What an experience I had last night getting my FBR to use 12G(Blackline - 998776).
Last night when attempting to move from 6-> 12G I encountered a MULTITUDE of problems. Honestly, it's the first time EVER I have had issues with this mobo, 2 hours to configure and stabilize @ stock is plain ridiculous, but I have a soft spot for this board so I was able to control my anger.
Prologue
FBR @ P42
i7 930 @ 166 @ 16664(Redline 6G)
4 x OCZ "hybrid" RAID 0
3 x HDD RAID 5 Areca controller
1 x HDD external on Port 4 of ICH
5870 1GB
Details
Prior to starting, I reset the memory settings to default or "By SPD" before placing the 12G in the machine. Upon adding the stix, they REFUSED to work. I attempted to determine if the stix were bad by putting 2 in each slot methodically. 8GB worked with all combinations of the 3 stix, but ALL 3 for 12G just hung @ boot with the BIOS text.
Since I was on P42, I thought maybe it had something to do with the BIOS, so I upgraded to P11. After the upgraded I received the dreaded "A1 hang" - read about this prior, so was prepared to leverage the "Load optimized defaults" and was back on my way to troubleshooting the 12G issue.
Placed all 3 stix in the board and VOILA, it saw all 3 stix and was on my way to using 12G. Woohoo. Not so fast.
Observed BIOS behavior
I started to see some strange behavior on the board when playing around with the uncore/cpu ratios. I noticed by default with an "Auto" configuration and not enabling "System Turbo" the default memory speed was 1067 w/ timings of 7-7-7-20. In the past, I used a 10x-20x ratio on the memory to get 1333 for future overclocking considerations. My goal was 166 using 10x-20x memory/uncore ratio with the 12G stix, considering this was rather simple with 6GB, I figured it would be just as simple.
Slowly with each option I would save the BIOS to ensure a setting was not causing a warm boot/overclock recovery from happening. I was able to get my configuration saved and enabled the "System Turbo" to start "playing" with the 12G of memory. I set the memory/uncore ratio to 10x-20x, saved settings and restarted. BOOM - overclock recovery. This was @ default speeds of 133 @ 1333 memory speed. I was a bit baffled as to why EACH AND EVERY time I set the ratio to 10x-20x it would go into an overclock recovery mode (did not play with timings, allowed "By SPD" to do it for me).
Plot thickens
After getting over my "baffalism", I decided it must be the uncore ratio and decided to drop it down to 8x-16x, this sure should work as the Blacklines are rated for 1600 and running @ 1067 should be no issue (1333 should be no issue also). BOOM overclock recovery. Again completely baffled as to why this was occuring. Next decided to change the timings on the memory to the rated timings (9-9-9-24) and once again tried the 10/20 ratio. BOOM overclock recovery. Dropped the ratio again to 8/16, BOOM overclock recovery!! It was a good thing I had a healthy supply of beers in the fridge or I probably would have allowed my anger to get the better of me.
Sub-Plot success?
Now I had correct timings, no legitimate uncore/cpu ratio was working without receiving an overclock recovery error. Hmmmmm, what to try next; I decided to leave the CPU ratio to "Auto" and change just the memory uncore to 20x for poops and giggles. HOLY CRAP! It worked, I was now able to boot @ 133 @ 1333 with Auto/20x ratio. However, on my next restart BOOM overclock recovery!
This definitely seems odd to me, how am I able to get in once, but on a restart I get an overclock recovery error? I leave this up to XS Foxconn community to provide help and if there is anything additional I can provide to help me out on this one, please let me know. Thanks guys.
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