GA-P55A-UD3 and F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS

[gptech]

Hello, I am having trouble installing the OS on a build with this combination of RAM on the motherboard. Memtest reports good and I have tried single stick in each slot with same results each. Per some other posts with similar MOBO and RAM I saw that enabling XMP to profile1 is advised. I have made this change and the problems appear to have been solved. will do more testing and report back.

I have not yet had experience managing RAM settings in BIOS before, is there anything else I should look for? For example I have read post where people say my RAM is set to 9,5,5,5,5,5 or something like that but I do not know what that pertains too. Is XMP pretty much automated or should there be additional manual adjustment?

[Tradesman]

XMP is sometimes called 'poor man's OCing'...Basically, since most all mobos, set their default to JEDEC standards, normally 800, 1066 or 1333, anything above that did require manual settings (and still can), XMP is set up to read your sticks and set the BIOS to preset settings so you don't have to manually go in and set them yourself, because for many (most people) it's all gibberish. Normally, if done manually the BIOS can adjust things for you with it's auto settings if you enter the base timings on your package, i.e. 9-9-9-27 the Command Rate (CR) i.e. 2T or 2N, the speed of the sticks, say 1600, 1766, whatever, and the DRAM voltage i.e. 1.5, 1.6, 1.65, whatever.

[gptech]

Xmp

With XMP I was able to install windows 7 64 but I am still getting a reboot behavior I am uncomfortable with. The system accepted Win 7 install now when you power on it goes through post with no error. When message comes up "loading OS" the computer reboots again seemingly without cause, then it boots into windows normally and seems ok. This happens on every restart or cold power on.
1.) from cold power on or restart from windows
2.) computer posts
3.) message says loading OS, computer shuts of and restarts
4.) computer posts
5.) computer successfully boots to windows

I turned off automatic restart on crash and there is no blue screen so this restart during boot appears to happen before the OS loads.

I am a little gun shy to leave it this way after the previous issue, are their other ram settings I should investigate?

I have tested all components on the PC and I believe this is something between RAM and mobo or RAM and processor.

Complete Build:
* Windows 64 business
* hard disk Seagate Barracuda ST3250318AS
* Core i5-750
* Mobo Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3
* Ram G.Skill 2X2GB DDR3-2200
* PSU Corsair 750TX
* Cooler master centurion
* 5 ATX mid tower

Edit: wanted to mention I also updated BIOS before the latest windows install so all this observation has been at latest BIOS version

[Tradesman]

You have the PIs then? What are your BLCK, multiplier, QPI/VTT..........actually could you just post your BIOS settings. You could try playing with the QPI/VTT, etc voltages, but to run at 2200 w/ your 750 may need other adjustments. Also if you could post what the XMP settings show as.

[gptech]

Sorry I could not add this before your reply I just found this and wanted to update

The system is only recognizing 1 of the 2Gb chips after I set XMP to profile 1. It is seeing there is a chip in slot 1 and fully recognizing, it is seeing the chip in slot 3 but not recognizing. This is same in BIOS and windows. Windows shows 4Gb installed but only 2Gb available.

If only one of either chip in slot 1 or slot 3 then the boot issue I mention above is no longer happening. So there appears to be something with XMP and both chips installed in slots 1 and 3

[Tradesman]

Will probably want to load manually, believe the multiplier on the 750 is limited to 10 so may have to play with the settings some

[gptech]

Ok will try. Here is the latest. If I turn XMP off it thinks the RAM is 1333MHz like you said earlier. It does recognizes all 4Gb but the CAS latency is off at 9-9-9-24

When I turn XMP on it corrects to 2200MHz and 7-10-10-28 but it looses recognition of the chip in slot 3 and will only accept on 2Gb chip in slot 1.

So far the only stable setting I've found is XMP with only one chip in slot 1, I'll play with some settings and see what I can do.

[Tradesman]

May want to work w/ the voltages which may not be high enough for the 2200....

[gptech]

I noticed the ram status screen shows it running at 1.65v which the chips are rated for but the voltage setting for DRAM is at the 1.5 setting when left to auto. I wonder if there is a BIOS bug because 1 or the other must be incorrect.

Voltage increments go up by .02 up to 2.6. Think I should bump it manually to 1.66v and see if that clears it up?

I changed the system system memory multiplier from 10.0 to 8.0. The memory is now running at 1760MHz and all 4Gb are recognized. Is that another indicator that the voltage is too low for the full 2200MHz?

[GSKILL TECH]

Did you raise QPI/VTT Voltage? This must scale with DRAM Voltage or you can have that missing memory problem.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[gptech]

Nope I have not adjusted a voltage yet. The only manual adjustments I made so far was the XMP set to Pofile1 and the System Memory multiplier from 10.0 -> 8.0 which reducede the MHz and appears to have the memory recognized with both chips for first time with XMP settings.

So is DRAM voltage different then the other one. Sorry I must be frustrating to work with, my first time adjusting RAM settings in BIOS.

update: Advanced memory settings shows
DRAM 1.65v
QPI 1.1v

[gptech]

Current settings
tcl = 7
trcd = 8
trp = 8
tras = 23
trrd = 5
twpd =19
trrp = 80
tcmd = 2

BCLK = 200
XMP = Profile1
System Memory Multiplier = 8.0
MHz = 1760
CPU clock drive = 800mV
PCI express clock drive = 900mV
CPU clock Skew = 0

DRAM voltage showing 1.65v
QPI 1.1v

QPI voltage set to auto showing 1.1v
DRAM voltage set to auto showing 1.5v

[gptech]

I tried some voltage settings for QPI and DRAM both up and down but no luck. The only thing so far that has had posative impact is setting System memory multiplier from 10.0 to 8.0

I think I am going to leave it there even though it sacrifice speed it seems stable. The P55A-UD3 is ratted for DDR32200 but I am starting to wonder if that it will really support that speed.

If you think of anything let me know.

[GSKILL TECH]

Not frustrating at all, I enjoy helping people make their computer work fast.

DDR3-2200 requires overclocking and tweaking, since you are just beginning, your current settings are probably best. QPI Voltage is the memory controller voltage, so you need to work your way up to see what your CPU wants for DDR3-2200. Once you find the exact setting, everything should be stable.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[gptech]

interesting, I just became the A+ certified and learned about the memory controller and its role in the communication with CPU. I put the voltage up on the QPI about 3-4 increments which put it around 1.19ish

Would you say there is a ceiling I should not cross when incrementing that could damage the hardware? I am interested to see it work at its fastest speed but I worried I might put voltage too high and hurt the chips. For example would going to 1.3v be too high?

And also I appreciate so much your prompt assistance and advice. It was an interesting day to look through and learn these settings. Kind regards...