Can't run memory at 1866mhz

[bibbish]

Hi guys,

Hoping you can help! I'm a bit of a novice, so if you have any suggestions please write them as if you were speaking to a child!

Here is my machine:
Mobo: Asrock 970 Extreme4
CPU: AMD FX 8350
RAM: 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance 1866mhz
GPU: XFX HD 7870 DD Edition 2GB
OS: Vista, Service Pack 2

My problem is that when I set my RAM to 1866mhz in the BIOS my PC only boots half the time. Often it has several attempts then sets the RAM to a low frequency before finally showing Windows.

A bit of detail for you. Me and a buddy are both building PCs so he has something very similar, the differences are, he hasn't put in his 7870 graphics card yet and is using an old one while he waits for a cable, my PSU is 650W and his is 750W and he is using Windows 7. Would these things make a difference? He is able to set his RAM to 1866mhz at the moment and the system is stable.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

Jason

 

[aredflyingbird]

Hi guys,

Hoping you can help! I'm a bit of a novice, so if you have any suggestions please write them as if you were speaking to a child!

Here is my machine:
Mobo: Asrock 970 Extreme4
CPU: AMD FX 8350
RAM: 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance 1866mhz
GPU: XFX HD 7870 DD Edition 2GB
OS: Vista, Service Pack 2

My problem is that when I set my RAM to 1866mhz in the BIOS my PC only boots half the time. Often it has several attempts then sets the RAM to a low frequency before finally showing Windows.

A bit of detail for you. Me and a buddy are both building PCs so he has something very similar, the differences are, he hasn't put in his 7870 graphics card yet and is using an old one while he waits for a cable, my PSU is 650W and his is 750W and he is using Windows 7. Would these things make a difference? He is able to set his RAM to 1866mhz at the moment and the system is stable.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

Jason

[strike]Your motherboard doesn't support stock 1866mhz. It only supports OC'd RAM at 1866, in order to get your mobo to boot. The only solution to this is to set your RAM to 1600..
[/strike]

 

[sourodip]

yeah, the extreme4 supports only utpo 1600mhz and memory O.C upto 1866mhz. Get a 1600mhz stick.

 

[bibbish]

Hi, actually your motherboard does natively support DDR3 1866 as all 9xx series chipsets do, http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme4/?cat=Specifications it's only DDR3 2100 that's not natively supported. What you can do is load the optimized defaults in the bios, or clear the cmos (refer to the motherboards manual for instructions) and load optimized defaults again. You can also update the motherboard with the latest bios (Your choice)
The memory could just be incompatible with the current bios version/motherboard.

Hey thanks for the extra info. I thought so. I have updated to the latest BIOS. I'll try to load the optimized defaults. What I don't understand is how my friend is able to run the same memory on the same board and same CPU but at the full speed and I can't.

 

[bibbish]

No problem, the Fx cpu's has a integrated DDR3 1866 memory controller and you should be able to run the memory at that speed, I'm sure by loading the optimized defaults (loading the optimized defaults is the first thing you should always do after building a new system and after updating your bios) would solve your issue. If not clear the cmos

Really appreciate your help! The BIOS screen was pretty clear so I assume I find the defaults on that? There is a clear CMOS button on the back on my machine now (from the mobo) - at what point do I press it? When in the BIOS or at another time?

 

[bibbish]

When you are in the bios just press escape and there should be an option to load optimized defaults, then save the settings, exit, return to bios. You must shutdown your pc first before clearing the cmos, like i said your motherboards manual would explain step by step on doing that.

Ace thanks, I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[Tradesman1]

If your mobo supports DOCP enable that and set to 1866, no joy? raise DRAM voltage + 0.05 and raise CPU/NB + 0.06 should then be OK

 

[bibbish]

No problem, the Fx cpu's has a integrated DDR3 1866 memory controller and you should be able to run the memory at that speed, I'm sure by loading the optimized defaults (loading the optimized defaults is the first thing you should always do after building a new system and after updating your bios) would solve your issue. If not clear the cmos

Hello, finally been home today and been able to try this out. My defaults were on the exit screen (and had a special abbreviation to describe them) of my BIOS once I'd set them I was able to reboot and set the memory to what I wanted. CPUID is now reporting that the memory is running at full speed.

I'd clearly tried to many things (including experimenting with the DIMM slots) and should have loaded the defaults first! Thanks so much for your help and thanks for the CMOS tip, it's good info to have just in case.

 

[bibbish]

Actually no, that didn't work. I was transferring some music to iTunes and downloading something on Steam when the screen became a mess and I had to power down. This time I have tried to clear the CMOS which worked but it doesn't seem to be helping. The system seems to run okay until I try and put my RAM to 1866mhz.

 

[sourodip]

well ur mobo supports upto 1600mhz as real memory and 1866mhz with O.C using the 1600mhz stick. Have u tried decreasing the DRAM voltage? The fx processors do support upto 1866 mhz but only when the mobo supports it. However, have u tried updating the bios and placing the ram in diff. slots?

 

[bibbish]

well ur mobo supports upto 1600mhz as real memory and 1866mhz with O.C using the 1600mhz stick. Have u tried decreasing the DRAM voltage? The fx processors do support upto 1866 mhz but only when the mobo supports it. However, have u tried updating the bios and placing the ram in diff. slots?

Hey, thanks for your advice. I have the latest BIOS. My friend with near same set up just told me he is having similar problems. I thought the board did support 1866mhz, this is from the spec:

Supports DDR3 2100(OC)/1866*/1800*/1600*/1333/1066/800 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 64GB**

*1866/1800/1600MHz memory speed is supported depend on the AM3/AM3+ CPU you adopt. For detail CPU specification, please refer AMD official website.

 

[sourodip]

well your MB does support 1866mhz and it depends on the processor(cpu) u are using.ur processor supports 1866 memory.
have u tried testing by inserting the ram in diff. slots? have u tried increasing or decreasing the DRAM voltage?what psu do u have?

 

[Tradesman1]

Did you raise the voltages? If so and no go, may need to take CPU/NB up another 0.05 or maybe even a little more, may have an 8350 with a weaker MC

 

[bibbish]

Forgot to mention this, go to CPU Configuration in the bios and disable the following, Cool ‘n’ Quiet and Enhance Halt State (C1E) these settings just messes up everything and i always disable it myself. Then in windows go to control panel, power and set your power plan to high performance.

Thanks to you and everyone else for the advice. The memory isn't on the list of compatible memory for the board so it is understandable that it won't work straight after the box. (Really annoyed we didn't check that!) I tried one module and the slots suggested yes. But I don't think I did a fair test. That said my buddy is having similar problems. Those BIOS settings to turn off are really useful. I have already turned power management in windows to Performance

One more thing, before me and my friend really go for it and tweak stuff. Should I turn off Advanced power management (APM) in BIOS too?

 

[bibbish]

Did you raise the voltages? If so and no go, may need to take CPU/NB up another 0.05 or maybe even a little more, may have an 8350 with a weaker MC

Once we figure out some of the more basic settings we may try voltages yes, my friend had some success with this, we were playing DayZ then he got a BSOD so it wasn't entirely successful.

I need you to help me with some of those abbreviations though, what is 'NB' and what is 'MC' - memory controller? Are you implying that all the chips are slightly different (a bit like how a 250GB HDD is never exactly 250GB) and I need to tweak it?

Thanks for the advice so far, is certainly food for thought.

 

[Tradesman1]

Yes, especially w/ AMD, NB or CPU/NB is the voltage that runs the MC and yes, it's the memory controller

 

[bibbish]

Yes, especially w/ AMD, NB or CPU/NB is the voltage that runs the MC and yes, it's the memory controller

Right I think I follow thanks.

 

[bibbish]

You can turn Advanced power management off but leave that be for now, just the other two that i mentioned for the moment. Just want to mention that memory does not have to be in the memory compatibility list to be fully supported and compatible it is just there for reference, recommended? Yes, but not necessary. Also do not change voltages it's not needed in your case. Try also to manually key in the latency of the memory as it is on the sticker on the module in the bios.

I found the latency on the sticker to be the same as what the BIOS suggested. But I'll be sure to double check thanks.

 

[bibbish]

Hi all, thought it polite to get back to you all. Been running my PC and DayZ with the RAM at 1866mhz, admittedly it has only been a few hours but it is running well.

The increments which I could raise voltage were not as small as I would have liked, but I did this.
Raised DRAM 1.500 to 1.510
Raised NB 1.145 to 1.160

The Enhanced Halt State was already disabled and I disabled Cool 'n' Quiet for good measure.

I selected the profile the board suggested for the RAM (as the latency numbers were correct) and set the RAM to 1866.

You guys have been really great, thanks for all your help. Hopefully I won't be back until I upgrade the machine but if it plays up I'll give you a shout!

 

[Tradesman1]

Glad to hear all is well!

 

[bibbish]

Glad to hear all is well!

Scratch that, it just crashed on me, everything went black! I'm not gonna worry too much, sure I'll get it to work one day!

 

[bibbish]

Hi, sorry to hear about that, for the time being reset all voltages to it's default settings and try running your memory at DDR 1600 hopefully asrock will release an bios update that will enable the board to be more compatible with a wider range of memory configurations. If it's possible try swapping out the memory for another brand or something just a suggestion. have you tried installing the modules in the BLUE DIMM slots to see it that maybe helps?

I tried the other slots before with standard settings. I've reset the voltages and everything. I reckon I'm not far off to be honest. Would you recommend me contacting Asrock? Do you know if BIOS updates tend to be a regular thing to improve performance or only get released when there are issues?

 

[Tradesman1]

Try raising the MC voltage a bit more, some have had to take it up to 1.4

 

[Tradesman1]

Glad you said 'supposed' to, despite all the early advertising that the FX CPUs run DRAM 'native' at 1866, if you check AMD's own BIOS and Kernel Programming Guide, these MC (memory controllers) and CPUs are truly native 1333. The mutliplier on them was raised so they could handle 1866 out of the box, which reduced their OC ability to about 1GHz (a good 8350 can go from it;'s box 4 GHz to about 5GHz, Intel 3570K typically can go from 3.4 to about 4.8 or higher)....after I and many others went after AMD they changed the advertising to better reflect that that the FX's (and many lower end can't even run 1866) iin particular the 8350, 8150, 8320, etc are rated to run UP TO 1866 AT 1 STICK PER CHANNEL, that's 2 sticks total (and testing was done with 4 GB sticks which is 8GB total....so to keep them stable some need no additional voltage at all, but most need a bit of a boost to either/or the DRAM itself or the MC (memory controller) voltage, typically called CPU/NB... This is also why as more slots are populated i.e. running 4 sticks, the rated freq drops to 1600 and then to 1333, the MCs true 'native' freq... see the link below

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ddr3memoryfrequencyguide.aspx

the same was true when they released the 965 C3 and touted it as running 1600 sticks, those often required an extra + 0.05 to the DRAM and about + 0.10 or more to the MC

 

[bibbish]

Glad you said 'supposed' to, despite all the early advertising that the FX CPUs run DRAM 'native' at 1866, if you check AMD's own BIOS and Kernel Programming Guide, these MC (memory controllers) and CPUs are truly native 1333. The mutliplier on them was raised so they could handle 1866 out of the box, which reduced their OC ability to about 1GHz (a good 8350 can go from it;'s box 4 GHz to about 5GHz, Intel 3570K typically can go from 3.4 to about 4.8 or higher)....after I and many others went after AMD they changed the advertising to better reflect that that the FX's (and many lower end can't even run 1866) iin particular the 8350, 8150, 8320, etc are rated to run UP TO 1866 AT 1 STICK PER CHANNEL, that's 2 sticks total (and testing was done with 4 GB sticks which is 8GB total....so to keep them stable some need no additional voltage at all, but most need a bit of a boost to either/or the DRAM itself or the MC (memory controller) voltage, typically called CPU/NB... This is also why as more slots are populated i.e. running 4 sticks, the rated freq drops to 1600 and then to 1333, the MCs true 'native' freq... see the link below

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ddr3memoryfrequencyguide.aspx

the same was true when they released the 965 C3 and touted it as running 1600 sticks, those often required an extra + 0.05 to the DRAM and about + 0.10 or more to the MC

I'm willing to try more settings of course. But at what point do I risk damage to a component?