Getting the most out of my memory ?

Darkst4r

Darkst4r

Darkst4r

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I recently got my new build up and running and wanted to check my RAM is running at optimal performance. I had to do a voltage tweak to get it running atall so I'm concerned it may not be running at CAS7 timings or at 1600mhz, how can I check and adjust this ?

My mobo is an ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO and my RAM is 4GB of OCZ pc3-12800 DDR3 Dual channel.
 
OK heres what I got :

ram.jpg


Doesnt look like its running at 1600mhz though. Can you navigate me through changing it in the bios ? as Ive had a quick look but dont want to mess anything up.

Cheers :)

EDIT: not running dual channel either :(
 
Last edited:
dandos23 said:
Why are you only running single channel?
Click to expand...

Because I'm a total noob from noobsville Tennesee ! I had it in the wrong slots. I made a post yesterday about it and was asured it was in the correct slots but it evidently wasn't. I put both chips in the a1/b1 slots and am now getting dual channel with similar or the same settings as before. Ill have a fiddle in the bios and see if I can fathom it. Cheers for the help :)
 
Well I found what looked like the right bit, it asked me if I wanted to change DCT 0 or DCT 1 or BOTH so I chose BOTH. Changed the timings to 7 manually and then the TRAS to 24 and got this result :

Capture-1.jpg


The frequency has hardly budged :confused:

There was a setting called memory clock mode that I saw but didnt change, the only options in that menu were 400mhz,533mhz,667mhz or 800mhz. Should I change that setting ?

Also I dont seem to be getting near the 1600mhz I should be getting, could my RAM be poorly compatible ?
 
Cant see a setting where it lets me put it in manually, just those 4 pre-sets. Cant see where advanced OC'ing is either. Im a total newbie to tweaking things in the bios, the most I've done before is change the boot order ! Maybe it's better for the RAM to be running like crap than not atall, I'll probably end up frying it :(
 
I tried it at 800mhz and my system froze on boot-up. I'm running the memory at 1.75 volts if that makes a difference ?. The default value was 1.5 volts but I couldn't get my system to boot up or install windows on that so I had to change it to 1.75.
 
Checked the voltage and it was still set at 1.75v. 800 mhz isn't happening, my system gets to the swirly windows 7 lights but then freezes. I tried 667mhz instead which allowed me to boot into Windows fine but the DRAM Frequency is still staying at 669mhz. I'm wondering if I increase the voltage to 1.8 maybe I could run 800mhz with some stability ? Or could this be too much to put on my system, I dont want to frazzle anything, I've only just built it.
 
Tried running 800mhz @ 1.8v but it still froze. So then I tried 667 @1.8 volts and that actually gave me a lower DRAM Frequency :confused:
 
Wheeey, I think I managed it. I took both RAM chips out to test each one indiviadually and noticed the sticker was half rubbed off, I looked closer and noticed they are supposed to run at 1.9 volts, so I tried that, switched to 8oomhz and voila :

Capture-2.jpg



Does that look more like it ? If you double up the frequency figure you get around 1600mhz.

The only thing I'm concerned about is when I manually set 1.9 volts in the bios the text went red, is this cause for concern or just a warning not to go much further ?
 
Spoke to soon, I left my system running for half an hour and came back to it only to find it frozen on the bubble screensaver. The power button wouldnt work so I had to reset without shutting down. I rebooted and the OS lasted about 20 seconds before freezing up again. Either the RAM doesnt like my mobo or my crappy (405w) power supply is to blame ? Could an underpowered PSU cause a system to freeze ?

I switched back to 667 at the same volts and all is fine. I may decrease the voltage back to 1.7/8 though as it makes no difference to the DRAM Frequency. :(
 
Well I finally got there, all I needed was a simple bios update for my motherboard and I am now running 7-7-7-24 @ 800mhz(x2) stable @ 1.9 volts.

It has been a fairly steep learning curve but I feel I have definitely gone a step further into geekdom considering all I could do before was change boot priority :D

Thanks a lot for all your help and patience, it's much appreciated.
 
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