AMD 1055T memory problems

[reflex]

Hi all,

Below are my system specs:

MSI 890FXA-GD70 Bios 1.6
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Apacer Giant II 2x 2GB DDR3 240-Pin DIMM, 1.65V [PC17600] 10-10-10-30-2T
MSI 8800GT OC 512Mb
Corsair H50 in push pull config
CM Storm case

Basically I am seeking some advice here. This RAM is supposed to be able to run at 2200MHz at the above timings.

http://emea.apacer.com/en/products/O...ing_Memory.htm

The motherboard is supposed to support up to 2133MHz.

I haven't even been able to get this RAM stable at 1600MHz.

First question:
Do I need to increase any voltages when running the memory above 1333MHz? The voltage of 1.65V should be fine for the memory.
I am unsure what voltages to set on the motherboard, I tried setting the CPU-NB to about 1.18 when running at about 1500MHz, but it was not stable.

Second question:
If they give the memory a rating like that I assume it should basically be guaranteed to run that fast.

I assume that it's my mobo holding it back, so it must be a case of setting some voltages. I am just not sure which ones as there are so many...


Thanks any help in advance

[crazydiamond]

the memory controller on the cpu is what will end up holding you back IMO.. as for 1600mhz id think w/ timings around 8.8.8.24 it should be no problem to get stable. bump cpu-nb to 1.2v, bump vdimm to 1.68v and see how that goes.

[reflex]

Ok, I will give that a shot now.
What temperature will the cpu-nb voltage affect? The cpu?

[reflex]

I don't find anything in my bios called "vdimm" could it go by a similar name?

[crazydiamond]

cpu-nb voltage affects cpu, yes. also, by vdimm, i just meant ram voltage. nice rig btw

[reflex]

Ok, it seems to be working for now.
Busy running prime95 on blend.
I plan to just clock the processor to the same speed at the 1090T, because after hitting 4GHz I noticed that it was plenty fast standard.

My timings are not 8-8-8-24-1T(set by auto in bios)

What is a safe voltage for the cpu-nb, I see my bios reports 1.2V as red, not like thats every stopped my before

[reflex]

haha i like your rig better by the way.
Gonna find myself a sata3 drive sometime soon i hope.
I really wanted that asus board but it was a bit out of my price range.
I have come to realise overclocking is quite the addiction.
Always interesting to see how much more you can get for your money

[crazydiamond]

addiction is definitely the best way to describe it

cpu-nb is fine @ 1.3v-1.35v for 24/7 use, higher than that is not worth the performance IMO. you probably wont even need that much though, like my cpu needs less than 1.25v for 2600mhz cpu-nb and around 1.27v for 2800mhz cpu-nb

[reflex]

Died on prime after 11mins.
Gonna try 9-9-9-24 with auto on the command rate

[crazydiamond]

how did it fail prime? error, crash, bluescreen, etc??

what are the rest of your bios settings?

htt
cpu multi
nb multi
ht multi

memory divider

cpu volts
cpu-nb volts
dram volts

[reflex]

Seems like setting the timings 9-9-9-24 made it worse.
Prime95 have a rounding error.

229x14 = 3206MHz
HT link 10x
NB 10x
Mem divider has the frequency running at 763.4MHz so I think its on 1:3.3
cpu voltage auto
cpu-nb 1.2V
dram 1.68V

Turbo is still enabled.
Im going to try 2T quickly, otherwise I will set my ram below 1333 with auto timings and run prime again.

[reflex]

Perhaps its the HT, trying 9x for that.
Does higher HT frequency affect performance grealty?

[crazydiamond]

for now turn off turbo, c1e, cool & quiet.

what is the cpu vcore getting set to at auto? might need a slight bump but i doubt it. you could try a little bit more on the cpu-nb like 1.22v or so since its running at 2300mhz but that isnt really very high. not sure why its failing out so quick. have you tried it with everything at stock?

edit: no ht has minimal difference on performance, but on thuban having it higher hasnt really shown to reduce stability

[reflex]

My cpu voltage on auto is reported as 1.35V in amd overdrive and CPUz
So I figured that should be enough to hit 3.8 with the turbo core..
I turned the HT multi to 9 and returned the memory to 8-8-8-24 1T and it has been running for 14mins so far.
With the HT multi on 9 its running at 2060MHz. I added a tiny bit of voltage to the NB just incase.

If this fails I will go back to basics and work step by step.

[reflex]

Well it's getting kinda late here in South Africa.
So I will let prime run overnight and see what has happened by morning.

Thanks for the help

[reflex]

Right, prime gave an error after an hour on the most recent settings.
I then turned the RAM down and it have an error after 2hours.
Trying now with everything stock and just setting the RAM to 1600.
If the NB is running standard does the cpu-nb still affect the speed at which you can run the memory?

[crazydiamond]

sometimes. the higher the memory speed/tighter timings will put more stress on the cpu IMC. bumping cpu-nb volts sometimes helps keep imc stable.

how are your cpu temps at load?

[reflex]

Temps last night hit a max of 42C for CPU while system stayed at about 24C.
That was when it was set to 3.2GHz with turbo core, although I don't think turbo core is activated when running prime.
Ambient however was about 15-17C.

Im at work now so I will only know if it has failed in about 8 hours...
Could also just be crap memory, so if this fails I will set it to 1333 with the timings acquired from CPUz and see then.

[reflex]

Ok passed 11 hours prime with the following settings:
Stock CPU freq etc so:
200x14 = 2800
Turbo core enabled
C&Q enabled
HT link x10
NB x10
CPU voltage auto (1.35V)
DRAM voltage 1.667V
CPU-NB 1.181V

ram timings:
Set to DDR1600 with 8-8-8-24 1T

Yay my tRC is 40 so im thinking this can come down a bit?

Now to figure out what was making it unstable...
Any ideas?

[crazydiamond]

thats good now it should be easy to figure out what causes it to become unstable it might take longer to find stability but now you will just change cpu/nb/ram individually so if its not stable you know what settings where changed to cause it.

for now, leave all voltages & ram timings the same as they are for 11hr stable run. disable turbo core, c&q, and c1e in bios

change htt from 200 to 229 (14x229 = 3206mhz)
change nb multi to x9 (9x229 = 2060mhz)
change ht multi to x9 (9x229 = 2060mhz --- you want ht to be equal or less than cpu-nb speed)
change ram divider from 1600 to 1333 (some math... = 1530mhz ram )

for now i would leave cpu voltage auto, or better yet, manually set it to 1.35v because it should be enough for 3.2ghz for sure

see if this passes prime for hour or 2. if it does then we are in good shape & will move on to cpu-nb speed next. if it fails we know its something to do w/ cpu speed because cpu-nb & ram already passed prime 11hr at these clocks/volts/timings.

[reflex]

Ok, I have disabled all the things you recommended and changed the multipliers.
I manually set the voltage to 1.344V as I can either set it to that or 1.36 something so I just choose the lower one as I have heard of people hitting at least 3.6GHz on stock voltage

I don't know if you can recommend a program for checking the cpu voltage.
CPUz, AMD overdrive all report 1.35V still, but CPUID Hardware Monitor reports 1.42V and MSI Control Center report 1.42.

I think this may have something to do with the bios, because I am seeing something similar with the CPU-NB voltage.
I have set that to 1.19V but it shows at 1.24V in Control Center.
If I try and adjust it in Control Center its either 1.24V or 1.181V.

Bit confused here why the voltages are higher than I set them, perhaps something pushes is up when it is under load.
I have disabled turbo core just in case that question comes up.

AMD overdrive displays 1.35V on the system information tab, but under "Performance Control>Clock/Voltage" it shows a 0.04 pvervolt on cpu and cpu-nb I think.

I have to go out now, but I am leaving prime running. I think this CPU voltage is probably a bit high for these clocks so I am going to try set that back to auto

[crazydiamond]

hmm not sure about the volts reporting differently. is there any llc options in your bios? (load line calibration)

the reason i suggesting setting cpu vcore on your own is because sometimes auto settings change when you OC, and often times it gives more than you need. for example on crosshair IV oldtimer was testing cpu-nb. on auto volts & 2000mhz it was default 1.18v or whatever but when he oc'd cpu-nb up to 3000mhz and left auto on volts, it automatically set cpu-nb volts to 1.5 so basically auto doesnt always mean default. as long as its giving you reasonable vcore for the clocks i wouldnt worry too much about it, it should be fine.

[reflex]

Right, prime failed after 1 hours with 229x14 @ 1.36V
HT link 2061MHz
NB 2061MHz
Looks like I may need more voltage...

[crazydiamond]

i would put cpu-nb volts to 1.2v, bump cpu volts i guess to 1.37v, seems awfully high for just 3200mhz.. whats ht link voltage at? try it around 1.22v

[twilyth]

FWIW, I got Geil black dragon DDR3-1600 rated at 1.6v for all 3 SPD settings. Last one is 1600 (XMP). I have 1095T on 790FX-GD70 (MSI) and had to bump voltage from 1.6 standard to around 1.8 or so (would have to reboot and check) in order to run at 1600

CPU is stable at 3.6ghz with just voltage bump and multiplier - no NB changes.