GA-EX58-UD5 and G.Skill DDR3-1600 6GB issue?

[leo2kp]

Anyone with the GA-EX58-UD5 and 6GB G.Skill DDR3-1600, please read and respond

When I keep the BIOS at absolute default settings, which sets the RAM to 1066mhz, the computer boots up fine. But when I change it to Profile1 in the XMP settings which brings it to 1600 with the correct timings and voltage, I save it to the BIOS and let it boot up. When I turn the computer off and later turn it back on, it will turn on and shut off for a few seconds just before POST, then turn on again and boot. This is hard on the PSU and other components. I can manually set the RAM settings and it will do the same thing. I have updated the BIOS from F2 to F3 to F4, reset it a dozen times, quad-checked the settings and voltage for RAM and CPU, and everything is set to Auto except for the RAM. I have removed every unecessary part and all but 2GB RAM, switched the RAM around, reinserted RAM, re-seated the video card at least 5 times, and monitored temperatures. The CPU sits idle at 35C and everything else is virtually cool to the touch.

One thing I noticed is that after POST, the LEDs on the motherboard, which show what level of overclock or voltage you are at, has the CPU at the yellow level 2 voltage when on the Auto setting. The northbridge (PCI-E) LED is green which indicates a level 1 voltage increase. The RAM LEDs are not on at all which indicates no change in voltage or speed from defaults. So to me the BIOS is upping the PCI-E and CPU voltage even though they are set to Auto and I'm not overclocking. I do have it set to automatically increase the CPU multiplier so it sits at 21x even at idle, according to CPU-Z, but the computer still reboots when that feature is shut off. This is a Core i7 920 with a multiplier cap of 20x. I didn't realize that the BIOS can incrase the multiplier past the cap - is this a problem? I have the function where it will increase voltage and core speed according to load shut OFF. But even if it were ON, I'd expect those settings to sit at default at idle and they aren't.

Just a couple weeks ago I sent in my PSU to be repaired due to what I though was a faulty inductor. After recieving the PSU the high-pitched noise still kept going inside the PSU. It has since stopped, so maybe something finally blew. I think there is a short in the motherboard somewhere or one of the capacitors or chokes are dead or dying.

Anyone with a similar setup (EX58-UD5 and 6GB G.Skill DDR3-1600) have automatic reboots prior to POST when set at the RAM's profile setting?

 

[merlinbadman]

What happens when you switch to XMP for 1333Mhz? Do you get the same problem?

What voltage does the ram get set to when you are trying to use XMP @ 1600? and what voltage is your memory rate for @ 1600Mhz?

The DRAM voltage must be kept below 1.65V.

 

[leo2kp]

It sets to 1.5v automatically, which is RAM spec.

 

[leo2kp]

I haven't tried 1,333mhz but I may when I get home. Either way it shouldn't do that at the RAM's rated speed, IMO. If anyone else has this setup (shouldn't be hard to find) and does not have this problem, that would be good to know

 

[cah027]

I have the same MB. I had OCZ 1600mhz ram but had to rma. I was having stability issues and it would never set the timings to spec on auto. It would never run stable when I manually set the voltage and timings. It would only run stable when I set everything manual but left voltage auto but then cpuz showed 1.78v on the mem and thats way to high.

I had an ocz tech tell me to set the command rate to 2t the trc to 45 and the trfc to 90 with the voltage manually set to 1.65v (but our MB doesn't have 1.65 so I set to 1.64). With these settings, everything seemed to work fine, but I sent it back anyway and got 1333mhz gskil. So far so go, although I did have a random lockup while browsing the internet last night in vista. I have had little time to use my new pc so I don't know for sure if I am good with this new ram. With the 1333 gskil I just set the mem mult and everything else auto. So far so good.

I have the same cpu btw. I also updated to F4.

 

[merlinbadman]

Are you able to get into windows at all after you have set the XMP to 1600?

Try upping the voltage, my 1333 OCZ ram is rated @ 1.6V.

I have read on other forums of people using 1600Mhz memory at CL7 & CL8 needing to use 1.65V.

Try a little at a time and see if you can get it to POST ok.

 

[leo2kp]

So for you it was RAM? At first my G.Skill was also automatically set to over 1.7v which I dropped manually to 1.5v. Then it would automatically set to 1.5v, but then one day it went back up really high. I don't know if it's RAM or the board that's messing with voltage, but it's ridiculous how it just spikes the voltage whenever it wants. I'll probably just manually lock it in at 1.5v so it doesn't spike. But that's just for safety purposes. It doesn't fix my issue. My command is 2T (although it would run fine at 1T, surprisingly). Since we have different RAM now I won't try the other settings. Besides, I don't have stability issues. It's just a reboot every time I turn it on and then it boots up fine as if it's changing something.

Thanks for the replies

 

[leo2kp]

It's completely stable after it boots with 1.5v. It rockets through benchmarks like nobody's business. The only issue is that it shuts off after a second when hitting the power button, then it boots up normally. I'm not sure if it's tied with the voltage increase in the CPU and NB that the LEDs are showing, but to me it just seems like my regulators are whacky.

I'm wondering if the initial voltage spike in the RAM didn't damange my CPU or voltage regulators. I didn't notice any anomolies while it was running but with so many phases it's hard to tell if one of them isn't working. Then again, maybe not lol.

 

[cah027]

Yeah.. I think the X58 chipset is very ram sensitive . I have found several threads talking about our MB and the asus MB's and everyone is having issues with ram. I bought the gskil set because my dad bought some and I put it in my mb and benched a few times without issue. Just set the multi and everything to auto. No issues. So thats why I went with it. I think My ram has more modest speed and timings than yours.

I think we are just dealing with the first rev of this new tech and we will be the beta testers for them. Oh well. hopefully we will get all of our bugs worked out.

Now I have to rma my card reader ! Ugh !!!

 

[leo2kp]

Well the funny thing is, most people don't seem to have an issue. So what's the difference? Where is the variation? :-/

 

[merlinbadman]

I don't know if it's RAM or the board that's messing with voltage, but it's ridiculous how it just spikes the voltage whenever it wants.

THE XMP profile info is stored on the SPD of the ram, theoretically it should load the correct settings. In reality however this isnt the case. My ram is rated for 7-7-7-20, but it set it to looser timings, I had to set that manually.

 

[leo2kp]

Yep, that's why I'm setting voltage manually and timings stay where they should.

Just to clear something up, I just recently started using the profile. For the past month I've set everything manually. So regardless of what's stored on the RAM and what settings I use, the machine still shuts off for a second on every power-on unless it's set at 1066 mhz.

The voltage changed by itself when I had set the timings and speed manually, but left the voltage at Auto. I just started using Profile1 yesterday so I have yet to see any changes in the voltage, but it still may happen. I think that regardless, the motherboard is picking out the "appropriate" settings for me when everything is set to Auto, and sometimes it's very inconsistant. That, to me, says there's an issue somewhere. Just trying to figure out if it's RAM or the chipset. My next move is to RMA the motherboard but if that doesn't help, I'll RMA the memory.

 

[cah027]

My system seems to shut off for a sec on every start too. I thought that was normal although I have never seen it on any other pc.

 

[leo2kp]

Are you using G.Skill and the EX58-UD5 board?

 

[cah027]

yes. I was using OCZ before and it did the 1 sec pause or turn off on startup too. Come to think of it, my dads ram did too.

 

[leo2kp]

Reeeaaaalllly. Hm, maybe it's the mobos then. I'll let you know if my RMA fixes my issue. I'll try to get a hold of tech support for G.Skill and Gigabyte and see if we can't try other settings to make it work.

 

[cah027]

Well. Im not sure if it is causing any real issue. I just called my dad and asked him if his does it and he thinks its does. He is going to call me and let me know for sure. He has our MB and cpu.

 

[leo2kp]

Yea I don't think it causes any kind of real problem, but what worries me is the fact that the guts are getting an extra jolt of power every time we boot up. It wears things down faster. If it's a voltage issue, I'm afraid to overclock.

 

[cah027]

Just spoke with my dad and he confirms that his pauses on startup as well.

 

[leo2kp]

Ok, I've sent in an RMA request. I can't call them today but I should before the RMA has been issued just to talk to a tech and see what else can be done. I hope the RMA fixes it though.

 

[steveru621]

My x58 has the same behavior, of power on, power off, pause, and then POST. It only happens if you change BIOS settings. I changed my memory settings to extreme, 1.65v, and a multiplier for 1600. And like you I thought there was something wrong. I emailed Gigabyte support on the POST issue AND NEVER GOT A RESPONSE. If you get an answer please post the solution, or lack of one.

Unless you overclock, an i7 920 or 940 will not run any higher than 1066 on a Gigabyte X58 even with SPD or XMP. I run a 940 with OCZ Gold 1600, with the overclock listed above.

Did you load the F4 BIOS? I'm running a RAID0 setup and I'm paranoid I'll lose my array.

 

[leo2kp]

I flashed from F2 to F3 to F4 with no luck. I have RAID-0 as well. I think even if our boards die or something, as long as we reinstall on the same chipset, our data will still be there. I don't think there is any danger of losing our arrays, but then again I could be wrong. I remember sometime a few years ago I thought maybe I lost mine when I did something like this, and I didn't because it was the same chipset. Either way, my stuff is backed up safely so I'm not worried lol. I could use a reinstall anyway. This image was meant for messing around with Vista 64 and trying a bunch of different things so I'm sure it's beyond repair by now lol. After this mobo crap is resolved I'll reimage and start overclocking this sucka'.

As soon as I get some more information from Gigabyte or even G.Skill, I'll definitely post it.

 

[leo2kp]

I have submitted another inquiry with Gigabyte with a link to this thread so they can see that there isn't just one person with the problem. I'm sure they know that, but I'm sick of waiting for my parts to blow up. I have no idea if I should RMA the board or RAM. I'll inquire with G.Skill as well with a link to this thread and see if they have any ideas.

 

[steel340]

I seem to have the same problem with a Gigabyte EX58-UD5, F4 bios and 6GB of OCZ Gold PC12800 memory. If I run the memory at 1066MHz then everything boots cleanly. If I touch the memory multiplier then the board starts, shuts down, then boots cleanly a few seconds later. it doesn't seem to be voltage related as I tried setting the memory voltage / timings back to automatic, and that made no difference (though the memory still ran fine!)

Since the pause and restart at boot is exactly the same as when I change a bios setting then save and exit the bios, I reckon that there's a fair chance that this is a bios issue. I assume that the motherboard boots at default settings, then loads the bios, which reads the "real" settings and does a restart. Probably not the end of the world, but really really annoying, and other motherboard manufacturers don't seem to find it necessary to do this. I'm surprised that none of the reviews of this motherboard encountered this problem, even when they claimed to achieve 4GHz overclocks with it.

Is there anyone out there who _has_ managed to boot an overclocked UD5 motherboard _without_ this reboot problem?

 

[leo2kp]

EVERYONE...

Here is a response from G.Skill. May not apply to those using OCZ or other brands. I should note that the following settings have not worked for me, but if they work for you then great! I can't choose 1.55v, only 1.56 and 1.54. Neither of those fixed the issue.

"Dear customer



Set it at DDR3 1600 with 1.55v, 9-9-9-24 with TRFC 72 and other on AUTO. A lot of customers said this setting is good. please try



Thank you

GSKILL SUPPORT"