Ram errors with ddr3-2200 (f3-17600cl7q-8gbpis)

[EmpO3]

First off system specs:

Cpu: intel core i7-970
Ram: ddr2200 pc3-17600 GS model number (F3-17600cL7q-8gbpis)
Mobo: Gigabyte x58a-ud5 rev2.0
Gpu: Pny geforce gtx580
Psu: Ocz 1000w z series
Hdd: Western Digital velociraptor 600gb sata 3.0

The problem: I cannot get my rig stable when i turn these sticks up to their rated 2200mhz at rated timings and rated voltage. prime95 returns rounding errors. It is NOT the cpu as i have tested it and its fine. Im sure that its the settings in the bios because when i run these sticks at mobo bios stock(auto) the errors disapear.

Bios settings:
Voltage settings.
>ddr V :: 1.66 Actual reported by aida64 : 1.648
>cpu vcore :: 1.23 max as reported by aida64 i left this at auto in bios, and the bios has it at 1.28.
>QPI/Vtt :: 1.30 / 1.32 (These were the best voltages for the least errors)

Speed changes:
>BCLK :: 138
>cpu clock :: 24x (turbo boost sets it to 25x)
>(FSB : DDR)(SPD) :: 1:16 (16 x 138 = 2208 actual ddr MHZ)

Timing changes :: I set them to 7-10-10-28-1T(CMD)

Ok those were the only things i changed. I mentioned the cpu Vcore because i read that it can be set from .8 to 1.375 but my reported cpu Vcore was 1.23 i didnt know if this could be the problem as perhaps its a bit low.

QUESTIONS:
1. Is it true that with the i7-970 the max voltage i can set my ddr to is 1.65 or i will fry the cpu?
2. Is it true also that the max QPI is 1.35 or again i will fry my cpu?

Plesae help me get my rig stable! Im currently runing at 1333mhz! I want 2208+ mhz!

[EmpO3]

Bios settings

BTW i have the option to change prety much everything in the bios just keep in mind its an i7 mobo lga 1366 so it dosnt have fsb it has qpi....

I dont know how to put up pictures or i would(of the bios).

Please help!

[Tradesman]

Intel list 1.35 QPI and 1.65 for DRAM, but that is generally taken as being under spec. Another rule of thumb is that DRAM should stay w/ in .5 of QPI i.e. theoretically if QPI at 1.3 then max DRAM at 1.8.....I would stay with QPI maxed at about 1.46 (have seen CPU fry at 1.5) and DRAM about .1 above spec, in your case 1.75.

for your rig might take up the vCore to 1.325 and set CR (Command Rate) to 2 and then up the speed gradually to see how stability is

[EmpO3]

so

So your saying i should increase my dram V to 1.75? As far as QPI goes anything at or above 1.36 and stability gets realy bad. currently i have it at 1.30/1.32. I will up the vcore a bit later when i have time to try this again.

I need to know what i need to change and what changes i need to make to get stability...

[Tradesman]

No, I was trying to answer your questions and explain the reasoning behind the answers. My suggestions were to take the vCore to 1.325 and change your CR to 2, don't think these sticks can run at 1 at the highest speed.

[EmpO3]

running ok now

Changed timmings to what the xmp profile had as default including cmd to 2. I had cmd at 1 because cpu-z reported the xmp profile as having cmd 1 Anyways with qpi at 1.3 and ddr at 1.66(1.64 actual) everything seems to be fine and stable. Do these benchmarks look correct?

AIDA64 Extreme edition.

mem read:: 15818
mem write:: 15164
mem copy:: 14774
mem latency : 40.1

And my final 2 questions :: Does anyone know exaclty what the option in my bios under MIT(motherboard tweaker)/Mem settings/ System enhance does? There are three options standard / turbo / extreme.... I cant figure out exactly what they change... weird. Gigabyte having this type of option is weird.

AND
Is it ok for me to buy 2 more gigs of the same ram so that i can fill out my board and have 12 gb???

[Tradesman]

They are suppose to add a little extra boost when needed (have played w/ it a little on the UD3R and UD3L and not seen much difference other than Extreme and occasionally Turbo playing havoc w/ setting up OC settings

Should be able to add another set, might take some tweaking, a set of 4 sticks would be easier as they are pretested to work w/ each other....buying two separate sets...you can sometimes find that they won't play well together

[EmpO3]

Got more errors

Ok got errors at 2850% coverage with memtest. Could a gskill tech comment please. Thanks for all the help tman. Still getting errors..... QPI 1.30 DDR 1.66. Corev auto.

[EmpO3]

forgot to say

BTW they are rounding errors exp less than .4 actual .5 .......

[EmpO3]

Small fft's all nite no errors - not cpu

Ran small fft's all nite, 0 errors, its not the cpu - thank god. Im starting to think that the ram is bad, which sucks because i dont have any to put in the pc so that i can send these to g.skill

Will a gskill rep please advise?

[GSKILL TECH]

Try memtest or one module at a time to see if one performs differently than the others. That's the only way to tell if memory is really defective.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[EmpO3]

New problem!!!

I have a new and very troubeling problem on my hands.

I decided that i want to run my ram in DUAL channel mode so i took the sticks out and placed them in the proper slots for dual channel, (1,2,3,4), instead of their tripple channel slot assignment(1,2,3,5). I also set dios settings to default. The machine started up with no problem with everything at default / auto, BUT when i turned the ram up to its rated 2200, qpi 1.30 and ddrv 1.66 the system could onbly identify 4 gigs of ram, or half of the sticks. When it trys to load at the second boot screen, after it detects ide deices, it says "recovering lost dram.....%" and then a few seconds later it crashes. SO, the problem is that at their 2200mhz setting the system crashed and only ready HALF the ram... WHY IS THIS HAPPENING???? PLEASE HELP!!!

[GSKILL TECH]

QPI changes with everything, so set this to AUTO if you are not sure what to use yet.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[EmpO3]

memtest 86+ 12,000 errors

After running memtest for 10 minutes I had 12,000+ errors. I quit after the ten minutes as I was sick of all the errors. Now what do i need to do?

[Tradesman]

What is your CR (Command Rate at, if at 1 try 2)