F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL 1330 MHz no XMP

[rramstad]

Hey all. I'm new to G.Skill memory and having some problems.

I have

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL

and am running it with

Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80637G1610

on a

GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Oddly, the memory is running at 1330 MHz and I have no ability to change that in the BIOS. There are no options to use the XMP profiles. It's very odd, the memory should run at 1600 MHz as the CPU is an Ivy Bridge 22 nm processor, and so I should be able to enable XMP and have everything run.

Frankly I don't know if it's a problem with the memory or the motherboard. I opened a ticket with Gigabyte earlier today at the same time I requested to join this forum.

Any thoughts?

[Tradesman]

Do you have the latest BIOS? The mobo should support up through 2133 anyway. Might check your manual and see what it says, there should be a tweaker section in the BIOS that allows DRAM changes

[rramstad]

Do you have the latest BIOS? The mobo should support up through 2133 anyway. Might check your manual and see what it says, there should be a tweaker section in the BIOS that allows DRAM changes

Yes, the board shipped with F12 (October 2012) and I updated to F13g which is a beta BIOS that's more recent (November 2012).

My CPU was released in January 2013 and I have to wonder if it's a motherboard problem where it isn't properly recognizing my CPU.

That said, I have a similar system at home, a bit fancier, which ran out of the box at 1600 and has an XMP profile setting right in the menu, both as expected:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

So it's very strange that the new B75 system with the Ripjaws X and Celeron G1610 wants to run at 1333 MHz.

I've poked around the BIOS a bit and it seems frequency locked at 1333 MHz. I will look at it further.

After thinking about it a bit more, I will probably try the Ripjaws X in the Z77 system. It should run at 1600 and I should be able to enable XMP. If I can't, it's a problem with the memory.

[Tradesman]

The mobo default may well be 1333, which is why it went to that, but should be able to change and use XMP, could try resetting CMOS and reinstall the sticks...if no changes, thinks I'd pull the CPU and check the bottom of it and the socket for dust, debris, excess thermal compound.....and in particular for bent or broken pins in the socket.

[rramstad]

The mobo default may well be 1333, which is why it went to that, but should be able to change and use XMP, could try resetting CMOS and reinstall the sticks...if no changes, thinks I'd pull the CPU and check the bottom of it and the socket for dust, debris, excess thermal compound.....and in particular for bent or broken pins in the socket.

I did reset the CMOS after flashing to the new BIOS, that didn't help.

Resetting the sticks sounds like a good idea, but the system did run Memtest86+ overnight (24 passes) with zero errors, just at 1333 MHz.

The system is brand new -- new CPU, new heatsink, new motherboard -- and I did all the work on it myself, probably have built 30+ systems over the last 20 years. That said I did not inspect the socket, and definitely should take a look at that.

[Tradesman]

Keep us updated, I'll be around a bit tonight, then in and out over the weekend

[rramstad]

So I did two experiments and the results were interesting.

Summary, I don't think it's the memory.

I brought my F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL (Ripjaws Series 2 x 4 GB) to work and tried it in the B75 board. This particular memory runs great at home in my Z77 board at 1600. At work on the B75 board it runs at 1333 and as before, there is no XMP option and no way to change the speed to 1600 manually.

I also brought the F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL (Ripjaws X Series 2 x 2 GB) home and tried it in the Z77 board. It runs great at 1600 with XMP enabled, and I ran Memtest86+ for 3 hours, six passes, with no errors.

In short, all sticks run at 1333 MHz at work on the Gigabyte B75 board, doesn't matter if they are by themselves, or in pairs, or what slots they are in. There is no option to select XMP and no way to manually force 1600.

Conversely, all sticks run at 1600 MHz at home on the Gigabyte Z77 board with XMP enabled, no problem.

I did remove the heatsink, inspect the CPU, inspect the socket, reseat the CPU, reinstall the heatsink on the B75 board and that did not change anything. Not surprised, given that the board ran Memtest86+ for 24 hours at 1330 MHz no problem... unlikely to be a defective CPU, I'd think.

If G.SKILL has any connections at Gigabyte, you might consider contacting them and asking them about compatibility with XMP and G.SKILL memory on the GA-B75M-D3H, given that neither set of memory worked properly on that board. This would be weird as I think one of these is actually listed on the official memory compatibility list for the board.

It is either that, or the BIOS on GA-B75M-D3H doesn't have proper support for the Celeron G1610. I don't want to tear apart my desktop to swap CPUs, I've got a big heat sink on my i5-3570K and it's an expensive part...

Not entirely sure what to think. I don't want to RMA the board and get another identical board, if it's a BIOS problem, that's a complete waste of time. Conversely, I went through a lot of options before choosing this particular board... there are lots of good reasons why I chose it.

Bummer :-( that my G.SKILL memory won't work properly in it, and there's no real easy way of telling if I've just got a bad motherboard, or if there's a BIOS issue and every GA-B75M-D3H is going to have the same problem.

[rramstad]

Hold the phone. I may be a complete moron.

http://ark.intel.com/products/71072/...Cache-2_60-GHz

Memory Specifications DDR3-1333

Ahem. Perhaps this is just a case of the B75 board not supporting "overclocking" of the memory, and clock locking the memory to 1333 as that's what the CPU is expecting.

Classic. The simplest explanation might be the correct one...

[rramstad]

Yeah, not getting a good feeling about this. To quote from the Gigabyte specifications:

Support for DDR3 2200(OC)/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
* To support DDR3 1600 MHz, you must install an Intel 22nm (Ivy Bridge) CPU.

Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
* To support XMP memory, you must install an Intel 22nm (Ivy Bridge) CPU.

I have an Intel 22 nm Ivy Bridge CPU, but the XMP profiles don't show up... and my CPU is listed as supported, and similar memory (regular Ripjaws) is listed as supported... so I assumed that there was an error.

Seems to me that XMP is likely only supported on this board with a CPU that officially supports 1600 speeds NOT that the CPU needs to be Ivy Bridge. Something like that is going on.

[Tradesman]

Have a feeling it may be a problem w/ the mobo, do you have or can you borrow some other 1600/1866/?? sticks to try?

[rramstad]

Tradesman, read my previous posts, sorry. It looks like my CPU officially supports 1333 MHz and that this particular Gigabyte board does not have any "tweaker" options to manually set the memory to 1600 MHz.

I think I made a mistake in assuming that since the board has the capability of running at 1600 that it would do so with my 1600 memory. It seems to be locked to the official 1333 speed that my CPU supports.

I suspect with an Asrock board or any Z77 board that I could manually set the speed to 1600 and enable XMP, but that this particular Gigabyte board doesn't support it.

(The sticks run fine on my Z77 board, with a different CPU, and some known good 1600 sticks will only run at 1333 on the B75 board.)

[Tradesman]

Could be, I haven't worked with any of the Celerons, and they may well be limited to 1333, I don't know. However, in Intel's spec sheets basically all the newer Ivy bridge CPUs show as 1333 or 1600, yet I know the i-cores will go much higher...again the Celeron's are an unknown for me...sorry

[rramstad]

Thanks for all the help, but yeah, I think this is one of those combinations where Gigabyte on this board is trying to make it idiot proof by forcing default settings, it's not a tweaker friendly board, and the CPU I chose officially runs at 1333 so that's what the Gigabyte board is setting itself at.

Either I just need to live with it as is, or I need to buy a 1600 CPU, or a different board. Pretty clear I can't get this memory to run at 1600 on this board with this CPU.

I appreciate all the quick responses.

[Tradesman]

No problem, good luck with whatever you decide to do, keep us updated