Help with F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM and Asus P7H55-M Pro

[Ambilight_Chris]

Hi Guys,

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can offer.

So basically I think I made a mistake. I'm doing a build for a friend and I saw this RAM on the QVL for the Clarkdale CPU Processors on the P7H55-M Pro. What I didn't realize is that the QVL was just for 4 GB of RAM (I think). So I bought two kits and installed 8GB on the board.

The first bit of strangeness is the MOBO auto set the timings to 9-9-9-24 instead of 8-8-8-24 that's printed on the RAM. Even then the machine has actually been quite stable BUT it has randomly restarted a few times (like very few only a handful). This is whether i have it set at 9-9-9-24 or manually at 8-8-8-24 or XMP.

One instance I'm able to repeat the restart (after installing Win 7 x64 and performing the first windows update which is like 65 updates it restarts itself near the end (no BSOD). Interestingly the machine passes most stress tests.

Anyway, I removed two of the DIMMS (I actually received 4 DIMMS that are in sequential order SN wise which was cool) and voila, it makes it through that series of updates with only 4GB installed.

So the question is... are there BIOS settings that will allow me to run 4 x 2GB of this RAM in a VERY stable way or am I better off RMA'ing the RAM back to newegg and getting a 6 or 8 GB kit off the QVL? If this was a personal machine I'd probably just keep it, but I need this to be bombproof and one random restart is too many.

Thanks again!

Chris

[Tradesman]

Could you post your BIOS settings, am guessing you may just need a little voltage added somewhere, might also check Command Rate (CR) and ensure it's set to 2, some mobos will default to 1, will also want to make sure you have the latest BIOS

[Ambilight_Chris]

Sure, thanks!

So basically I had most everything set to Auto. Let me know if I"m leaving out relevant settings.

It appears that IMC Voltage on Auto is set to Standard = 1.10v and I can go up to 1.20v max with .05 increments and DRAM Volatage on Auto is Standard - 1.50 and I can go up to 2.20 with .10v increments.

[GSKILL TECH]

Set DRAM Voltage 1.50V, IMC Voltage 1.15V.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Ambilight_Chris]

Thanks for the settings. I tried them and it still restarts (no BSOD) during that long windows update. I'm 100% sure that is RAM related because it works fine with 2X2 and never works with 2X4.

Return it then?

Thanks,

Chris

[Tradesman]

W/ 4 sticks may want to raise the Ref Cycle Time up to 80 and the DRAM voltage to 1.55

[Ambilight_Chris]

Ok, I'll try that. Just for giggles I tried with 3 of the sticks in and it made it passed the crash point so definitely seems to be an issue with using 4.

[Tradesman]

Let us know what happens

[Ambilight_Chris]

Ok so I don't have those exact settings so I used the closest 78 (increments in 4 so it's either 78 or 82) and I can't do 1.55 only 1.6 so I used that.

Same deal. Also just to test to see if I have a bad slot I loaded up 3 sticks again but this time used the other DIMM in the other open slot from the last time I tried 6 and it works fine. So definitely something with just using 8GB in general and not anything with the motherboard slots or a bad stick as far as I can tell.

Pretty frustrating. I'm thinking I probably should just run 6GB or return the RAM and by an 8GB kit from the QVL. Unfortunately G.Skill doesn't have an 8GB kit on the QVL.

Thanks for all the help, and let me know if there's anything else you think I could try.

[GSKILL TECH]

Weird... do you have the latest BIOS?

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Ambilight_Chris]

I agree, it's really strange. I am using the latest BIOS and I've flashed it a few times just to be sure everything is fresh.

I just tried another test. I installed all 8GB of RAM and went into the BIOS set everything as auto but changed the DRAM speed to 1033 and it went through the long series of updates fine.

Normally I would think this is something weird with windows update or a driver because as I mentioned with the 8GB installed at 1333 and all the stock settings it only reset itself one or two other times other than the windows update thing. Normally I'd just try to keep tweaking it but this is a build for someone else and I need it to be 100% bombproof from the get go.

Given the fact I can reproduce this windows update reboot with 8GB and not 4 or 6 is telling me it's definitely a RAM related reboot. Also if I install the updates like 15 at a time and let it do the reboots it wants to do etc, it will work with 8GB so that would suggest it's a load on the RAM or IMC that's overloading I'd think, not sure though obviously.

I'm not sure how much I lose running the RAM at 1033? With 6GB I think the WEI was 7.1, can't remember what it was with 8 at 1333. With 8 at 1033 WEI gives the RAM a score of 7.1 as well.

[GSKILL TECH]

Try DDR3-1066 7-7-7-21

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Ambilight_Chris]

Seems to work fine at those settings. WEI still scores 7.1

I suppose then the question would be do you run 6 GB at the faster speed or 8 GB at the slower speed?

Still thinking about just starting over with one of the 8 GB kits from the QVL but worried I'll have the same issues.

[Tradesman]

Might contact mobo maker to see if they have any ideas...or are working on another BIOS update

[GSKILL TECH]

Depends if you use that much memory. If you use 4GB max, then 8GB isn't absolutely necessary. At the same time, 8GB at DDR3-1066 CL7 isn't bad at all either.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH