See my member config or the very bottom of this post for my setup.
I've only running with 3 sticks of RAM because I could not get all 6 to run stable with Prime95 for more than an hour or so. I'm very new to any BIOS tweaking and was going to wait to do any of that until I had a chance to learn. I found out after I started setting things up (per bilbat) that 3 sticks is usually stable out of the box but 6 usually isn't and it requires some tweaking. So I was having trouble (bilbat tried to help before, see note below) and figured I'd call on tech support at Gigabyte. They have been very helpful when I call them so I figured I'd try with this issue. It seemed like it should be a simple matter for them to be able to tell me how to get 6 sticks running stable on their board that is designed to do this. It was NOT a good idea.
The specs on my RAM are DDR1333, 7-7-7-20, 1.65v
Here are my BIOS settings for the CPU and RAM:
(this is currently set to auto but I'm showing what I tried below)
And here are my CPU Tweaker settings:
The tech person recommended setting the DRAM voltage from auto to 1.64 to come closer to the specs on the RAM. I was a bit uneasy about this as I am not clear about which voltage is which for RAM. But the tech seemed very confident about this so that's what I did.
I rebooted and things seemed to be running fine. So I opened up the case, popped in the other 3 sticks and proceeded to run Memtext86+. Within seconds, a foul burning smell was coming from my case . I shut down very quickly and opened it back up in a bit of a panic of course. The RAM was very hot but I could touch it. Mind you it took a few minutes between the time I turned the machine off and the time I got to the RAM so it had had a chance to cool a bit. The NB heatsink seemed no hotter than normal and same with the CPU pipes near the CPU. There are no scorch marks on anything but with the heat spreader covering the RAM chips, I can't see them but what I can see seems fine.
Anyway, I'm sure it's possible to get this running on 6 sticks but not with my limited experience at this (I'm a software guy by trade and a lot of this is new to me). Right now I'm more worried about damage that may have been done although things seem to be running fine. I took out the extra 3 and set the DRAM back to auto. I ran Prime95 (with RAM set at 6144MB) for a few hours tonight and everything seems back to normal. I'm going to run Memtest86+ again tonight for a bit. I had run it before with the regular BIOS settings on each set of RAM (3 sticks at a time only) for several hours each and no issues. I'm sure I'll have the same results again, but I am concerned that there could have been damage but it's not obvious. Would it be? Would I get errors right away if there was unapparent damage?
Also, if you take a look at my screenshots, what would you suggest I do to get all 6 sticks running stable? Keep in mind, this is very new to me. One of the things that is unclear is the fact that some of the wording in CPU Tweaker is not the same as in the BIOS so if you make any suggestions, keep that in mind. What's clear to you might not be clear to me.
bilbat tried to help me here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=30&post=273675&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0"e_only=0&new=0&nojs=0 but the thread kind of covered too many issues and I didn't provide enough screenshots. I want to start fresh.
Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5 (BIOS v 5)
CPU = (1) Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366
RAM = (12GB total) CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) 7-7-7-20 Model TR3X6G1333C7 G
Cooler = Noctua/XION NH-U12P SE2 (2 fans)
Video = (1) EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+
Sound = HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus+
Case = LIAN LI PC-P80 or PC-A77F
PSU = CORSAIR CMPSU-HX1000
Storage = (2) Intel X25-M 80GB SATA II MLC SSD RAID 0 (on the Intel controller)
Storage = (4) yet to be determineed HDD\'s (probably going to use WD7502ABYS) RAID 10 (on the Intel controller)
Storage = (1) Western Digigal WD1001FALS 1TB HDD for my DVDs
Storage = (1) Western Digigal WD5001AALS 500GB HDD partitioned in 3 parts for clones of the OS drive in case of emergencies (this is in addition to clones and backups that are on spare drives outside the box)
Optical = (2) LITE-ON DVD Writer - Bulk - Black SATA Model iHAS224-06
OS = Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
I've only running with 3 sticks of RAM because I could not get all 6 to run stable with Prime95 for more than an hour or so. I'm very new to any BIOS tweaking and was going to wait to do any of that until I had a chance to learn. I found out after I started setting things up (per bilbat) that 3 sticks is usually stable out of the box but 6 usually isn't and it requires some tweaking. So I was having trouble (bilbat tried to help before, see note below) and figured I'd call on tech support at Gigabyte. They have been very helpful when I call them so I figured I'd try with this issue. It seemed like it should be a simple matter for them to be able to tell me how to get 6 sticks running stable on their board that is designed to do this. It was NOT a good idea.
The specs on my RAM are DDR1333, 7-7-7-20, 1.65v
Here are my BIOS settings for the CPU and RAM:
(this is currently set to auto but I'm showing what I tried below)
And here are my CPU Tweaker settings:
The tech person recommended setting the DRAM voltage from auto to 1.64 to come closer to the specs on the RAM. I was a bit uneasy about this as I am not clear about which voltage is which for RAM. But the tech seemed very confident about this so that's what I did.
I rebooted and things seemed to be running fine. So I opened up the case, popped in the other 3 sticks and proceeded to run Memtext86+. Within seconds, a foul burning smell was coming from my case . I shut down very quickly and opened it back up in a bit of a panic of course. The RAM was very hot but I could touch it. Mind you it took a few minutes between the time I turned the machine off and the time I got to the RAM so it had had a chance to cool a bit. The NB heatsink seemed no hotter than normal and same with the CPU pipes near the CPU. There are no scorch marks on anything but with the heat spreader covering the RAM chips, I can't see them but what I can see seems fine.
Anyway, I'm sure it's possible to get this running on 6 sticks but not with my limited experience at this (I'm a software guy by trade and a lot of this is new to me). Right now I'm more worried about damage that may have been done although things seem to be running fine. I took out the extra 3 and set the DRAM back to auto. I ran Prime95 (with RAM set at 6144MB) for a few hours tonight and everything seems back to normal. I'm going to run Memtest86+ again tonight for a bit. I had run it before with the regular BIOS settings on each set of RAM (3 sticks at a time only) for several hours each and no issues. I'm sure I'll have the same results again, but I am concerned that there could have been damage but it's not obvious. Would it be? Would I get errors right away if there was unapparent damage?
Also, if you take a look at my screenshots, what would you suggest I do to get all 6 sticks running stable? Keep in mind, this is very new to me. One of the things that is unclear is the fact that some of the wording in CPU Tweaker is not the same as in the BIOS so if you make any suggestions, keep that in mind. What's clear to you might not be clear to me.
bilbat tried to help me here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=30&post=273675&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0"e_only=0&new=0&nojs=0 but the thread kind of covered too many issues and I didn't provide enough screenshots. I want to start fresh.
Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5 (BIOS v 5)
CPU = (1) Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366
RAM = (12GB total) CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) 7-7-7-20 Model TR3X6G1333C7 G
Cooler = Noctua/XION NH-U12P SE2 (2 fans)
Video = (1) EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+
Sound = HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus+
Case = LIAN LI PC-P80 or PC-A77F
PSU = CORSAIR CMPSU-HX1000
Storage = (2) Intel X25-M 80GB SATA II MLC SSD RAID 0 (on the Intel controller)
Storage = (4) yet to be determineed HDD\'s (probably going to use WD7502ABYS) RAID 10 (on the Intel controller)
Storage = (1) Western Digigal WD1001FALS 1TB HDD for my DVDs
Storage = (1) Western Digigal WD5001AALS 500GB HDD partitioned in 3 parts for clones of the OS drive in case of emergencies (this is in addition to clones and backups that are on spare drives outside the box)
Optical = (2) LITE-ON DVD Writer - Bulk - Black SATA Model iHAS224-06
OS = Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit