Not stable at normal settings

[gerruti]

Ok so I just built a cusom computer yesterday. I have msi 790fx-gd70 motherboard, ocz 1600mhz ram, amd phenom II x4 955BE, radeon 4870 1gb gddr5, and the rest really doesnt matter much. Anywho...the motherboard says it will do 2133mhz on the ram but I only want 1600mhz. My ram is 1600mhz standard. The problem is when I load it up it auto configures the ram to 1066mhz. I have tried manually setting the ram to 1600/1333 and the voltage from 1.65 up to 1.70. When I get to windows it will run for a few minutes and crash with either one. It is only stable in 1066mhz. I just want it to run at 1600mhz or 1333mhz with tight timings but there are so many options in the settings its pretty hard. So as you can see this isn't really an overclock but I have to overclock it for it to work. Any help is appreciated.

 

[xaira]

set the ram to the specified clock, voltage and timings. did u set the voltage, voltage is important
if you set everything to the specified settings and no luck, loosen up the timings

 

[gerruti]

Hey first of all thanks for replying. I set the timings at their rating timings which are 8 8 8 24, and voltage at 1.65 and the clock at 1600mhz. My other question is should I overclock my cpu to run with the higher ram speeds. My cpu is running at 3.5 right now...if I want my ram at 1600mhz, what should my cpu be set at?

 

[xaira]

ive heard that amd cpus set ram based on dividing the cpu, personally i dont no how this works, but once the ram shows up as 800 mhz in the memory tab of cpuz be kool
3.2 to 3.5, come on dude 3.7 at least 500 mhz oc, its a be for christ sake. they tested the difference in berformance using ddr3 800 to ddr3 2000 the gains were minimal so dont stress

 

[gerruti]

Yeah I know it shows up in cpuz as 800 because the cool and quiet probably. Lol ok I will probably overclock it to 3.7...I do have the coolermaster v8. As for ram I know when I had ddr2 533mhz and got a new computer that was 800mhz there was a big difference to me. So I figured from 1066mhz ddr3 to 1600mhz there would be a big difference. On my motherboard the ram slots have 2 black and 2 blue. I have tried to figure out what the difference is but I haven't figured it out. Do you know?

 

[xaira]

the different colours are different channels
if the 2 channels are populated the same way then ur in dual channel, theoretically twice the bandwith, so ddr3 1600 in dual channel is theoretically ddr3 3200
im guessing that when u got that new computer you got more ram, and you had to reinstall windows so all the bloatiness from the previous installation was replaced with a fresh new windows installation and u maybe got a new processor those all account for the speed boost because ddr3 800 to ddr3 2000, well just look at the chart

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/phenom-ii-ddr3,review-31596-7.html

remember ddr = dual data rate so 800 in cpuz means 1600 theoretical

 

[gerruti]

Ok now I overclocked my cpu to 3.7 it ran fine just in windows but when I stressed it using burnintest....it crashed. I went back down to 3.5 and the stress test went fine. I assume that I need to raise the voltage at 3.7 but don't know how high to raise the voltage. I have my ram running at 1066 at 5 5 5 15...I was going to try 4 4 4 12 but there isn't an option to go to 4.

 

[xaira]

there should be a option to go to 4 in the bios, but running ddr3 at 1066, comeon dude you can do better than that , raise the voltage by .010v if theres that option so if u were run ning at 1.325, ur new voltage will be 1.335 and raise in incriments of .01 remember to keep an eye on temps.

 

[gerruti]

I told you man my ddr3 ram won't run stable at any other speed besides 1066. I wish I could get atleast 1333. LIke I said it is 1600mhz but won't run at it or 1333. I tried it at 1333, 1.65v, 8 8 8 24 and it would lockup in windows. Then I tried raising the voltage to 1.70 and it would still crash. So that was the point of this post...my ram is 1600 but wont run on that.

 

[xtc28]

I told you man my ddr3 ram won't run stable at any other speed besides 1066. I wish I could get atleast 1333. LIke I said it is 1600mhz but won't run at it or 1333. I tried it at 1333, 1.65v, 8 8 8 24 and it would lockup in windows. Then I tried raising the voltage to 1.70 and it would still crash. So that was the point of this post...my ram is 1600 but wont run on that.

Well then......
1st
Is the OS installed?

2nd
RUN metest from a bootable USB stick or CD/DVD

3rd
If no BAd memory is evident it is an MSI problem, OR a compatibility problem with your brands of memory/Motherboard OCZ and MSI do not mesh well together, in my experience patriot would probably be better for MSI builds. I have had WAY TOO MANY MSIs fail when using OCZ ram

4th
If it is the ram and the test show it to be, JUST RMA Mate.

 

[gerruti]

Yes I have vista home premium 64 bit installed. I will test the ram and see what happens. I read online and people said they were using the same mobo/ram combo so I figured it was fine. Like I said though I will run memtest and see what happens. Can you run memtest from dos?

 

[xtc28]

Site to download

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

 

[xtc28]

64 bit? OK make sure your RAM is set to unganged mode

 

[gerruti]

Ok I will double check that. I ram memtest from dos...at the settings I have now 1066mhz, 5 5 5 15, 1.65v. It can back with no errors. So I guess its probably a voltage issue at the other speeds. I am going to try a few more things and post back.

 

[gerruti]

Ok I checked and my ram is unganged. I tried to get my ram in 1333 and 1600 with all types of voltages and timings but it just won't accept it. I did manage to get my cpu overclocked to 3.8 at at 1.430v. I would really like to get my ram to the rated 1600mhz though.

 

[xtc28]

try this then

800/1600
7-7-7-24 @ 1.8v

850/1700
9-9-9-27 @ 1.9v

If this no worky....... there is probably a problem with the mobo

 

[gerruti]

Ok. Problem as in compatibility or problem as in defective?

 

[xtc28]

1st lets back up a min.

reset all your bios setting to default!!!!!!

check your RAM now.... What does it say?........ Voltage, speed, timings, etc.

What Ram do you actually have ...I know OCZ 1600 but that dont say enough..... I need this to check correct voltages and timming .... my bet is there is some other problem that you have created during your Overclocking trials.... This is not just tweak and go, Im sure you know this by now...
lets see after this if no luck is in your favour.... RMA the RAM send the board back disatisfied and get a gigabyte mobo.

 

[gerruti]

Ok well here is a link to my ram.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

Is it really a big deal that my ram doesn't run faster than 1066. I mean my computer is running super fast as is. I would hate to rma the stuff and wait another week or two for the new stuff.

 

[xtc28]

have you started over yet... in bios?

run these @ exactly what the manufacturer suggests on defualt bios settings..except auto mem clock

that is 8-8-8-24 @ 1.75v

Again if this no worky then RMA RAM and send back the MSI cheapo mobo. THen get a gigabyte AM3 board...

This will solve your prob.

 

[gerruti]

Ok started over in bios. Set it to 1333mhz, 8 8 8 24 at 1.75v all the way to 1.8v and still no go. It did seem to last a little longer this time. I will just live with 1066mhz because I do not feel like rmaing my board. This was suppose to be one of the best boards from what I read. Maybe they will update it in a bios update? I was without a computer for a month prior to building this one....I don't think I could go through it again.

 

[gerruti]

Ok I did some more tweaking and I finally got it to run at 1333mhz, 6-6-6-24 at 1.8v. I took the voltage down to 1.77 once but it wouldn't run stable. My highest temp idle is 55c do you think that is too hot?

 

[xtc28]

doing a little reading ..... those sticks on that board seem to act better closer to 1.9-2.0v even though they are low voltage ram. I think this is compatibility error.

 

[gerruti]

Yeah like I said I have them at 1333 1.8v right now. The funny thing is I think it was running faster at 1066. Plus now for some reason my graphics driver keeps messing up every 30 minutes or so. Maybe I should leave the ram at 1066 and just OC my cpu to 3.9.

 

[xtc28]

I think I would agree at this point...... Hop to it..... That is what mine runs at pretty consistantly. I just stopped the Water cooling of my PII 940 My ram is only 1066 or 800 depending on the rig. the only one that I use with anything higher is my server With ddr3 2000Mhz (Dual opteron quads)