FX8150 Upgrade Questions.

Been a little bit since my last post, Got PCS'ed and Deployed.
Any way, Looking to Pick up a new CPU and double my Ram. The ram is the easy and cheep part. As I have a ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX Pushing a AMD 1090T ATM with a decent overclock. System is fully stable never had to many problems with it as of yet.
I understand that the FX 8150 supports 1866. Any foreseen problems going from 8 to 16 gigs of G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series DDR3 2133?
Lastly my water cooling is a stock XSPC Rasa RS360 full kit, I just upgraded the fans before I left. Will my water kit even handle this CPU? If so any over clocking potential?
I just want to make sure I'm thinking about everything before I order. As I'm not home yet but will be pritty soon.

Frag

IF that is the type kit you have and it performing like the one in the test, then I would say you may well be about 3 to 5 times better prepared to run an FX-8150, than 90% of the people who buy one.

You write >> Any foreseen problems going from 8 to 16 gigs of G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series DDR3 2133? = Are you asking if the board and 'any' FX-8150 will run the ram at speed of DDR2133? Or are you asking if DDR 2133 ram can be down-clocked to DDR1866 and run okay?

If you get that high speed ram I wouldn't run it at 2133. I would run it at 1866 and tighter timings. The FX CPUs handle 1866 just fine but I'm not sure the ICM (Integrated Memory Controller) is stout enough to be stable at 2133. Besides, there will be little or no performance gain to run the ram at a higher frequency. Benches show that beyone 1333 mhz there is precious little to be gained.

He will not have issues with most FX-8150 IMCs at DDR2133 and certainly should not on that excellent CHV motherboard with enough settings to take weeks to check out.

But there is a thing to consider. Maybe it is just E-penee.


Making A Case For High-Speed RAM
Does High-Speed DDR3 Help AMD's FX? Four 8 GB Kits, Reviewed
Note this testing was done in June of 2012 and not some far-off by gone time.

It would be advisable to read that testing for what it says and not what one hoped it might say. 6% more performance in WinRar testing is not a landmark increase.

There is another interesting caveat that he come across and one I have known for a long time after a year and half stint with a ram manufacturer. See if you see it when he says it. I have said many times that buying some high-speed ram and then running it at lower speed with tighter timings was not always the best route.

Good read for sure. Puts some pretty fast ram to the test on the FX-8150 that is rumored to like really fast ram over the earlier cpu types from AMD.

trents said:

If you get that high speed ram I wouldn't run it at 2133. I would run it at 1866 and tighter timings. The FX CPUs handle 1866 just fine but I'm not sure the ICM (Integrated Memory Controller) is stout enough to be stable at 2133. Besides, there will be little or no performance gain to run the ram at a higher frequency. Benches show that beyone 1333 mhz there is precious little to be gained.

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I don't agree. My benches show plenty of difference with each and every step higher in speed I go with RAM upgrades. More importantly, I see increases not only in overall fps in games, but also in faster load times and smoothness of gameplay- especially when scrolling and zooming- etc. One of the biggest improvements IMO with the FX over the Phenoms is the ability to run much faster memory, if you do not take advantage of that you are missing the boat. Memory speed, and especially overall data throughput defines the maximum speed any program (especially games) can run. The fact of the matter is that for anything to be "processed", data MUST go from your RAM to your CPU and back to your RAM again. I hear these "RAM speed don't matter" comments over and over, and they are simply not true. RAM speed does matter, it always has and always will. If you can't tell the difference or could care less about getting peak performance from your rig, then get whatever cheap slow RAM you want, but if you care then it is worthwhile to get the best RAM you can, especially at today's prices. Ditto for the guys who say "4 or 8 GB of RAM is plenty". It isn't. When I went from 8 to 16 GB the difference was amazing. With 8 Gb I could not run many games with Page File off without getting error messages or outright crashes. Now I can run with it off, and also I have increased all of my system caches to use the maximum amount they want. The result is snappier overall system performance and when doing things like Alt+Tabbing out of games to desktop the difference is amazing when you have a huge amount of RAM.

Fragment, I would get those 2133 Mhz sticks and tune them as tight as possible and get your NB up above 2600 and you will definitely see improved performance. I am not quite sure about whether you already have 8 GB of 2133 RAM , if you don't you may want to try Samsung 30 nm RAM. @ $47/8GB this stuff is the best value in performance RAM around. Ignore the loose timings that are listed, this stuff can be clocked very high. I am amazed at the performance of it. Get 16 Gb of Sammies for $94 and you will not regret it. If cost isn't an issue I would get the tightest 2133 speed RAM I could find, but expect to pay around double that $97/16 Gb to get anything that will outperform the Samsung WonderRAM.

Good input, Jagged_Steel. As we all know, benchmarks (especially the synthetic kind) often do not reflect real world performance. As I think about it, I believe I feel just a tad more snappines in loading programs when going from 1333 to 1600 on my own systems. I don't game so I can't speak to the fps question. I also doubt that Tom's hardware (ref. the link from RGone above) took the trouble to overclock the CPUNB like most of us do which may factor in to this question.

Well that's always great to hear. At the moment my ram is only clocked to 1333 I could never get the system stable with anything higher. Didn't bother me as it was still smoking fast. I'm thinking of dropping my 1090TBE to the wifes computer giving the server her 1045. Good to know Ill be able to get even high clock rates out of my ram now too.
Still kinda worried about my water setup. Right now I get 30C on it only a few up from room temp. Under full load get right at 47C There totaly some buffer room. Do the FX processors still recommend nothing about 50C for longevity?

Thank for the help.

Sweet Feedback Jagged, Its comments like this why I love the forums here. I already have G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) I was just cruising Newegg and came across them again. For that price its truly hard for me to say I cant afford to goto 16gb. If the ram your suggesting is really that great I cant see why I shouldn't dive in for that price. I could always use that ram in another build.
Guess it was a rather sweet deal for me to get that Mobo in the end. Gonna be nice upgrading half the house =-D

50c is fine. That would be way high if your talking about idle speeds, but if you are that high during use (Gaming) that is ok. Right now I am running this FX-4170 @ 4.86 Ghz on the little stock cooler that came with it, and it does just fine. I get up in the 50's during gameplay and everything is ok. I am rather impressed with it after hearing all of the griping about how bad the stock coolers were for FX's before I got it. It is a bit loud when it goes full speed, but it only does that when I stress test. I have been doing hardcore gaming for a month now with this thing clocked to the moon and I have yet to see it hit 60c in actual usage.i have tested and the temperature where I start seeing errors with this CPU is around 75c. If I "put a brick on the accelerator and go to the bar", such as running Prime95, it gets up to 70+ pretty quick, so I just have not done much in the way of official "stress testing" at high OC's. This is going to change soon though, I have a nice new Thermaltake W2 PRO fatboy watercooler sitting on the desk, along with a new case. I am waiting on a CHV that I ordered from Geeks. I am leery of refurbished stuff (like everybody), but I figure this line of mobos has been out for a year now, and they have had plenty of time to get a good process down to identify the boards that have been RMA'd due to PEBKAC or buyers remorse, and know how to fix any RMA'd boards that actually have something wrong with them so I have high hopes that the full retail package $149 CHV I have on the way will be fine.

By the time you get back stateside I should have my FX/CHV setup properly tuned, so I might be able to give you something in the way of useful advice when you get to put yours together Fragment.

Just pressed order =-D another kit of ram and the CPU. Guess I know how the first weekend will be. Ill have to take a few days and take some pics, I never got to finish my build log since I was rushed over so fast. Would be time to clean the water loop any way.
BTW RGone that article made be go the the ram I already have, One I have half of what I need already, 2 its usability.
Thanks for the help as always gents.

That recommended max operating temperature for a 8150 is 61C.

Like Jagged said as well, I see plenty of improvement during any use of my computer with higher ram speeds. 2133 will be accepted by the 8150.

Also, you said you couldnt get your ram passed 1333 with the 1090T, that is because it only accepts up to 1333. In some cases, you can get up to 1600 but it has to be overclocked, you cannot set it to 1600 with stock fsb.

The 8150 is good chip, but have you ever thought about waiting a few months for PD?

BTW RGone that article made be go the the ram I already have, One I have half of what I need already, 2 its usability = Good deal man and hope you get on home soon to play. RGone...ster.

The 1090T should go 1600 because it's a Thuban. The Denebs generally would not but the Thubans usually will. Since the 1600 setting is usually "XMT" on ram rated for 1600mhz, it's voltages and timings will have to be manually configured on a lot of motherboards.

Oh I could never get my16gb 1600mhz kit to ever work at 1600mhz even with only using 8gb. Maybe it was my ram. Didnt know much about OCing back then but from what I understood, it had to be oc'd to get to 1600

It was fine at lower CPU clocks but once I got to 4.2 I just could not get the ram passed 1333. Id dosent help that the Crosshair V has endless bios settings and fine tuning truly took me days. Not to mention this was the first complete build I did for pure performance. Good thing I have all of post deployment leave to get things right.

Fragment85 said:

It was fine at lower CPU clocks but once I got to 4.2 I just could not get the ram passed 1333. Id dosent help that the Crosshair V has endless bios settings and fine tuning truly took me days. Not to mention this was the first complete build I did for pure performance. Good thing I have all of post deployment leave to get things right.

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Now that you mention it, as I think back... That's how it was for me, at stock cpu speeds I could obtain 1600mhz but as i got close to 4.0 and then to my final oc of 4.2-4.3 I couldnt get higher than 1333. But even at 1333 that system ran great.

The fx chips love memory, the higher the better to an extent. I would get a 2133mhz kit and you can adjust speeds up or down as needed to find your sweet spot in performance.

The highest memory speed I managed to get with a Phenom was just shy of 2000 with these $47/8GB "1600 Mhz 11-11-11" Samsungs.



For comparison here is what I could wring out of a set of Corsair XMP "2000 Mhz 9-9-9" which cost me ~$80/4GB last summer:



And here is what that same Samsung 30 nm will do on an FX, now 16 GB too:



And I can run up above 2000 too. My very best throughput I have been able to find is at the 1890 Mhz 8-9-9 settings. This is just a hair lower.



When my CHV gets here in a couple of days I think I can squeeze a little more out of the Sams. We shall see. I don't see any problem for you to run that 2133 Mhz RAM you are getting up above 2000 Mhz wuth an FX-8150. It can take some time to dial in the right bus/memory speed/ NB speed combo to get your memory to really sing in harmony but it is well worth it.

Sweet speeds man. Those are some crazy number compared to what I can remember.
Now that the Formula V has been out a bit I'm sure I can find some good examples of what I should start with. That bios just overwhelms the crap out of me.

Fragment85 said:

Sweet speeds man. Those are some crazy number compared to what I can remember.
Now that the Formula V has been out a bit I'm sure I can find some good examples of what I should start with. That bios just overwhelms the crap out of me.

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I here ya on the CHV being intimidating. I am well acquainted with the ASUS UEFI now after running this 970 for a year, so I hope I can make the transition smoothly. There are so many features though that I know I will be experimenting and finding stuff out for months probably. I will post my progress here after I get it setup in few days, maybe you can learn from my fumblings.

Hoping to see the brown truck Monday.

I would recommend loading the latest bios ( 1503 ) on the CH V with the 1090T and a bare minimum setup in it before you mount the 8150 and really start to set your system up, that way you'll have the latest and greatest foundation to work with.