Monst3r

Guys use bios 0403 also, Can achieve a higher Clock as this board can push 500FSB..

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zlojack

I've been seeing that the G.Skill PI sticks (2x2GB) are doing well on this board.

Here are my (not stable) settings
CPU Type: E8600
Cooling: Stock
Bios version: 0501
OS: Vista Ultimate 64bit
Graphics card(s): 3870 X2
Memory Brand and speed: OCZ Gold 1600GHz

Tweaker Menu
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Auto
OC From Memory Level Up: Auto
FSB Frequency: 400
CPU Ratio Setting: 8
CPU Clock Skew: Auto
NB Clock Skew Auto
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 400
PCIE Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: 1600
DRAM Command Rate: 2N
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
1st Information:
CAS# Latency: 8
RAS# to CAS# Delay: 8
RAS# Pre Time: 8
RAS# ACT Time: 24
RAS# To RAS# Delay: 5
REF Cycle Time: 72
WRITE Recovery Time: 12
READ to Pre Time: 6
2nd Information:
READ to WRITE Delay (S/D): 10
WRITE to READ Delay (S): 6
WRITE to READ Delay (D): 8
READ to READ (S): 6
READ to READ (D): 8
WRITE to WRITE (S): 6
WRITE to WRITE (D): 10
3RD Information:
WRITE to PRE Delay: 24
READ to PRE Delay: 8
PRE to PRE Delay: 1
ALL PRE to ACT Delay: 10
ALL PRE to REF Delay: 10
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control: Auto

Ai Clock Twister: Moderate
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual (PL-6 NO Pull-Ins)
EPU II Phase Control: Auto
CPU Voltage: 1.212
Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.51106
FSB Termination Voltage:1.15316
CPU GTLVerf (0): Auto
CPU GTLVerf (1): Auto
CPU GTLVerf (2): Auto
CPU GTLVerf (3): Auto
NB GTLVerf: Auto
North Bridge Voltage: 1.45797
DRAM Voltage: 1.90856
NB DDRVref: Auto
DDR3 ChannelA Vref: Auto
DDR3 ChannelB Vref: Auto
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.51106
South Bridge 1.05 Voltage: 1.06039
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

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Taikero

Well there's your problem! 1600 GHz RAM!

Maybe a tRD of 6 is causing you problems. Have you tried raising this up to 10, 12, 13, 15 to see if stability increases?

I'm not sure on an E8600 what the appropriate voltage is. Would increasing this increase your stability maybe, or is 1.212 overkill?

I had better stability when I turned this off. Harder to get voltages right, but it definitely helped.

I have this at something like 1.33??, maybe 1.35??. I think 1.45 is a bit high here.

[qupte]
DRAM Voltage: 1.90856
[/quote]

You should definitely have stability at this voltage, but have you tried going to 1.95? Or even a notch or two higher than this?

zlojack

It's funny because it's true



Well, tRD at 6 for 400 FSB should be ok, but I'll raise it and see what happens.



This is plenty of volts for stock clocks



I'll try it disabled.



It's high, just because of the tRD. That's what I used for my X38, but of course, this is different.
I don't think it should need higher, since it's rated at 1.8v for 1600, but I'll try up to 1.95 and see what it does.

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LazyEngineer

Hello all - I'm somewhat new to this level of equipment, and am having some odd issues. Perhaps your experience can shed some light?

System specs:
Asus Rampage Extreme
Intel Q9550 2.83GHZ Quad Core CPU
OCZ Reaper 4X2GB (8GB total over 4 sticks) OCZ3RPR16004GK
Antec 850W power
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 260
WD VelociRaptor 300 GB
Vista 64 Home Basic
ANTEC 900 Case with a LOT of large fans


MB is air cooled, and both heatsinks were replaced with the larger fin type units that came with the MB. a large aftermarket cooler has been added to the CPU (which runs nice and cool). Out of desparation, I've attached the little adder fan to the NorthBridge, this this doesn't appear to have any affect.

Upon first assemble and boot-up w/ default settings, system was highly unstable and frequently crashed. So, I've been playing - BIOS. A lot. The system is now mostly "stable", but I'm not so sure it really is. When I fire up CPU-Z initially on a fresh boot, and then click on the SPD tab to see each Memory stick, it tells me I have 8 GB of RAM, and each stick shows up nice and healthy.

But if I play Crysis for a while, close out CPU-Z, and then Relaunch CPU-Z, my memory is randomly funky. It still says I have 8GB in the summary, but when I go and click on each of the 4 sticks, randomly some of those sticks will be blank or garbled. What does this mean? The system isn't crashing, but I'm not filled with a comfort. Does this somehow means RAM sticks are dropping out on me under usage. NorthBridge warms up to around 52C or so, which seems warm to me.

A reboot normally fixes the issue.

Here are some screenprints
The first shows, on the left, the System Information for Windows view - note that only 3 of the 4 memory slots are listed as being full. The CPU-Z data shows that I have 8GB of RAM though. Odd... the readings on the right are my various voltages and T's.





OK, so what does CPU-Z say - afterall, it says I have 8 GB of RAM, so it must see it all right? Here's what it says is in the first DIMM slot:

well that looks OK, except the part number is all garbled.

Here's what it says is in the second - that doesn't look so good!


Memory slot 3 looks OK(ish)...


Memory slot 4 is Empty??


Which memory sticks are garbled and which are good change every time I do this experiment, so I don't think any one RAM stick is necessarily bad.



(The good folks over at OCZ are also trying to help me on this, but this little quirk remains)

My BIOS Settings (at this moment)
AI Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC from CPU Level UP: Auto (oddly, you can only select auto or some higher ranking overclocked setting - you can't just set it to just not overclock)
OC from Memory level up: Auto
FSB Frequency: 360
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
PCIE Freq: 100
DRAM Freq: DDR3-1441MHz (note, I've taken this down to 1333, issue still remains)
DRAM Command Rate: 2N
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency 8 DRAM Clocks (RAM is actually rated for 7-7-7 @ 1600 @ 1.9V)
RAS# to CAS# Delay: 8
RAS# PRE Time: 8
RAS# ACT Time: 24
RAS# to RAS# Delay: Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
---
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
---
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control: Disabled
Dram Skew Control: (All Auto)
AI Clock Twister: Lighter
AI Transaction Booster: Manual
(then it displays: C/P : A1 A2 I B1 B2
LvL: 7 7 7 7
Common Performance Level: 07
Pull-In of CHA PH1: Disabled
2: Disabled
B1: Disabled
B2: Disabled
EPU II Phase Control: Auto

CPU Voltage: 1.29375 (CPU doesn't appear to be having any temperature or performance issues)
Load-Line Calibration: Auto
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.55081
FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
CPU GTLVref(0): Auto
(1): Auto
(2): Auto
(3): Auto
NB GTLVref: Auto
North Bridge Voltage: 1.39172 (been playing with a lot of these)
DRAM Voltage: 1.78931 (sometimes take it up to 1.89, to see if that will help)
NB DDRVref: Auto
DDRE ChaA Vref: Auto
B: Auto
Southbridge 1.5 Voltage: Auto
SB 1.05 Voltage: Auto
CPU Spread Spectrum: AUto
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Auto

I hate to admit it, but I have no clue what most of these settings are or do. From what research I've done, this appears to be fairly conservative settings. While fast is good, I want my system to be rock solid stable. And I want all 8 GB of my RAM! Please help - any suggestions on why CPU-Z is saying some of my RAM sticks are randomly not working?

Taikero

52*C is alright and not overly hot. If you were going over 70*C, I'd definitely be worried as you'd be degrading the chip's life at that temperature.

Setting "Manual" on AI Overclock Tuner and then adjusting the FSB Frequency gives you a manual overclock. The BIOS isn't 100% intuitive, I agree, but live with what you got, right?

Keep this or put it on auto, IMO.

This could very well be a cause of instability. Try setting the Common Performance Level to 10 or higher, or auto if you prefer.

You could actually lower this a fair amount. I'm running 3.7 GHz and I only need 1.237500 or so to run it stable (With Load-Line Calibration on, without it on I sit around 1.30000-1.31625 somewhere, which under load brings me back down to 1.232-ish because of vDroop).

Can be a cause of instability in pre-0501 BIOSes on this board. If you disable this, you may have to spend more time getting your CPU voltage right (Although yours is rather high already).

You should be able to set this to 1.5100? or basically as low as possible.

I only have this at 1.33-1.37 for any of my overclocks so far. 1.39 is a bit excessive, IMO.

Try putting this at 1.89 and turning your Performance Level "down" to 10-13 somewhere, is what I'd suggest. I'm quite sure you'll see a stability increase (At which point you'll want to slowly dial both this voltage and your Performance Level back to more reasonable values).

Disable these. Your PC will fall out of FCC compliance (OH NO!) but you'll have better stability.

LazyEngineer

Taikero, thanks for the help. Too early to say anything definative, but those settings appear to have increased my stability. After 8 minutes of crysis, I normally would "Lose" at least 2 sticks of RAM in CPU-Z. This time all four are still there. I'm slightly concerned, though, because stick 4 looks a tad garbled - harbinger of bad omens?

Taikero

Just curious, what is your performance level set at?

If it's 10-12, increase it one more to 11-13. That may clear up your part number problem (Which admittedly is strange and something I haven't seen personally before).

zlojack

Dude...tRD that high for 360 FSB?

Seems like a lot, no? That's going to slaughter the bandwidth.

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Taikero

Well, once his part numbers stop reading as "ZZDFJDJIENOINEOMGHELP" I think he can work slowly back to a better tRD (And other settings as well).

Hopefully it's not something in his Northbridge/RAM controller that's FUBAR.