Gigabyte X99 boards - RAM sensitivity?

randal · 24 Aug 2015 at 22:59

Ahoy,

Been trying to diagnose a fault with a mate's new build over the last few nights with little success, however we seem to have got things narrowed down to board or RAM at fault.

My mate was experiencing lock ups and crashes after a fresh install, so did the usual by updating the BIOS to latest (F2a beta, and have since rolled back and forth during testing) and making sure everything was in order on the OS. Settings all set to auto in the BIOS at this point, which was sufficient for about a week's worth of use and gaming (when it didn't crash).

I started by suggesting with dial everything in properly for CPU and RAM, auto isn't going to help us troubleshoot anything. The machine refused to accept any settings other than auto in the BIOS for RAM timings, machine would boot to a black screen with fans screaming and then just sit there until the BIOS was reset. Or we'd get "boot failure detected" errors, resetting settings back to auto before it would boot into Windows.

Now the fault has developed as such where the machine seems to be exhibiting RAM failure, mem tests either hang or report errors with the memory. I'm highly sceptical that the memory has croaked at this point given that it ran for a week, and that there are numerous reports of people having issues when dialling settings in to the BIOS in the same way with the same "boot failure detected" error.

My hunch is memory incompatibility, I can't find the Corsair modules on the Qualified Vendors List however there are similar modules (listed with a D not a K) that are compatible. Corsair don't list the board on their lists as I think it's too recent a release.

His full spec is:

5820k
GA-X99-SLI
Corsair 16GB LPX 4x4gb 3000mhz C15 kit
2 X 670s
Coraisr 850W PSU

Before we RMA one or the other, any ideas or other things to suggest?

He's popping over tomorrow so I can try my Ripjaws in his machine, and his Corsairs in my Rampage V so will see how that goes.

Cheers in advance as always.

8 Pack · 24 Aug 2015 at 23:08

Probably neither the board nor the RAM is faulty as such. But for sure test the RAM in your RVE.

He is using a none OC socket board with 3000mhz Dimms. This configuration is almost impossible to get stable. 2666mhz-2800mhz RAM is about as far as it goes without this feature.

With X99 u have a crazy situation Intel is certifying DIMMS with XMP's even though that specific XMP will not work in there own certfied sockey. ie 3000mhz+ wont work in standard socket.

stulid · 24 Aug 2015 at 23:15

The X99-SLI does have the OC socket.

Heres the socket with the extra pins,

Here is the Switch along the bottom edge of the board,

randal · 24 Aug 2015 at 23:53

8 Pack said:
Probably neither the board nor the RAM is faulty as such. But for sure test the RAM in your RVE.

Hopefully the Ripjaws tomorrow will prove that out, I'm pretty confident that it will.

He is using a none OC socket board with 3000mhz Dimms. This configuration is almost impossible to get stable. 2666mhz-2800mhz RAM is about as far as it goes without this feature.

Good to know, I had no idea that the non-OC socket was a limiting factor above 2800mhz but fortunately as below he's got the OC socket open on the X99-SLI.

With X99 u have a crazy situation Intel is certifying DIMMS with XMP's even though that specific XMP will not work in there own certfied sockey. ie 3000mhz+ wont work in standard socket.

That doesn't surprise me at all. After reading into this it's become apparent that the vendors must either have a hell of a job keeping up with one and another or the certifications/compatibility lists are drawn up at release and then seldom updated. I couldn't find my exact modules, or his on the list or his board on Corsair's list.

XMP feels like a hell of a way off, just getting the thing to regularly boot would be an achievement!

stulid said:
The X99-SLI does have the OC socket.

Heres the socket with the extra pins,

Here is the Switch along the bottom edge of the board,

It does indeed, we've tried both settings to no avail though sadly.

I'll swap the RAM tomorrow and see how it all goes. Cheers fellas!

8 Pack · 25 Aug 2015 at 09:33

Vl4 1.5 vl5 1.45 vl6 1.45 should help your mem issue. I did not see this has oc socket.

randal · 25 Aug 2015 at 13:26

Well a little progress. His machine is much more stable with the Ripjaws, and his LPX modules work fine in my RVE.

Started stressing the X99-SLI/Ripjaws setup and we got a lockup in 4 minutes when using dialled in settings, and a reboot when set to auto. Could be looking at another compatibility problem with the Ripjaws I guess as they're not explicitly stated on the QVE. However we were able to change settings in the BIOS at least - a big step on.

I'm rapidly losing faith in this board though, seems to be proper fussy!

stulid · 25 Aug 2015 at 15:18

Is the boards BIOS upto date?

Example,

Early SOC Champion BIOS did 28x100Bclk to set XMP profile to 2800Mhz

Later ones now do a 1.25bclk strap with a lower multiplier to reach the same 2800Mhz.

randal · 25 Aug 2015 at 15:30

Only two BIOSs for that board, F1 and F2a beta. Nothing in the Tweaktown Gigabyte bios thread either. Boo.

Denonite · 31 Aug 2015 at 22:26

Had this board for a week now and RAM has been OK (my other issues are in another thread).

Popped in these:
TeamGroup Vulcan 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Quad Channel Kit

They run at full XMP profile BUT only when bclk is set to 125MHz and lower multiplier. Could not get them to work at 100MHz bclk and 30x multiplier

Even have changed the CPU multiplier trying a little OC and they are rock solid.

randal · 31 Aug 2015 at 23:33

Good to know, cheers. He's RMA'd it as neither set was stable, so rather than try and source a third set of RAM we figured it would be easier to send back to the reseller for them to test.

See what they come back with this week.