Some questions about RAM

[Tagraton]

Hi folks I have just registered and I cant believe I didnt come across this little gem of a forum before now! Thanks in advance for any help you lovely people might throw my way

So I have just started to get into my RAM voltages and timings and stuff, I really don't know a lot about it but I have a couple of quick questions!

If I manually set the MHZ of my memory in the BIOS (is this clock speed or frequency btw?) and the voltage of my memory, to the same as what is stated on the side of my RAM stick, and then save these settings, what would cause my motherboard not to boot?

I have a GIGABYTE Z87X-UD5H board, and I am using some old memory - Corsair Dominator (TR3X6G1600C8D). The RAM is DDR3 and on the side of it, it says 1.65v, and 1600mhz. Those are the two things that I manually set it to in the BIOS, so I am confused as to why my board doesnt boot.

Another thing is the 8-8-8-24 numbers, what are those? How do I modify these in the BIOS?

And one last thing, regarding XMP. By my understanding, XMP seems to be a set of predefined values built into your motherboard, telling it what settings your RAM should be at. So you select your RAM from the list and then it automatically adjusts the settings. But I cannot find my RAM in the list. In fact the list is very short! Any one any insight into this?

Thank you all so much for reading my first thread

 

[EarthDog]

Welcome!

If I manually set the MHZ of my memory in the BIOS (is this clock speed or frequency btw?) and the voltage of my memory, to the same as what is stated on the side of my RAM stick, and then save these settings, what would cause my motherboard not to boot?

I have a GIGABYTE Z87X-UD5H board, and I am using some old memory - Corsair Dominator (TR3X6G1600C8D). The RAM is DDR3 and on the side of it, it says 1.65v, and 1600mhz. Those are the two things that I manually set it to in the BIOS, so I am confused as to why my board doesnt boot.

It shouldnt...no. Not sure either with the information given. What timings did your motherboard set the sticks to? Please install CPUz and post the CPU, Memory and SPD tabs (directions how at the end).

Another thing is the 8-8-8-24 numbers, what are those? How do I modify these in the BIOS?

Those are the 'timings' of the ram you have. I googled and found a great article to help you understand -> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Understanding-RAM-Timings/26.

You likely do not want to touch them at this point. I would just select the XMP profile and go.

And one last thing, regarding XMP. By my understanding, XMP seems to be a set of predefined values built into your motherboard, telling it what settings your RAM should be at. So you select your RAM from the list and then it automatically adjusts the settings. But I cannot find my RAM in the list. In fact the list is very short! Any one any insight into this?

XMP timings are taken from the sticks, not the motherboard AKAIK.

If you ram is not on the list, it doesnt have ITS OWN profiles for the ram, however you will still be able to select the XMP profile as those are two different things (that do the same thing essentially).

 

[Tagraton]

Welcome!

Thanks And thank you for your detailed reply!

It shouldnt...no. Not sure either with the information given. What timings did your motherboard set the sticks to? Please install CPUz and post the CPU, Memory and SPD tabs (directions how at the end).

As you requested

I see the 4th column on the far right, is running at 1.65v, with xmp 1600 at the top. This is different from the other 3, which seems strange? I tried setting my RAMS to this previously, but I thought that I was setting all 4 at the same time, but this would suggest that I only actually set one RAM? Logically thinking, I would imagine that 1 RAM running at different settings than the other 3 would surely cause stability problems?

Those are the 'timings' of the ram you have. I googled and found a great article to help you understand -> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Understanding-RAM-Timings/26.

Ok cool thanks for doing that! I will read this tonight.

however you will still be able to select the XMP profile as those are two different things (that do the same thing essentially).

But if I selected just any XMP profile wouldnt that apply the incorrect settings to my RAM and cause issues?

Also - Just so you know, the reason I want to adjust my RAM voltage is because I am getting system freezes. They last for maybe 30 seconds or so and are intermittent by varying amounts of time. They are incredibly annoying though. They will actually cause a webpage to stop loading, then all of a sudden, BAM, everything starts working again. So I feel my ram voltage may be too low, as they seem to be running at 1.5v and they say 1.65v on the side. I am also interested in also adjusting the MHZ speed to 1600, also to correspond with the information on the side of my RAM stick.

Thanks for all your help!!!

 

[Knufire]

The XMP profile is stored on the stick of RAM itself, it's the correct timings/voltage/speed.

 

[Tagraton]

The XMP profile is stored on the stick of RAM itself, it's the correct timings/voltage/speed.

When you say "Profile" does that include a list of different options? When I go into the XMP part of my BIOS, there is a list of different names that I can choose to select. I thought these were different brands/types of memory. Are you saying that this list is all on my stick of RAM? Which one do I select?

Thanks.

 

[Knufire]

Usually there's only one XMP profile, a list strikes me as odd. Picture?

 

[EarthDog]

The sticks I have hold two Profiles, but as mentioned, that is not common.

I did not post those instructions for the pictures (3rd party hosts are blocked from where I log in)... Here you go.





Also, the XMP profile setting should be under Performance->Memory->XMP Profile

 

[Tagraton]

Usually there's only one XMP profile, a list strikes me as odd. Picture?

Ok I will go into my BIOS and take a pic for you.

 

[Tagraton]

The sticks I have hold two Profiles, but as mentioned, that is not common.

I did not post those instructions for the pictures (3rd party hosts are blocked from where I log in)... Here you go.

But I have already linked my pictures onto the forum, can you not see them?

 

[EarthDog]

That is correct. I cannot see them. I cannot see posts links/3rd party from the office. They need to be hosted on the website. Also, third party links like that expire, so for example in a year, that picture may not be available which doesnt help the thread much for others.

Also note the part I added below that how to in the last post.

 

[Tagraton]

Ok sorry I will now edit my original post.

edit: post now edited.

 

[Tagraton]

Can anyone help me?

Thanks.

 

[dudleycpa]

Can anyone help me?

Thanks.

When you boot up and go into the BIOS where are you at. You should be able to
load "optimized settings".

Once you do that we will move on to the next step.

 

[Tagraton]

When you boot up and go into the BIOS where are you at. You should be able to
load "optimized settings".

Once you do that we will move on to the next step.

Hi. Thanks for reply. Yes I have done that already. I am getting freezing running optimized settings, that's my problem that I am trying to fix. I now believe I need to adjust the settings of my RAM to stop my PC freezing.

 

[dudleycpa]

If I understand you correctly - XMP-1600 settings is what you should be using. You may have to "manually" set the voltage to 1.65V.

 

[Tagraton]

Yes that is exactly it. Firstly there is no "xmp-1600" setting, otherwise I would naturally have tried that. Secondly, I have tried to "manually" input these settings but my board will not boot when I do! Thanks.

 

[dudleycpa]

Yes that is exactly it. Firstly there is no "xmp-1600" setting, otherwise I would naturally have tried that. Secondly, I have tried to "manually" input these settings but my board will not boot when I do! Thanks.

Alright - Let's try this from a different angle. Can you load any settings (memory wise). Just try any memory "default" that works.

Here's a Hardware Canuks - review/breakdown. Link

 

[Tagraton]

Alright - Let's try this from a different angle. Can you load any settings (memory wise). Just try any memory "default" that works.

Here's a Hardware Canuks - review/breakdown. Link

Hmm never thought on that. I was too afraid to possibly "overvolt" my RAM and destroy something. I really need to take a pic of my BIOS and post it as another user has asked to see my XMP options. Thanks for the link.

 

[Tagraton]

Oh and another thing, I have actually tried to adjust my RAM settings using the Gigabyte Easytune software while actually in Windows. When I input my new settings, my PC naturally asks to restart, but when it does, it fails to boot, and then I have to reset my BIOS to default again.

 

[dudleycpa]

Oh and another thing, I have actually tried to adjust my RAM settings using the Gigabyte Easytune software while actually in Windows. When I input my new settings, my PC naturally asks to restart, but when it does, it fails to boot, and then I have to reset my BIOS to default again.

Alright - If you can please post pictures of either what it look like in windows OR what it looks like in the BIOS.