Patriot DDR3 1866Mhz Help

[coldstorm]

I just got my Patriod DDR3 1866Mhz memory set and while my motherboard (785GM-E51) cannot run at 1866 I wanted to future proof as it was a great sale.

Link to mainboard: http://www.msi.com/product/mb/785GM-E51.html#/?div=Basic
Main Memory
• Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*(OC) DRAM, 16GB Max

To my understanding this means I am currently running at 1333mhz. As I should double to recorded value given by CPU-z. How and is it worth it to push the memory up to the 1600? The SPD page gives values that add to 1866Mhz and then 1370Mhz but not 1600.

If it is not feasible or worthwhile on this motherboard should I put my two old sticks of memory back in? They were also running at 666.7Mhz each. They are only 2Gigs each Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2 /4G.

I mainly game on my computer if that makes any difference.

Thank you for the help!

 

[suteck]

You are correct that you are currently running at 1333MHz speed. You ask if it's worth it to run at the 1600 speed, yes. You probably won't notice the difference but it is a simple setting in the bios. All you need to do is go into bios and set it for XMP or turbo - whichever your bios calls it. It should automatically change the voltage for you to 1.65 dram v. It might be a little lower since that's the rating for 1866MHz. If it doesn't then I would first try it at the speed it sets it for at 1600 to see if it works. If not then bump the dram voltage up to 1.6v then 1.65 if the first then second doesn't work. While you're in there check to see if it gives you a choice for xmp profile 2 for the 1866 speed. If it does go ahead and try it. Worst case is it just won't boot to windows. If that's the case just put it back to profile 1 at the 1600 speed and you should be good. I would definitely not leave it out and put the 4 GB pair back in. Even if the speed is the same at 1333 then you will still see a difference with the quantity.

 

[coldstorm]

You are correct that you are currently running at 1333MHz speed. You ask if it's worth it to run at the 1600 speed, yes. You probably won't notice the difference but it is a simple setting in the bios. All you need to do is go into bios and set it for XMP or turbo - whichever your bios calls it. It should automatically change the voltage for you to 1.65 dram v. It might be a little lower since that's the rating for 1866MHz. If it doesn't then I would first try it at the speed it sets it for at 1600 to see if it works. If not then bump the dram voltage up to 1.6v then 1.65 if the first then second doesn't work. While you're in there check to see if it gives you a choice for xmp profile 2 for the 1866 speed. If it does go ahead and try it. Worst case is it just won't boot to windows. If that's the case just put it back to profile 1 at the 1600 speed and you should be good. I would definitely not leave it out and put the 4 GB pair back in. Even if the speed is the same at 1333 then you will still see a difference with the quantity.

I ran PCMark 7 after clocking my CPU up to 3.6Ghz (x18) from 3.4Ghz (x17) and increasing my FSB/DRAM ratio to 1:4. I could not find a turdo or XMP setting but changing my ratio seemed to do it? (Did I do it right? CPU-z reports 800x2=1600mhz while PCMark7 shows 667MHz x2)
http://3dmark.com/compare/pcm7/215810/pcm7/215779

Running 4 sticks got a slightly lower score which surprised me. Is there a reason for this? Is this conclusive evidence that I should just run the two Patriot sticks?

 

[suteck]

Not bad, One thing I gotta ask - which slots do you have the different ram in?
Memory - 12288 MB
Module 1
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 2
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 3
4096 MB Patriot Memory 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 4
4096 MB Patriot Memory 9 @ 667 MHz

Am I reading this correctly? Does it mean that you have the 2 GB sticks in the first 2 slots and the 4 GB sticks in the 3 and 4 slots?
If that's the case then you might want to try putting
4096 MB Patriot Memory 9 @ 667 MHz - slot 1
4096 MB Patriot Memory 9 @ 667 MHz - slot 2
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz - - - - - slot 3
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz - - - - - slot 4
I believe that if you put them in at these designations then they will run in dual channel mode a little faster and give you better results in the 3DMARK scores. Maybe it won't make a difference but I think it will.

 

[coldstorm]

I have them in 3/4 as read. They are too tall to fit in slots 1 and 2 with the big heat sinks. I should have checked before I bought them (dumb of me). Am I loosing out by running it Open/Open/Patriot/Patriot?

 

[suteck]

I don't know lol that's why I wanted you to experiment. At a guess the closer you store the most data that's read first should produce better results. I thought your 3D score showed the 2 - 4 GB modules in slot 1 and 2 when you ran them as the only pair? How did you manage to run your system with memory in only slots 3 & 4? Did you run the 3Dmark test several times and get an average or just the one time?

 

[coldstorm]

I don't know lol that's why I wanted you to experiment. At a guess the closer you store the most data that's read first should produce better results. I thought your 3D score showed the 2 - 4 GB modules in slot 1 and 2 when you ran them as the only pair? How did you manage to run your system with memory in only slots 3 & 4? Did you run the 3Dmark test several times and get an average or just the one time?

The test with only the 2x4Gig Patriot sticks was run in slots 3/4, PC marks just showed them in 1/2 for whatever reason. Probably the same reason it cannot tell that everything is running at 800mhz instead of 666mhz. They were NOT moved between the two tests. I ran the results once (3 passes and it automatically averages the scores) for each setup.

 

[coldstorm]

Best answer selected by coldstorm.