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Spoofing faster memory to the Motherboard

415 views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  amdahl 
#1 ·
Just an idea that came to my mind while shopping for workstation upgrades...

The basic idea
Leading the motherboard to believe that the memory is rated for higher frequencies than it actually is. E.g. using DDR3-1333 but tricking the motherboard to believe it is DDR3-1600.
Years ago I fiddled with Thaiphoon Burner to change some timings on notebook memory , with mixed success. This is where my "knowledge" stops any you come in.
I have no idea if this is the right way to go or if what I have in mind is even possible. Additional challenge: The tweak should work with reg ECC memory, DDR3 and/or DDR4.

Why/motivation
"Just buy a motherboard with a Z-chipset, then you can overclock your memory".
Not with the usual dual-socket server boards. My Fujitsu R920 workstation will be upgraded with Xeon E5-2670v2 CPUs in a few days. They officially support up to DDR3-1866.
It currently has 16x16GB DDR3-1600 reg ECC. The bios of these boards only allows you to set the memory frequency according to the maximum supported frequency of the "weakest link", be it CPU or memory. Using DDR3-1600, DDR3-1600 is the maximum available option in the bios. In order to get the option for DDR3-1866, I would have to use DDR3-1866...you get the picture.
Now just buying 256GB of DDR3-1866 is not an option for me, for obvious reasons
rolleyes.gif

If I could manage to trick the motherboard into thinking I put in DDR3-1866 I could try to overclock the memory in the bios. That's the goal.

Another example to emphasize the practical relevance for me: One of my drawers holds 16x16GB DDR4-2133 reg ECC that I managed to get very cheap.
These could be used for my next workstation build which will probably have two AMD Epyc CPUs. From my X99-Build I know for a fact that these memory modules run just fine as DDR4-2666.
Buying the same amount of DDR4-2666 would set me back almost $3000. Same thing here: Leading the motherboard to believe my DDR4-2133 is actually DDR4-2666 would mean free extra performance.

Just in case this is relevant: both memory types -DDR3 and DDR4- are from Samsung.

Disclaimer
I am aware that this counts as overclocking and thus success is not guaranteed. I also know that I might brick some of my hardware in the process. Of course I would be using cheaper parts for testing. I am further aware that you should never ever overclock server hardware, what an atrocity. Last not least, no need to inform me that faster memory won't help anything. If you want to inform me about any of these facts instead of contributing something useful, just don't
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#2 ·
Have you thought about modding the BIOS to allow such settings to be applied? It's something that is being done with server boards to allow overclocking. If you can find someone that can mod BIOSes, maybe if they get a hold of your, they can mod it so the motherboard allows you to select the 1866 option. It'd be the simplest method, but I don't know if it'll work.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the input. As a matter of fact, I did not think about this. Since my experience with bios mods is just as limited as with altering SPD values, I don't know which way would be easier/more feasible. However, I feel more comfortable with bricking a cheap sacrificial memory module than a whole dual-socket motherboard. But I will keep this in mind and try to investigate the option.
 
#4 ·
Here is the response I got from Vitaliy:
Quote:
I wouldn't recommend to purchase a license for my software if you haven't read the ReadFirst.txt file which is distributed with
Thaiphoon Burner. Actually, Samsung protects SPD EEPROM from being written on all its DRAM modules. It's not possible
to alter any SPD data.

To replace the current DDR3-1600 speed bin you can use the Timing Table Editor. All you need is just to select any desired
standard JEDEC speed bin from the list to set up all the timing accordingly.[...]
So in theory, it should be possible with Thaiphoon Burner. But in reality the fact that Samsung prevents changes to the SPD is a deal-breaker. At least for the DIMMs I have right now.
 
#5 ·
Could you, for example, just overclock the RAM by lowering the timings on primary, secondary and thirds? You don't get as much speed, but you do get better latency. 256GB of RAM at 1600/7 for example, would be killer.

I know this isn't your goal, but might serve you well until you get the magic 1866 RAM.
 
#10 ·
Only very few dual-socket server boards let you change memory timings and frequencies. The Fujitsu board in the R920 workstation I have is not one of them.
One exception is the Supermicro X10DAX in one of our other workstations. At least in theory. In reality, changes to memory speed and timings are not applied with the Broadwell-EP CPUs it currently has. Upon request, Supermicro support provided me with a beta bios version that should enable this feature again. But since this is a production workstation in my office I could not try it yet.
 
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