New build problem

kissenger

kissenger

kissenger

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Joined
10 Apr 2008
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Hi guys, I just finished my first new build yesterday. I was amazed at how easy it was after it was all said and done (even though I was bricking it when I hit the power button for the first time:D).

I installed vista no problemo, and was playing Crysis within an hour of first turning on my new PC.

Thing is, I noticed something fishy - and annoying - when my computer starts up. On the screen it states that my memory clock is running at 800MHz, even though I have 4Gb of OCZ PC2-8000 Platinum Edition RAM, with speeds of 1000MHz. Even more annoying, even though I have a Q6000 Quad at 2.4GHz, it states: 'Main Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad at 1.87GHz"!

I didn't notice this at first because I was just happy to get my build up and running, but I should have known something was up when Crysis was running so slow (I though my new build, with a 9800GTX, would smash it - or at least run it at 30 fraps). (Edit: it might not mean anything, but I COULD run COD4 at 1900x1200 with everything set to high)

Do any of you have any idea what might have gone wrong? I'm scared that I installed the CPU wrongly and bent some pins or something - is this a possibility?

Btw, I did NOTHING in the BIOS (besides set the date and time), because I have no idea what I'm doing in there.
 
Sounds like your CPU is running slow because of Intel's "Speedstep" pish. Try disabling that in the BIOS. As for your memory it might be BIOS settings also, but I'm not sure on that. What model is your motherboard?

If you had bent some CPU pins you'd probably be having some more serious problems than this, so I wouldn't worry about that.
 
Fast reply, thanks mate.

My mobo is an eVGA 780i. I suspected some kind of power saving technology was the cause of the CPU thing. I'll have a look at the BIOS in a mo.

CPU-Z tells me that the RAM timings are 5-5-5-18 (which are stock settings), that 'DRAM Frequency' is 400MHz, that I have 4Gb installed in dual channels, that voltages are 1.8V, and that I have PC2-6400 (400MHz) bandwidth (wtf!).
 
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_8000_2gb_platinum_edition

This is your memory, correct? If so it should be running at 2.1 volts, so you could try setting it to 2.1 in the BIOS. I had a similar problem with my 790i Ultra Asus board: It defaulted the RAM to 1.5v in the BIOS when it's actually designed to run at 1.8. I didn't lose any performance because of it, but obviously it's best to run components at their default voltages to start with.

Not sure if changing that will fix your problem directly. I went from old old 133Mhz SDRAM straight to my new DDR3 rig, so I won't pretend to be an expert. But if this doesn't work you might have to "overclock" the memory to its design spec. But you might want to wait for someone more eperienced to concur before doing that.
 
Maybe if you had an old and crappy motherboard, but not with what you've got. If for some reason it doesn't POST, clear the CMOS (check your motherboard manual) and you'll be back to default BIOS settings allowing you to start up again normally. Alternatively if you are worried, you could try upping the voltage incrementally first. So, try 1.6v, then 1.7 if that's fine, etc all the way up to 2.1.
 
I'm only going from 1.85 (which was what the mobo automatically set it to), to 2.1V, so it's not like it will change THAT much.

If I up the voltage, will the RAM automatically start running at it's max speed, or do I have to tweak some other stuff first?
 
OK, this just gets worse.

I set voltages to 2.1V, but my speed is still 800MHz, and on top of that, when I run CPU-Z, it says the voltages are still 1.8V.

Also, I thought I'd fixed the CPU problem by increasing the CPU multiplier in the BIOS from x6 to x9, but I guess I haven't because CPU-Z is still showing my CPU speed at 1.6GHz most of the time (sometimes it jumps up to 2.4GHz for some reason).
 
I'm 95% sure your CPU issue is to do with speedstep. The Q6600 has a default multiplier of 9x, but speedstep will reduce it to 6x to save power. It'll jump back up to 9x (2.4Ghz) when your PC is doing something a little more intensive. Does your BIOS not have a specific "Speedstep: Enable/Disable" option somewhere?

Looks like you might need to tweak your memory settings to run the RAM at it's designed speed it should be just as simple as putting in the details listed on OCZ's website into the BIOS (1000Mhz (perhaps stepping up: 850Mhz, 900, 950 etc), CAS settings of 5-5-5-18 and 2.1v) but having never overclocked as much as a turnip I'd not recommend you go on my advice alone :) Check the manual, read the OC guides here, and perhaps look on the EVGA forums for similar problems.
 
Just noticed that you have posted on the EVGA forums. The latest post on your thread... the guy seems to be confused. Just thought I better clarify: 2.1v for your RAM, not your CPU. You shouldn't need to touch the CPU voltage to get it to run at stock.
 
Yes mate, I found the speedstep option in the BIOS. It reads 'disabled', so I don't think it's that (could be though).

Also, I'm checking the eVGA boards, but they're not much help. I might drop eVGA support an email.
 
sorry i didnt read the whole thread
my cpu drops speed but i didnt read into it as it operates at the proper speed when i need it to
 
yeah that's the one, I might be wrong but won't you want 1:1 to get up to 1000MHz? because isn't it ram:fsb? i surprised some of the more experienced people haven't replied, as i'm sure it's probably quite straight forward to fix
 
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