RAM at normal speeds giving instability

[themissingpiece]

A few months ago I bought 16GB Patriot G Series Sector 5 DDR3/1600 (http://patriotmemory.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=5&catid=34&prodgroupid=200&id=956&type=1). I paired it up with my Intel Corei5 2500k, a GIGABYTE GA Z68A-D3H-B3 (http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3976#ov), a Hitachi 2TB Hard Drive (5900rpm) and an EVGA GTX 460 SE. All of this is enclosed in a HAF 912 case with three extra fans. The build went great, except there's one problem: I checked my RAM, and it was only rated at 1066Mhz. I tried bringing it back up to 1600Mhz at the recommended timings, but it gave system instability (BSODs, etc). I even tried bringing it up to a mild 1333Mhz, but no luck. What's wrong?

 

[lowjack989]

Is this RAM 1.65v? I just built an i7 rig with the same issue using 1.65v RAM it defaulted the RAM to 1.55v at 1066 MHz...I had to replace my RAM modules with 1600 @ 1.5v RAM sticks..This fixed my issue...Intel chips are super picky about RAM

 

[abekl]

It does sound like a ram voltage issue.

 

[jrwizbang]

Try flashing your bios if it comes down to it.

 

[themissingpiece]

Is this RAM 1.65v? I just built an i7 rig with the same issue using 1.65v RAM it defaulted the RAM to 1.55v at 1066 MHz...I had to replace my RAM modules with 1600 @ 1.5v RAM sticks..This fixed my issue...Intel chips are super picky about RAM

Yeah, it needs 1.65 volts to run at 1600... What do I do? Do I have to replace the RAM? I tried tweaking the voltages to my advantage, but that didn't work.

 

[lowjack989]

Changing my RAM stick to lower voltage modules worked for me

 

[alexdh01]

My board isn't the same but I had to enable Intel XMP Profile, in order to get my RAM running at 1600mhz. Look around for that option in your BIOS.

 

[themissingpiece]

My board isn't the same but I had to enable Intel XMP Profile, in order to get my RAM running at 1600mhz. Look around for that option in your BIOS.

I tried XMP. Didn't work, either.

 

[lowjack989]

Its the voltage of the RAM...I am sure of it..

 

[themissingpiece]

Best answer selected by themissingpiece.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr