Rampage III - different amounts of memory detected

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I'm running my Rampage III with 6x2gig G.Skill Pi 1600mhz CAS6 1.6v. Regardless of whether I run it at manufacturers recommended settings using an XMP profile or default Jedec speeds (1066mhz) when I cold boot, I usually only see 6gig in bios and windows if at default speeds, or 8gigs if using XMP profiles (same if I manually set the timings.

This problem ONLY happens when you cold boot and the system has been off for long periods of time. Simply shutting the system down from the power button (not a restart) solves it, and all 12GIG are seen and continue to be seen until the following day (I turn my pc off every night).

I've read up on this issue extensively and from what I can see there are 2 types of issues. People whos'e systems always report less then the amount of ram they have. This is usually caused by bad dimms, not enough QPI voltage or DDR3 voltage. I fall into the other category where it happens ONLY between cold boots. I have of course tested each dimm, checked voltages, even enabled the memory configuration protect feature in the bios. And of course checked multiple times the ram is seated correctly.

I can only assume the issue is caused because I have 2 memory kits qualified on the rampage II but not III and obviously they are not playing well together.

Anyone else experienced this problem ?
 
Is your cooler tightened down equally on all four corners? Sounds ridiculous, but it could be that the memory socket pins aren't making proper contact. It's a cause that has been documented in the past by other users of these newer chipsets. I did read something about it yesterday, but unfortunately don't remember where. Sorry :(

Of course, faulty memory/board could be an issue, but you've likely ruled this out.
 
It's a H70 and all 4 corners are pretty tight. I'll loosen slightly and retighten.

What's weird is this issue is ONLY on cold boot !!!
 
Check the CPU socket for bent pins, also sometimes reseating the processor will sort this issue out.

There's several things that can cause this problem, I was plagued by this issue with my first i7 build, it ended up being my actual chip that was the problem, but I spent months trying to figure out what was happening, I even bought another kit of RAM and a 2nd mobo, but the problem kept happening.

In the end I RMA'd the processor, and as soon as I installed the new chip all of my RAM was being detected.

Having Heatsinks or coolers fitted too tightly can also cause this problem to happen as well, so it might be worth trying to see if it's your cooler that's the cause.

When it first started happening to me, it would only ever happen on cold boots, and after restarting the system it would detect the full amount, but after a couple of weeks it would only ever pickup 4GB out of the 6GB I had installed.

Also, I would advise you not to waste your time using XMP profiles, you should just manually adjust your RAM timings and also Vtt and vDIMM.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys.

I am using the XMP profiles as they only set the memory timings and voltage for me which is handy as I don't want to have to drill down through the numerous options on the rampage III setting some of the more obscure timings. The profiles seem to be spot on anyway. Everything else with regards to voltage is set manually (cpu, vtt, ioh etc.) or left on auto (pll). I've even upped these voltages in case low voltage on the memory or vtt was causing a channel to be dropped on cold boot. I've also ruled out each stick of memory as I've tested them all individually. I think the board and cpu is possibly ok too. I've done 3 hours straight at 4ghz on an i7 950 at maximum settings with Intel Burntest and none of the cores go over 70 degrees. IOH and other temps are within tolerances.

That leaves 4 possibilities with regards to the 8gig showing up on cold boots :

1. CPU heatsink attached too tight
2. Bent cpu pins affecting the IMC.
3. Bad IMC.
4. Simply a compatibility issue with 6 sticks of this memory and the Rampage III **on the g.skill forums the mods have recommended buying a 12gig kit if you want guaranteed operation of 12gig **

This evening I checked the cpu socket pins on the motherboard with a magnifying glass. They are fine. I don't know how they could have got bent anyway unless like that from the factory as I carefully installed the chip the 1st time. Anyway, while reseating the pump I used a regular screwdriver and did not over tighten. Last time I seated it, I used one of these torque screwdrivers and the pump was indeed screwed down very tight. Hopefully that was the issue all along.

Anyway, I've booted up since, and done a few cold boots too and all 12gig are shown. This really means nothing yet. The true test will be to see if all 12gig show up tommorrow morning after I power down the system and turn the PSU off tonight. If not joy, then it's either a bad IMC, or compatibility with memory.

In the event I rule out memory compatability (buy a kit on asus's qvl list I suppose), would I be within my rights to RMA my CPU to OCUK pointing customer service to this thread ?
 
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Update : I have had the PC off for almost 5 hours.

Turned it on just now. All 12gig detected. It looks at this stage that my H70 must have been screwed down a tad too tight. Will shutdown and check again in 5 more hours.
 
I hope that you’ve solved the problem. I’ve had one problem with my 12GB that was initially not having ram not being seated correctly but that was sorted out by practically hammered the sticks in.
 
Well problem is back and this time on a 980X which I know has a good memory controller.

What's weird is it detects 8gb of ram only on cold boots, and only if PC has been off more then 3 hours!! no one can explain to me why this happens. I've tested each stick ram, examined cpu socket on mobo for bent pins, adjusted voltages in bios, and as I said I know it's not the IMC on the 980x as it worked perfectly on my classified board. But what really takes the biscuit, is the issue of showing 8gb instead of 12gb ram only shows up if the machine has been off a while. The bios reports 8gb as does windows. Shut the machine down for a few seconds, and it's back up to 12gig and stays that way all day.

I suspect that this memory has an incompatibility problem with the rampage 3. All G.Skill will tell me is I should have bought one of their 12gb kits and not 2 separate 6gig kits. I guess it's not a hardship having to boot PC twice every morning.
 
Everything stock though I have played with VTT and Dimm voltage to no avail.

Update : booted this morning and let it go into windows 7. As expected according to system info. only 8gig detected. Ran CPU-Z and it showed the same. Only 8GIG. However CPU-Z showed tripple channel mode and I could see each Dimm slot was populated..none were missing. Suddenly CPU-Z updated itself to 12GIG!!! Windows system info still stuck at 8GIG. So there is something that' not initialiazin on cold boots. I wonder could LLC be the cause. This only started happening when I enabled it with the jumper. Maybe I should set it to 0% and try again.
 
I had a similar problem as well over a month back. I tried different sticks and all and it seemed that the first slot wasn't working properly but still allowed me to boot with only 4GB being detected. I have no idea how but after hours of troubleshooting, it decided to work by itself.

At the time CPUz showed all the slots being populated but only 4GB was detected by windows... Strangely enough, running at stock speed, all the RAM was detected but increasing its speed was what caused the problem initially I think.
 
I think it' s compatibility. My memory has been tested with the Rampage II but not III. I've just ordered some new G.Skill 2000mhz CAS6 Enhanced Pi memory. That has been qualified with the Rampage III. So hopefully does the job.
 
Fixed.

I bought 12gig G.Skill Enhanced Pi 2000mhz cas6 ram. Came with a little note to change one of the settings. Did that. Running XMP profile at 2000mhz, CAS6, and I just upped the QPI to 1.35, and all is well. 12gig detected everytime.
 
Flanno said:
Fixed.

I bought 12gig G.Skill Enhanced Pi 2000mhz cas6 ram. Came with a little note to change one of the settings. Did that. Running XMP profile at 2000mhz, CAS6, and I just upped the QPI to 1.35, and all is well. 12gig detected everytime.
Click to expand...

Good news. What setting did they say to change?
 
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