New ram problem, help me analyse my solution

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jansema.mark

Aug 12, 2018
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Today I bought two new sets of RAM for my pc to replace the old ones. So I now have 2x 2 sticks of 8GB whereas I had 2x 2 sticks 4GB. The new RAM didn't work at first. After a lot of reboots I've managed to fix it by manually lowering the bandwidth in the BIOS. Could you tell me if there is another way to get the sticks working?

Some info:
- I've got a AMD 970 Extreme3 R2 mainboard;
- The new RAM is Kingston HyperX Fury 1866Mhz 32GB total (2 sets of 2 8GB sticks)
- According to AMD the mainboard supports this bandwidth;
- The system booted with one stick and two sticks at 1866Mhz. It didn't matter which sticks were slotted or in which slot they were;
- The system didn't boot with all 4 sticks at 1866Mhz, but does boot at 1600Mhz;
- I've tried raising the voltage by 0.05V, but that didn't help (if it worked at all, because CPU-Z keeps mentioning it's at 1.50V;
- The system also boots when 2 new and 2 old sticks are slotted (so 24 GB total).

Is there a way to increase the bandwidth back to 1866Mhz?
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
Probably need to up the DRAM voltage with four sticks. ALSO, while the motherboard specs SUGGEST that the board supports that speed of memory, you will not find anyplace in any AMD documentation where they guarantee memory will work at that advertised speed with four modules installed. The AM3 and AM3+ platforms had very weak memory support. Some configurations wouldn't even run with memory at the advertised 1866mhz regardless of configuration.

Also, in some cases it is necessary to have the CPU overclocked in order to bolster the memory controller a bit when running at higher than default speeds. Default speeds for DDR3 is 1333mhz, not 1866mhz. 1866mhz is outlined as "OC" on practically all AM3 and AM3+ motherboards.

See here, it may...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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Probably need to up the DRAM voltage with four sticks. ALSO, while the motherboard specs SUGGEST that the board supports that speed of memory, you will not find anyplace in any AMD documentation where they guarantee memory will work at that advertised speed with four modules installed. The AM3 and AM3+ platforms had very weak memory support. Some configurations wouldn't even run with memory at the advertised 1866mhz regardless of configuration.

Also, in some cases it is necessary to have the CPU overclocked in order to bolster the memory controller a bit when running at higher than default speeds. Default speeds for DDR3 is 1333mhz, not 1866mhz. 1866mhz is outlined as "OC" on practically all AM3 and AM3+ motherboards.

See here, it may help.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3759446/boots-stick-ram.html#21209606
 
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Solution
J

jansema.mark

Aug 12, 2018
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I tried upping the DRAM voltage a bit. I stopped at 1.65v as I don't know what would still be safe and I've seen this mentioned in a couple of places. Even at 1.65v I couldn't get the memory working, so I guess the solution would be overclocking the CPU and I don't really want to do that. I'll keep to the 1600mhz. Thanks for your reply.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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If you can get all four sticks working at 1600mhz, you're probably doing good depending on what motherboard you have. I've seen a lot of AM3+ systems in the past that couldn't do 1866mhz even with a single stick. And then again, I've seen some that could do all four at 1866mhz with no increase in CPU frequency or voltage. Piledriver and Bulldozer are somewhat fickle in this area. It was always somewhat of a consumer complaint on those architectures.

The max safe voltage would depend on what the hardware consists of.

What is the part number of your memory modules?

Also, if all four of those modules didn't come together in a matched set, meaning one kit with 4 modules in it, then it's really not surprising they don't want to play nice together. Generally speaking you should buy memory in kits that contain ALL of the modules you intend to run, so that they've been tested and verified to work together. Otherwise they will often not play nice, refuse to operate in dual channel or not work together at all. Especially with four sticks, but this holds true even in two stick sets.
 
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J

jansema.mark

Aug 12, 2018
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The four didn't come in a matched set, but rather two sets of two (so the numbers match for each set of two). I guess that's a misbuy from my side as I didn't realize memory could be so fickle. It also sounds like it's a bit hit and miss: my old memory - also two sets of two - worked perfectly together and any combination of old and new memory works without issue. For now I'm glad it works at a lower bandwidth.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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If it was an AMD FX series configuration, that is unlikely to the point of being very close to impossible. I won't SAY impossible, because now and then I see things that aren't supposed to be allowable, but in this case even AMD says that with four modules populated on AM3+ FX platforms only 1600mhz will be possible. That is of course not factoring in the possibility of some high end boards and a great deal of tweaking settings or overclocking the memory controller.

https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/ddr3memoryfrequencyguide.aspx
 
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