1600Mhz showing as 1066Mhz!?

Howitzer · 15 Mar 2010 at 14:57

Hi All,

I recently purchased:
Geil Black Dragon 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel

It works fine and looks awesome but when I look at the installation in Windows (7) and on the BIOS it is showing as 1066 memory rather than 1600... I have installed it in the correct slots in my Asus P6TD Deluxe so I don't understand whether it's working wrong or just showing incorrectly.

Is there a way I can find out? A way I can test it perhaps?

Cheers!
Howie.

Speed · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:16

If you want to be certain of the speeds it is running at (although the BIOS would suggest 1066Mhz). Run CPU-Z.

I think what you need to do to get it running at 1600MHz quickly is use the built in memory profile like XMP. Many will say this isn't a good idea due to the volts used etc but it should get the memory running at 1600MHz quickly and with no tweaking.

There should be an option to enable the XMP profile, sometimes called SPD in the motherboard BIOS.

Admiral Huddy · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:17

Have you changed the memory frequency/ratio in the BIOS? It maybe using the previous settings of your old RAM if set to manual.

Howitzer · 15 Mar 2010 at 16:27

Admiral Huddy said:
Have you changed the memory frequency/ratio in the BIOS? It maybe using the previous settings of your old RAM if set to manual.

No, it's a new build (both Mobo and memory) so haven't tweaked anything yet.

Speed said:
If you want to be certain of the speeds it is running at (although the BIOS would suggest 1066Mhz). Run CPU-Z.

I think what you need to do to get it running at 1600MHz quickly is use the built in memory profile like XMP. Many will say this isn't a good idea due to the volts used etc but it should get the memory running at 1600MHz quickly and with no tweaking.

There should be an option to enable the XMP profile, sometimes called SPD in the motherboard BIOS.

Righto, I'll check out CPU-Z and then go on to try XMP. Hopefully I can sort it, don't wanna have to send back and get more grrr lol.

Thanks peeps.

Speed · 15 Mar 2010 at 16:34

Yeah I had the same issue when I first built my i7 setup, it appears the memory runs at 1066MHz by default and only uses 1600MHz when you force it to. Either through memory settings or a XMP.

Admiral Huddy · 15 Mar 2010 at 16:34

If that's the case then Speed ought to be right.. You need to activate XMP.

Howitzer · 18 Mar 2010 at 11:26

I finally got around to doing this - It did indeed work after activating X.M.P and changing the setting manually. It seems stable so far too!

Cheers guys