Sandy Bridge - My findings regarding memory and the processor

johny dolan · 17 Jan 2011 at 11:38

Just run prime for 1 hour np with my ram set to 1600 and Internal PLL Overvoltage: Enabled with cpu clocked to 4 gig will try higher clock later.

robj20 · 17 Jan 2011 at 11:46

Maybe there is something to this Sandybridge branded memory after all.

johny dolan · 17 Jan 2011 at 11:51

It does seem over sensitive to ram settings for sure but dont know if its just with the asus mobo or common to all.

robj20 · 17 Jan 2011 at 11:57

Mine hasnt showed any problems, with memory at either 1333 or 1600, not even going to try push it higher, might try get the voltage as low as i can.

Max3 · 17 Jan 2011 at 12:09

collettnj said:
It's BSOD'ing in P95 at 4.5GHz:

Internal PLL Overvoltage: Enabled

Load Line Calibration: Extreme
VRM Frequency: Auto
VRM Spread Spectrum: Disabled
Phase Control: Standard
Duty Control: T. Probe

CPU Voltage - 1.32v
DRAM Voltage - 1.5
VCCSA Voltage -AUTO
VCCIO Voltage - AUTO
CPU PLL Voltage - AUTO
PCH Voltage - AUTO
CPU Spread Spectrum - AUTO

What options do I have other than just upping Vcore? With LLC on it's pushing 1.34V in CPU-Z

It's probably just more vcore. I'm testing 4.5ghz at the moment with 1.34vcore LLC on auto. I used to have LLC on extreme but all this does is overshoot the voltage for me. May as well put in more vcore in the bios and let vdrop take care of it.

1Day · 17 Jan 2011 at 12:46

robj20 said:
Maybe there is something to this Sandybridge branded memory after all.

Not sure that it is the ram alone. I was able to run my Geil sticks 2 x 2GB 2133 setting in the BIOS while benching @5.288 quite comfortably. The sticks are bog standard ones that I picked up from here when OCUK last stocked Geil middle of last year I think it was.

collettnj · 17 Jan 2011 at 13:42

Just an update on my 'progress':

I tried it at 1.33V, 4.5GHz. LLC Auto, and ran Prime95 for a bit, then:

BSOD
Turns itself off, on again
Blank screen
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
Overclocking failed message
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
I get to BIOS

I then set 1.34V, 4.5GHz, LLC Auto. Saved and exited, then:

After Saving BIOS settings,
Turns itself off, on again
Blank screen
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
Overclocking failed
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
I get to windows

Ran Prime95 for a bit, then:

BSOD
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
Overclocking failed
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
I get to BIOS

I then set 1.35V, 4.5GHz, LLC Auto. Saved and exited, then:

Went to windows immediately

Ran Prime95 for a bit,

Core voltage in CPUz settled mainly on 1.328V, 1.336V. Occasionally hitting 1.320, 1.344, and 1.352

Then, BSOD

Turned itself off, on again
Blank screen
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
Overclocking failed message
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
Blank screen
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
Overclocking failed message
I turn it off, on again
It turns itself off, on again
I get to BIOS

I set 1.30V, 4.4GHz, LLC Extreme. Saved and exited, then:

Went to windows immediately.

So I'm back at what seemed stable before. Am I going to be able to get anything more out of it, or is it just a useless chip?

robj20 · 17 Jan 2011 at 13:53

What i dont get is you pay for a 3.4Ghz chip, you should be happy with every little bit extra, nothing wrong with 4.4Ghz.

nlel1975 · 17 Jan 2011 at 14:04

robj20 said:
What i dont get is you pay for a 3.4Ghz chip, you should be happy with every little bit extra, nothing wrong with 4.4Ghz.

Be happy with 4.4ghz and if you cannot live with it, sell it at a loss and buy another one and you might be luckier. You are only missing out on 200 - 400mhz which is not going to make a fat lot of difference and your running at a nice 1.3v which is 5C cooler.

collettnj · 17 Jan 2011 at 14:05

robj20 said:
What i dont get is you pay for a 3.4Ghz chip, you should be happy with every little bit extra, nothing wrong with 4.4Ghz.

Of course, I completely understand that, it's just a shame that mine can't even get 4.5GHz at 1.35V, while some seem to be managing 4.6 at 1.3V.

I appreciate it's all luck of the draw and that, I was just hoping for more than 4.4. It makes a genuine, noticeable difference for my application to have the higher speed.

nlel1975 · 17 Jan 2011 at 14:08

collettnj said:
Of course, I completely understand that, it's just a shame that mine can't even get 4.5GHz at 1.35V, while some seem to be managing 4.6 at 1.3V.

I appreciate it's all luck of the draw and that, I was just hoping for more than 4.4. It makes a genuine, noticeable difference for my application to have the higher speed.

If you cannot get it, do not care about it. That has served me and my wallet well over the years.

robj20 · 17 Jan 2011 at 17:03

collettnj said:
Of course, I completely understand that, it's just a shame that mine can't even get 4.5GHz at 1.35V, while some seem to be managing 4.6 at 1.3V.

I appreciate it's all luck of the draw and that, I was just hoping for more than 4.4. It makes a genuine, noticeable difference for my application to have the higher speed.

If you really need more processing power you bought the wrong setup then, why not a dual socket setup with two quads or more.

The way i see it is every bit more i get above 3.4 is a bonus no matter what other are getting.

Steves1982 · 17 Jan 2011 at 18:04

Good thread, thanks OP.

I'm ordering mine soon so just collecting as much info as possible!

SimonMaltby · 18 Jan 2011 at 00:36

I have been looking into my findings some more and have now discovered that I can get stability with my OCZ ram at 1866MHz
The Asus board has a massive amount of memory settings in addition to the standard CAS etc. I have made a note of these settings at 1600MHz and applied them manually at 1866MHz.
When I did this first time, I manually set them all... I have now discovered that there are a few that make the system very unstable.

With the Ram settings manually set I now have as much stability as I did at 1600MHz

So in line with my findings yesterday, I can confirm that it is the Ram settings that the Asus board chooses that makes things less stable.

My next step is to explore these settings further and see if I can find which aid or reduce stability.

rustEswan · 18 Jan 2011 at 01:05

SimonMaltby said:
So in line with my findings yesterday, I can confirm that it is the Ram settings that the Asus board chooses that makes things less stable.

This kind of backs up my suspiction that the Asus board(read BIOS) issues that a lot of people are having is down to memory or memory settings. Or put another way, the inability to detect stable settings between one set of modules and the next, hence the seemingly random pattern of some people having Asus issues others not. And this is exactly why im tempted to keep the board even though its sat in its box doing bugger all at present and I currently hate it with a passion.

I had a slightly better experiance with the Asus once I cold booted on one stick, set mem settings manually then installed both sticks.

Im sure with time this will all be sorted and I may get the thing out of its box again - that Asus EFI interface is streets ahead of anything else and if they get it to work i'd happily give it a second chance.

johny dolan · 18 Jan 2011 at 01:32

I was happy to get mine prime stable yesterday with ram at 1600 but just turned the pc on from cold boot and it wont cold boot with the ram at 1600.

Mine will only cold boot with the ram set to 1333 and even then first attempt it stops and needs another go which is frustrating seeing as my ram is rated at 1866 so something amiss with these boards concerning ram.

rustEswan · 18 Jan 2011 at 02:07

johny dolan said:
I was happy to get mine prime stable yesterday with ram at 1600 but just turned the pc on from cold boot and it wont cold boot with the ram at 1600.

Mine will only cold boot with the ram set to 1333 and even then first attempt it stops and needs another go which is frustrating seeing as my ram is rated at 1866 so something amiss with these boards concerning ram.

Yup, without doubt, that is why mine is in its box and I've got a much more reliable MSI in my machine.

If you've got a cold boot issue put one stick in slot A1 then set the command rate to 2T manually, im my experiance with the Asus so far this is the thing it seems to get wrong most often but will boot like that with one stick. Afterwards set 2T manually everything else on XMP profile (depending on which modules you have of course, if they have an intel XMP SPD) - cant remember if the Asus lets you do that - but under timings just make sure its 2T and for everything else should let you set to rated spec.

Durzel · 18 Jan 2011 at 02:09

nlel1975 said:
If you cannot get it, do not care about it. That has served me and my wallet well over the years.

That's actually a nice mantra.

As has been said already people are buying 3.4Ghz chips. They're not buying 4.8Ghz, or even 4.4Ghz chips. Be happy that you're getting anything extra at all really.

It's ultimately pointless getting too worked up about it because there will always be people with "sweet spot" graphics cards, memory, CPUs and so on. Dwelling on it for any significant period of time is just unhealthy really - both emotionally and financially.

johny dolan · 18 Jan 2011 at 04:01

It does seem strange i can benchmark ok and system runs fine with ram at 1866 but it wont cold boot with any setting over 1333

SimonMaltby · 18 Jan 2011 at 08:20

johny dolan said:
It does seem strange i can benchmark ok and system runs fine with ram at 1866 but it wont cold boot with any setting over 1333

Based on my results try writing down the second and third ram settings that the board selects when booted at 1333MHz and then enter them manually before switching back to 1600 or even 1866. Will put up some photos of my settings in a minute... the only setting I must not manually set is DRAM RTL(CHA) and DRAM RTL(CHB). Fixing this causes no boot.

Just to clarify..
With all these on Auto at 1600Mhz Ram - I can get to 5.4Ghz
With all these on Auto at 1866Mhz Ram - Over clock starts to fail above 4.8GHz (Bios sets these to Higher Values)
With these manual settings at 1866MHz Ram - I can over clock to 5.4GHz again

So actually fixing to lower values at higher speed makes it more stable! I'm guessing, yet to try, that these are just sweet spot settings because booting at 1333MHz will reduce these and that causes more instability than 1866MHz.