Question on motherboard that's not on list...

[jonathanm1978]

I bought a setup from newegg. It was a DIY combo, but newegg had an Asus m4a77lt-m le motherboard (95watt max) combo'd with an AMD Phenom II x6 125W 1055T cpu. Also in the combo was this ram:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBRL

Now, I found out about the 95W and 125W issue once I had already received, and put together the combo kit. So I informed Asus first, then once the guy told me that basically I didn't want that particular motherboard, and if I kept running the 125W cpu in the 95W motherboard that I would eventually burn it up, I proceeded to look into another motherboard. Also with the purchase of a new motherboard was the need for a stronger PSU, because the ThermalMaster PSU that was in the combo wouldn't be sufficient to power any stronger of a board than it was already with. So I purchased this, together..

A 500W CoolerMaster PSU, and an AsRock M3A770DE motherboard.

When I received the new AsRock motherboard and new PSU, i put in the new parts, placed the CPU and all back into the case..and proceeded to start it up. The PSU was DOA, and something inside the PSU caused it to burn out my CPU. So I then had to RMA the dead stuff, which at the time I wasn't sure exactly what was burned up because I couldn't test it...so i had Newegg send me all new parts. New ram, new PSU, new motherboard, new everything...

I then decided to buy a different PSU in the middle of the RMA process because I read too many negative reviews on the CoolerMaster. I also found out that the CoolerMaster only had 360 Continuous watts. So i bought an Antec 620 (Cont)...and finally got all my parts back in, new and ready to assemble.

Assembled and the final build was this:

AsRock M3A770DE motherboard (125W)
Antec ECO v2.3 620W Continuous PSU
XFX 4650 HD pci-e 2.0 x16 video card
Seagate 1TB sata 3.0g HDD
AMD Phenom II x6 125W 1055T
and TWO sets, for a total of EIGHT GIGS, not just the 2x2gb that came in the combo of this:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBRL

So i got an 8gb total on DDR3, all of the same kind 2GB ddr3 1333 F3-10666CL9D

My memory timings are manually set in the bios to this:
9-9-9-24 and command rate at 1T

I'm wondering if the guy on another site is correct when he's telling me that my ram or system won't function properly since it's not on the list of supported types.

I'm pretty new to setting bioses and don't know much about how to maneuver it well, so if someone answers, please try to be as technical and directive as possible so I can try to interpret what is being said. I'll do my best to look for what's said but I'm totally a new person to doing this sort of thing.

I've not done any prime95 tests or tried to push the limits of the system, but i'm not seeing any glitches in normal, everyday usage.

thoughts, opinions? Possible settings for this 8gb setup instead of the 9-9-9-24 @ 1T?

And ideas on if I should change voltage or leave it alone.

[jonathanm1978]

anyone got any ideas?

[jonathanm1978]

I also have tinkered with the OCTuner from Asrock, and I noticed that upon a reboot of the system, my DRAM voltage is higher...

In the bios, it's set to AUTO...

But when I start the OCTuner and look at the Voltage Control tab, the DRAM voltage is up to 1.71

I'm not sure what's making it do this, as I thought my ram was running at 1.48, or that's the "Auto" setting - i believe. What would cause the DRAM voltage to go up like that?

As a side note, I do also use the IES power-saving feature that Asrock has, so when the cores aren't needed or in use, the core speed drops to 800mhz. It doesn't delay the system any whatsoever that I've noticed, and I'm about saving electricity -- even though I leave this desktop running 24-7.

I am also curious about what the break in period is.

I build this system friday..and I loaded it up with everything (software)...
Got my windows 7 64-bit OS up and running, and I've had it running since without turning it off.

Is there a break-in period where I should run it, turn it off ...etc?

[wevsspot]

I'm wondering if the guy on another site is correct when he's telling me that my ram or system won't function properly since it's not on the list of supported types.

That guy doesn't have any clue what he is talking about. There isn't any way that a motherboard manufacturer or memory manufacturer can validate EVERY single motherboard/memory combination that might exist out in the market place. However, the fact is that many types of RAM are compatible on many types of motherboards even if they aren't listed on the compatibility chart. The important this is choosing the right memory based on form factor (i.e. DDR, DDR2, DDR3) motherboard supported DRAM voltages (i.e. 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.1v etc.) and choosing the correct speed memory for your particular build.

And ideas on if I should change voltage or leave it alone.

You definitely need to change your DRAM voltage. 1.71v is way too high. You should manually set your DRAM voltage to 1.50v ASAP!

[jonathanm1978]

I went in and set the ram voltage to 1.53 (I don't have 1.50, the closest is 1.48 and 1.53)

I'd rather have the .02 over than .02 under, so I set it just a hair high.

I also tightened the ram a little, not much, but my settings right now are this:

9-8-8-22 at 1T command rate and 1.53v

How tight do you think I can get 4 sticks of DDR3_1333 (2gb each). My board supports up to 16gb, so I'm on 8gb right now with what I have.

Board also supports DDR3_1800 OC'd...but i'm not going that far with just a tad bit over stock cooling (I'm still air-cooled, but I've added 3 extra fans on top of the 120mm that came in my case...put 3 more 80mm -- 1 80mm and 1 120mm on the side panel, 1 80mm in the rear, and 1 120mm in the front, in front of the 2 sata HDD's.)

I'd like to get it tight, but not too tight...and I'm running good right now on 9-8-8-22 on the others.

[jonathanm1978]

gskill

oops, i meant I'm running 9-8-8-22 at 1T and 1.53v, but if will go any lower I'll try...if someone has any suggestions.

I had 9-9-9-24 at 1T and ran memtest for over an hour without any errors. Haven't memtest yet on this settings i'm at now.

[GSKILL TECH]

If you want to lower timings, it just requires you to raise voltage.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[mrcmtl]

You may want to try 8-8-8. If it doesn't work, try raising CPU/NB voltage by 0.1V

[jonathanm1978]

What about the other questions, like breaking-in time for the PC and such? I'm running (according to the OCTuner from asrock) 39C on processor, and 35C on motherboard. I have some Artic Silver but I just used the thermal paste that was already on the Heatsink that Newegg sent me. Only thing I don't like is that fan (or 1 of the fans out of all I'm using) has a crazy sound)...so I may be purchasing another heatsink for this setup with a quieter CPU fan.

[jonathanm1978]

I went and messed with some stuff, but I didn't change the ram's setting from "Auto" to "ddr3_1333",

and when I set it to 8-8-8-22, and the voltage at 1.59...it wouldn't boot...

So I restarted and went back into BIOS. The memory page showed the current settigns of the ram, and then the column next to it shows the value you want to change it to...

At restart I didn't notice the ram's speed at the top, only the current timings and what I wanted to change..it looked like this:

Bootup Timings---------------------------------Value to change to
6 --------------------------------- ------------ 8 ===I set to 6
6 --------------------------------- ------------ 8 ===set to 6
6 --------------------------------- ------------8 ===set to 6
15 --------------------------------- -----------22===set to 15
2T --------------------------------- ------------1T ===set to 2T


But the speed was auto tuned back to ddr_400 because the CPU_Z I ran once booted says my ram is at 399mhz, but running 6-6-6-15 at 2T

So which setting is better?

Took the side off, felt of the heat spreader, and I'm not generating any heat on my ram at all with the 6-6-6-15 and 2T setting, but the ram is running a lower speed....

What should I do now?

[wevsspot]

Run some bandwidth benchmarks using either Everest or SiSoft Sandra. You'll need to determine for yourself (based on benchmarks) which settings work best in your particular setup.

The primary things you would be evaluating are;

Memory Read
Memory Write
Memory Copy
Memory Latency

[wevsspot]

And relative to your "break-in" question. You'll find the opinions (and that's all they are) split about 50/50

There are two schools of thought;

1. Slowly bump your speeds, clocks and voltages up over an extended period of time
2. Balls to the wall from the get go

I've tried it both ways over the years and haven't found a compelling reason to do it one way over another.

Although balls to the wall from the get go does save you some time if you don't want to be tinkering for a month or longer

[mrcmtl]

I think you should firstly get your RAM back to 1333 then you can play with the timings to get the optimal setting.

[jonathanm1978]

I already got it back to that. As of now, my timings are this:

9-8-8-18 at 1T command rate, 1.53volts.

If I drop the 9 to an 8 on the CL, it hangs up (even tried bumping from 1.15 to 1.1626 on the NB voltage)...tried bumping the ram from 1.53 up to 1.71 so I could achieve 8-8-8-16 or even 8-8-8-22...but it hangs whenever I change the CL any lower than 9.

[mrcmtl]

What is your CPU/NB voltage?