Need help making sure my RAM is performing at its best potential

[vertigoelectric]

Back in 2011 I rebuilt my PC and installed this RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231449

Both that page and the sticker on the RAM sticks themselves it says "DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)". However, I'm not getting those results in CPU-Z or Speccy... or my BIOS, for that matter. CPU-Z and Speccy report that my RAM is PC3 12800 (not 17000), and in my BIOS and the BIOS POST messages, it says I'm running DDR3 1600 (not 2133).

I'm currently running the following motherboard and cpu:

• 
  MSI 890FXA-GD70 (MS-7640)
  AMD Phenom II X4 955 (Black) / Deneb 45nm Technology

I was told recently that the CPU I have won't recognize the RAM's full potential out of the box and that I needed to "tell it to". I was instructed to go into the BIOS and manually set the RAM timings to the 'advertised' timings. However, when I went into BIOS to do this, I found that the timings are already set to the correct values with one exception. The advertised timings for the RAM is 9-11-9-28. My BIOS had them set at 9-9-9-28. Everywhere I read about timings, I read that lower values are better, so even if that single timing value is set a little lower than the advertised value, would that be the cause of BIOS and hardware apps reporting the wrong speed/bandwidth?

What can I do to get the most out of my RAM? Would anybody mind working with me through the process? I'd really appreciate it. Thank you!

Additionally, is there any way to test to see what speed/bandwidth the RAM is actually performing at? Would memtest86 tell me this?

EDIT: Someone suggested I manually change the FSB/DRAM Ratio....

I adjusted the FSB/DRAM Ratio from AUTO to 1:4, however the results were the same. Apparently AUTO was already giving it a 1:4 ratio.

I did some more research on my motherboard and it seems that 2133 RAM is supported, but only when overclocked. If you take a look at the product page on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274R You'll see that the "Memory Standard" is listed as "DDR3 2133 (O.C.) / 1800 (O.C.) / 1600 (O.C.) / 1333 / 1066".

I've never been too crazy about wanted to OC my system, but I DO want to at least make full use of the RAM speed I paid for... so if anybody could help guide me through the steps to do whatever overclocking or adjusting I need to do in order to use that RAM, I'd greatly appreciate it. Obviously I realize that we've already started working through it, and I appreciate that. I'd like to continue, though, if there's anything else we can try.

Just tell me what other information you need from me.

Thank you so much.

 

[thomann061]

the highest speed ram will set to is 1600mhz without overclocking your system. if you want to "try" to achieve 2133mhz, you would need to overclock the cpu first, and then the ram. if you are willing to do this you would need to post your system specs. Only then could I determine if you could reach such a speed based on the rest of your hardware. if you don't want to overclock, 1600mhz is still super great!

edit: was not signed in, so did not see rest of post.... in cpu-z, it should say your memory is performing at 800mhz, which is normal.

good way to overclock without manually adjusting voltage:

go into "cell menu"

disable amd cool n quiet (power saving technology)

bring the dram ratio down all the way making sure you'll be running your memory at the lowest speed (yes lowest)

reboot go back into bios

bring the cpu-nb ratio up 10 (probably to 210 in your case)

reboot, back into bios

raise that as high as you can until overclocking fails (increments of 10)

typically around 3.75 ghz to 4 ghz can be reached on a stock cpu cooler ( the higher speed of the cpu, the faster youll be able run your memory)

when you found the maximum speed you're cpu will run, you can start raising the memory speed

go into bios and raise the ratio one step at a time (youll notice you can reach higher dram speeds)

typically if you cannot reach the highest dram speed, you have to go back and lower the cpu-nb ratio

its a trial and error process so play around with it

after you have a "successful boot", you'll have to run prime95 to test if your system is stable. typically one hour is enough, but it depends on how long you leave your system running for.



cheers

 

[ericjohn004]

All you gotta do is open CPUZ. If it says you RAM is running at 1066-1067 then your at the right speed. Also use Memtest to test it out. You should have scores in the 20-25000 range as far as Mb/s.

You do NOT have to overclock your CPU to have your RAM run at 2133mhz. I don't know where the above poster got that from.

Doesn't your RAM have an XMP profile for you to use? It should. You should just have to go into the BIOS and select XMP Profile 1. And that should set it to the correct settings.

Going from 1600-2133mhz gives you about a 3-5% boost in overall CPU performance. I know because I just bought some G. Skill Ares 2133mhz RAM.

 

[thomann061]

I based that on the motherboards specs. It says that at 2133 the ram would need to be overclocked

 

[vertigoelectric]

All you gotta do is open CPUZ. If it says you RAM is running at 1066-1067 then your at the right speed. Also use Memtest to test it out. You should have scores in the 20-25000 range as far as Mb/s.

You do NOT have to overclock your CPU to have your RAM run at 2133mhz. I don't know where the above poster got that from.

Doesn't your RAM have an XMP profile for you to use? It should. You should just have to go into the BIOS and select XMP Profile 1. And that should set it to the correct settings.

Going from 1600-2133mhz gives you about a 3-5% boost in overall CPU performance. I know because I just bought some G. Skill Ares 2133mhz RAM.

thomann061 is right. The specs for the motherboard list the memory standard as:

DDR3 2133 (O.C.) / 1800 (O.C.) / 1600 (O.C.) / 1333 / 1066

...and actually right as I pasted that is the first time I realized that it also shows 1600 as needing an overclock, yet I'm running at 1600 and I don't recall doing any overclocking.

Anyway, yes I did see the XMP profile in the BIOS under the specific RAM module information. However, it was just informational. I did see in there under XMP that the RAM is 2133, but I didn't see anywhere in the BIOS where I could "select" the XMP profile. Although I do think I know one way I might try that I didn't think of before.

I will try it out.

thomann061, I'm gonna print out your instructions and if the XMP thing doesn't do anything I'll try your instructions. Either way, I'll be back to share results.

I do need to ask, though... is that 3%-5% boost in performance worth all the trouble? I want to buy more RAM and even though I'd really like the fastest option, I can save quite a bit of cash if I go buy 1600 RAM instead of 2133 RAM I have to overclock for. You say 1600 is still super great, and so far it seems to have been fine for me for the past couple of years, although I feel I can do better.

Well, tell me this. I do understand essentially how RAM works, but what types of performance changes should I see when increasing RAM capacity vs increasing RAM speed? If I had to choose between the two (for example, 16gb of 1600 RAM or 8gb of 2133 RAM), would one option give me better overall performance?


UPDATE: in response to this:

after you have a "successful boot", you'll have to run prime95 to test if your system is stable. typically one hour is enough, but it depends on how long you leave your system running for.

Just to let you know, I leave my computer on all the time. I reboot it at least once every few days (usually daily), but I always leave it on if I can.


Another update:
Before rebooting to try the XMP idea, I did a bit of research on it to see if there were any specific instructions on how to use it. Unfortunately, it seems that XMP is an Intel thing that is only for use with Intel setups. Since my processor is AMD, I don't believe it will work.