Need help reaching 1600Mhz on Gigabyte EX58-UD4P w/ 12gb F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ

[DeaconFrost]

Hi,

I've tried a bunch of different settings and have been unable to get the memory to clock at 1600 without getting an unstable system (frequent restarts, no video, game crashes, etc.), over-voltage errors or failure to POST. Can anyone provide some recommended or working settings for the Gigabyte EX-58 series and the F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ setup?

Specs are:

Intel i7 920
Gigabyte EX58-UD4P Mobo
12gb of F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ RAM
XFX GTX-260 896mb Black Edition GPU

Manually setting just the timings and the Memory Multiplier did not seem to fully do the trick. Are QPI, DRAM and perhaps BCLK voltages changes needed? What about more detailed timing changes? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Tradesman]

Guessing you have it in manually at stock timings 9-9-9-24, 1.6 volts. Any OCing? What OS?
What BIOS, want a minimum of F5, which did extensive support updates for RAM, preferable would be
the latest, F7 dated 3/31/2009, like most all the better X58 boards, BIOS updates are/have been coming fast and furious.

Couple of quick ideas - To start could try 9-9-9-26, same voltage
or with stock timings, think your tRFC would be around 47-49, try at 54 (not sure if this board list it this way or in 'ns'

Might have to play w/ additional voltages

[G.SKILL]

did it POST while installing only one set?
Please try to install one set first

as for 12GB, we'd recommend you to increase DRAM and QPI voltage a little(about +0.1v) to improve stability
thanks


G.S

[DeaconFrost]

Thanks so much for replying....

Tradesman - You are correct on the timings. They were set to 9-9-9-24-2. I had voltage at 1.5 and 1.55. I did not try 1.6. Is this recommended?

OS is Vista 64. Current BIOS is F7 which was just released.

GSKILL - One set did post just fine at default 1066. However, I did not try changing to 1600 until after I got the second set. Is this recommended?

I will try these new settings tomorrow and post back on my results.

Thanks again.

[G.SKILL]

DeaconFrost:

you'll need to set it at DDR3 1600 and 9-9-9-24 2T in BIOS manually
memory voltage could be kept in default
and please tell us if you overclock your CPU, thanks


G.S

[Tradesman]

BIOS is good, Vista 64 good, am thinking you will probably need the 1.6 w/ 12GB, may leave at 1.55 initially.

After you try the other above that GSkill suggested, let us know, if still a problem check the tRFC in the RAM advanced timings and let me know.

[DeaconFrost]

Hi guys, I did the following and these are my results:

Changed frequency to 1600, timings to 9-9-9-24-2, and set DRAM to 1.6V
-System would not even load to windows - BSOD and restart
-Overvoltage LEDs on for NB, CPU and Memory

Changed frequency to 1600, timings to 9-9-9-24-2, and set DRAM to 1.56V
-System froze almost immediately after Windows loaded
-Overvoltage LEDs on for NB, CPU and Memory

Changed frequency to 1600, timings to 9-9-9-24-2, and set DRAM to 1.54V
-System seems to be ok and does boot into Windows
-Overvoltage LEDs on for NB, CPU (low overvoltage for NB, Medium overvoltage for CPU)

While the DRAM 1.54V seems to be holding, I'm concerned about the increased voltage on the CPU and NB. Is there something else I need to adjust on the CPU to get this to fixed? I had previously increased the QPI and it seemed to help. I've also read that increasing the BCLK can help with increasing the frequency since it's tied to the memory bus. Any suggestions on fixing the voltage?

Also, to answer your questions, I am not OC'ing the CPU. It is currently on Turbo mode (default) though.

Thanks for your help.

[Tradesman]

The base BCLK should be at 133, you can try increasing it 1 MHz at a time to assist in stability. At this point, you have the system up and running, now it becomes a bit of a juggling act to tweak it to the right point that A) it remains stable and B) it doesn't worry you to much. Also, note that Intel has a long history of underestimating the max voltage anything can run at.

[G.SKILL]

first, please check it you install the memory in slot 2,4 and 6
you could try to increase QPI voltage to 1.4-1.6v
and BCLK is similar to CPU FSB, so please make sure you know how to overclock before increasing it
or you may try to run at DDR3 1333 to run with total 6 sticks
thanks


G.S

[Tradesman]

GSkill,

With 12GB, slots 1-6 are all occupied.

Deacon,

Did you check to see what your tRFC is? It'll be under the advanced timings.

[DeaconFrost]

Tradesman - My tRFC is showing at 60 after the frequency change. Should I be looking at changing this? The stated overvoltage does worry me. I don't like bright lights telling me I've done something wrong . So what exactly needs to be changed if the CPU is showing at medium overvoltage (orange) and the NB is showing as low overvoltage (green). Where would one start?

GSKILL - When I increase the QPI voltage, am I increasing the QPI/VTT voltage or the QPI PLL? Over 1.36 on the QPI/VTT is showing in purple in my BIOS so that concerns me if I was to go over 1.36.

I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I just don't want to fry any components in the process. Thanks again.

[Tradesman]

Questions are always good, keeps all of us thinking. tRFC is somewhat of a stabilizing timing, 60 should be okay, but you might try lowering a little just to see what happens, maybe in increments of 2. I would expect 56 should work, when adjusting this manually, the lower the better to a degree, it can get complicated and be time consuming. I normally don't play with it alot, except on higher end rigs, but generally it can smooth things out, if you go real in depth with it, you'll find that to low or to high can degrade performance and/or stability.

If your stable now, you can try decreasing the voltages gradually, in small increments, maybe starting with QPI and them RAM, i.e. drop qpi a hair, if all well, drop RAM .1 or .2, if good a little more QPI, if not go back a step. 1600 can be tricky.

[GSKILL TECH]

QPI/VTT is direct relate to CPU memory controller. increase this voltage should help it to handle higher speed of DDR3 1600. however, too high is no good for CPU since that is consider as over volt. if you need 1.4v to run DDR3 1600, it is not really good. i had one 920i long ago and that is bad and no good to run DDR3 1600+ even with 1.5v. over 1.36v is ok. the highest you can go is about 1.6v. higher than 1.6v is very bad.

trfc value you can try 74 for this memory

[Tradesman]

Deacon
If you try my suggestions, would appreciate hearing at what settings you finally decide on. Sounds like you're on track except for the fine tuning.

[Tradesman]

GSkill Tech,
Just sort of wondering what basis you use for your tRFC settings, do you use the stock formula or does GSkill have a specific in-house formula you all follow. I've never gone beyond 62-64 when using 2GB sticks (and those were odd ball cases). I've gone into the 70s and 80s with 4GB sticks, but never 2G. I've generally seen performance taking a hit with settings this high, but if you all are doing something special with how the advanced timings work with your RAM, I (am I'm sure others) would appreciate any info you guys could provide to help all of us out here. Am always interested in learning the new tweaks available.