Asus P5KR: Setting the correct RAM speed for Kingston KHX5800D2K2/2G

[BassTee]

Hi all,

This is my first post here and I should add that I'm not really into overclocking per se so please bear with me. I just want to get the best out of my system while keeping the thing stable. What I need is a solid workhorse for audio recording and editing.

The story goes like this: Last year I got this machine from my father (who had previously used it for his video editing work). Asus P5KR with Core 2 Quad Q6600, 4GB RAM (Kingston KHX8500D2K2/2G), running Win7 x64. The thing appeared to be a little (...) unstable right from the start. Every two weeks or so it went belly up and I had to restore the system from the backup I made initially. After three of those inicdents I finally ran a diagnostics tool on the system disk and it turned out that the disk had suffered from a hardware failure. I replaced it and did a freh install. No more nerve wrecking crashes. So far so good. Trouble is that after one of the crahes the BIOS seemed to have lost its memory. The RAID wasn't recognized any longer, I've got the BIOS boot screen and all the rest. No problem, just a little adjustment in the BIOS and the RAID was back up and the BIOS boot screen gone.

But! It seems that the BIOS also lost the optimized RAM settings. All I can remember is that the jumperfree settings weren't all set to Auto before as they turned out to be after that particular crash. The problem is that I can no longer ask the guy who originally set up the system - which is why I landed here.

According to Asus the P5KR should be able to run DDR2 ram at 1066 MHz. I've got four sticks of Kingston KHX8500D2K2/2G which are again supposedly able to run at 1066 MHz but according to CPU-Z they seem to be running at 800 (identified as PC2-6400 at 400 MHz). I read through a few forums and manually (and very carefully - I was breaking a sweat) set the DRAM voltage to 2.1V, the DRAM frequency to 1066 MHz and the timing to 5-5-5-15. The rest I left at Auto for the time being.

Either I'm too dumb to read the values provided by CPU-Z correctly (absolutely an option) or the tweak simply didn't do what I was hoping for.

Now, to cut a long story short, here are the CPU-Z values for you to make some sense of them.

If you need more information beside the sparse bits I provided so far just let me know.

Thanks,
Mario

P.S. A strange thing: in the CPU tab the core speed usually hovers around 1603 MHz but sometimes - and very briefly - jumps to 2400 MHz and then back again...

 

[JLK03F150]

I'll start with the CPU clock speed. What you see is normal and it is called SpeedStep. The CPU multiplier will drop to 6 when your CPU is idle and jump to 9 when under load. It is an energy saving feature.

Your RAM is running at DDR-1066. You can see that on the Memory tab the DRAM Frequency is 534MHz. That is the base frequency you RAM is running. Double Date Rate (DDR) gives you an effective clock of DDR2-1066.

The SPD tab is information about your RAM with different tables for running different speeds. The JEDEC standard for DDR2 offically tops out at 400MHz (DDR2-800), anything higher is AMP, XMP or EPP (advanced or extreme memory profiles). Your AMP table seems to be screwed up. Does it look like that under all 4 slots? Here's a screen shot of my PC2-8000 memory, running at 400MHz (DDR2-800), but the EPP profile is intact.

 

[BassTee]

Thanks for your answers so far. Have to fess up that I didn't even notice the multiplier switching between 6 and 9 as I was so fixated on the core speed box.

The DRAM frequency was given with 534 Mhz even before I manually entered changed the BIOS settings (with the exception of the DRAM frequency itself, which I set to 1066 MHz before manually changing the other entries).

And yes, the AMP table looks exactly the same under all four slots. The only thing that changes is the serial number.

BTW: I can't see your screenshot for some reason. All I get is a generic TechIMO.com logo in GIF format.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I would use 1:1. And change the CR2032 battery then clear the CMOS.

 

[BassTee]

I just returned all BIOS settings to Auto (with the excpetion of the DRAM frequency, which I left at 1066 MHz) to see if I can see any difference in CPU-Z. All values are exactly the same with the exception of the tRas, which is now back at 16 clocks instead of 15.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I just returned all BIOS settings to Auto (with the excpetion of the DRAM frequency, which I left at 1066 MHz) to see if I can see any difference in CPU-Z. All values are exactly the same with the exception of the tRas, which is now back at 16 clocks instead of 15.

I would try 1:1 (The RAM set the same as the FSB). Especially before OC'ing.

If you're gonna OC, then I would disable C1E, EIST and C-states.

 

[BassTee]

Oops. I can see we're developing a habbit of overlapping posts. So you're thinking that the messed up AMP table might be caused by a weak battery and a skewed CMOS?

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Oops. I can see we're developing a habbit of overlapping posts. So you're thinking that the messed up AMP table might be caused by a weak battery and a skewed CMOS?

Nope. Looks like a RAM manufacturer F-up.

 

[BassTee]

So if the fault lies with Kingston why replace the battery and clear the cmos?

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

So if the fault lies with Kingston why replace the battery and clear the cmos?

That was a precaution. Just about a 3+ year old board, IIRC.

 

[BassTee]

Well, yes. I guess the system was assembled around 2008 judging by the BIOS version (0703, released 2008).

So if the AMP table is as messed up as it appears to be what does that actually mean? The BIOS post message tells me the RAM is running as DDR2 1064 in dual channel interleaved mode and CPU-Z reports the RAM to be running at 1066 Mhz. What I'm wondering about is that I've got these same messages even after bumping up the DRAM frequency to 1066 MHz while leaving the voltage at 1.8V, when, according to Kingston, the voltage needs to be set to 2.2v if you want the memory to run at 1066 MHz. As you so aptly noticed the AMP table doesn't list any reasonable values for the 2.2v mode. Sorry for being so finicky but this completely new territory for me.

 

[redduc900]

You can just disregard the info in the Max Bandwidth field of CPU-Z. Irregardless of what's shown under the AMP column of the SPD tab, those modules are rated for 5-5-5-15 at 2.2V and DDR2-1066, and 5-5-5-18 at 1.8V (the SPD is programmed to JEDEC standard latency 800Mhz at theses timings and voltage). CPU-Z doesn't have the capability of reading the current DRAM voltage, so just manually adjust the voltage to 2.2V in the BIOS. And like JLK03F150 already mentioned, the modules are currently running at their rated timings and frequency (534.5MHz x 2 = DDR2-1066 / PC2-8500; 1:2 FSB : DRAM ratio at a FSB of 266MHz).

 

[BassTee]

Ok, thanks for your concerted efforts.

One thing that first turned up two days ago and that's a little strange: When I press the power button it takes about 1-2 seconds before the computer comes alive. No strange post messages or anything and the system seems to be running rock solid.

 

[JLK03F150]

Do you get the double boot too? My Asus Rampage will start, then turn off for a sec, then start again.
I've just gotten used to it. lol

 

[BassTee]

No double boot, lucky me. It's just that there is that very brief pause after pressing the button.

 

[BassTee]

That short delay before power on disappears if I set the RAM frequency back to 800 MHz. Any ideas what that could be? Seems to be a normal thing for surprisingly many people to endure a (sometimes rather long) delay before the machine finally starts to boot.

 

[BassTee]

Is it possible to replace one 2GB kit (2x1GB) of my Kingston KHX8500D2K2/2G with a 4GB kit (2x2GB) of KHX8500D2K2/4G and keep the other kit? According to Kingston the specifications are the same with the exception of the tRFC (105ns on the 2 Gand 127.5ns on the 4G).

 

[redduc900]

Shouldn't be a problem, although mixing different modules can sometimes cause issues. Just make sure the modules are installed like such...

 

[BassTee]

Ok, thanks for your advice.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Shouldn't be a problem, although mixing different modules can sometimes cause issues. Just make sure the modules are installed like such...

At least for 333 Mhz, (DDR2 667) it would be stable for me on my Asus P5QL Pro board with the VDIMM set to "1.9V" in the BIOS.

(Otherwise it would freeze at the board logo.)
(Likely less for actual VDIMM, like the auto Vcore) (Auto Vcore on my P5QL Pro board tends to be 1.184V)