Could my i7 be defective? memory controller?

[jay2tall]

I lowever the voltage to 1.3125 to see what if it runs stable. It seems to run a bit cooler, not much. I think I might be able to lower it even more, I had started at around 1.35 but was able to lower it. Initially I had run OCCT with the stock settings, and was getting about 80-82C temps on load. My buddy gave me crap because I didn't do a custom run with everything cranked and Hyperthreading on. That is what gave me the 90C temps. I still have to fiddling to do so we will see.

As far as voltage. I left everything on auto except I turned off Turbo and Speedstep. Turned off Line-lock. Left the memory XMP profile select the timing and voltages which was set to 1.6v. Then I set the CPU voltage. That was it. I'm sure I can play around with this, but I've only had it a day.

Any suggestions?

 

[jle617]

I wonder if I am having a similar problem that you did before the RMA... here is my post.. new here btw

I thought it could be my board but haven't tried RMA'ing...

My new setup:
Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Intel i7 920 w/ Cooler Master V8
6GB of 1866 Corsair Dominators
Corsair 750tx
BFG GTX 295
Xclio windtunnel
1TB Samsung F1 Spinpoint
My system is running all stock HT on, no Speedstepping, Turbo v, or Epu-6.

For some strange reason I cant seem to pass prime95. It also BSOD while playing 20mins of CS: Source for a test run....

@auto CPU vcore = 1.05 Fails 8thread prime95 after 20mins Worker#7 stopped.
@CPU vcore = 1.2v Fails 8 thread prime95 after 50mins Worker #1 and #7.

I used the XMP profile that was recommended with the ram and it changed my QPI/DRAM core voltage to 1.6 and Dram bus to 1.66(1.65v)... and my CPU vcore read around 1.05v so i upped it to 1.2v where I was informed was the stock number.

However, in reading alot of post, many people say that they CPU vcore and QPI/DRAM core voltage should be around .05 or .5 within each other....

I tried to change the QPI/DRAM core voltage to 1.2v to match my cpu and the PC will not boot up and I had to hard shut down and reset the settings on power up.

I tried to adjust all the voltages to where it showed as standard/stock and the system and this also resulted in no bootup and hard shutdown. (On restart it reads: Warning !! Overclock failure!! so I just went in and changed it back to XMP and voltages on auto.)

I am definitely no expert at adjusting bios but I know a little bit of info about it....

Btw, Speedfan temps, cpu 34-36 idle, 55-56c prime95, however the Core #0-4 temps are around 40-44 idle, and around 60-68c prime95. (I also checked with Coretemp prgm and its about the same). I have a Silverstone 103cfm fan at max speed swapped into the CM V8 hsf.

(Note: the 6GB set of RAM together has passed memtest86 v2.11 for 8hours with no errors at that XMP)

Any advice or thoughts would greatly be appreciated!! Sorry for the ultra long post.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=30&post=259082&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[jay2tall]

^

1) Set the memory to auto and let it run 1066MHz just to see if it runs stable. (if it doesn't pass It could be anything, if it does, I'd think it's the RAM or CPU)

2) Set the memory to the XMP Profile, but drop the CPU ratio to 18 instead of auto or 20. This underclocks the CPU but allows the memory to run it's rated speed. (if it passes it probably isn't the memory)

3) Try increasing the vcore to like 1.3V and see if it passes, just watch your temps. (if it passes, if could be the CPU)

 

[jle617]

Thank you for the quick reply!

I am at work but will be testing it a bit in a few hours.. I found it strange that QPI/Dram core volts auto set from XMP to 1.6... It shows as red and scared me a bit. I read alot of peoples posts that they run CPU vcore and QPI/DRAM core is usually around identical like 1.25v and 1.25v for each then 1.65 for DRAM bus volts.

I also forgot to mention that when Bios was all on auto with XMP only set and speedstep/turbo-v/epu6 off the system would crash/reset/bsod"physical memory dump" on all testing - prime95, OCCT and usually doesnt get far into it.... (remember auto CPU vcore was around 1.05 for some reason).

I suspected the Ram too but it is weird that all of them in at once set with XMP passed memtest for 8hrs.

I will try to run prime95 at those settings 1-3 haha. Thank you.

 

[geofelt]

Since memtest passes, your ram is ok.

My suggestion is to let the ram default. Do not use XMP. It will probably go to a slower than 1600 speed and 1.5 volts.
The extra ram speed is not really necessary for i7 performance, so it is not necessary to tweak the ram to it's optimum. At issue is perhaps 1-3% real application performance.

1.05 vcore seems unusually low. Let all the performance bios parameters run at default. Prime95 should be stable.

Are there any bios updates that might be relevant? They might be needed for the new new D0 stepping.

 

[jle617]

The motherboard came with the latest bios already loaded - "ver. 0302"

If I leave all of the settings on auto it sets my ram to 1066 at boot up... Seeing that 1866 RAM set w/fan i bought costs $250.... I really hoped to run it around that speed, the very least would be 1600.

I also tried to set it to DDR3 1866 and 9-9-9-24 2T @ 1.65v manual which didn't help either.

I have the revision: c0/c1 stepping i7 920 also.

When I read those vcore auto settings of 1.05 I was really shocked as well. That is why I upped it to 1.2v which seemed to help but only let prime run for an additional 30mins before it failed.

I checked the voltages in Bios bootup, Cpu-z and Asus probe II.

I will try to do "load default options" (which will probably do all auto) and try a prime test on that, if that fails then i will try to set everything manually to the "stock voltage settings" with the lower ram speed.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[jay2tall]

Stock vcore is 1.2, try setting it to this. 1.05 for an i7 won't fly.

I would definitly update your BIOs to the latest version. When i got my replacement CPU it wouldn't boot unless it was at 1066, after flashing it was fine.

Also, to comment on Geofelt's "run it at a lower speed" DDR3 at 1866 is going to perform MUCH better than running it at 1066. Plus my thought is, if it is sold as 1866 memory, then it should run at 1866 by gooly.

I do think something is wrong, you just have to figure out what. Try setting the CPU to 1.2V and see what happens, and leave the XMP on for that.

Oh yeah and the 1.6 QPI is fine, my buddy had Corsair Dominator memory and it loads the same setting in the XMP profile. Once you are stable and OCed to what you like. You can manually lower that setting and test stability. I have mine set to auto and Dram set to 1.6 as per my XMP profile.

 

[jle617]

I was also wondering why my multiplier keeps changing when I disabled speedstep. I also uninstalled turbo-v and epu-6 as well so shouldn't my cpu run at constant 2.66ghz (BLCK:133 x20)? Does it change by itself even when there are no prgms installed and no settings for it to do so?...

Right now it seems like its hovering from x16, - 19-20 mutliplier (In Real temp application)

hmm I checked cpu-z and Coretemp and it both shows around 2.66ghz... though.

 

[cjl]

The Vcore might actually be fine at 1.05 - mine will happily run all day at 1.1 at 3.2GHz. That is set by Intel at the factory, and is very rarely set to something that will result in instability. However, in order to run the memory at DDR3-1866, you'll need a pretty hefty voltage on your memory controller. It probably will take over 1.4V. Mine won't run at DDR3-1600 at under 1.27V, and won't run DDR3-1600 CAS 7 at under 1.32V. DDR3-1866 is harder still (I haven't tried it though, as my memory is only rated at DDR3-1600, and I'm happy with it at stock speed and tighter than stock timings). Try starting at 1.35 and go up from there until it is stable (make sure to manually set the memory to the specified DDR3-1866 timings and voltage).

 

[jle617]

Thanks for all the help guys... I decided to go on ahead and Return my i7 920 for a new one at Microcenter - which was another c0/c1 revision. (I bought it there for $210 with tax on a special deal.) It turns out after I set everything up again I was failing prime95 at the xmp again of 1866 @ 9-9-9-24 2T 1.66v and the manual settings of the ram as well.

I decided to try and overclock a little bit and underclock the ram. I got my BLCK to 150 and multi I had at 20 still for an OC of 3.0ghz. The ram was running at 1805 I believe (can't remember exactly because I am at work) @ 9-9-9-24 2T 1.64v. The CPU vcore is at 1.2v and the everything else is on auto. I actually passed prime95 for 8 hours!!! It was hotter than normal yesterday but my cpu was idling around 36-40 @3ghz, and about 56-65 mostly but it did climbed as high as 72c but never over.

I tried some gaming and it did not crash either so I think I may actually be in the clear! I think the ram is able to pass memtest86 but for some reason it will not work at 1866 with prime95. I mean 1805 is plenty fast so I am still happy.

Once again thank you everyone for your input!! now my i7 is flying

 

[jay2tall]

I was also wondering why my multiplier keeps changing when I disabled speedstep. I also uninstalled turbo-v and epu-6 as well so shouldn't my cpu run at constant 2.66ghz (BLCK:133 x20)? Does it change by itself even when there are no prgms installed and no settings for it to do so?...

Right now it seems like its hovering from x16, - 19-20 mutliplier (In Real temp application)

hmm I checked cpu-z and Coretemp and it both shows around 2.66ghz... though.

RealTemp does the same thing to me to. Use CPU-Z or something else. Not sure why Realtemp is the only one I use that does that.

 

[k9drwho]

One observation I want to point out after reading multiple threads on this issue at multiple sites:

A commonality is that the overwhelming majority of folks experiencing these memory set-up issues are running both i7 920's w/C0 stepping and some variant of the ASUS P6T family of non-workstation boards, be it the P6T, P6TD, or the latest P6TDv2.

I am also experiencing these issues using a P6TDv2/i7 920 C0/Dominator 1600 matched set DIMMs.

After two weeks of fiddling around with different memory and every setting known to man, I am also going to RMA the CPU and see what happens. Hopefully, I will get a D0 chip.

I can't help but wondering, however, why this is happening to us poor slobs that chose these boards. All things considered, there appears to be something different in the memory management features when compared to the same class of MSI and EVGA boards.

Opinions Welcome, Please...!