Ram not at full potential

[tindleaj]

Hey guys,

im in the process of bulding a computer from scratch and ive got it to a point where its running. im having some very severe issues though.

firstly as the topic states, my Patriot gaming i5 8gb ddr3 1333mhz ram is running at 1000 (or so) mhz. windows 7 x64 recognizes the 8gb or RAM but not the correct speed. here are my current specs

intel core i7-2600k 3.4ghz unlocked cpu

biostar tz68a+ mobo

biostar radeon hd 5750

WD 500gb SATA HDD

Thermaltake 750watt modular PSU

Thermaltake dokker mid sized tower

and an oem sony optical drive


any help will be appreciated

 

[puttsy]

Boot into the BIOS and manually set timings and voltage. You will see single readings of HALF of the memory speed, so you should see 667 as the speed in CPU-z. Reason for that is because it's DUAL channel, triple channel would be 1/3 the speed. It has FULL (combined) speed of 1333MHz but, each channel can only do half that.

Post more information on your RAM and we might be able to tell you the settings you need. (My DDR2 runs at 4-4-4-12 at 2.1v. Yours will obviously be different but, that's what the system I'm working on now. Don't remember my DDR3 machine.

If you're curious:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Understanding-RAM-Timings/26

Also, others can give a better description and explanation in a technical view, I'm just trying to get your problem solved. And the above explanation is very basic and not *really* how it works, but it's a general idea to put it in perspective for you.

 

[Emperus]

@puttsy : The reason is not dual channel. And triple channel memory won't show 1\3 rd the speed. It will show the same. The actual reason is the memory itself which is DDR (Double Data Rate). Thus the advertised frequency is actually double of the base frequency which is 667 MHz for 1333 MHz memory, 800 MHz for 1600 MHz memory and so on. Most softwares like CPU-Z show the base clock which is the actual speed. Though people often get confused by it and consider it as error. For more info on DDR refer to www.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR_SDRAM

Now for the problem at hand, check in the BIOS. If it shows the correct speed then there are no problems. Are those memory modules rated at 1.5V?

 

[tindleaj]

@emperus the bios shows i have 8gb ddr3 ram @ 1064mhz , but the ram i bought is advertised at 1333mhz and overclockable. it is also set to 1.5v but i saw somewhere i may need to set it to 1.6, but i dont know how.

 

[puttsy]

@Emperus

Thanks for the corrections and clarification. I wasn't WAY off base (Like I was slightly afraid i might have been) so, thanks for the more educational explination.

As for setting your voltages, in "Advanced" options or similar on your motherboard there should be a section to set FSB speed (to overclock CPU) and multiplier (OC CPU) and also options for memory speed, voltage, timings, etc... Look through the manual that came with your motherboard, it should tell you how. If I get a bit, I'll see if I can find it online and give better instructions that are more relevant to your board.

 

[tindleaj]

thanks ill look through the manual again. ive been playing with different BIOS settings, mostly turning any restrictions to power off (intel power saver, etc) but i found something about my cpu. apparently it is running at 98 degrees Celsius. that seems very hot to me, but what do you think? could this cause the computer to shut off?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Depending on your chips thermal limit, it could shut the pc down or even kill it, how many fans you got in there and is your heatsink correctky installed?
Moto

 

[Emperus]

According to the info provided in the Biostar site, the memory modules need to be put in the red colored slots. Make sure you do it. And no need to overvolt the modules. LGA 1155 boards are recommended to operate with 1.5V ram. Just try one ram stick at a time and see if the problem persists with both of them.

98C is very high temperature and can surely cause abrupt shutdowns or other things. Where did you learn about your CPU operating at that temp?

 

[tindleaj]

in the bios there is an option called hardware monitor, which showed my cpu temp at 98 degrees celsius