F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM + ASRock Extreme4 Gen3 = Prime85 Errors

[ilavicion]

Sorry again that I didn't response to you for so long now, but as i already mentioned, university studies...

I got the Ripjaws stable. Changing the used memory slots from 1,3 (nearest to the CPU) to 2,4 (furthest from the CPU) did solve my issue. Thanks to "GSKILL TECH" for that hint!

And thank you for your information, "Tradesman". Didn't know that... I just thought when you buy expensive "high-end" RAMs they will run with nearly 100% guarantee stable. Actually that's a lil bit disappointing. Conclusion: Buying high-speed RAMs does NOT pay off and is very demanding =/

Thanks to all of you for helping me

[Tradesman]

Problem is it shouldn't be demanding...but mobo makers rush their boards out with a stable BIOS that implements XMP correctly, which is one of the reasons you see so many BIOS updates out there so often, and it just keeps getting worse, the new XMP 1.3 standard has come out along with the new socket 2011 mobos, and the BIOSs are fully ready for that either, so it's still a lot of manual setup

[GSKILL TECH]

High frequency RAM does pay off

It is demanding, but if you follow our compatibility charts for each kit, you will be just fine. With these newer platforms, high frequency memory can be achieved with one setting (XMP) ((Intel)).

With a $40 aftermarket CPU cooler and some simple CPU overclocking, you got yourself a super computer.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[ilavicion]

High frequency RAMs do pay off in benchmarks, yes. But if I'm honest there's is absolutely no effect in real environments, e.g. gaming. But I'm this kind of a person, who just has fun in pushing his system to the limit and squeezing out as much benchmark points as possible (and yes I got watercooling for the CPU^^). When installing the new 2133MHz RAMs i was really disapointed they did not run stable. For me it's so funny that it did just fail because of my intuition to install them at banks 1 and 3

Actually I did nothing else then installing the DIMMs at bank 2 and 4 (Dual Channel), loading XMP1.2 profile, loading 4,8GHz profile from my motherboard, and here it goes.^^

Now I'll look how they perform in overclocking

In addition the DIMMs look really good in my system, I like them Thanks to G.Skill

[Tradesman]

Enjoy! It can be fun (and frustrating) to push the components to get a little better, each time out! Have fun!

[GSKILL TECH]

Depends what your "real environment" is. If you watch videos, play simple games, surf the web, of course there is no major difference, but the computer will still be FAST.

If your "real environment" is video editing, rendering, 3D, photoshop, large file production,... it will change your life.

Glad to hear you got it working properly, it is a common mistake, so you're not the only one.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[TheWholeOfTheMoon]

I had exactly the same problem with these memory modules, but with a Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 board: Prime95's stress test gave me errors after a short while (somewhere between 1-15 minutes). Inserting the modules into slots A2/B2 made the errors go away, rocksteady stress test for 24 hrs+!

Kind of funny that changing slots can make so much difference, why is that? Less heat from the CPU? I can hardly believe that, the difference in temperature between slot A1 and A2 is barely noticable.

[Tradesman]

More and more, mobo makers are headed to slots 2-4 as the primary where in the past 1-3 was always the main, think in part it's because of the bigger heatsinks that tend to overhang slot 1

[GSKILL TECH]

Less stress on the memory controller with the furthest slots, so they now design those as the initial slots.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[phaseart]

I just bought the same ram and MB (I'm waiting on the MB), but I bought 4 sticks; the fix was to use slot 2 and 4 to get the specified 2133 speed. Am I going to be able to achieve full performance, I already bought 2 sets of (2x4GB) of the ram and I am worried that I wasted an extra $40-$50 dollars if it will only perform at 1600 using when filling all slots. Note my configuration:

16GB 2 set (2x4GB) F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM
ASRock Extreme4 Gen3
i7 2600K

[Tradesman]

Should, will want to make sure you have the latest BIOS, buying two sets means you'll have to set them up manually and will prob reuire a little extra voltage to the DRAM and MC voltage, a single 4 stick set would have been easier and should work under XMP

[phaseart]

I've already purchased two set and was hoping to use XMP, does your last comment suggest that XMP will not be an option since I am using two dual set rather than a quad kit.

Thank you,

[Tradesman]

Yes, the XMP setting are programmed by set, i.e. for two sticks tRFC might be 68 while with four sticks it might be 88.....the good thing is those advanced timings are generally handled well by the BIOS based on the basic timings , i.e. 9-9-9-24, which are the timings you'll have to make sure are the ones used. Had you gotten a four stick set the XMP settings would be for all four sticks.

[phaseart]

I am sure I will have more question once I get the MB and start trying things out. But to recap:

1. I should be able to have the 16GB running at 2133?
2. I'll have to manually adjust timings because I have 2 sets of dual memory
i. These manual settings should be 9-9-9-24 although 9-11-10-28 is spec?
3. I'll have to increase the voltage to the sets beyond 1.65v?
4. The tRFC will be 68, is this manually set?
5. I assume the following three have to optimized as whole:
i. voltage
ii. CAS timings
iii. CPU over clock speed
6. Flash MB bios with latest firmware
i. The latest firmware is beta from this month last official is 6 month old.

I do plan on doing photoshop and 3D rendering, so I was thinking the high performance ram might pay off.

[Tradesman]

1. Yes
2. No you'll want the base timings to the stick specs, I just through out 9-9-9-24 as an example (note the i.e.)
3. Possibly (maybe probably)
4. Was an example to explain possible differences in the programming for 2 or 4 stick sets under XMP (note the 'might be')
5. Yes
Yes, and prob want this to be one of the first things you do