DX58SO and memory please helo!

[sparrow500]

alright so I got my DX58SO set up with a core I7 920. and I bought 6 gigs ( 3x2gigs) ) of Kingston DDR3 1800mhz ( yes I am aware that the mobo only takes 1600mhz but this was all they had ) now the mobo only takes 1.65volts... and so my mobo automatically set it to, 1067mhz and 1.54volts. now what would be a 'safe' combination to set it at. it also set it to 8-8-8-19, instead of 9-9-9-27,

I wish Intel said something about this, but I only found out when I bought the thing, ffs!

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

You can set the settings of your RAM manually in the BIOS, if the voltage is 1.65V or less, your mobo and processor are safe.

 

[photonboy]

You should have the timings and voltage set correctly to what the RAM requires. Your settings sound incorrect to me. Lowering the timings makes it quicker which usually requires MORE voltage, not less.

Set the timings and voltage to as close as possible in the BIOS then run Memtest for at least two hours: http://www.memtest.org/

A BIOS update now or in the future may cause your motherboard to correctly identify the RAM so it can set the correct automatic timings.

Note that your RAM can likely be easily overclocked since it's rated at 1800MHz. It will never go above it's current much lower frequency unless you overclock the CPU. You may not need to overclock your CPU anyway. Most people do for games but unless it hits 100% when gaming overclocking will provide you no benefit. You'd likely need two high-end cards (like HD5870's) to require overclocking. You can monitor the CPU via the Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL).

Overclocking wears your CPU prematurely, increases the fan, and again provides no benefit for games unless it is the bottleneck in the system.

 

[vvhocare5]

Hi sparrow.

Memory timing is mem clk x bclk speed under the Memory section in your bios. Memory default is 133 (Bclk) x 8 (default setting) which gives you 1067 - thats the default mem speed. If you increase bclk you need to drop the mem clock speeds to prevent from overclocking that memory.

Raising BCLK overclocks almost everything - you will have to possibly downclock the uncore and possibly QPI.

The 920 uses a fixed x20 multiplier and since many people shoot for 4.0G, thats usually a 200MHx BCLK. 200x8 will give you a memory speed of 1600 - right at your spec. Note that not all RAM will actually work at spec'd speeds.

It looks like you would be generally safe at that speed. You will need to set it to your 9-9-9-27 also.

The good news is the i7-920 series is so good its pretty easy to overclock.

 

[sparrow500]

Yo guys, thanks for the reply. I know my pc is safe, as this is what the Mobo has set it to automatically. but thats not what I am wanting, I am wanting it to run at 1600mhz safely... please help. I dont want my CPU blowing. I think Intell really effed this one up.

 

[saint19]

^Your CPU will be safe if you set the voltage of your RAM at 1.65V or less. Like I said up, you can set the settings of your RAM manually in the BIOS and this will not kill your CPU.

 

[sparrow500]

yeah... ok thanks! but now. what would it be safe to set the ram to. so for instance if the voltage was 1.62 what could the mhz be ? 1333 ?

 

[saint19]

^Isn't that easy. You can get 1066 at 1.62V or 1600 at 1.62V, all depends of the mobo and the configuration that you set on this.

For the 1600 you can try 8-8-8-24 and 1.65V. Run primer95 for 1 hour or more, with that you can test if the rig and the RAM configuration is stable or not.

 

[sparrow500]

lol. im such a noob I have no idea, how this works ;/

 

[saint19]

You can read this articles:

1- Understanding RAM timings it's for DDR and DDR2, but is the same for DDR3.
2- Memory timings

 

[sparrow500]

sigh... ok it didnt work. got the blue screen once. then PC just started re-booting. ( i put the setting what you said, except I set the voltage to 1.62.. cause they dont have effing 1.65 even though thats the max that it can take. sigh. thinking I should just take it into shop.or buy a new mobo...

 

[vvhocare5]

Dont turn it in - overclocking is not hard , but its not a free ride either...

What did you set your mem clock to? ITs in multiples of 2: 4,6,8,10,12 etc. Multiply that by your BCLK or CPU clock setting

cmon, man - the motherboard tells you what speed you picked.

What is your CPU clock set to? Are you still at 133? If stock then change your RAM to Manual and pick 10 as a mulitplier. the uncore clock is right above mem clock and you should set it to at least 20.

Then do the memory timings at 9-9-9 and make sure it boots , then you can try 8-8-8.

Edit - But if you overclocked the CPU then we need to think about something else....

 

[sparrow500]

no. havnt TOUCHED the cpu. il work it out thanks, for the help

 

[saint19]

Set the timings 9-9-9-27 at 1.65V, BUT in the multiplier select 666.