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Having issues with RAM/Motherboard

KineticDepth
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Go to solution Solved by runit3,

@KineticDepth

That's your problem. Your ram is running at incorrect timings, or at the very least not the timings that were tested specifically with your kit. Find the XMP setting for your RAM within your BIOS, set it to the appropriate setting according to what's on the box of RAM. There may be multiple XMP profiles, match it as close as possible.

Once you have completed that double check that the RAM voltage has been correctly set to the rated specifications.

Not sure what speed your CPU-Z readout says but it should be 800MHz (DDR= Double Data Rate, so 1600MHz end speed) with 9-9-9-24 timings according to that Newegg link.

If you're currently at 11-11-11-28 they're way loose and probably NOT running at 1600. I have a feeling that is a bulk, if not all, of your problem.

If you're talking about your GPU temp 70-80 under load is perfectly normal. A little on the high side if you're talking about CPU.

Posted
Hey guys,
 
Lately I've been having issues with my rig (specs below). 
 
Issues:
- 3 quick BIOS beeps
- slower performance
- heat issues
- freezes and reboots
 
When I looked up the BIOS beeps, I assumed the issue was related to my RAM, so I replaced both sticks. Since replacing, the issues have persisted, so I threw all 4 sticks in.
 
I'm at a loss where to go next aside from just replacing my motherboard. If you guys could give a newbie some tips, I'd really appreciate it.
 
Specs and links:
Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
RAM - G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2
Graphics Cards - 2 x SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
 
PowerSupply - FirePower ZX Series 1000W 80Plus Gold Fully-Modular High Performance ATX PC Power Supply ZX1000W, formerly PC Power & Cooling
Harddrive - Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

 

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Posted

--

What is the debug/status code displayed on the board? Page 40-43 of the manual gives descriptions for all of the codes that could be displayed.

LanSyndicate Build | i5-6600k | ASRock OC Formula | G.Skill 3600MHz | Samsung 850 Evo | MSI R9-290X 8GB Alphacool Block | Enthoo Pro M | XTR Pro 750w | Custom Loop |

Daily | 5960X | X99 Sabertooth | G.Skill 3000MHz | 750 NVMe | 850 Evo | x2 WD Se 2TB | x2 Seagate 3TB | Sapphire R9-290X 8GB | Enthoo Primo | EVGA 1000G2 | Custom Loop |

Game Box | 4690K | Z97i-Plus | G.Skill 2400MHz | x2 840 Evo | GTX 970 shorty | Corsair 250D modded with H105 | EVGA 650w B2 |

 

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Hey runit3, there is no debug/status code showing on the board. It is possible I skipped some steps when putting my rig together, but it was quite a while ago.

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Hey runit3, there is no debug/status code showing on the board. It is possible I skipped some steps when putting my rig together, but it was quite a while ago.

1) Is your RAM running at XMP? JDEC? Confirm within the BIOS and CPU-Z that the timings/XMP profiles are loaded and enabled correctly according to the manufacturers specs.

2) Check your OS. Get into command prompt w/admin privileges, type: sfc /scannow  See if that throws out any huge issues with the Windows install. If the OS is an ancient install might be worth backing up all your important information and doing a fresh install with up to date drivers/BIOS from ASRock

3) Define heat issues - CPU? VRM? Load/idle?

 

If there are 3 quick beeps and no Q-Code displayed that's an odd situation, assuming ASRock is running an AMI BIOS. Does it make it past POST after the beeps? or it just hangs pre-POST and you have to shut down?

 

The only time I've encountered OS slow-down without it actually being an OS problem was with OCing RAM, or having incorrect RAM timings, which makes me lean in that direction. Really need some more details of exactly what is going wrong.

LanSyndicate Build | i5-6600k | ASRock OC Formula | G.Skill 3600MHz | Samsung 850 Evo | MSI R9-290X 8GB Alphacool Block | Enthoo Pro M | XTR Pro 750w | Custom Loop |

Daily | 5960X | X99 Sabertooth | G.Skill 3000MHz | 750 NVMe | 850 Evo | x2 WD Se 2TB | x2 Seagate 3TB | Sapphire R9-290X 8GB | Enthoo Primo | EVGA 1000G2 | Custom Loop |

Game Box | 4690K | Z97i-Plus | G.Skill 2400MHz | x2 840 Evo | GTX 970 shorty | Corsair 250D modded with H105 | EVGA 650w B2 |

 

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You may have to bear with me a bit - most of what you're saying is over my head, so I am trying to teach myself as I go through it :P

 

RAM timings look to be default. 11-11-11-28. I cleared my CMOS just to be safe.

 

After installing CPU-Z I noticed that 2 of my sticks of RAM are not being recognized (slots 1 and 3). The only thing I can think to try is to re-seat them. If that doesnt work, Ill swap positions and see if the other sticks in 2 and 4 work in 1 and 3.

 

After clearing my CMOS, I havent noticed any major issues, but I also havent had enough time to sufficiently test it. I don't think it will change anything since I had never changed my BIOS settings to begin with. Im very much a plug and play kind of guy (although after reading more about overclocking and timings, that is changing!)

 

To clarify - the heat issues are under medium load. Playing games for extended period of time, cooling becomes an issue. Even after thoroughly cleaning my case, fans, and installing a fan for my RAM, I noticed my cards temp go upwards of 75 degrees (normally around 55-60 - not overclocked) and the case being noticeably warmer to touch.

 

After the beeps the system will still run, but if I continue at current load, it will eventually freeze on me. Often when opening a new window or game.

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@KineticDepth

That's your problem. Your ram is running at incorrect timings, or at the very least not the timings that were tested specifically with your kit. Find the XMP setting for your RAM within your BIOS, set it to the appropriate setting according to what's on the box of RAM. There may be multiple XMP profiles, match it as close as possible.

Once you have completed that double check that the RAM voltage has been correctly set to the rated specifications.

Not sure what speed your CPU-Z readout says but it should be 800MHz (DDR= Double Data Rate, so 1600MHz end speed) with 9-9-9-24 timings according to that Newegg link.

If you're currently at 11-11-11-28 they're way loose and probably NOT running at 1600. I have a feeling that is a bulk, if not all, of your problem.

If you're talking about your GPU temp 70-80 under load is perfectly normal. A little on the high side if you're talking about CPU.

LanSyndicate Build | i5-6600k | ASRock OC Formula | G.Skill 3600MHz | Samsung 850 Evo | MSI R9-290X 8GB Alphacool Block | Enthoo Pro M | XTR Pro 750w | Custom Loop |

Daily | 5960X | X99 Sabertooth | G.Skill 3000MHz | 750 NVMe | 850 Evo | x2 WD Se 2TB | x2 Seagate 3TB | Sapphire R9-290X 8GB | Enthoo Primo | EVGA 1000G2 | Custom Loop |

Game Box | 4690K | Z97i-Plus | G.Skill 2400MHz | x2 840 Evo | GTX 970 shorty | Corsair 250D modded with H105 | EVGA 650w B2 |

 

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After re-seating the other 2 sticks of RAM, they are now being recognized properly. Also updated timings from 11-11-11-28 to 9-9-9-24 as the cards specify.

 

But I am seeing some numbers I dont fully understand in the Timings Tables, and some issues upon booting.

 

After I changed the timings, the PC boots and fails to POST 2 or 3 times, then fully boots up.

 

I've attached the screenshots of the Memory and SPD screens. 

- Frequency is 665MHz, when I am expecting it to be closer to 800MHz. (Voltage running at 1.26)

- Slots 1 and 3 (older sticks)

   - PC3-12800H (800MHz). What does the 'H' mean. The other 2 sticks do not have that.

   - tRC = 40, where tRC = 33 on sticks 2 and 4.

 

Is this an indication that the cards are not compatible?

post-154853-0-08320400-1414727690.png

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post-154853-0-33435400-1414727691.png

post-154853-0-88608200-1414727691.png

post-154853-0-19819500-1414727692.png

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After re-seating the other 2 sticks of RAM, they are now being recognized properly. Also updated timings from 11-11-11-28 to 9-9-9-24 as the cards specify.

 

But I am seeing some numbers I dont fully understand in the Timings Tables, and some issues upon booting.

 

After I changed the timings, the PC boots and fails to POST 2 or 3 times, then fully boots up.

 

I've attached the screenshots of the Memory and SPD screens. 

- Frequency is 665MHz, when I am expecting it to be closer to 800MHz. (Voltage running at 1.26)

- Slots 1 and 3 (older sticks)

   - PC3-12800H (800MHz). What does the 'H' mean. The other 2 sticks do not have that.

   - tRC = 40, where tRC = 33 on sticks 2 and 4.

 

Is this an indication that the cards are not compatible?

They should be identical, so compatibility is a non-issue.

 

What needs to happen is that the RAM timings need to exactly match for both sets of dual channel. For some odd reason it looks like each bank has their own tRC. Have you made sure to select XMP timings within the BIOS? and is there two separate settings, one for each bank?

 

I've never used 2 sets of dual channel RAM so I'm unfamiliar with how they would appear in the BIOS, and if they would be separated or not. Bottom line, all of the individual DIMM's need to have their timings match exactly in order to function properly.

LanSyndicate Build | i5-6600k | ASRock OC Formula | G.Skill 3600MHz | Samsung 850 Evo | MSI R9-290X 8GB Alphacool Block | Enthoo Pro M | XTR Pro 750w | Custom Loop |

Daily | 5960X | X99 Sabertooth | G.Skill 3000MHz | 750 NVMe | 850 Evo | x2 WD Se 2TB | x2 Seagate 3TB | Sapphire R9-290X 8GB | Enthoo Primo | EVGA 1000G2 | Custom Loop |

Game Box | 4690K | Z97i-Plus | G.Skill 2400MHz | x2 840 Evo | GTX 970 shorty | Corsair 250D modded with H105 | EVGA 650w B2 |

 

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When I go into the BIOS DRAM Config settings, it is for all 4. I had set them all manually to 9-9-9-24, and did not see the boot issues, but still saw frequency at 665 instead of 800. That is why I tried to select the XMP preset. This is likely the cause of the boot issues. I will override the XMP profile and go back to manual assignments.

 

These sticks are also rated for 1.25 volts, but my only options within the BIOS are 1.245 and 1.260. I went with 1.260 as it was selected already, but would dropping to 1.245 make a difference on my frequency?

 

Also - might be important to note, that I have not heard any of the BIOS beeps lately. Will run some stress tests to be certain though.

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Issue appears to be resolved after manually setting DRAM settings to 9-9-9-24 and 1333 MHz.

 

Label says 1600MHz, so I may contact GSkill to understand whats going on there.

 

Ran a bunch of games to see if I got the beeps again, but nothing so far. Will run memtest to confirm.

 

Side question is related to performance - is dropping to 1333MHz from 1600MHz a big drop in performance?

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