GA-785GMT-USB3 Help on ALL settings

[taylerdo]

Help from G.Skill or anyone else is appreciated. FYI ? A RATHER LONG NOTE. Proceed with caution.

Please let me know ALL of the optimal memory settings for F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM memory, a.k.a. G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory. The build project started on or about May 1, 2010.

Here are all of the current memory related settings in BIOS for my GA-785GMT-USB3, Version 1.0:

The BIOS version is F2. Maybe this is the culprit.

On the first screen, I select ?MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T)?.

The ?Memory Clock? setting is set to [x8.00] by me.

The ?System Voltage Control? on the same screen is set to [AUTO].

Then I select ?DRAM Configuration? just below the ?Memory Clock? setting.

On that next screen is the following:

DCTs Mode [Unganged]
DDR3 Timing Items [Manual]
CAS# latency [7T] (set by me)
RAS to CAS R/W Delay [8T] (set by me)
Row Precharge Time [7T] (set by me)
Minimum RAS Active Time [24T] (set by me)
1T/2T Command Timing [2T]
TwTr Command Delay [6T]
Trfc0 for DIMM1 [110ns]
Trfc2 for DIMM2 [90ns]
Trfc1 for DIMM3 [110ns] (occupied by one stick of F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM)
Trfc3 for DIMM4 [90ns] (occupied by one stick of F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM))
Write Recovery Time [12T]
Precharge Time [6T]
Row Cycle Time [40T]
RAS to RAS Delay [5T]

Bank Interleaving [Enabled]
Channel Interleave [Enabled]

Your Assistance:

Please comment on ALL of the settings, not just ?7-8-7-24T? (please / thanks). Are these settings O.K. ? What should I change ? The system is going through setup pains with occasional ?one long beep no boot? issues (hence the current use of DIMM3 and DIMM4 to get the thing going again ? what a pain). Also, one episode of the ?gray vertical lines screen of death? after installing the Sapphire card (see below ? wonderful, a brand new card), but subsequently FurMark 1.8.2 has run for 1 hour on two separate occasions without incident on abusive settings (68 degrees C max during the FurMark tesing). Memtest86 V3.5 SMP (floppy version) shows no issues after running for 12 hours. The system will periodically stop booting, and then I switch the memory sticks around between DIMM1/2/3/4 to get it going again. Lots of fun.

Additional Information:

OS: WIN7 32 bit RC. Soon to expire, but I want everything working correctly before I install the paid for version of WIN7 Professional.

Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor.

Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card. Using VGA at the moment. HDMI later. CCC 10.4 Drivers, set at factory GPU (775) and Memory (1000) settings, auto fan control. Never overclocked. I tried underclocking at (725) and (950) but that lead to periodic black screen lockups. Back to factory settings. FurMark was run on factory settings. Great.

The on-board Video is turned off.

1 SATA hard drive.

1 SATA + 1 IDE optical drives.

1 floppy drive.

Power Supply: COOLMAX "EZ Wire" CU-400T 400W ATX Modular Power Supply. Maybe this is the culprit.

1 D-Link DWL-G520 IEEE 802.11, 802.11b/g 32bit PCI2.2 High Speed Wireless Adapter.

1 AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe ATSC/NTSC/QAM TV Tuner Card (White Box) w/L-P Bracket, PCI-Express x1 Interface.

That is it. If I forgot anything, let me know.

P.S.

This setup is replacing a TYAN S2865 that went up in flames, complete with scorch marks, so maybe the case has bad mojo. I think it was the fan-less video card (GIGABYTE GV-NX73T256P-RH GeForce 7300GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Video Card) that overheated the motherboard, but who can say. Those components are all way out of warranty as far as I know. I saw it happen ? sparky electrical noises for a second or two, followed by a plume of whitish grayish smoke the size of my forearm shooting up followed by a complete shutdown of the system followed by me going into a moment of shock. Unplug the power supply. That was in January. Here I am today with a new dodgy system and several hundred lighter.

Thanks for any and all assistance. I have built a number of systems since 1998, and have never run into this type of series of issues before. Or any issues for that matter.

Don

[GSKILL TECH]

You will want to use 8-8-8-24 instead as this motherboard will have issues with CL7 at DDR3-1600. All other settings are fine, they will be detected properly as long as the basic memory settings are correct.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[taylerdo]

GA-785GMT-USB3 Help on All settings

Hello,

Thank you for the response. I set the memory settings you recommended (8-8-8-24 instead of 7-8-7-24 as the memory is advertised and marked by a sticker on it by G.Skill) as well as the rest of the settings to SPD according to the BIOS. The system performs the same as before according to my observations and not a ns hairsplitting technical memory test suite, and I still experienced a vertical line system lockup. The graphics card was running at 48C at the time of the lockup according to HWINFO from CPUZ. CPUZ also confirmed that the system is using the BIOS settings, and not something else on its own (many thanks to Paul for his numerous suggestions, all on point). I am still befuddled by the system lockup since I also ran FurMark again, this time showing 71C max temperature, and that ran fine for 1 hour 20 minutes. So where is the issue. Also, on FurMark the 65W AMD processor runs at an amazingly low 37C max, on both cores. That information on the processor was impressive to me.

So it may be the memory. G.Skill did not comment on "the rest" of the settings beyond 8-8-8-24, and "the rest" should be O.K. as to my previously group posted settings. It could be the BIOS (F2). It "might" be the video card, which performs flawlessly on abusive FurMark 1.8.2 tests, yet system failure occurs randomly at pedestrian loads. The components on the market today offer a lot of promise to attract the buyer, but do not deliver in reality at least for me, and in my case result in a system that does not work, unless random system lockups are acceptable. I have never experienced this type of system problem in the past (except, of course, for the S2865 reaching the ignition point).

All help is appreciated. No flames please, the S2865 already provided that.

Thanks

Don or upon lockup.

[GSKILL TECH]

Try updating the BIOS first.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[taylerdo]

GA-785GMT-USB3 Help on ALL settings

I am providing a follow-up for the benefit of anyone interested. As of this writing, there were 134 views (only 1 was me) and 3 posts back (one was me):

Short version: As you know, I put the Sapphire HD 5670 in my new GA-785GMT-USB3 (see [1] below). I experienced periodic black screens of death, and vertical gray line screens of death. This occured with Win7 32 and 64 bit versions. The memory checked out fine with memtest86, and all of Paul's suggestions were great (see alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte). I also followed all of G.Skill's suggestions (which were very brief - like "update your bios." That did not help, but it was a valid sugestion nevertheless). I have the latest bios (F3a). The on-board video runs fine, and has never crashed the system. The on-board video used the same ATI 10.4 drivers as this card (now 10.5). It is the Sapphire card that is the problem. It is defective. Without it, the system runs fine without the lockups and crashes.

I RMA'ed the Sapphire HD 5670, but with all of the fooling around to diagnose the problem I was worried that I missed the return date (30 days from the date of the ORDER for them to RECEIVE the product back -- thanks a lot). Assuming the RMA is credited back to me, purchasing a new (defective) product, diagnosing it, and sending it back cost me just south of 30 U.S. Very nice.

Finally, I set the memory back to 7-8-7-24-2, with all the rest of the settings set to match the SPD column according to the BIOS. This works fine for me now.

I hope that this helps someone, or at least someone gets a good laugh out of all of this.

Thanks.

Don

[1] SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card.

P.S. Thief - The Dark Project installed and runs fine on WIN7 64. You just have to know how to do it ...