BIOS and Windows shows only half memory size after put the new cooler?

[itsdarknice]

Hi, I did not know in which forum to post this, so I'm asking it. Recently I've made the choice to buy a Noctua NH-D14 for my i7-3770K on Asus P8Z77-V LK.
I have 16gb of DDR3 Mushkin @ 2133mhz but after I install the new cooler, On the BIOS and windows it's now just saying that I have 8 GB at 1600mhz .. And I noticed that the boot is a little longer than it was before.

Could I have burned out the two sticks which are touching a little bit a part of the heatsink?
or is there a frequent bug about that? I tryed to reset the CMOS many times and it still doesn't works.. ANd I can't even turn the speed to 2133mhz, it remains to only 1600 .. it was 2133mhz before...

 

[jerry6]

try and reseat the memory , might have come loose somehow .

 

[bryonhowley]

As jerry6 said try pulling the memory out and reseating them good luck.

 

[itsdarknice]

I'm going to try it by the end of the day. I did not try it first because I know I will probably have to remove the center fan of the Noctua to unscrew the heatsink so I can access the memory.
But is it harmful for the memory to be in touch with the metal of the heatsink ?? Rr

 

[MC_K7]

When you say the memory is in touch with the heatsink, do you mean they briefly came in contact while installing the heatsink, or is it touching it permanently (like the heatsink is too large and is in contact with the memory)?

 

[itsdarknice]

I mean the heatsink is like too large for the memory and is in contact with it. Really it is. Is that bad or it would not matter since the heatsink would not be THAT hot or not electricaly stacked to harm the memory? Could I just put a piece of rubber between them? Or should I just buy a corsair H80 instead of it like I was choosing beteeen it and the Noctua NH-D14 at the beggining...
(sorry for my english heh)

 

[MC_K7]

Hmmm... I'm not an expert in the matter, I don't know if it could transfer electricity and damage the memory or become too hot and transfer heat, etc... But I'm sure if you read the manual and recommendations for the memory installation they will say it's not supposed to touch anything. I know I wouldn't like my heatsink to touch my memory even if it worked at first I would be worried it could cause problems in the long run. So I would say either remove 1 stick of memory and operate with 12 GB or replace the heatsink with a smaller one. BTW I've looked at pictures of the Noctua on the web and man this thing is a beast! I understand why on most installation it's likely to push things around inside, lol! Did you plan to overclock to 6 Ghz on air with such a beast? Lol.

 

[itsdarknice]

Yeah I see.. Well I did just not figure my heatsink was touching the memory at first my bad :S. Seems I've made up some error about it.. I'm just praying the memory will work again when I come back home from work this evening. And with that beast, I was planning to overclock i7-3770K from 3.5 to 4.2-.5
Just hope the memory did not fry lol.

 

[jerry6]

I'm going to try it by the end of the day. I did not try it first because I know I will probably have to remove the center fan of the Noctua to unscrew the heatsink so I can access the memory.
But is it harmful for the memory to be in touch with the metal of the heatsink ?? Rr

can't see that it will hurt memory , can't transfer electrical current , unless there is a problem with cooler . Best not to be touching , might transfer heat or could move the ram out of place . Does you ram have those tall heatsinks on them ? if yes can you take the heatsinks off or replace with ram that are not as tall

 

[itsdarknice]

Hi. I've tested every sticks of ram one by one, and all of this with the default CPU heatsink. I can see that there's a moment before then POST appears so the computer boots .. One sticks (4GB) it will say 4096mo of ddr3 @ 1600mhz .. and 2-3-4 sticks will say 8192mo of ddr3 @ 1600mhz (I've got 2133mhz too...) I've tryed to change the frequency of the memory in the BIOS but the computer wont start after the change and on the next start i'll say: overclocking failed! please enter setup to re-configure.

Have I screwed up the PSU? the motherboard? the sticks or ram?

Oh and the DRAM red light lighted up some times too

 

[jerry6]

might have t bump the voltage to run at 2133

 

[itsdarknice]

Those memory sticks r rated 1.6V and it is what is shows on the bios

 

[4Ryan6]

I mean the heatsink is like too large for the memory and is in contact with it. Really it is. Is that bad or it would not matter since the heatsink would not be THAT hot or not electricaly stacked to harm the memory? Could I just put a piece of rubber between them? Or should I just buy a corsair H80 instead of it like I was choosing beteeen it and the Noctua NH-D14 at the beggining...
(sorry for my english heh)

Yeah I see.. Well I did just not figure my heatsink was touching the memory at first my bad :S. Seems I've made up some error about it.. I'm just praying the memory will work again when I come back home from work this evening. And with that beast, I was planning to overclock i7-3770K from 3.5 to 4.2-.5
Just hope the memory did not fry lol.

Hi. I've tested every sticks of ram one by one, and all of this with the default CPU heatsink. I can see that there's a moment before then POST appears so the computer boots .. One sticks (4GB) it will say 4096mo of ddr3 @ 1600mhz .. and 2-3-4 sticks will say 8192mo of ddr3 @ 1600mhz (I've got 2133mhz too...) I've tryed to change the frequency of the memory in the BIOS but the computer wont start after the change and on the next start i'll say: overclocking failed! please enter setup to re-configure.

Have I screwed up the PSU? the motherboard? the sticks or ram?

Oh and the DRAM red light lighted up some times too

Those memory sticks r rated 1.6V and it is what is shows on the bios

If the metal heat sink is actually touching the first memory module that is bad, it could be putting enough pressure on it to cause the finger contact of the memory modules not to make full contact, have you tried dropping to 2 modules in the secondary memory slots and testing with just 2 modules?

Options:

Trim the lower metal fins from the Noctua so the memory modules clear the metal by at least 1/8th inch or 4mm and simply mount the 120mm fan higher on the Noctua.

As long as you only cut the fins even it's cooling capability won't be affected but you'll loose the warranty on the Noctua by doing it.

You can also swap the front 120mm fan clips from the push setup to pull and move the 120mm fan to the rear of the Noctua as a pull setup if you have to trim too much to raise the height, and get it completely away from the memory modules for easier swapping.