.
 

cherubwings

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Feb 1, 2014
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Can you give me more info on what ram you have please as i have to buy ram this month. If possible i would take 4 sticks of 4gb ram as well and also i want to know if windows 7 picks it up..
Thanx
 

MiiMeldon

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Sep 28, 2014
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rab3481, which particular RAM did you use? I would also like to get my EVGA nForce 790i FTW to work with 16 GB. Did you use a 4x4GB kit? What speed was it? I am wondering if Kingston HyperX 2133 MHz would be a good choice with a 4x4GB kit.