Need advice on Ram and if I can make this work

[yeagerd]

First day first post, hate to post so much but you can skim much easier than get missing pieces.

My system is down right now, I had been battling hang ups and constant problems so I decided to reload win 8. While doing so I am trying to fix some probs. I am not really a gamer anymore but I tried to get some help at Adobe and decided to turn the guys who really know what is going on... and use English.

I push my equipment hard and may have the cpu at 100% for 3-4 hours at a time(98-100%). High performance stability is my goal. I know I built machine wrong for it's use (now I do) but it is what it is for now and I need to make the most of it.

Ram issues:
Corsair Vengeance, Am I wrong that this is a "Good" brand? It won't run at 1600 only at 1333, my 16GB 1866 Geil will run at 1600 and for some reason that makes video render twice as fast. But, 16GB won't run on other projects without at least one soft crash a day.

Flex Processor does not flex, is this normal?

AMD FX8150 (FD8150FRGUBOX) has never "Flex'ed" at all. It goes to 3.62 and that is it. I have looked for how to get it to ramp to 4.2 but cannot get it.

I have to run a massive amount of software and I have it spread out between 3 machines but I think it may be at the root of some issues. CS6 Master Suite, Visual studio Ultimate 2012, Git Tools, Compilers, De-compiler, office 2013, SQL, IIS, etc.

Specs-

MOBO > Gigabyte (GA 990FXA - UD5 /SB950/rev1.0 on bios F9)

CPU & Cooler > AMD FX8150 (FD8150FRGUBOX) - Hyper 212 EVO Cooler Master Tower with Twin 120mm Zalman Fluid Ball Bearing High RPM Fans and air treatment fed with dehumidified chilled air idles at 28 full load max at 42.

MEMORY > Corsair Vengeance, Hope this is model number: CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10 - 32gb 1600

POWER SUPPLY > Thortech Thunderbolt + Gold Rated 1200 watt and a 650 watt OCZ Mod Extreme that runs the 12 TB of HDD and their cooling.

VIDEO CARD > Gigabyte (oc series I think, 3 fans each) GeForce GTX 570 SLI with network renderer for most 3D processing (Older 5300 FIrePros in CRX-Pro)

HDDs/Optical drives > 2 OCZ Vertex 4 512 in NoRaid (Kept under 50% capacity due to no trim) 4 x 3 TB Seagate HDD, 2 LG MultiBlue BDs, 8 Samsung Super Writemasters via eSata in an external rack.

SOUND DEVICE > On board with an external full board when needed

USB > APC Back Ups Pro 1500, 2 x 2TB External HDD, Postal Scale, Video Capture Card - EZ-Cap, Bluetooth transceiver, Headsets, printers and an EZ Bake Oven (Never used it though)

O/S > win 8 pro

Case > Thermaltake GT1000(? I think, star wars but in black) Original Thermaltake 260mm fan in top all other replaced with Zalman fluid ball bearing high RPM. Also, GPUs and CPU have all been cleaned from heat sink and Artic Silver #5 applied.

I also have my manufacturers in an RSS feed with keyword alerts for my products so all drivers are up to date.

 

[Automata]

Ram issues:
Corsair Vengeance, Am I wrong that this is a "Good" brand? It won't run at 1600 only at 1333, my 16GB 1866 Geil will run at 1600 and for some reason that makes video render twice as fast. But, 16GB won't run on other projects without at least one soft crash a day.

Most memory makers use the same chips on their boards, so the only thing different is the design, price, and support (actual support and warranty). Crucial is fine and I've owned a few sets myself throughout the years. Memory has more aspects to it than just speed, so you need to make sure that your timings and voltages are set right before upping the speed. For example, if the timings are too tight or the voltage is too low, it won't run at a higher speed.

Flex Processor does not flex, is this normal?

AMD FX8150 (FD8150FRGUBOX) has never "Flex'ed" at all. It goes to 3.62 and that is it. I have looked for how to get it to ramp to 4.2 but cannot get it.

According to the spec sheet, it will only do its self-overclocking when less than four cores have a load. More than that, and it will stay at the stock max speed. Instead of relying on the built in mechanisms to make the processor faster, you should find the max overclock with all the cores enabled (which is likely faster than 4.2 GHz) and set it manually. Since you generally deal with high loads, you are going to see a large benefit.

I have to run a massive amount of software and I have it spread out between 3 machines but I think it may be at the root of some issues. CS6 Master Suite, Visual studio Ultimate 2012, Git Tools, Compilers, De-compiler, office 2013, SQL, IIS, etc.

The programs you run should not be causing issues unless the system is unstable. I'm sure that I don't need to discuss how bad it is to have an unstable system when dealing with the type of software you are running. When it comes to stability, I'm in exactly the same situation as you. I'm compiling code, running virtual machines, and need my system rock solid stable. Before you start with anything, please make sure that you have a backup of your data. I just got done telling someone that I was unable to recover 1.5tb of their data because a drive went out, and that is a terrible feeling.

Once everything is safe, grab the Memtest ISO, burn it to a disk and boot it. Let it run for a few hours (preferably overnight) or until it errors. Any errors are bad. Instability here is likely memory, so be sure to check your timings, speeds, and voltages.

If that passes, grab CoreTemp to monitor temps and LinX for stress testing. LinX is a frontend to the Linpack program, which will put a pretty impressive amount of stress on your processor and RAM. I run this for at least two days solid before using an overclock. When you run it, make sure it is in 64bit mode, click "All" next to the memory drop down so it uses all your 32gb, set the "Times to run" to something absurd (I usually do 500), and hit "Start". Any lockups, crashes, restarts, or errors (etc) indicate an unstable system, usually the processor. Make sure to keep temperatures under 60c.

POWER SUPPLY > Thortech Thunderbolt + Gold Rated 1200 watt and a 650 watt OCZ Mod Extreme that runs the 12 TB of HDD and their cooling.

Why are you running so much power supply for this system? You could easily get away with running a single power supply with a max of 75% of your 1200watt one (900w).