FX-9590 Turbo Mode and RAM XMP profile problems?

[sir_bacharach]

Hi,

I have the FX 9590 processor with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1866 Mhz Ram.

The RAM has an XMP profile, but if I use it it tends to be unstable, it's only happy at 1333 Mhz, I have used the motherboards ASUS Recommended Defaults for my Hardware, which sets the RAM to 1433MHZ, but it is still slightly unstable, it's not massively unstable with regular use but if you stress test with Prime95, you see it crashes pretty soon. I retested with the RAM at 1333Mhz and it's fine, I've tried sending the RAM back and trying new RAM and have also tested the RAM with MEMTEST86 with no errors found (perhaps the multiplier doesn't change during the RAM test?).

I'm not fully knowledgeable with overclocks, but I had a theory.

My processor base clock is 4.7Ghz, but it Turbos to over 5.1Ghz. I guess in order to do this it alters the multiplier.

Could the problem be that the RAM runs at 1866mhz, but then when the multiplier increases it speeds up the RAM too, in which case the RAM becomes unstable as it doesn't have enough voltage to deal with the extra speed?

My motherboard is an ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Most AM3+ builds , are more stable at 1600 , some run 1866 fairly well but not with 16gb.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Most AM3+ builds , are more stable at 1600 , some run 1866 fairly well but not with 16gb.

Just curious, why is that?

 

[sir_bacharach]

Most AM3+ builds , are more stable at 1600 , some run 1866 fairly well but not with 16gb.

Yeah, why is that? The Processor and board says it supports 1866mhz RAM, I've only 2 sticks of 8, not 4. Doesn't make sense that it should advertise as supporting 1866 but not actually run stable. Or do they expect me to turn off Turbo mode to make it stable?

Would upping the RAM voltage help? My case has excellent airflow so I don't think it would run too hot.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/profile-1333705.htm
Send him a quick PM , MEMORY GURU.

 

[sir_bacharach]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/profile-1333705.htm
Send him a quick PM , MEMORY GURU.

Thanks, I've dropped him a message.

 

[Tradesman1]

A few things to touch on here, first the FX CPUs aren't really advertised to any particular data rate - this goes back to the original FX CPUs (which like those since are actually a bit pre-OCed (in your case, the 9590 is heavily pre-OCed). As to 1866, AMD now states that FX CPUs can run 'up to 1866 at 1 DIMM per channel' (one of the things they don't mention is that their testing was done with 4GB sticks of DRAM.

What it all boils down to is that 1866 and up is to a degree determined by your individual CPU and in particular it's MC (memory controller),and additionally setting up the sticks properly which all to often the mobos don't do all that well.

In your particular case you may have a CPU that's marginal at stock or may have a weak MC, I'd suggest trying enabling DOCP in the BIOS, raise the DRAM voltage + 0.05 (i.e. if you have a 1.5 set set it to 1.55) and initially also raise the CPU/NB voltage to 1.2 and give it a try.

Also if no joy with those settings, let us know what GPU and PSU you are running.

 

[sir_bacharach]

A few things to touch on here, first the FX CPUs aren't really advertised to any particular data rate - this goes back to the original FX CPUs (which like those since are actually a bit pre-OCed (in your case, the 9590 is heavily pre-OCed). As to 1866, AMD now states that FX CPUs can run 'up to 1866 at 1 DIMM per channel' (one of the things they don't mention is that their testing was done with 4GB sticks of DRAM.

What it all boils down to is that 1866 and up is to a degree determined by your individual CPU and in particular it's MC (memory controller),and additionally setting up the sticks properly which all to often the mobos don't do all that well.

In your particular case you may have a CPU that's marginal at stock or may have a weak MC, I'd suggest trying enabling DOCP in the BIOS, raise the DRAM voltage + 0.05 (i.e. if you have a 1.5 set set it to 1.55) and initially also raise the CPU/NB voltage to 1.2 and give it a try.

Also if no joy with those settings, let us know what GPU and PSU you are running.

Thanks for the explanation. Does the RAM speed not increase with the Turbo when it's switched on? If so, does it raise above the 1866mhz, if I have the DOCP profile selected?

I've upped the voltage of just the RAM as the rest are set to Auto, what with Turbo mode being enabled. I'm Stress testing now with Prime 95.

Seems stable so far, no crashes.
Maximum temperature reached was 65C and the CPU Package temp raised to a maximum of 38C, but they have settled back down now to 60 for the CPU and 30 for the Package Temp.

It says the Package is at 70W, whatever that means.

I'll let Prime run for a while longer and if it stays stable I'll just test with games every now and again.

 

[Tradesman1]

No, DRAM stays at the set data rate. Looking good so far, drop us an update when you get a chance

 

[sir_bacharach]

No, DRAM stays at the set data rate. Looking good so far, drop us an update when you get a chance

Thanks very much, I will do.

Really appreciate the help by the way.

Gonna go to bed shortly, but will give Crysis 3 a good hammering tomorrow. It crashed on that previously.

I was wondering, for smooth fluid gameplay am I best off just overclocking the CPU manually to 5ghz rather than having Turbo mode enabled and will it consume much more power if I do so? Oh, the motherboard seems to have an option for Turbo mode Auto/On/Off I think. I wonder if I flick it to on whether it will just hit the 5ghz and adjust all the voltages etc itself.

Sometimes I get the occasional micro stutter, even with my new 980. It's very infrequent, but I read that sometimes it's due to cores gearing down to save energy then catching back up again when there's more demand.

Noise is also something I want to avoid where possible, so if manually overclocking is going to make it constantly hotter I might just have to leave Turbo mode on instead, it's already crazy loud as it is, haha.

 

[sir_bacharach]

Ooooh, spoke to soon, just got a random freeze, for about 5 seconds, then it came back, I remember it used to do that before when I upped the RAM frequency.

Might try raising it to 1.6V and see if that cures it.

 

[sir_bacharach]

Damn, another 2 freezes in a row. I tried 1866Mhz at 1.55V, then 1.6V, then I dropped it to 1600Mhz at 1.55V and now trying 1600Mhz at 1.6V
Just seems to completely freeze now with no reboot and no black screen, just frozen screen on what I was doing. Even my Vengeance RGB Keyboard animation stops dead. Will see how this goes at 1.6V

Not sure if it's possible I'm borderline on the PSU, it's a Corsair HX750, but I'm also running the ASUS MATRIX PLATINUM 980 GTX GPU, which is power hungry. Mind you, I used to run 2x660 GTXs in SLi which ran OK, apart from this RAM situation.

 

[sir_bacharach]

Nope, it even borked out at 1600 Mhz 1.6V, I've now Loaded ASUS Optimal Defaults, which sets the RAM to 1433 Mhz with an Automatic Voltage, only this time I've upped the Voltage to 1.55Volts to see how that goes.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds like may be the PSU or in part - AMD recommends a 1,000 watt for that CPU, about the min I'd try with one of these is an 850 (preferably higher, but have seen 850s handle a combo like yours

 

[sir_bacharach]

I think I need a better understanding of the functions of the board. Since Loading Optimal Defaults I've noticed it has Offset mode for the Voltages, so I've set the maximum over voltage to 110 percent and have left the RAM at the 1433 that were loaded with these defaults, it now seems pretty stabled, before I did this, it didn't completely crash, but was freezing temporarily and even audi would loop with a high pitched sound during the freeze, it could be for as much as 10 seconds at times then it would unfreeze. Perhaps the memory controller wasn't getting the voltage it needed to run the RAM at that speed whilst also supporting it's own overclock?

 

[sir_bacharach]

Anyway, thanks guys, I think I'm gonna go for an overhaul next time I'm working, maybe a 1200W PSU and a ROG motherboard with an Intel Chip. I'm sick of the noise of my AMD chip. I feel like they're like a Japanese sports car souped up to perform as well as a Ferarri (Intel), similar power but inefficient and unreliable in comparison.

 

[Tradesman1]

If you need any help, let us know 😉

 

[sir_bacharach]

Just wanna add that I disabled the DOCP Profile and noted down the timings being 9-10-9-27 and set the motherboard to Optimized Defaults, which initially set the RAM to 1433Mhz with 11-11-11-28 timings, it was stable at these settings, but I wasn't really happy with the slow timings and the slow clock speed, so I set them manually to the same settings that they were with DOCP, but the only settings I altered were the clock speed setting it to 1866Mhz and setting the timings to 9-10-9-27. No I don't get the frequent temporary pauses of everything including audio that I had before and I've ran Prime95 with focussing on testing the RAM, not a single error, didn't test for a great deal of time, but the temperature of the CPU seemed to cap at 64 degrees then drop back to 61C (I guess after throttling the temperatures) and the CPU Package Temps never raised above 35C. Great success.