Very Disappointed so far with F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM & M4A89GTD Pro

[vinny2006]

Well, let me start off by saying that I am fairly a newbie when it comes to OC but I have built hundreds of PCs over the year but only started OC recently.

So I got two of these G-Skill kits from Newegg (for total of 8GB) and Asus M4A89GTD Pro and x4 965 Black Edition C3 last week. I got the system built and left everything in BIOS as default and installed Windows 7 x64. That went find. I installed all drivers including the latest BIOS update.

Then I started to have some fun with it. I clocked it at 3.9GHz (200x19.5) and that seems OK on Prime for about 15 minutes. I had tried 4GHz (200x20) but Prime rebooted the machine almost instantly. So i stuck with 3.9GHz.

I set the RAM to 1600 since BIOS only saw it as 1333. I know that this was made for Intel kit but I bought seeing the reviews from NE since I wanted 1600 and not 1333. So I set that in the BIOS and tried everything I read on forums including upping 0.1V, 7-8-7-24 2T, 7-7-7-24 2T and even reset BIOS to default and not even touch anything in it so basically no OC whatsoever and RAM left running at 1333 9-9-9-24.

The problem is when I run Prime after about 15 minutes or so then one or more of the workers would stop. I don't remember exact message why they stopped.

I would expect Prime to pass with flying colors with absolutely no OC.

At this point I am so disappointed and not sure what to do. I popped is 2 sticks of F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT and running Prime on that now to see how that goes.

I am hoping that the 4 sticks are fine. This is my first time using G-Skill. Have always used Corsair, Kingston, Crucial and OCZ in past with no issues and I don't remember the last time I had a bad stick of RAM.

Any help would be appreciated.

Vince

[bal3wolf]

Prime could be erroring because you dont have enugh vcore you need to run it for more then 15mins try 5-6 hrs and set memory at lowest speed till you get the cpu stable.

[vinny2006]

Prime could be erroring because you dont have enugh vcore you need to run it for more then 15mins try 5-6 hrs and set memory at lowest speed till you get the cpu stable.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Even with the default BIOS setup with no OC whatsoever, Prime still fails after 15 minutes or so. The problems is the worker(s) would stop running. I have the 1333 chips in there now and so far Prime is perfect for over an hour. Never got this far before.

Anyone have this exact setup they can give me their settings that I can try?

It sucks if I have to stick to the 1333.

[fresh024]

try memtest86 test first make sure the memories are good before going to the prime

[Tradesman]

You'll probably need a decent OC to run 8GB at 1333 or (if you can) 1600. The AMD CPUs are notorious for having a weak MC (Memory Controller) so you'll have to increase voltages to the MC, the CPU itself, prob the HT and possibly the sticks themselves, possibly to 1.7. May also have to loosen the timings to maybe 8-8-8-24 2N or even further. It's nothing to do with the sticks, it's AMD and their CPUs, to keep prices down they skimp on R&D that should be going into the MC

[jcleve]

and if all else fails...I'll buy one of those 4gb kits from you. lemme know.

[vinny2006]

Well, at this point I am not sure what to do. I have in there now the 2 sticks of 2GB 1333. The memory settings are all defaults with no adjustments. The only thing I adjusted in the BIOS is the multiplier to 19.5 to overclock it to 3.9GHz.

Ran Prime and within 2 hours it said one of the workers failed. Could it be the CPU? I spent so much time with this I am actually sick of it and ready to ship everything back to NE.

At least my overclocked E5200 is rock solid so I am happy. I wished I never got into this hype about this Phenom II x4 stuff.

[wevsspot]

I can't even begin to count the number of issues people are having with certain AMD processors and getting memory to run stable at DDR3 1600 or above speeds.

Trust me, if your rig passes Memtest and Prime/OCCT at completely stock design settings (i.e. no overclocking on the cpu, HT and memory at DDR3 1333 speeds) you don't have a problem with the memory, you have a problem with the CPU MC.

I've gone to a simple recommendation over at my home forum, if you want/need memory bandwidth above DDR3 1333 speeds your best bet is to go with Intel. And I'm not an Intel fanboy. Just speaking the truth.

As Tradesman has already pointed out, you're going to have to juice everything related to cpu/memory communication and operation in order to hit the speeds you're looking for.

[vinny2006]

I can't even begin to count the number of issues people are having with certain AMD processors and getting memory to run stable at DDR3 1600 or above speeds.

Trust me, if your rig passes Memtest and Prime/OCCT at completely stock design settings (i.e. no overclocking on the cpu, HT and memory at DDR3 1333 speeds) you don't have a problem with the memory, you have a problem with the CPU MC.

I've gone to a simple recommendation over at my home forum, if you want/need memory bandwidth above DDR3 1333 speeds your best bet is to go with Intel. And I'm not an Intel fanboy. Just speaking the truth.

As Tradesman has already pointed out, you're going to have to juice everything related to cpu/memory communication and operation in order to hit the speeds you're looking for.

Hi, I reset BIOS back to defaults with no OC whatsoever and put back the 4 sticks of F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM for total of 8GB and CPU running at 3.4GHz. I am running Memtestx86 v4 now and do far it ran a little over 1.5 hours and so far 1 Pass with 0 errors. How long do you think I should run it for? And will this confirm that the RAM is good if it all passes?

To be honest, I don't game and basically just surfs and email so my OC'ed E5200 is already plenty fast enough registering 7.0 for both CPU and RAM in Win7 x64 but I have always wanted to try this AMD thing since I read so much about it. Plus this mobo allows me to use 2 PCI-X video cards as my E5200 Mobo I can only run one and I really want 4 monitors capability.

Now I read that these X4 weren't made to run 1600 and doing so may shorten the CPU life because of the weak MC. At this point, already owning this hardware I would like to get it working and clocking the CPU as high as I can stable. The RAM I don't care if I have to stick to 1333 but I read if I lower the timings at 1333 then it's just as good as 1600.

I like to get this done soon because if any hardware is faulty I can request RMA with Newegg.

Like I said I am fairly new to OC'ing so if anyone who is knowledgable about this stuff wants to help me I would be willing to compensate for his/her time.

Thanks.

[wevsspot]

Vinny - there isn't any compensation necessary The G.Skill Admins/Mods get paid to do this already

Everyone else just does it because it's fun.......... sometimes.

At DDR3 1333 speeds you should be able to tighten your timings to 7-7-7-21 with a 1T command rate.

Manually set your DRAM Voltage to 1.60 - 1.62v

Save settings, exit and retest.

One full cycle of Memtest is ok, but this is one test where the longer the better. I always start a test before I retire for the night and then check it in the morning. If it will run for 7 or 8 hours without error you're usually good to go.

If you get an early failure, BSOD or no boot condition try upping your CPU-NB voltage by +.1 and test again.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[GSKILL TECH]

For DDR3-1600, try 8-8-8-24 timings 1.60V, CPU-NB Voltage +0.1V

That should work..

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[vinny2006]

Vinny - there isn't any compensation necessary The G.Skill Admins/Mods get paid to do this already

Everyone else just does it because it's fun.......... sometimes.

At DDR3 1333 speeds you should be able to tighten your timings to 7-7-7-21 with a 1T command rate.

Manually set your DRAM Voltage to 1.60 - 1.62v

Save settings, exit and retest.

One full cycle of Memtest is ok, but this is one test where the longer the better. I always start a test before I retire for the night and then check it in the morning. If it will run for 7 or 8 hours without error you're usually good to go.

If you get an early failure, BSOD or no boot condition try upping your CPU-NB voltage by +.1 and test again.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks. OK. So I let the stock settings run on Memtest and that ran for almost 7 hours with 4 passes and no errors. I went back in and changed to 7-7-7-21 with 1T and 1.60v as you suggested. So far it ran about 4 hours with 4 passes and no errors.

What should I try next? I could let this Memtest run all night and check it tomorrow but I think 4 hours should be good.

[wevsspot]

What should I try next? I could let this Memtest run all night and check it tomorrow but I think 4 hours should be good.

If you're happy with the Memtest results you can go ahead and boot into Windows and run a blended system stress test using programs like Prime95, OCCT or LinPack.

If you choose Prime95 let it run for 8 hours
If you choose OCCT let it run for 2 hours
If you choose Linpack let it run for 1 hour

If that passes you should be pretty much toaster stable. At that point (assuming you do a little gaming) you can frag for a while and make sure you don't get any errors or BSODs.

If all of that goes without a hitch you're good to go.

Good luck.

[vinny2006]

If you're happy with the Memtest results you can go ahead and boot into Windows and run a blended system stress test using programs like Prime95, OCCT or LinPack.

If you choose Prime95 let it run for 8 hours
If you choose OCCT let it run for 2 hours
If you choose Linpack let it run for 1 hour

If that passes you should be pretty much toaster stable. At that point (assuming you do a little gaming) you can frag for a while and make sure you don't get any errors or BSODs.

If all of that goes without a hitch you're good to go.

Good luck.

Hi, So I ran OCCT for 5 hours and it was fine. I don't know how to check other than that it never rebooted or BSOD during that 5 hours. Then I ran Linpack and so far 2 hours into it and no issues either.

Although I don't game I would like to OC this baby to close to 4GHz. From reading everything about it, it should not be too hard. No? The RAM I can stick with 1333 as I read that you should not go beyond 1333 with Phenom x4 because of weak MC although this RAM supposedly do 1600 and more.

I am air cooling with OCZ Vanquisher. Any suggestions where I start to OC this baby? Suggestions about multipiler, voltage settings?

Thanks.

[wevsspot]

Since you have a Black Edition Processor, your cpu multipliers are unlocked. So that is where I'd start. I'd increase the cpu multiplier until your pc won't boot or doesn't pass stress testing. Then bump your cpu voltage by .02 and start the whole process over again. Personally I wouldn't add any more than .10v total to your default cpu vcore. Keep an eye on your temps.

Once you've found a ball park ceiling for your cpu you can fine tune by adjusting the reference clock and memory multipliers to find your highest stable overclock.