How to tune RAMs to have them more stable

[Neuroxerus]

Hi everyone,

first of all, I am sorry if this question is stupid, but I am completely new at overclocking. I have 8GB kit (2x4GB) of Corsair Vengeance (CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9B). Recently I have got another two sticks from friend of mine - one stick is the same as I already have and another is single 8GB stick (also Corsair Vengeance - CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10B). Since I added those two I was able to run my OS quite stable, but when I play games they will crash after 15 minutes or so. I have tried MemTest64 and let it run during the night (around 8 hrs or so). I have got 1 pass and insane number of errors - see the picture.

I am aware that it is not recommended combining different RAMs and it would be best, if I had 4x4GB of CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9B. Anyway, I am curious, if there is something I can tweak which would helped me to have more stable memory without any problems when I play PC games. And if you have any tips for good overclocking guides (both RAM and CPU - mine is i7 2600K), I will be glad if you post some links.

Here is my system setup, since I believe it matters when it comes to overclocking:
Motherboard - P67A-UD4-B3 (0x0000029A - 0x54D4DE30)
CPU - i7 2600K
GPU - GeForce 970 GTX
RAM - 2x4 GB Corsair Vengeance (CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9B)

Thanks in advance for any helpful posts and replies.

 

[Neuroxerus]

Beginner need help - combining 3x4GB + 8GB RAM

Greetings to everyone,

recently I have got 2 RAM sticks from friend of mine. I had 8GB kit (2x4 GB of Corsair Vengeance). One of the sticks I've got is the same as those in my kit. The second one is Corsair Vengeance 8GB. I have tried to add them both in my motherboard (GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3). System booted just fine, but I've experienced 3 crashes while playing game (For Honor). I've decided to try some memory tests and since I am complete beginner in overclocking and so, I chose MemTest86. I have left testing during the night (8 hrs or so) and when I woke up, I have seen insane number of errors (see the screenshot here).

After finding this issue I have decided to remove 8GB stick from my motherboard (therefore I have 3x4GB) and run some tests again, which were successful. Is there any way how to get 8GB stick working with the rest? I am aware that it is recommended to use identical memory sticks, but even with this knowledge I am asking for any advice which may be helpful to my issue. I am not sure what information I should provide about my system, so if anything is missing, just let me know.

Anyway, I find overclocking quite tempting and interesting, so if you have any advice where to start as complete beginner regarding CPU, RAM and GPU overclocking (or anything else), I will be grateful for any links, tips and so on.

Thank you in advance for any reply!

PS: I've tried to submit this thread once before 2 hours, but I did not see it there at all, so if I just made second identical thread, please accept my apologize.

My system:
Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3
CPU - Intel i7 2600K
GPU - Nvidia GeForce GTX 970

 

[Lochekey]

Unless you absolutely need the extra 8GB it will be more of a pita and cause more problems trying to make that work than it is worth.

 

[Blaylock]

Running at 12GBs should be more than enough ram for 'For Honor'. What issues are you having that dictate the need for the extra odd 8GB's? Is this just to try and use it? As Lochekey mentioned mixing different rams (especially of different speeds) will be more hassle than it will be worth.

 

[wingman99]

If your running default memory speed the motherboard should train and set all the memory to the lowest timings and speed of the 4 memory sticks. Did you use XMP for overclocking the memory? Show a CPU-Z screenshot of Memory and all 4 slot SPD.

 

[EarthDog]

Assuming you used XMP to raise the memory to its rated speeds, I would add a bit more voltage on the RAM. If its at 1.35, give it 1.375 and see if that helps. If it does not, consider adding System Agent voltage (.1V).

 

[Neuroxerus]

Unless you absolutely need the extra 8GB it will be more of a pita and cause more problems trying to make that work than it is worth.

In fact I really do not need that extra 8GB of RAM, 12GB is more than enough for games I play. Although I would like to dive deeper into this things like overclocking and so, so I was curious if there is a way how to make it work. Thanks for reply.

Running at 12GBs should be more than enough ram for 'For Honor'. What issues are you having that dictate the need for the extra odd 8GB's? Is this just to try and use it? As Lochekey mentioned mixing different rams (especially of different speeds) will be more hassle than it will be worth.

Yes, it is just for try, like I mentioned above, I would like to know something more about this and become able to understand what should I do in this case or how to overclock that 12GB...If you have any tips for useful guides considering RAM and CPU overclocking, I will be grateful. I feel quite overwhelmed about all those guides I found and I am not sure if they are relevant or not.

 

[Neuroxerus]

If your running default memory speed the motherboard should train and set all the memory to the lowest timings and speed of the 4 memory sticks. Did you use XMP for overclocking the memory? Show a CPU-Z screenshot of Memory and all 4 slot SPD.

I am quite sure I am running default memory speed and I checked BIOS and it seems that XMP is disabled. Screenshot you asked is here.

Assuming you used XMP to raise the memory to its rated speeds, I would add a bit more voltage on the RAM. If its at 1.35, give it 1.375 and see if that helps. If it does not, consider adding System Agent voltage (.1V).

As I mentioned above, I have not used XMP. How much risk I take by adding more voltage on the RAM? I would not be happy if I burned them since I do not know which is the max value of voltage I can add. Is adding more voltage also means shortening their lifespan, isn't it?

Thank both of you for your replies.

 

[Blaylock]

OK, so I would recommend not using the odd ram and we might be able to help you get a good stable overclock. A few more questions before we get started...

1. What cooler are you using to keep temps down on your CPU? This is essential for a good OC.

2. Have you read through this guide? If not, do so. There is terminology in there that is critical to setting a stable overclock, keep it handy.

Post a screen shot of your current OC so we can see where your OC currently sits. Use CPU-Z(free) and show the CPU, Memory, and SPD tabs. Also, while you're downloading files grab HWMonitor so you can monitor and post temps and voltages.

This is why we don't make duplicate threads.

 

[EarthDog]

Merged duplicate threads. This is really all about getting your ram stable.

 

[Lochekey]

Looking at what you have going on you basically have 2 options in my opinion.

1. Continue to try to run with the mixed sticks of RAM for an increase in overall amount of ram. If doing this your focus should be getting your system stable at stockspeeds and times for now.

2. Would be to ditch the 8GB stick and work on the remaining 3. To start with overclocking them at that point enable XMP and see how the system runs. If you want to try to push further than that then you will need to be specific about your goals do we can find you. Such as max stable ram speed versus max attainable speed just to see how far you can go.


In either casevoltage up to 1.65v on DDR3 RAM is considered wire safe and should not pose a problem.

 

[Neuroxerus]

OK, so I would recommend not using the odd ram and we might be able to help you get a good stable overclock. A few more questions before we get started...

1. What cooler are you using to keep temps down on your CPU? This is essential for a good OC.

2. Have you read through this guide? If not, do so. There is terminology in there that is critical to setting a stable overclock, keep it handy.

Post a screen shot of your current OC so we can see where your OC currently sits. Use CPU-Z(free) and show the CPU, Memory, and SPD tabs. Also, while you're downloading files grab HWMonitor so you can monitor and post temps and voltages.

This is why we don't make duplicate threads.

First of all, I apologize for duplicate threads and inconveniences caused by it - I have joined just yesterday and when I post the first one the info message flashed up so quickly that I was not able to read it and was not sure if the thread was blocked for forbidden URL (I posted images on Imgur, used shortened URLs). I will remember this next time I will post any future threads.

Anyway thank you for reply and link for that guide - I will definitely take a look.

To answer the rest:
1. Cooler I am currently using is Noctua NH-C12P SE14 . Do you think it is enough for overclocking? I was thinking about to buy some average water cooling, but I do not have spare money at the moment.
2. Thanks for tip, I will read that guide.

Updated screen shot with CPU is here .

Merged duplicate threads. This is really all about getting your ram stable.

Thank you for merging those threads together.

Looking at what you have going on you basically have 2 options in my opinion.

1. Continue to try to run with the mixed sticks of RAM for an increase in overall amount of ram. If doing this your focus should be getting your system stable at stockspeeds and times for now.

2. Would be to ditch the 8GB stick and work on the remaining 3. To start with overclocking them at that point enable XMP and see how the system runs. If you want to try to push further than that then you will need to be specific about your goals do we can find you. Such as max stable ram speed versus max attainable speed just to see how far you can go.


In either casevoltage up to 1.65v on DDR3 RAM is considered wire safe and should not pose a problem.

1. How can I manage to getting system stable with those stock values?
2. This option is acceptable for me. I guess that enabling XMP is just switching form "Disabled" to "Profile1" - I was quite confused that there is "Profile1" instead of enabled. You can set more profiles for XMP somewhere? To be specific, I am complete beginner in overclocking and basically I do know nothing about it. So I guess that max stable ram speed is just sufficient. I could try to reach max attainable speed once I will be more experienced in this.

Ok, I will remember that 1.65V is the max I can safely add on DDR3 RAM.

 

[EarthDog]

Sometimes memory sticks include multiple XMP profiles. Yours does not.

 

[wingman99]

Updated screen shot with CPU is hereView attachment 197182.
Ok, I will remember that 1.65V is the max I can safely add on DDR3 RAM.

The stock memory speed and timings look fine. From the testing you have done might be 8GB corsair stick that is not working well or it just won't work with the rest. As said before try RAM voltage up to 1.65v.

 

[SamirD]

If you had that many errors, I wonder if that one module is just bad? Easy to test--pull out all your memory, put in the single 8gb module, run memtest. If you get errors again, my bets are that module is bad.

If it passes, try playing your game and see if it crashes.

If it doesn't crash, try adding back modules one at a time in different orders until it doesn't crash--I've seen that before where a certain combination of modules works whereas another combination of the same modules doesn't for whatever reason.

 

[Neuroxerus]

The stock memory speed and timings look fine. From the testing you have done might be 8GB corsair stick that is not working well or it just won't work with the rest. As said before try RAM voltage up to 1.65v.

Okay, but first I will try what SamirD suggested. Thanks for tip, I will report back how it went out.

If you had that many errors, I wonder if that one module is just bad? Easy to test--pull out all your memory, put in the single 8gb module, run memtest. If you get errors again, my bets are that module is bad.

If it passes, try playing your game and see if it crashes.

If it doesn't crash, try adding back modules one at a time in different orders until it doesn't crash--I've seen that before where a certain combination of modules works whereas another combination of the same modules doesn't for whatever reason.

Well, I was thinking about it before. Problem is, that one of my ram is stuck under my CPU cooler - there is not enough space to pull it out and put it back...and I do not have any thermal paste to disassembling the cooler. But I will try it with the rest, maybe it will work. I'll report back once I will have some results.

 

[SamirD]

Problem is, that one of my ram is stuck under my CPU cooler - there is not enough space to pull it out and put it back...and I do not have any thermal paste to disassembling the cooler. But I will try it with the rest, maybe it will work. I'll report back once I will have some results.

That's what I was going to suggest as that's the best you can do. If you can't get it to pass the test that way, then you may want to head to your local Best Buy and pick up some tg3. Probably won't hurt to check how the grease is and maybe redo it for some better cooling.