two kits of F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS (2Gx2) and ASUS P8Z68-V Pro

[eyekanspele]

As the title specifies, I have two kits of F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS (2Gx2) and an Asus P8Z68-v Pro motherboard (w/ 2500k Processor).

I am having a hard time to get this ram to run on this motherboard. I understand the memory kits I have were designed for a P55 1156 platform, and that ASUS lists this ram will work with only one kit.

However there is two problems I am having.

1. I cannot get this ram and motherboard to post with all 4 sticks. I tried the Memok button and was able to eventually get it to boot at 1333 mhz; I could not get it to work at much higher than that, even when i fed more voltage and played with the timings.

2. With only two sticks, I cannot seem to get it to run at the stated 2200mhz, I understand I should not change the blk setting much off of 100mhz, lowering it may slow down the rest of the computer, and raising it will not work. I am fine with running at 2133mhz, however even with loosen timing and bit of extra voltage to the ram, I cannot run prime 95 blend test for very long without a problem or have 10 passes problem free with memtest.

I am ready to call the memory a loss, and get different ram. Is there any settings anyone has had with this ram and Sandy Bridge? With one or two sets? Any tips for timings to adjust, voltages to increase, anything?

I had 4 sticks in my old computer (ASUS P7P55D Premium, and i7 860) run at 2150mhz (I didn't get it to 2200mhz because of the blk I set for my overclock) with slightly loosen timings with no problems, but 4 sticks seems really like a no go on SandyBridge.

[Tradesman]

I'd start ny making sure you have the latest BIOS, then start with one set, and set the timings to 8-10-10-28 2N 1.65, since XMP isn't going to work you'll also want to OC to maybe 4.2/4.3 or so to start

[eyekanspele]

I apologize that I am not at my computer I am having problems with, so I am going a bit by memory (pun intended).

I tried running a single kit at 8-11-11-30 3n @ 1.65650 at 2133mhz (I am not sure what the exact voltage is... but I bumped it one notch up from 1.65 in the asus EFI bios) with stock BLK and Turbo multipliers (up to 3.7ghz; essentially completely stock cpu settings; i do plan to overclock after I get my system stable).

If it matters, I have a newer 2500k with D2 stepping (confirm it with cpuz)

I still cannot pass memtest or prime95 with this setup. I tried both kits, in both different slots in dual channel.

I think these memory kits are a loss for my motherboard and I might need something else...

I know there was a scare with p67 boards, and running ram with more than 1.5v (I thinkg the scare was that it was damaging the memory controller built in the cpu?); I was wondering if this scare was actually legitimate? or if it carried over to Z68 boards?

I would like to know other's opinions, as I may swap ram with my fiance (she has an ASUS P8p67 B3 stepping Deluxe board with a 2600k; she has a better computer than me which makes me a sad panda) but she would murder me if I broke anything with my 1.65v ram.

If my ram does not work well in her computer, I may be looking at new ram... I would like to know if this scare is a legitimate concern for z68 boards, and I should try to look for 1.5V ram?

[Tradesman]

How much of an OC do you have on the CPU, to even think about 2133 requires a healthy OC. 1.65 is typical for the P67/Z68 when you get into high freq DRAM, typically you want to keep MC voltage and DRAM voltage within .5 of each other

[eyekanspele]

I do not believe I have any OC to get 2133mhz on the ram.

My BLK is still 100MHz, and my cpu multipliers is 16 base, and 37 turbo. The ram frequency is selectable at 2133mhz with this setup.

However, I had my Memory Controller voltage set to auto, which was apparently defaulting down 1.0625V; I have increased this to 1.2V based of an overclocking guide I found for P67 Asus motherboards. I assumed since the Memory controller is built into the CPU's, this would be the same for P67 and z68. In the ASUS EFI bios, I assume this is "VCCIO" voltage.

I will try this with the timings specified by Gskills for this ram kit (7-10-10-28 2n @1.65V), if that fails, I will got 1.65625, and then if that still fails I will try to 8-10-10-28 2n @1.65.

Hopefully it was the VCCIO voltage I missed...

[eyekanspele]

I would like to note, I decided to jump my testing of the timings, poped my VCCIO to 1.2V, dropped in all 4 sticks, and have my computer booting into windows, running at a nice 2133mhz; I have the timings loosen still to 8-11-11-30 3n @ 1.65625.

At least now it boots, I can do more testing. before when I the stock VCCIO and all 4 sticks in, it would not post properly.

After I tighten up the ram timings, Next step is getting this cpu to hop at +5ghz. I got my old i7 860 jumping at 4.2ghz

[Tradesman]

Keep us informed, glad it's going well

[eyekanspele]

I cannot booth with 4 sticks at 2133mhz, with 7-10-10-28 2N timmings as the kit advertised. That is fine to me since this is p55 kit, and the QVL list from asus lists that this kit will only run two sticks.

I can however boot 4 sticks at 2133mhz with 8-10-10-30 2n timings (1.65V DRAM, VCCIO 1.2V). I can get into windows, and havent had any initial BSOD problems at all. I Ran Prime 95 Blend test for about 30 minutes now, without failures (which Is nothing, I know). This is already better than the two sticks at 2133mhz, 8-11-11-30 2n @ 1.65625V (stock VCCIO), which failed Prime 95 Blend in 5-10 minutes

I am going to try memtest over night, and try more with prime95.

TY Tradesman for tipping me off on the VCCIO, I think this was the answer I was looking for.

[Tradesman]

Glad to hear it, if you have the time, keep us informed of your progress, it's often helpful to others

[eyekanspele]

My computer seems rock solid with two of these kits running on my ASUS P8z68-v Pro board (with 2500k) running 8-10-10-30 @ 1.65V (DRAM) and 1.20V (VCCIO) at 2133mhz. The VCCIO was hands down the key to my problem.

I got 10 passes on Memtest86+ V4.2, using the bootable usb installer.
I got 6 hours of Prime 95 Blend test ran with no errors. I understand 6 hours is not usually what most consider enough to judge a pass, however I am comfortabel with it.

I am not working on getting my processor up to 5ghz. I am currently test 4.8ghz and it is way too soon to say whether it is stable or not, but it boots windows 7 with no BSOD.

I used the following OC guide as a starting point. They fully explain that their guide is a no sweat way to get 4.8GHZ on a 2500k using an ASUS motherboard.

I am using a custom liquid cooling loop to cool my system. So I am very happy with the temperatures I am receiving with this guide (about 62 degrees C on average between 4 cores running Prime 95). I cannot say how the temperature will be on air cooling. However I have compared my liquid cooling loop similar to an Antec Kuhler 920 and Corsair H100.

I hope this helps someone in the future with this ram kit, as there is NO information I could find on google.

[Tradesman]

Thanks for sharing, I know it will be of help to others, Enjoy!