DDR3 1600 w/ i7: Clocking issues?

Mill · Mar 5, 2009

I just bought an i7 with 3x2gb DDR3 1600:

ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365
cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

I was warned that I might have trouble clocking the RAM up to speed because of the locked multipliers on the CPU. I did some research and found this:

http://forums.techarena.in/overclocking-computer-modification/1100397.htm

My intent is to clock my RAM up to default (1600) without overclocking my CPU very much/at all. Is the best way to accomplish this through the 'Ram' multiplier?

Are his analogies correct in that BCLK = FSB, QPI = CPU Multiplier, and RAM = Memory divider? Do I need to worry about Uncore at all?

What is the best way to go about clocking the RAM up to speed without a big processor overclock? It seems like dividers are totally mandatory due to the low BCLK and high multipliers on the CPU.

If these questions have already been answered, I'm sorry, but I looked around as best I could

Phoenix87 · Mar 6, 2009

Easiest way to get your memory running at 1600mhz is to just put the BLCK at 160 and the multiplier at 10. With a BLCK of 160 your CPU should be around 3.2 or 3.3ghz, which the stock hsf and voltages can more than handle.

Evilsizer · Mar 7, 2009

uncore is for QPI that is what is the new buss for carring information from NB to cpu.

as already said up the QPI and use 10x multi on the ram. that will get it to stock speeds, if your worried about the cpu. you need to lower the cpu multi to either get it at stock/just above/just below.

this is a better read imo
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-920-overclocking_2.html

Mill · Mar 9, 2009

Thanks guys. I read this post after I received and built the computer. What I ended up doing was increasing the memory divider so that it was at 1600 with the default QPI. Will a big divider like this lower the performance on my RAM?

Evilsizer said:
uncore is for QPI that is what is the new buss for carring information from NB to cpu.

as already said up the QPI and use 10x multi on the ram. that will get it to stock speeds, if your worried about the cpu. you need to lower the cpu multi to either get it at stock/just above/just below.

this is a better read imo
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-920-overclocking_2.html

Thanks for the link. When you said use 10x multi on the RAM, did you mean processor?

Evilsizer · Mar 9, 2009

well since i dont have my i7 board, i was going by what is in that link. actually the highest multi for the ram is 8x and lowerest being 6x. making 6x133.33=DDR3-800 or 8x133.33=DDR3-1066.

no performance will not be lowered at all with a higher multi...

Badbonji · Mar 10, 2009

How about trying 8x memory multi, 200bclk (may work with cpu voltage tweaks) and that will give you 1600mhz, as for the multiplier, 20x (19x with turbo) will give you 4ghz, nice overclock which most i7's reach if not try 18 etc. What cpu cooler do you have?

Mill · Mar 10, 2009

Badbonji said:
How about trying 8x memory multi, 200bclk (may work with cpu voltage tweaks) and that will give you 1600mhz, as for the multiplier, 20x (19x with turbo) will give you 4ghz, nice overclock which most i7's reach if not try 18 etc. What cpu cooler do you have?

I'm using the stock cooler unfortunately.

If my RAM isn't going to perform any worse with a high multiplier, what is the benefit of changing from 133x21 (~2.8ghz) with a 12x RAM multiplier (1600mhz) to a setup with lower multipliers and a higher BCLK?

edit: I've been hesitant to OC this thing right now because frankly, I don't see a huge reason to - it is ridiculously fast as-is. I guess there's no harm in a moderate OC. Maybe bump the processor up to 160x21 (3.36ghz), and drop the RAM multiplier down to 10x (1600mhz)?

Badbonji · Mar 11, 2009

I thought the max memory multiplier was 8x or something that you could set, can you see a 12x or 10x in the bios?

mgoode · Mar 11, 2009

The evga and my bloodrage have 16x multi's for the ram.

Mill · Mar 11, 2009

Badbonji said:
I thought the max memory multiplier was 8x or something that you could set, can you see a 12x or 10x in the bios?

Yeah, it can go up to 16x I think.

Charr · Mar 11, 2009

My 920 and P6T Deluxe supports at least 12x on the RAM. With stock everything, I can set it to 1600.

Badbonji · Mar 11, 2009

The UD4P I have only allows up to 8x on a 940 ES, why do they all allow different multi's??? I only use a 10x on my G.Skill + Gigabyte extreme for 1740mhz...

Mill · Mar 11, 2009

So I tried a different OC setup last night and it sorta failed.

160 BCLK
20x CPU multiplier
10x RAM multiplier

Should have given me 3.2ghz CPU, 1600MHz RAM. When I did this setup, I never saw any video... just a black screen. I couldn't even get back in to BIOS, had to clear my CMOS.

I dropped the BCLK down to 150, same problem. Any ideas?

Evilsizer · Mar 11, 2009

either ram timings or you need more voltage to something...

Deanzo · Mar 11, 2009

@ Mill, what board are you using ?

@ Badbonji, The UD4P has the higher mem multi's as well, not sure why it's not working for you.

Badbonji · Mar 11, 2009

Make sure memory voltage is correct, or try up to 1.65V with manually entering timings. It looks to be the CPU or the memory causing issues, list of voltages used would be nice

Mill · Mar 12, 2009

Deanzo said:
@ Mill, what board are you using ?

EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

Make sure memory voltage is correct, or try up to 1.65V with manually entering timings. It looks to be the CPU or the memory causing issues, list of voltages used would be nice

I'm almost positive the problem is my RAM, here's what I tried:

BCLK: 160
Multiplier: 20
vCore: Various values ranging from ~1.2 to 1.35

RAM Voltage: 1.65, 1.7, 1.75
Multiplier: 10
Timings: 8-8-8-24 (default)

No video when I tried this. I dropped the memory multiplier down to 6x, and it booted just fine. I even upped the BCLK to 175 and kept the memory multiplier at 6x, and it still booted.

For some reason, it boots just fine in the following settings:

CPU: 142x21, 1.25v
RAM: 12x, 1.65v, 8-8-8-24

So there, the RAM is over 1700mhz, but it boots just fine. Something about having the BCLK set to a higher value is making it fail. But if I drop the RAM multiplier to a really low value, it boots just fine, so it must not be the CPU. I'm totally confused as to why this is happening, any ideas?

Badbonji · Mar 13, 2009

No idea, looks like some sort of wall like my 780i had with cpu FSB, where it didn't like booting at a certain FSB but either side of that worked : \
At least you got it highger than rated speed, just be happy

mgoode · Mar 13, 2009

Mill said:
EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

I'm almost positive the problem is my RAM, here's what I tried:

BCLK: 160
Multiplier: 20
vCore: Various values ranging from ~1.2 to 1.35

RAM Voltage: 1.65, 1.7, 1.75
Multiplier: 10
Timings: 8-8-8-24 (default)

No video when I tried this. I dropped the memory multiplier down to 6x, and it booted just fine. I even upped the BCLK to 175 and kept the memory multiplier at 6x, and it still booted.

For some reason, it boots just fine in the following settings:

CPU: 142x21, 1.25v
RAM: 12x, 1.65v, 8-8-8-24

So there, the RAM is over 1700mhz, but it boots just fine. Something about having the BCLK set to a higher value is making it fail. But if I drop the RAM multiplier to a really low value, it boots just fine, so it must not be the CPU. I'm totally confused as to why this is happening, any ideas?

I have this board as well try upping your cpu vtt and qpi pll vcore.

Start with these settings fornm the EVGA forums:

Mill · Mar 13, 2009

thanks to everyone for the help, I'll try those settings later today I suppose.

DDR3 1600 w/ i7: Clocking issues?

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