F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ on a Gigabyte MA-770T-UD3P. Looking for BIOS settings

[mike44njdevils]

Hi,

I have the following setup:

MOBO - Gigabyte MA-770T-UD3P rev 1.1 BIOS F6A
CPU - AMD Phenom II x2 550BE (running as a Phenom II x4 B50) 3.1 GHz
RAM - F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ (on this boards QVL)
PCIe 16x - EVGA NVIDIA 9800GT
PCIe x1 - NetLink wireless adapter
PCI - SB Audigy SE 7.1

With all "stock" BIOS settings, the RAM is rock solid @ 1333 MHz 9-9-9-24. Passes all tests, no BSOD's, nothing to complain about.

I've tried some combos of settings, the most basic was upping the RAM multiplier from 6.66 to 8.00 and manually setting the 9-9-9-24 timings. POSTED, but with intermittent BSOD's. Passed memtest for over 90 minutes (3 passes), but won't run Prime95 blend for two seconds.

I will try some of the other suggestions I've found both here and on some other forums, but I would really l like a good starting point for my particular board. For what it's worth, I haven't tried tightening up the timings yet, so that may also be an option. Thank you all in advance

[GSKILL TECH]

Try raising the HT Voltage to 1.40V. Your CPU may be struggling to operate DDR3-1600.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[mike44njdevils]

That's the gist of what a lot of different sources are saying - the C2 stepping on the Phenom II's is unable to control RAM easily over 1333MHz. Other than CPU voltage, should I just change the RAM multiplier to 8.00 and manually set 9-9-9-24? Any other timing tweaks - tRFC 127? Then other voltages (NB, HT, CPU to 1.4...) thanks again.

[mike44njdevils]

UPDATE....

Tried quite a few different combinations of voltages, but the fact remains that this RAM will not run/BSOD's intermittently over 1333 MHz. I have to concur with the techs and the other voices telling me that it's not the RAM, but instead an incompatibility with the C2 stepping in my processor. That being said, it runs rock solid @ 1333 with 8-8-8-24 timings, and I may be inclined to attempt to tighten that up. Also, that's with no voltage bumps (unless my BIOS is bumping voltage behind the scenes).

To SUM up, great RAM, just not the best user combination of components. No RMA

[GSKILL TECH]

Ask for a C3 and it should take care of your problems. =P

If you want, post up screen shots of your BIOS and we can see if anything may be set incorrectly.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[mike44njdevils]

New update!

Have been running rock solid @ 1333 woth 7-8-7-24 timings. I bumped the voltage to 1.6 volts. I tried 7-7-7-21 but got errors in Memtest. Ironically, my 3DMark scores were slightly lower with the 7-8-7... Thoughts, suggesions? Should I go back to 8-8-8?

[GSKILL TECH]

Yep, if it's faster at 8-8-8, set it at that.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[mike44njdevils]

FYI pre-update update

Gigabyte just released a new BIOS for this board. It looks like it's mainly for hexa core CPU support, but I feel it can't help. I'll update tomorrow and post results in here

[mike44njdevils]

Eh, no dice on the f6b bios. Not really surprised.

[mike44njdevils]

Well, I've sort of made the decision to change my MOBO (as I'm going to probably step up in league anyway, LOL) to the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO. Should have much better results there (as well as with a C3 stepping processor).

[Tradesman]

Might want to check the posts on the EVO, don't think ASUS has gotten a good BIOS yet

[mike44njdevils]

But doesn't G Skill list the EVO on their QVL?

By the way, this isn't happening anytime soon. I may get a C3 CPU before that happens

[Tradesman]

While it may be on the QVL, you'll want to make sure that YOUR CPU, will work the combo of sticks and mobo. Most mobo and RAM makers may have things on their list, but if you don't know the entire combo, it can cause troubles i.e. 8GB 1600 RAM can be rated for a mobo or a mobo can be rated for 8GB 1600 RAM.....but....if you stick in an AMD CPU that won't run over 1066, or an AMD CPU that can only run 1 stick per channel @1600 or an AMD CPU that requires a massive OC to to run 8 @ 1600 then you've got big problems

[mike44njdevils]

Ah. Details....the devil is there. And as we've established in this thread, my C2 550 can only run 4GB @ 1333, even though I've open up the cores and am OC'd.

[GSKILL TECH]

Opening cores actually makes it unstable. But with the EVO motherboard and a C3 stepping CPU, you are surely "stepping" up in league. =)

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT