AMD FX-8350 DDR3 1866MHz

bmac93

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May 5, 2013
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Hello All, ill try to be quick

I am building my second PC now, i have an FX-8350 CPU, on a Gigabyte 990FX board. I have two sticks of 4g RAM each, at 1866MHZ. I have seen some posts say that it will work, some say that it wont. But i kind of need a solid answer here before i am out of my 30 day return date for Newegg... This is what AMD had said to me in an email.

I understand that you have questions regarding memory issue. If this is incorrect, please let me know as the information provided may change.
The frequency is up to DDR3-1600(Use the single rank memory) or DDR3-1333(Use the double rank memory or mixed) with 4 slots memories on FX platform.
You can refer to DDR3 Memory Frequency Guide for more information about it.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reply to this e-mail directly and I will try to provide any additional information that you may require. Thank you for contacting AMD!

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/ddr3memoryfrequencyguide.aspx


What does this mean exactly? What will happen if i do decide to put the ram into the system? Will it not boot? Clock itself down? any help is appreciated!!
 
Don't know what brand or type of memory you have but I know most (damn near all) 8350s are capable of pushing 2 sticks at 1866 with some voltage tweaks (many you can simply enable XMP/DOCP or whatever Gigabyte calls it on their amd boards). I woudln't return anything, worst case scenario you downclock to 1600, and run tighter timings, but I think with a few tweaks 1866 shoudln't be an issue.
 




I know this thread is old but I have the same problem... and same CPU, motherboard and 16 GB G.SKILL Sniper Series F3-1866C9D-16GSR (2 x 8). It's running at 1333 MHz instead of 1866. Installed in A2 and B2. Tried changing to 1866 in BIOS but it wouldn't boot like that. Memtest did 4 passes without errors, says " PC3-14900 DDR3 XMP 933 MHz/9-10-9-28 F31866C9-8". CPU-Z says it's "single channel", timing 11-11-11-28 .... that's wrong! Mine is 9-10-9-28, dual channel.

Somehow I thought this RAM was compatible with everything in my system. But, it is NOT on the Sabertooth QVL; in fact, there are none listed at 1866 MHz in a 2 x 8 configuration.

My system specs are below. Question is, should I replace this RAM? If so, with what? Or should I try the procedures from the G.Skill forum? This is my first build. Everything has gone great except this ... could really use some advice. Thanks!

Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
AMD FX-8350, 8-core processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
Rosewill Capstone 750-watt power supply
16 GB G.Skill Sniper Series F3 (8 x 2)
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 (Windforce) 3G, Rev 2.0
Western Digital 2 TB SATA III Black, WD2003FZEX
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7, 80 GB (from one of my old systems)
Cooler Master HAF XM case
4 case fans, 200mm front, top & side; 140mm rear.
Asus 24x DVD Burner
Gigabyte Bluetooth/Wifi Expansion card
 


OK, I got it running at 1866 MHz by setting to DOCP, choosing the 1866 profile ... all looks right, timing, etc.

But, it's still showing as "SINGLE CHANNEL" rather than dual channel. It's in A2 and B2 (recommended by my motherboard). Dual channel is better, right? How do I get it to run dual??? Help, my last problem (I think)!
 


No, at least not that I've found. In fact, I can't figure out how to change the voltage. Vcore shows 1.392 but it isn't in a field that I can change. Both CPU Ratio and PCIE Frequency are "auto", and can't be changed.

After sucessfully getting to 1866 MHz with DOCP, I tried setting it manually instead to 1866 to see if I could change other settings and get it to run in dual channel. Main BIOS says 1866 MHz but only 8 GB (not my 16). In SPD, header says 1333 max bandwidth, but XMP #1 & #2 show 1866 for each RAM slot ... but slightly different timings! Still single channel.

Then I tried a few other settings. I left CPU/NB and HT Link Speed at 2200 MHz (as they had been by default). But I changed the CPU Bus Frequency from 200 to 201. That pushed the RAM to 1875 (above the rated 1866), and pushed CPU/NB and HT Link Speed to 2211 MHz. And it lowered the Vcore voltage to 1.356. It booted up and seems to be running fine with these settings but I don't know if anything is dangerous or not.

With these last changes, CPU-Z shows 16 GB RAM running at 2218 MHz, as "single" channel still. And, the timings are wrong ... now 11-11-11-28. (The BIOS SPD shows the correct 9-10-9-28 timings for both, but the main BIOS screen show only 8 GB total memory!) Windows Control Panel shows 16 GB but only 7.92 usable.

I am totally baffled, just want this running at 1866 as dual memory. I have tested the sticks individually and both are recognized. In A2 and B2, CPU-Z recognized both. In A2 and B1, only 8 GB was found. In B1 and B2, I couldn't boot, just beeped at me. I've now got them back in A2 and B2, which is recommended by Asus for 2 sticks.

Here's a link to a CPU-Z screen in case it means anything; I believe it was before the final adjustments I made. http://valid.canardpc.com/wq2ykq. I've taken lots of notes and some other pictures with the snipping tool, but am getting confused to say the least!
 


I have solved the problem but appreciate your response. I tried everything with the memory chips, all slots work, both chips work. Finally I pulled the CPU and found bent pins. Tried to fix them, didn't work. With a new CPU, all is working fine, recognizing all 16 GB memory, running at 1866 MHz. I'm happy! Sure glad it was NOT the motherboard.
 

Also, I'm sorry. I really thought I had posted an update after I solved this problem. Maybe I had posted on too many forums to keep it all straight!