X58 Sabertooth RAM issue

[the_stiffmeister]

I bought a x58 Sabertooth mainboard with i7 950 and G.Skill Ripjaw 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit RAM. I am getting an issue with the RAM as the mobo doesn't always recognise the full 6GB, it sometimes shows as 4GB. I reseated the modules but it's still happenning, any suggestions? Also this RAM is rated at 1600Mhz but the bios is only showing the "target DRAM frequency" as 1066Mhz, can I just change the DRAM frequency to 1600Mhz or do I need to alter something else? Apologies for the noob style question but I am a network engineer not a PC engineer

 

[gribs]

Does only show 6 GB in bios? When does it show 4 GB?

 

[the_stiffmeister]

Does only show 6 GB in bios? When does it show 4 GB?

It shows 4GB in bios and windows, sometimes a reboot will cure it and 6GB will show in bios and windows, sometimes going into the bios, exiting and rebooting will cure it but I can't find a pattern to it.

 

[gribs]

About the 1600 settings.. Yes, I did with my Saber and it works fine running the specified 1600. And naturally the timings go up. So I'm at 9-9-9 from <6-6-6 with 1066mhz. I am going to apply a light OC to the CPU when I'm content with the burn-in. The Noctua setup has my I7-950 running at room temperature.

I'm not sure about the RAM availibility issue, and I'd hate to give bad guidance. Wish someone would help with that.
If you are using a 64 bit OS, then the only thing I can think of messing it up is bios, did you use it long enough in stock bios to notice any difference, or is the mainboard still at the factory version of bios? The problem could be software or driver related. I'm not sure, but I'd not ignore the problem.

I was tempted by the Ripjaws, but I put 3x2GB Mushkin Blackline in my system. Works fine thus far without trying an OC.

 

[Guest]

Hi there i seem to have the same problem.

3x 2gb of the Kingston (KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX) on the Asus X58 Sabertooth shows only 4GB at low mHz. It also seems to be only in dual channel setting. I checked if the 3 DRAMs are in the correct sockets.

Please help, i seem to be lost
Edwin

 

[LoneWolf_53]

some ideas:

-reseat each stick of RAM a few times, sometimes it's just poor contact, and double check that there isn't some dirt or junk in a RAM slot.
-clear CMOS, by removing the board battery for few minutes,
-remove all RAMs and insert them one by one, restarting the system after each install. See which module is not recognized.
-run msconfig, go to boot, advanced options and make sure maximum memory is not enabled.


There's also a few ideas that may help in this thread...... http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=1&model=Sabertooth+X58&id=20101017033737315&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

 

[gribs]

Now I had this issue occur while I swapped my RAM out a week ago, after changing slot 2 and 3 it worked fine, try what Lonewolf said about reseating and swapping slots first.