F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL had my fill

[decoy20]

As I am writing this I just spent the last hour tweaking settings and what not to make this work because I have been fighting this for over a month. I built this rig in February 2010 and had minimal time to use it as my job is crazy and just plain lack of time. It ran real good for the time after build that I can remember until I started getting freeze up and BSOD and now since November since I have finally got time to get on and man problems galore. I have tweaked settings ordered 2 new sticks of same memory and tried everything and still no avail. I can get it to run like a champ on 1 stick sometimes 2 sticks sometimes all 4 sticks for hours in a graphic taxing game. Then it just decides to start screwing up like normal. I have built rigs for myself for quite awhile now and have never had to experience this much crap. I do not care about overclocking I just purchase high end equipment and run with it. I am writing this as I am back to 1 stick stability util tomorrow when I can try 4 or 2 or whatever and it will most likely run like a dream for the evening then cold boot nightmares again. I am pretty much done with this memory unless someone tells me what I am missing I will be sending back the sticks I just got from Newegg and I guess I will be eating the ones from february. I do not have the time or patience to keep trying to figure this out especially when it doesnt have a select pattern. I rma'd my vid card awhile back thining that is where it started it took 6 weeks to get a new card and I am almost positive now it has been the memory all along. I will post my equipment and see if anyone has any ideas otherwise I am punting. Sorry for the coldness of my words but I have had my fill.

Crosshair 3 formula
AMD Phenom x4 965BE 125w
HIS Radeon HD 5850
Cooler master Haf 922
WD caviar black 500gb sata3
gskill ripjaw 4gb which i actually have 8gig now
Zalman cooler
sony optiarc dvd

This is definitely not heat related either as I have nothing in my pc running over 40c at full load and that is my nb at around 38c.

Thanks

[Tradesman]

Could you post your BIOS settings. What OS are you running? What type PSU? Do yo have the latest BIOS? Have you run memtest on each stick individually? Being intermittent and having odd effect on different combos of 1 through 4 sticks, sort of leaning towards Mobo, CPU, GPU....Like to see your BIOS settings and the rest of your hardware and if nothing else can lay out a troubleshooting guide

[decoy20]

I am running windows 7 home premium 64 bit and my power supply is a Corsair 750watt and before I did anything I flashed the bios to Asus latest bios from like november I believe. I searched around on here a bit since this started and i upped the northbridge voltage +.1 and i set the memory to 9-9-9-24 and changed it to 1600mhz. Everything else is set to auto. These are the only things I have changed in the bios. I am currently as i said running on 1 stick and it stays stable but it isnt enough memory for me to be happy with as windows takes a bunch. I am unsure how to post you a outlook of my bios if you could tell me I can get you my settings. I could see maybe it could be another piece of hardware but if it is then it should be failing no matter if i have 1 stick or 4 in the rig. It amazes me when i got the 2 new sticks and put them in that it worked flawless for like 12 hrs then upon cold boot same errors same memory dump same hang spot. It will sometimes just sit on det dram and wont post but if i go in and change stuff or pull out a couple sticks it may work. I am most likely going to order 4 gigs of another ram tomorrow as I want to see if it is the answer to my problem and I am thinking of just getting 1333mhz ram hopin it maybe a little more stable without any extra work.

[Tradesman]

Can set everything in the BIOS to default best settings, and unplug all but CPU, DRAM and GPU at the mobo and see if things boot...may even want to remove the mobo, and set it as a bench test, to eliminate the possibility of a case short.. If it will post okay with nothing else attached then can try adding a component at a time. Maybe start w/ USB ports (found a system once with a lint ball in a socket, did all kinds of weird things, then maybe the main drive,, any problems with it might reinstall Win.

[GSKILL TECH]

Did you raise CPU-NB Voltage to support DDR3-1600 and/or 8GB?

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[NemesisChild]

As stated, it's important to address the NB voltage settings when running more than 4GB:

Try these:

CPU/NB voltage: 1.30v
NB voltage: 1.35v (up to 1.3875v)
NB 1.8v voltage: auto
HT voltage: 1.275v

Have you run memtest on each stick individually?

[decoy20]

I will try some other voltages that you posted. Originally I only had 4 gig in my rig I just did the 8 gigs recently. Let me do some of the suggested voltages tonight and I will see what it does.

Thanks

[decoy20]

Apologies to gskill staff

I would like to apologize for my frustration when i started this post and have since tried even another brand of memory and still no avail. The crazy thing to me is the pc is stable as could be if i run 1 stick of memory and it doesnt matter what slot it is in either. So I am asking for some help. I have since ordered a MSI 890FZA-GD70 and it will be here monday or tuesday. Here is my question as after 5 builds for myself I have never had these problems so that is part of my struggle. Before I dive into another motherboard my question is does this sound more like a mobo issue or does it seem directed toward the processor? If I am right the amd's memory controller is in the processor correct? I am just trying to avoid wasting 200 dollars on a mobo if it seems more processor related. Any help would be appreciated. I realize this is a GSkill forum but it seems people are very helpful here and it would be nice to nail this down so I can go back to using the full capabilities of my gskill memory again.

Thanks!

Just to let you know I tried the voltage settings and numerous other things and still didnt help. Default settings freeze me even in the bios with 2 sticks in. Figured I would throw that out there it definitily isn't memory related.

[Tradesman]

Do you know if the CPU is the C3 revision? the earlier ones had trouble w/ 1600 DRAM as did some of the initial C3 revisions, have you tried the sticks at 1333?

[NemesisChild]

The 125W 965 is the C3 revision, the C2 version is a 140W CPU.

[decoy20]

Yea it is definitily the C3 version and I did try 1333mhz as it defaults to that but i even tried lower it absolutely isn't the memory. It runs great with 1- 2gig stick in but you put 2 in and it just freezes and BSOD's. I am just hoping someone may have seen or heard of this and could guide me toward if i should replace the mobo or if it sounds more on the processor side.

Thanks again

[Tradesman]

What is your tRFC at? is CR at 2? Sort of leaning towards a mobo problem, do you have or can you borrow different sticks to try, or try your sticks in a different system

[decoy20]

I purchased new sticks of 4GBRL and that didn't fix it and then i purchased sticks of crucial and still same problem. I do not believe it is ram and I have a new mobo coming next week. Does the memory controller lie on the processor? Does the mobo maybe have a short in the dimms or just has a fault on dual channel? I have not experienced this before just hoping for some advice to try whether it be put in a new mobo or nope sounds like a processor issue.

Thanks

[Tradesman]

Yes, the MC is a part of the CPU. Could be either mobo or CPU, but as said before, I would lean towards the mobo, there have been a number of problems w/ the C/F mobo, that, to me and speaking for myself, tend to indicate a lack of QC on the part of ASUS, which is a shame, they used to be my primary source for builds up to about 2 years ago, where at one point out of 10 various mobos picked up over about 6 weeks, 4 were defective, now I sort of stay away from them except when demanded by clients...even then we sometimes argue.

[GSKILL TECH]

Try the new motherboard, if it has the same exact problem, then you know it is the CPU.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH