ASUS M4A79XTD EVO with F3-12800CL9-4GBNQ (Unstable)

[aMR]

F3-12800CL9-4GBNQ
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO (latest bios: 0704)
AMD Phenom II x4 945 95w
Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W (Single +12v rail-52A) PSU
MSI GTS250 (512MB) also tested with PNY Geforce 9800GT EE (1GB)

I purchased this particular memory kit because it was on the motherboard QVL. At first I set the memory @1600 in the bios with all other setting at auto and was having frequent display driver crashes in Windows 7. I thought it was my graphics card so I purchased another one (listed above) but had identical issues. Tried various display drivers, same problem. Placing the video card in either PCIe slot gave me the same results (display driver stopped responding and recovered). I tried moving the memory from the blue slots to the black slots but results were the same.

I came here, read the boards and saw the various settings recommended. I Tried all the following combinations with similar display driver errors:

DRAM Freq 1600
DRAM Voltage 1.60, 1.54, 1.56
HT voltage: 1.40 (anything above 1.28 turns RED in bios), 1.20, and auto
DRAM Commmand Rate 2T
CL 9
tRCD 9
tRP 9
tRAS 24
tRC 40
NB voltage 1.4 (anything above 1.28 turns RED in bios), 1.20, 1.3, and auto

Finally I had enough and decided to put ALL settings on auto. The system automatically sets memory at 1333 and has been much more stable. Display driver errors much less frequently. Before I was able to easily re-create the crashing by working in Photoshop CS4, opening a file with many layers and moving things around or opening many files at a time, now it's not that easy (I can't make PS crash that way, but the display driver crashes about once a day or sometimes every other day).

I ran Memtest86+ 3 passes 0 errors.

Using ALL auto settings, the memory (as per CPUz) is currently running as follows:
DRAM 666.7
FSB DRAM 3:10
CL 9
tRCD 9
tRP 9
tRAS 24
tRC 33
DRAM Commmand Rate 1T

At this point I no longer care to run the memory at 1600, I'll be happy to run it at 1333 but want a stable system. Could you please tell me what settings I should use to get this particular memory working smoothly with this motherboard?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[aMR]

I was reading the following thread: http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=3084 and noticed that in the 1st screenshot that GSKILL posted (post #7), he edited the CPU/NB voltage. I have been changing the NB voltage located at the bottom.

Which NB voltage should I be changing?

Here is a screenshot of what my bios looks like (with arrows showing which settings I changed):

[shauntx]

changing the cpu/nb freq makes alot of difference on this board I am now stable at 4.0ghz doing this. before I had alot of trouble but understand that change has really helped me.

[aMR]

changing the cpu/nb freq makes alot of difference on this board I am now stable at 4.0ghz doing this. before I had alot of trouble but understand that change has really helped me.

Thanks for the information. I just realized that I had highlighted the incorrect setting in my previous post. I have fixed it to show the setting that I was actually referring to.

I do not know if I have to change the CPU/NB voltage or the one listed in the bottom of the bios screen listed as NB voltage (under chipset voltage). Did you have to adjust any other settings besides the cpu/nb freq to get your system stable? What CPU do you have?

I'm not overclocking, but just trying to get my system to run stable 100 percent of the time with this memory kit.

[aMR]

I did not want to bump this post but I'd really appreciate a response letting me know which of the NB voltages I should be adjusting. Should I adjust the one in my first screenshot (CPU/NB Voltage) or the one in the second screenshot (NB Voltage)?

I'm trying to get my system to run stable 100 percent of the time, currently it's running mostly stable at 1333 with all auto settings, but I still get a display driver stopped responding error about every other day.

Thanks again.

[GSKILL TECH]

If you are only using 2 sticks, you will not need to increase NB Voltage.

With the memory frequency set to DDR3-1333, manually set memory timings to tCL 8 - tRCD 8 - tRP 8 - tRAS 24 - Command Rate 2 and everything should run fast and smooth.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[aMR]

Unfortunately, still having stability issues.

[GSKILL TECH]

Try increasing the HT Voltage to 1.40V. If that does not work, you may need to operate them at DDR3-1333 with 8-8-8-24 timings since the CPU may be struggling to operate the memory at DDR3-1600.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT