Memory Support Quick Question [Hopefully]

[N3K0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Phenom_microprocessors

Memory support: DDR2 SDRAM up to PC2-8500, DDR3 SDRAM up to PC3-10600 (Socket AM3 only)

I have a AMD Phenom II X2 w/ 8GB of Patriot PC3-12800 - 1600 MHz - 7-7-7-20 RAM

Does that mean that the memory I have installed in my system is not supported, and that is should not be working. Or does it mean that it is not able to use it to it's full potential

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[EarthDog]

You can go to the MSI website and find out! But a quick glance at newegg for your board shows its supports DDR3 1600Mhz, which you have. You likely have to run a multiplier to get there.

[jason4207]

If you're OCing you can ignore that. And if your mobo doesn't support OCing it will just run the RAM at a slower speed.

[velozzity]

What it means is officially AMD only supports (as in formally recommends) 1333mhz as top speed, not that It will not work but alot of people seem to be having issue with getting 1600mhz to work at memorys rated timings. Seems their are equal performance gains from running memory at 1333 with 1t command rate and cas 6 or lower latency, and upping cpu-nb speed (memory controller) to 2400-2600.

Try lowering timings to 6-6-6-20 1t command rate and if you are multi overclocking raise nb-cpu up to 2600 mhz by setting nb multi to 13 (if you still have ht clock at 200) also try to set cpu-nb voltage to 1.3-1.35v (check hardware monitor in bios after setting and rebooting to verify actual voltage set, my board which is big brother to yours overvolts the cpu-nb by .02v)

Whether 1600mhz is official or not, you are close to guaranteed to not be able to use 8gb of 1600mhz at 1600, Phenom II memory controller is just not that strong.

[N3K0]

its says that overclokcing it supports 1600 MHz, but if I am not planning on it should I just switch to 1333 MHz aka 10666.

$20~ Difference. I can still return and get the different set. I do not plan on OC so that seems like a better way to do things.

Any opinions?

[velozzity]

just out of curiosity do you really run apps that need all 8gb, that is the key to stability possibly by losing 4 of those 8 gb. Also If you want to stay with 8gb, get or keep whatever ram can do tightest timings, if you are forced to be at 1333 it's better to be cas6 than cas 7 obviously and also at 1t command rate.

[jason4207]

I would keep what you got and run it slower w/ tighter timings.

[N3K0]

how difficult is it do change the timings on them?

[EarthDog]

It is settings in the bios. Quite easy.

[N3K0]

what should I search to get some help on it?

[N3K0]

Would the setting to change be

FSB/DRAM Ratio

Currently it is set at [Auto] w/ Adjusted DRAM Freq (MHz) is 1066

But if I were to change it to [1:3.33] the Adjusted DRAM Freq would be 1333.

Which is the max that my MOBO says it supports without OC. Confirmation from anyone would be much appreciated.

[EarthDog]

Im not certain, sorry. But you can go to the MSI website and find out.

That is part of it. The other are the memory timings. Please read: http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=286070

[jason4207]

Yes, change it to 1333, and if there is a higher setting try that as well. Sometimes newer BIOS's will give you new options that weren't originally supported. Make sure to give the RAM it's spec'd voltage manually as well.

Post up a CPU-Z screenshot showing the memory tab and the SPD tab, and we can tell you how to set the timings for tighter operation at 1333. It'll probably be something like 6-6-6-18.

And then if you want to tweak it out for even tighter timings you can use a little extra RAM voltage and do a lot of testing to ensure it's stable. It doesn't sound like you want to do that, though.

[velozzity]

n3ko me and you have similar board (both msi) and should have similar bios, I will go into bios and look exactly how the menus are worded and report back in a little while as to what exactly to change to get your timings set up. Also what exact set of memory do you have so I can look that up and see recommended settings unless you already know what timings they should be manually set at.

[velozzity]

I know this is probably not the manufacturer of the ram you have, but if you go to this link and scroll down to where it says motherboard 790fx-gd70 it http://www.patriotmemory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1266 has screenshots of my motherboard which should have a similar bios setup as yours.

Notice the section that says fsb/dram ratio: play around with that till you see adjusted dram frequency at 1066 or if your ram is 1333 till it reads 1333. also above that is a menu that says advanced DRAM configuration, enter that and you will see the timings as shown in the pics. Whatever your memory timings are you can just substitute those for the 7-7-7-20 shown (notice the names of settings that correspond to the 7-7-7-20, they are cas latency, trcd, trp, and tras. try setting those to 6-6-6-20, your ram will probably do it at 1066, if not you can raise it back to 7-7-7-20

[N3K0]

Would just returning the ram for 1333 be sufficient?

here is a CPU-Z ss validation link just to show.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=642737

[8GB] RAM is Patriot Memory Extreme Performance - Low Latency - Viper Series - PC3-12800 - 1600MHz - 4GB (2x2GB) Kit - 7-7-7-20 - DDR3

[velozzity]

n3ko,

I actually owned the exact set of memory you are speaking about, they are 1.9v spec right, with silver heatspread (like a powder coated silver with shiny ddr3 on one side and patriot on the other).

I actually got mine to work at 1550 with 1.9v and 1600 with 1.96v but patriot ben (at patriot forums) advised me against using more than 1.92 saying it was'nt good for the integrated memory control, with that said I would actually keep the memory you have if you feel it is not defective, and try running 6-6-6 at 1333 1t timing. I believe that ram that is rated 1600 mhz will actually run tighter timings at 1333 than ram that is actually 1333mhz plus if later a bios revision helps out on memory compatibility you might see 1600. However no dont return the memory, just look at the link I showed you and substitute the 7-7-7 for 6-6-6, also scroll down till you see clock rate and set it to 1t.

You do know how to set memory manually to 1333 right, you will have to move the setting which says fsb/ram ratio off of auto and set it to 3.33 and you should be good to go at 1333.

[N3K0]

So would changing the FSB/DRAM Ratio to make the Adjusted DRAM Freq 1333 MHZ be sufficient, or would I also need to change the 1t/2t Memory timings and or the voltages.

Thanks alot to everyone's help so far.

Also are there any stability tests that you personally would recommend. Not sure which to choose on list for the post.

[velozzity]

Yes, just change the fsb to memory ratio to get to 1333 and if you followed the links i gave you on the patriot site It shows the bios of my board which should be similar as yours, change the first 3 to 6-6-6 instead of 7-7-7 and leave everything else on auto for the time being. also set command rate to 1t, that will yield you a bit more performance.

Also did you try setting the cpu-nb to 2400 or 2600, you may need to up the cpu-nb voltage to 1.25-1.35 range. try 2400 first not sure how stable it will run at 2600 with 8gb of ram. Also you can download prime 95 here http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/ to test total system stability by running blend. If your memory is way out of wack it should fail instantly. also you need to let it run like 12+ hours to be considered a really stable overclock with more like 16-24 hours preferred. Once you get it stable with prime 95 it does'nt hurt to try a different test because each test stresses system differently, try this also it's called linX http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=201670 and is the same program just different interface to Intel Burn Test. Last but not least is Memtest which can be downloaded here http://www.memtest.org,/ (http://www.memtest.org/) but you will have to burn this iso to a disc and set you bios to allow your dvd drive to be first boot option, memtest will boot up and start testing memory automatically. Let it run for like 10 passes or longer if you like but 10 will give you a good feeling of its stability, however memtest does not test the cpu overclock if you choose to go that route, it is exclusively for memory.