Asus Sabertooth X79, RipjawsZ F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL (4Gx8) BIOS settings?

[powerhouse]

If nothing works, try Kingston or Samsung memory. The latter may be hard to find. They may not be the best for overclocking, but they are considered to be the most compatible ones. Good luck!

[stripe123]

@stripe123: It seems that X79 boards are generally tricky, and the more memory you run the trickier it gets.

I have also tried all suggestions given here, and even replaced the 8x4GB memory for 4x8GB G.Skill memory. Though this improved matters, it didn't solve it for me (would fail stress test).

If you say that in practice everything works stable, and only Prime95 shows errors, it's your call to decide whether or not to do something about it. In any case, I would not use excessive voltage settings as chances are that they shorten your CPU lifetime.

Tradesman on this forum here has been very helpful in trying to resolve my issues. Unfortunately in my case it didn't work and I eventually went with Kingston memory. Still, I believe that G.Skill's support is exemplary, and I would have loved to stick with this brand.

In the meantime I discovered some issues with my motherboard (Asus Sabertooth X79) - buggy Marvell SATA controller, reportedly VT-d issues with newest BIOS releases, and no support whatsoever for OSes others than Microsoft - I can't recommend that board, nor Asus in general. Asus' policy of providing next to no information with BIOS upgrades, as well as updating the QVL (qualified vendor list) perhaps once a year (if at all) is very discouraging too.

Since you tried 2 different boards, I does seem to be a memory issue. If you use 4GB DIMMs you may want to try the 8GB DIMMs, they might work better. Last not least, reset all BIOS settings to default, then enable XMP. Further tweaking of BIOS settings should be done according to the recommendations of the vendor or someone with knowledge - there is no point in trying all sorts of settings.

You also mentioned that some memory modules were faulty and you had to replace them? It is important to buy ONE memory kit, not two or more kits, even if they are identical. If you want to have 16GB, buy a 16GB kit, not 2 8GB kits. Hope I'm not repeating the obvious here.

I had another reboot after 3.5 hours, it seems as though this is never going to end

[powerhouse]

@stripe123: It seems that X79 boards are generally tricky, and the more memory you run the trickier it gets.

I have also tried all suggestions given here, and even replaced the 8x4GB memory for 4x8GB G.Skill memory. Though this improved matters, it didn't solve it for me (would fail stress test).

If you say that in practice everything works stable, and only Prime95 shows errors, it's your call to decide whether or not to do something about it. In any case, I would not use excessive voltage settings as chances are that they shorten your CPU lifetime.

Tradesman on this forum here has been very helpful in trying to resolve my issues. Unfortunately in my case it didn't work and I eventually went with Kingston memory. Still, I believe that G.Skill's support is exemplary, and I would have loved to stick with this brand.

In the meantime I discovered some issues with my motherboard (Asus Sabertooth X79) - buggy Marvell SATA controller, reportedly VT-d issues with newest BIOS releases, and no support whatsoever for OSes others than Microsoft - I can't recommend that board, nor Asus in general. Asus' policy of providing next to no information with BIOS upgrades, as well as updating the QVL (qualified vendor list) perhaps once a year (if at all) is very discouraging too.

Since you tried 2 different boards, it does seem to be a memory issue or P/S. If you use 4GB DIMMs you may want to try the 8GB DIMMs, they might work better. Last not least, reset all BIOS settings to default, then enable XMP. Further tweaking of BIOS settings should be done according to the recommendations of the vendor or someone with knowledge - there is no point in trying all sorts of settings.

[stripe123]

Hi,

I got some Corsair Ram today, wish me luck, I am Priming now!!!! If this does not resolve my issue then it has to be a dodgy PSU. I cant see it being a dodgy CPU? Its highly unlike CPU's to be faulty...

[stripe123]

You mention a MSI mobo, ig you can provide which one, what your running the CPU at, DRAM timings (basic and advanced), system voltages etc, we can try and help

Hi there, I was running sabertooth x79 and then brought a MSI X79A-GD45 (8D) motherboard and both have the issues. Both have the latest bios. I am running a i7 3930k running at stock, I have disabled all cores, disabled HT, disabled all cpu technologies, power states etc and nothing will work. I have used XMP on my ram I have manually used timings of 11-11-11-30 2T 1.5V and this does not work either. I have tried CPU voltage of 1.35V, I have tried VTT at 1.4V, I have tried SA at 1.4V, I have tried CPU PLL at 2.0V, I have tried 1333MHZ instead of 1600MHZ. I am out of ideas....

[Tradesman]

You mention a MSI mobo, ig you can provide which one, what your running the CPU at, DRAM timings (basic and advanced), system voltages etc, we can try and help

[stripe123]

Good morning. If its any help I have the same motherboard CPU and ram. I have the same issues as you and it's driving me nuts!!!! My system works as intended but fails to prime 95 or linx test. I have replaced the motherboard with a cheap Msi motherboard and this has not resolved the issues. I have tweaked every setting in the bios and maxed all voltages to Intels max specs but nothing will work. I can't get a stable prime 95 test past 2 hours. I have changed ram speed, timings, disabled every bios setting I can, tried one sticks, two stick, all sticks, reinstalled windows, I can game for hours or use my PC for days with out issues but I can't get it stable.

I am loosing my mind and I'm thinking it can be two things, a dodge psu or **** ram. Oh btw I have replaced the ram 3 times because 3 packs were dead!!!! Doesn't this ram get extensive testing?

I will buy a new pack of 16gb ram today and will test that to see if it helps, if not then psu will be next. Ill go Kingston or corsair ram. I will let you know how it goes.

[Tradesman]

Reset CMOS install 1 stick, slot one, enable XMP, power down, install the other sticks in proper slots and boot, then check the timings, advance timings and voltages...that's what I would like to see - will give a good idea if the BIOS is setting things up right

[powerhouse]

I doubt they spent time in trying different sets to find a combination that worked. I was there in the afternoon while they still had the G.Skill in the PC. Next morning the technician called to tell me that he ran the other memory sets together and it ran all night without error (Prime95) at full load. Knowing that they are always very busy and don't have many spares on stock (why did they throw in 3 sets? - if they had a 32GB set they would use that, or at least 2 16GB sets) I really doubt that.

Anyway, I asked them to run the G.Skill through the paces at default settings with XMP enabled. If that works - great. If not, I'll try to get the screenshots for the settings to look at them.

With reference to their first trials with the new G.Skill memory, they did try the recommended settings on the G.Skill website as well as what you mentioned (the technician follows this thread and used the recommendations given here). It still gave the OC fail when doing a cold boot.

I wonder if there are recommended settings for that particular memory / MB / CPU combination? Perhaps also the BIOS revision (1203 in my case, i.e. the latest BIOS revision).

[Tradesman]

Can you find what the BIOS setting are? Appears they are assuming the BIOS is 100% good (which it seldom to never is, especially with large amounts of DRAM (i.e. 1 mobo I had, a P67, was on the market for over a year and had a max tRFC limit on it of 255, many 4x8GB sets require a tRFC of 270 or above, would want to take a look at DRAM settings both base timings and advanced and all system voltages - also seems strange a system shop has NO 32 GB sets, and apparently only 1 single 16GB set....would almost guess they tried various sets till they got a combo that would work

[powerhouse]

The technician just called me. Following yesterdays OC fail issue with the G.Skill memory, he replaced it with Kingston 9-9-9-27 DDR3-1600 memory and since he didn't have a 32GB kit he installed a 16GB kit and two 8GB kits - 8 DIMMs in total. With XMP enabled after installing the first 16GB kit, and adding the other two kits, he ran Prime95 all night with zero errors and no core shutdowns. Also, a cold reboot wouldn't cause an OC fail message. We all know that mixing different kits is NOT advisable, but this test clearly points to memory issues or incompatibility.

At least now I know the motherboard / CPU / and PSU are working fine.

I advised him now to reinstall the G.Skill memory and run the same Prime95 test to see what comes up (of course resetting the CMOS and enabling XMP, but without any other voltage adjustments).

[powerhouse]

Thanks for the fast reply!

They used your procedure and the XMP settings and timings showed up in the BIOS.

Only when you power down, disconnect the power cord, reconnect and boot (cold boot) there is the "OC fail" message. One can then go into the BIOS and just save and start and it boots fine.

I'm wondering if this is something to be concerned about, or not?

I've read plenty of posts of Asus Sabertooth X79 users that run 32GB of memory, just yesterday I found a post on a hackintosh forum where the a guy runs 64GB on this board.

[Tradesman]

To start, if they've already reset the CMOS, simply boot into BIOS, enable XMP, select the 1600 profile and boot. Shut down and reboot into BIOS, and check the DRAM timings, should be 10-10-10-30 2T 1.5...if the timings don't come up right or any problems let me know. If the BIOS is ready for the 32GB, then it should be basically fine -- many Asus mobos aren't ready so may have to adjust voltages

[powerhouse]

I forgot to mention:

The BIOS revision is the latest one, revision 1203.

When enabling XMP the BIOS reads the memory specs and all settings look fine (timings, speed, voltage, all according to specs.).

[powerhouse]

Hello Tman,

The new memory arrived (I asked to upgrade to 4x8GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 10-10-10-30-2N memory) and I brought the PC to the shop to have them install the memory and test the system. They installed the memory, reset the CMOS (I asked them to to make sure there are no settings that I left when trying the other memory), and turned on XMP. Everything seemed fine until he made a cold reboot.

One of their procedures to test a new PC is to turn it off, remove the power cord, and press the power button for a while (so the technician explained). Next is to connect the power cord and boot the PC. During POST this message appears:

overclock fail

It then allows you to enter the BIOS and make changes. The technician explained to me that he could just exit the BIOS and reboot and this time no message would appear, or carry on and boot or load the Windows installer.

Following this they haven't done any further tests. What do you make of it?

Any suggestions?

My hardware for reference:
i7 3930K C2 stepping
Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard
Noctua D14 cooler
Seasonic Gold 670W power supply
PNY Quadro 600 (Nvidia) graphics card
Sandisk Extreme 120GB SSD
WD20EARX hard drive
DVD RW drive
Corsair carbide 500 chassis

RipjawsZ F3-12800CL10Q-32GBZL (8Gx4) 10-10-10-30-2N 1.5V = 32GB

Tman, what do you suggest?

Also, please give me the exact BIOS settings to use with this motherboard and memory, or the range we should try.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!