Ram speeds incorrect after adding more ram

[pleggins]

Hello, all. I have had my current setup with 8 gb (2x4) of corsair vengence ram running at 1600 mhz for about 3 months. I decided to upgrade to 16gb by buying the exact same thing I did the first time, meaning now I have 4 sticks of 4gb ram, all rated at the same speed and timing.

I am using the Gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 4.0 motherboard. I configured the first 8gb of ram to the correct frequency of 1600 mhz. Now that I have added more of the same ram, I am getting boot failure messages when I try to set all ram to 1600 mhz. It boots fine at 1333 mhz.

I have already tried clearing the CMOS by removing the battery for 15 minutes. Anyone have any advice for what I could be doing wrong? I am fairly certain I do not have a bad ram stick. I have double checked all of the packaging to make sure I received the correct parts.

Thanks!

 

[ronintexas]

Do you have the RAM in alternating slots? (original RAM in gray slots, new ram in black slots)?

 

[pleggins]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I left the old ram in slots 1 and 2 (the priority for dual channel) and just added the two new sticks in the two alternating open slots.

 

[Tradesman1]

Try raising the DRAM voltage to 1.55 and the CPU/NB voltage to 1.25

 

[pleggins]

Unfortunately, that caused boot error messages as well. The messages said something along the lines of the system failed to boot due to configuration settings or something like that.

I did not have a CPU/NB voltage option. I have NB Core (1.175V) and NBVoltage (1.1V). I assumed NB Core was the same thing.

 

[Tradesman1]

Yes try the NB

 

[pleggins]

I tried changing the DRAM voltage to 1.55 and the NB Core voltage to 1.25 and still no luck. It boots fine with the XMP memory setting set to disabled, but this sets it at 1334 mhz. With 8gb of ram in dual channel mode I was able to turn this setting on and get 1600 mhz. Now with 16gb I cant boot with XMP enabled. Not sure if that helps or not with figuring out what to try.

 

[Tradesman1]

Do you have the latest BIOS? and in the advanced timings for the memory, what is the tRFC set at?

 

[pleggins]

I have Bios version F2. The date on the bios is 7/15/2013. It looks like the latest version for my board is F3i. I am hesitant to update my bios due to the trouble it can cause. In both the memory channel A and B settings, I have two tRFC options. In both channels, tRFC00 is set to 4 and tRFC1 is set to 3.

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd try the BIOS update, the F3i is like 15 months newer and should have numerous DRAM updates

 

[pleggins]

I'd really like to avoid a Bios update to F3i. It is in beta, and I've seen people have issues with it. Is it possible there was a mixup at Corsair and they packaged 1333 mhz memory as 1600? are there any markings on the product that I can use to identify it? I cant seem tp understand why nothing I am trying is working.

 

[Tradesman1]

Might just be they don't want to play nice, there's never a guarantee when mixing DRAM, even of the same exact sets, that's why there's a wide variety of different amounts of sticks and DRAM, all in a given package are tested and guaranteed to play nice. You can pull sticks right off the assembly line that won't play together

 

[pleggins]

So you are saying that 4 sticks of the exact same memory are not guaranteed to run at the speed advertised?

 

[Tradesman1]

If from different packages they aren't even guaranteed to play together, have run into this often and the forums are full of threads of people trying to mix packages (and yes including identical model #s), especially down the road, the manufacturer might used differently binned chips, or have even changed the actual ICs. That's why they guarantee by the tested package

 

[pleggins]

Thank you for your help. I guess I'm out of luck.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sorry couldn't be like many and say, "yeah, no problem, they'll work fine", but I try to treat everybody like a client and be honest with them. That there are no guarantees. I see people everyday right here in the forums going through problems like this. Often I can help adjust voltages and/or timings and get mixed sticks to play, but no guarantees, and if they won't you could be looking at return postage, restocking fees and maybe even just be stuck with them if the re/e-tailer won't do a refund or exchange

 

[pleggins]

I appreciate the honesty. 1333 to 1600 isn't a huge difference for my needs so it is not worth the hassle of trying to return it. Again, thanks for your help.

 

[Tradesman1]

Wish it could have been more