GA-EX58-UD3R and CMX6GX3M3A1600C9 XMP profile 1

[GeeseInFlight]

I am running GA-EX58-UD3R with a core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz and Corsair XMS3 2GBX3 1600MHz(CMX6GX3M3A1600C9). My video card is ATI HD4670 Saphire. My system drive in an Intel 80GB SSD. My storage drive is a 2x250GB striped (500GB) Seagate sata2 in a raid. The parts are various ages I have always upgraded and kept what I can. The PS is 650 Watt Silentist. I have five chassis fans 2 in the front two in the back and one on the side. As I type this I am thinking that I should calculate the total Watts I am using. Everything is stock and I haven't overclocked anything in the past.

I had a lock up while producing an HD video a couple of weeks ago. After the lockup the system wouldn't boot, I was getting long continuous beeps which were consistent with a graphics card problem. I tried to reboot several times and was able to reboot after a repair but still was freezing on the Windows start screen. I removed the power supply and cleaned the entire system very well with compressed air. I moved the PC to a cooler room and tried to run it while apart on the floor. It ran for some time but still froze on occasion. I tried running it with different combinations of 2 memory sticks finally I was able to run it for a week without a lockup. I still wasn't positive that the memory was the problem so after a week I put the third memory stick back in and there was a lockup a few hours later. I ordered 3 new sticks of 1600 MHZ DDR3 to double my 3GB to 6GB Which I believe would be better with my W7U 64bit OS. I didn't notice that my board officially supports only 800/1066/1333/2100. When I put the new memory in it was running at 1066. I was thinking that I might have to send it back and get 1333 but I did some reading and decided to give the xmp profile one setting a try. I flashed my bios to the latest and then selected xmp profile one. When I rebooted the memory was running at 1600 MHz but so was my CPU core. In the bios setup it showed as 2.67 but not in ET6. Intel's processor id utility reported it as 2.67 so I thought that ET6 was out of whack and downloaded CPU-Z. CPU-Z also reported it at 1600 MHz. I did some more reading and found that the CPU throttles between 1.6 and 2.67 GHz depending on load. To test the theory I opened my HD video editing software and sure enough the CPU core jumped to 2.67 in both ET6 and CPU-Z. It still hasn't crashed with the new Memory. I am not looking to Overclock my PC. I am not a gamer anymore but I don't like sluggish performance and while editing producing videos I would like to browse the web check email and watch streaming video from the web. Maybe I am dreaming but when automatic backups start I hope that I can still watch streaming video and leave the HD video production running in the background.

Will running 1600 MHz memory with XMP Profile 1 perform better than running the same capacity 1333 memory?

I have disabled the Intel Turbo Boost tech feature because I am not sure what will happen with the 1600 MHz memory and XMP profile one. Is it a good idea to enable it and what kind of frequency should I expect if I do?

Any other advice is also appreciated.

 

[ekoostik]

Wth an i7 920 you can OC the RAM to 1600 MHz without OCing the CPU. This is not true of the i3 or i5 CPUs where to raise your RAM to 1600 MHz you have to change your bclk, which is tied to your CPU speed and therefore OCs your CPU.

With XMP enabled, check your other BIOS settings. Your bclk should still be at 133 while your Memory SPD / Multiplier will be at a ratio of 2 : 12. Another way to check, run CPU-Z. On the CPU tab, does your bus speed say 133? Then your CPU is not overclocked. Check the memory tab and you should see a FSBRAM ratio of 2:12.

So you can turn on Turbo without fear of something out of the ordinary happening. Turning on Turbo affects your CPU only - it does not affect your RAM. Your RAM will stay at 1600 MHz. Your CPU on the other hand will be able to Turbo up to a max multiplier of 22 i.e. 2.93 GHz when only one core is active.

As to the Watts you are using, I would suspect you idle under 150W. Maybe closer to 100. Even under load you probably don't use 50% of your PSU. But if you want to see what you're pulling from the wall pick one of these ups: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001&cm_re=kill_a_watt-_-82-715-001-_-Product

 

[GeeseInFlight]

Thanks for the reply Ekoostik. You are exactly right regarding the BCLK and FSBRAM. I am going to re-enable the turbo. Thanks for the advice.

I haven't noticed a difference between the 1600 and my old 1333 DRAM.

Thanks for the link to the load meter.

 

[GeeseInFlight]

Best answer selected by GeeseInFlight.