Question about my memory

[bryanb58]

Hello everyone,

Here are my current Specs:

Phenom II 1055T @ 3.8Ghz
Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H mobo
Corsair Vengeance 12 Gb 1600 Mhz Ram running @ 1450 Mhz
Powercolour HD 6970

My question is with regards to my memory. When I bought the corsair vengeance ram originally, I did not realize that AMD systems apparently don't really like to run above 1333 Mhz for the ram clock. I also didn't realize that the Box of the corsair vengeance ram has a Intel I7 logo on the bottom and I am not sure if that refers to the fact that its designed for Intel or just because of the fact that technically its a triple channel kit.

What I am wondering is if anyone can confirm that this memory is "designed" for intel systems, and will this affect my setup? I don't particularly have any issues with my PC, I play alot of top end games (crysis, just cause 2, metro 2033, etc) and I have only had a crash I believe once with just cause 2. Is it recommended once I have the funds to look for memory optimized for AMD systems? Also If I do purchase new ram, due to my current OC My ram runs @ 1450 Mhz, I kind of liked that fact that in this case, because the memory is rated for 1600 technically its not OC'd, however I am curious if running it at 1450 could cause some issue with the fact that AMD does not like beyond 1333 Mhz? If I do buy new ram should I look at 1600 Mhz again? Or should I look for 1333 and maybe run it at the next lowest ram speed (I think its like 1104 or something)?

Thanks for any advice anyone has!!

 

[almartin]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7025808&CatId=4534 If this is the ram you have it is a single channel stick. You should be running a matched set of dual channel chips.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6003149
If this is your motherboard it only supports 1333 memory. so your 1600 chip would run at the slower 1333 speed. you would be better off to get 1333mhz memory in matched sets.

 

[rolli59]

Triple channel kits are designed for Intel's LGA1366 platform, regardless of that they should work on an AMD build. Ram does not take any hurting from running at lower speeds and can usually run faster timings (latencies) if they do so.

 

[bryanb58]

Ok right on thats good to know, almartin, the pack I bought was a 3x4Gb set. Actually my mobo does have the option to run the memory clock at 1600 while at stock speeds, which is why I am confused by the gigabyte specs. Right now I am running 12 Gb in my system. I had posted previously about which was better, running dual channel 8gb or 12gb single channel and I was told that more ram would be better than then bandwidth increase from the dual channel. Do you think this is the case? I guess I could go either way. If 8 Gb is still way more than I will ever use then maybe I should pull one out for now.

rolli59 thanks I figured it would be ok to run them, I just didn't know if it would be better to get memory optimized for an amd system, whatever that means. Memory timings are the one thing I just can't seem to get a grasp on. Right now I have them on auto and cpuz reports it as 8-8-8-20-27-1T at 1450Mhz...it is rated at 1600 Mhz as 9-9-9-24 (but i dont know which number the 24 is compared to the 20 or the 27). I dont really know if I should be manually setting them to something faster? or...

Thanks for the replies!

 

[jaquith]

If you're using a Tri-Channel kit in a Dual-Channel MOBO you do kill the Dual Channel period, and some AMD in particular require the Channels to be the SAME size and those that do will disable 1 stick. Most newer chipset AMD's don't suffer with this problem, but I encourage to to review your Resource Manager to make certain that 'Hardware Reserved' isn't > 1000 MB in your case {iGPU}; non iGPU ~10 MB.

If you have a discrete GPU then BIOS Internal Graphics Mode -> Disabled and in the Device Manage -> Disable the iGPU.

Your specs:
Support for DDR3 1866(OC)/1333/1066 MHz memory modules

In order to achieve 1600 MHz you may need to OC, but first try Set Memory Clock -> 8 ; otherwise OC CPU Frequency -> 240 which will in-turn OC the CPU {you can lower the CPU Clock Ratio to retain the 'near' stock CPU speed}.

 

[jaquith]

I had posted previously about which was better, running dual channel 8gb or 12gb single channel and I was told that more ram would be better than then bandwidth increase from the dual channel.

Yep, the advantages of Dual Channel is very small. Yep, I too would choose more RAM

 

[bryanb58]

I have checked the resource manager and have confirmed I have all 12 gb available to me, hardware reserved is 3 mb. I do have the igp disabled in bios, and Ive tried to disable it in the device manager before too but It is not anywhere to be found in there. I know its weird with regards to the specs. running at stock speeds I do have an option to run it a 8X which is effectively 1600 Mhz which is why I dont understand why they dont state that in the specs. Knowing what I know though about the AMD systems and issues with beyond 1333 I am reluctant to put it to anything higher than 5.33X (fsb is 272 atm) because right now that has me at 1450 Mhz and that to me seems sort of high with regards to this amd barrier.

Should I change to dual channel?

 

[bryanb58]

O I just missed your post on dual channel so scratch that lol

 

[jaquith]

Sounds like you're all good!

RE: Specs, look at EVGA specs once "Memory Standard: DDR3 1600MHz+" Duh...I guess less is more. The GA specs are the way they are because some AMD CPU's won't run 1600 without an OC if at all regardless of the FSB, and if you run 1866 MHz+ then only 2 of the 4 DIMMs will support it. There's only a fractional benefit from RAM >1600 MHz, and 1600 MHz plus 4GB density/stick is becoming the de facto standard 'today.'

Good Luck

 

[bryanb58]

Not sure what you were getting at with that EVGA comment, but I was kinda thinking the same thing about why they wouldnt list the 1600mhz. right on I guess I'll just leave it running as is!

thanks!

 

[jaquith]

RE EVGA - They do NOT list supported RAM speeds - period, they assume you 'should' know; they're OC + Gaming MOBOs.

You should be perfectly OK with 1600 MHz, and with any new build I recommend that you test the RAM with Memtest86+ for at least 2-4 passes, and with 12GB of RAM do it overnight -- it takes a longtime. In addition to an overnight burn-in with Prime 95.

Memtest, create a bootable CD/DVD {ISO/zip file} -> http://www.memtest.org/

Good Luck!

 

[bryanb58]

Ahhh now i gotcha. Right on. Yea I have done prime 95 12 hours with my current OC so I am quite happy with that. I have done the windows memory diagnostic but I assume memtest is probably a better test. Maybe I will try to bump up my memory to the next level after I confirm its good at its current speed.

Thanks Jaquith