Need Help with Asus Sabertooth X58 board

[Gagoo]

cpu: i7 - 950
M/b: Asus Sabertooth X58
PSU: 750w
mem: 12800CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaw DDR3 1600 8gb(2 x 4GB)


problem:

everything runs okay until playing a game! PC restarts no BSOD, nothing... it's like someone pressed the restart button.

I check the mobo manual and apparently the ram sticks that I have is not "qualified" maybe that's one reason this happens..

not sure if the memory is the problem since this is just my second build.. my first one (with different components) ran without any hitch!

[Tradesman]

Check and make sure your base timings and DRAM voltage are set manually and correctly, will want the Command Rate (CR) at 2. Another possibility (rather possible from the sounds of it, no BSOD) would be your video driver is not compatible or has a problem w/ the game. If using the current GPU Driver, might check at Guru3d.com they often have beta drivers.

[Gagoo]

my timings are(used the ones provided on the memory sticks):

9-9-9-24

v1.6

------------------

I have the GTX260 and updated to the latest driver, I recycled this gpu from my last build which ran fine, along with my hdd and psu.

[Gagoo]

still having the same problem


switched my video card to the other PCI-e 16x slot thought the first one might have problems.. same result..

where is this command rate you're talking about? some of the wordings from everybody else's BIOS seems different to mine so it's hard for me to figure out which one's does what...

[Gagoo]

ah well about the Command Rate, mine is set to 2 already and still have the same problem

FSBRAM 2:12
CL 9
tRCD 9
tRP 9
tRAS 24
tRFC 128
CR 2T

[leeghoofd]

You prolly need to feed the CPU with a bit more QPI volts for 8GB action. Try 1.35 ( also verify that the uncore speeds are at 3200)

[GSKILL TECH]

Try the XMP Profile to see how that works.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Gagoo]

Try the XMP Profile to see how that works.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

yea, tried that and my game shuts down between 10 - 20 mins.

I haven't adjusted that CPU voltage though, I left that in auto.

is their something else wrong here? do I need to get a new PSU?

[Gagoo]

email I sent to ASUS

what follows is an email I send to ASUS, i hope this will tell you guys a lot of what I've been trying to do.

okay, I've turned On PC probe II and did not get a warning sound when the PC restarted.

I can't pin point the exact hardware. I suspected 3 things, the RAM, the GPU, and the PSU.. as I am typing this message and the messages before this on the very same computer. I can do normal things with the computer without errors, BSODs, and Freezings. it's only when I play games or during benchmarkings.

RAM - G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL (8GB - 4GB x 2) when I booted for the first time, everything went well, was able to install windows 7 64-bit without any freezes, errors, BSOD, etc, etc, etc.. after installing drivers and stuff, I wanted to test out a game. The PC restarted, with the default BIOS values.... so at that point, I went into BIOS and played around with timings.. different timings causes my PC to reboot at different times during gaming sometimes when I load a game or sometimes before I could even control my character or sometimes 5 - 10 minutes after gaming. Now my DRAM settings right now are:

X.M.P.
9-9-9-24-2N (as provided by the RAM)
DRAM B2B CAS - 10
DRAM Volts - 1.55 (DRAM says it should be 1.50v but that did not last me too long)
QPI/DRAM - 1.4 (X.M.P. value)

CPU voltage @ auto - 1.25v

now this settings lasted my games between 20 and 30 minutes. So i figured there is something else might have caused this since I am using the timings provided by the RAM vendor.
----------------------------------

GPU - I am using the GTX260 and I stresstested it using OOCT, for 20 minutes (because that's how long my PC lasted when playing games with the new RAM settings) it was roughly about 18 minutes when my PC restarted with the same symptoms(no BSOD, errors, etc..).

During the stresstest the GPU temps when to 85c and and settled at 83c when the GPU's fans kicked it so loud. Now when playing my games I could not hear the fans going loud at all so that made me think twice about my GPU being the prime suspect. GPU's idle temp is 53c

Prior to the GPU stresstest, I tested the CPU for 20 minutes, no problem, temps went from 40c idle to 79c 100% load. no restarts.
--------------------------------------
PSU - I'm don't really know how to test problems with the PSU but everything else that I mentioned above leads me to the PSU. This PSU is 3 years old now and originally was for my Core 2 Duo E6850 setup.

and as you mentioned about voltage problems, that also adds up to what I was thinking about.

so that's my full story. I am planning on calling my GPU manufacturer for a replacement and calling my RAM manufacturer for timing help.

[GSKILL TECH]

Try a lower QPI/DRAM Voltage, it should not need this high for DDR3-1600.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Gagoo]

Try a lower QPI/DRAM Voltage, it should not need this high for DDR3-1600.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

I just tried 1.35v, 1.30v, and 1.25v and still have the same results.. I use Crysis to waste no time if something's wrong, and the whole system reboots right after the EA logo appears when booting up Crysis.

is their something else that's causing this problem?

[GSKILL TECH]

Run memtest to see if there are any errors on the memory. If not, the problem may not be with the memory.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Gagoo]

Run memtest to see if there are any errors on the memory. If not, the problem may not be with the memory.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

yea I tried that and memtest freezes @ 47% Test#1.. I searched online to see what might cause this and it says memtest86 apparently does not like 4GB stick RAMs.. is that true? I tried 1 stick and then the other. both @ X.M.P. profile settings, it freezes @ test#1 @ 47%

[GSKILL TECH]

There is also a memtest86+ that may be better. Also, if you have Win7, type "mem" after pressing Start and it will prompt you to run the built in memory test.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Gagoo]

There is also a memtest86+ that may be better. Also, if you have Win7, type "mem" after pressing Start and it will prompt you to run the built in memory test.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

i've tried the windows memory diagnostic and the sticks passed no problem..

i have not tried memtest86+.. gonna do that now