[jchap1590]

I did a bit of a transplant this weekend, swapping my PC guts from a Cooler Master CM 690 II to a CM Storm Trooper. The new case is awesome! But, on first boot, POST gets hung up on DRAM. Now, it's all the same components which I've been running (with no issue) for about the past 4 months so I will assume I can rule out any hardware incompatibilities. I'm really not sure what else could be causing my issue. DRAM light says on, no beep from the case speaker; obviously something's wrong. I've tried every memory config I could - 1x8 in slot 1, 1x8 in slot 2, 2x8 in slots 1&2, 2x8 in slots 1&3, 2x8 in slot 2&4. None of which yielded a different result: code 55 = Memory not installed. I press and hold the MemOK! button and the DRAM light starts blinking, system restarts, DRAM light continues to blink and I can see the error code cycle but ultimately stop again on "55" and the DRAM light stays steady. Any suggestions??

On another note, if it turns out my RAM has somehow gone bad; I'll be needing another set. My mobo says it supports up to 2600MHz so the set I have right now is Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB 2133MHz (CMZ16GX3M2A2133C10). I know that my LGA1155 socket only supports 1333MHz and 1600MHz so I've always been a bit confused how motherboard manufacturers can claim higher than that.. would I be better off just getting a 1600MHz set? I paid a pretty penny for the set I'm running, or attempting to run, now so I'm hoping it doesn't come to that!

Just to make sure I know what I would be looking for when RAM shopping (please correct where unnecessary):

As I understand it, I am best to use (2) 8GB sticks versus (4) 4GB sticks to reduce stress on the memory controller and thus freeing more OC potential for my CPU.
The lower the latency, the better.. at the same frequency (i.e. 8GB 9-9-9-24 @ 1600MHz would preform better - however slight - than 8GB 10-11-11-31 @ 1600MHz)

Thanks in advance for any responses!
JChap1590

 

[givmedew]

Have you tried clearing the motherboard bios just in case? Also check underneath the motherboard to make sure there is not a screw shorting anything out and that there is not a extra post that you screwed in that is touching the motherboard.

As for the question about how the motherboard company claims... All that really means is that they have supplied all the necessarily multipliers to hit those speeds and that if your cpu can handle it they are saying the board can handle it.

You will not see any noticeable gains in performance from having higher ram speeds. So if you are going to buy new ram I would honestly just recommend the cheapest cool looking 1600 or 1866 kit you can find.

16gb kits are around $80-100 so if you want to spend the extra $30 to go all out you could get the Trident X sticks which have a lower Cas Latency than than most.

Also there is a low latency Ballistix that is rated at 1.35v which means that it can probably hit the same numbers as the Trident X if you up the voltage to 1.5v

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148657

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231623

Personally I would just get the cheapest kit with decent timings. When you are comparing ram and timings make sure you look at the rated voltage. Because a cas 9 kit at 1.5v and a cas 8 kit at 1.65v are probably equal in performance and I think it is cheating to give you the specs at 1.65v but whatever.

 

[jchap1590]

Quote:

Have you tried clearing the motherboard bios just in case?

I haven't done a BIOS flashback, if that's what you mean, but I have cleared the CMOS.

 

[givmedew]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchap1590

Quote:

Have you tried clearing the motherboard bios just in case?

I haven't done a BIOS flashback, if that's what you mean, but I have cleared the CMOS.

No I just meant clearing the CMOS not a bios flashback.

Did you check for shorts? Also remove all the other devices, unplug the sata cables and boot from the integrated graphics.

 

[timisyourfriend]

You have multiple memory modules, and if they all don't work, it is more likely the motherboard is dead.

Double check everything and installation to confirm. It would suck, but it happens. :/

LGA1155 can support much higher than DDR3-1600 if you have a good CPU. Intel only recommends DDR3-1600 max, but enthusiasts know i7 CPU can achieve DDR3-2133+.

You are using an enthusiast motherboard, that's why it shows DDR3-2600. I have that motherboard and i7-3770K CPU, it can do DDR3-2600+ easy.

Cheers