Ram troubles

[nicknick]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm running into some strange issues caused by (i think) my RAM.

 

First a bit of a background.

I build my system in 2010 and still consists mostly out of the original components.

In 2012 i added a SSD (Agility 3).

In 2013 i added a SSD (Evo 840), 8GB of ram (Kingston HyperX) and a upgraded the Graphics card (AMD 7970).

After building my PC the RAM wouldn't run on 1600MHZ. I tweaked the bios a bit but after selecting the XMP Profile the ram ran on 1600mhz, 9-9-9-27 and at 1.64Volt.

This all ran without any real issues, until recently.

 

Specs in 2010:

MB: Asus P6T-SE (Bios: 0808)

CPU: Intel I7-950 (stock speed)

RAM: 6GB ram (Kingston: KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX)

VGA: Gigabyte GTX 460

HDD: 2TB WD Black

PSU: OCZ PSU 600W

AUD: Asus Xonar DG

 

Specs now:

MB: Asus P6T-SE (Bios: 0808)

CPU: Intel I7-950 (stock speed)

RAM: 14GB ram (Kingston: KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX + KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX)

VGA: Club3D 7970 1GHZ edition 3GB

HDD1: 2TB WD Black

HDD2: Toshiba 3TB 

SSD1: OCZ Agility 3 128GB

SSD2: Samsung EVO 840 128GB

PSU: OCZ PSU 600W

AUD: Asus Xonar DG

 

 

 

My problems:

Since recently my system freezed when left idle for some time. When i return, the screen is black (monitor is on stand-by). And the system is unresponsive. Num-lock / capslight doesn't work and even the 

 

powerbutton and reset button doesn't work. I have to switch the psu off and turn it back on to get the system running.

I thought this was a software issue and was planning to reinstall the system, however today the system wouldn't even boot.

After a few tries the system went back to "fail-safe" settings and ran the memory on some low settings. Selecting the XMP profile didn't result in a successfull boot. Some fiddeling later i found the system 

 

will boot if the DRAM voltage is set at 1.66Volt. This added a nice big red warning in the BIOS saying this might damage my CPU.

 

According to the specs my ram should run at 1.65 volt at 9-9-9-27 but i can only increase with 0.2 volts, so it's 1.64 or 1.66. 

 

My question:

My question is not if 1.66V is safe, but what could be the cause i have to increase this voltage. I'm also not convinced this is the solution.

If it would help, i could make some pictures of my bios settings, maybe someone is able to help me with the right configuration for my ram configuration.

 

 

Thank you for your time.

[Windows98SE]

actually, according to the spec sheets on your ram, it's designed to run 1.425v-1.575.

 

http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX1600C9D3K3_6GX.pdf

http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX1600C9D3B1K2_8GX.pdf

 

 

I'm guessing you killed it by running it overvolted all this time.

[Pofi]

Try lower voltages - 1.425-1.575 as stated above - might still work, also it doesn't have to run at 1600MHz all the time, the processors actually monitor and change the speeds themselves to be more efficient - for example mine is at roughly 1333mhz right now even though it's a 1866MHz RAM and can overclock far above, but I'm not using anything RAM intensive so system reduces the clock speed.

 

But yeah, try lowering the voltage and set your clock speed to auto as well if you forced it to be at 1600 on bios. See if that helps you out, if not - you might have fried it. Note - 1600MHz or 1000MHz won't even be a notable difference so if you're not getting exactly 1600 on even harder load - don't worry about it too much.

[nicknick]

actually, according to the spec sheets on your ram, it's designed to run 1.425v-1.575.

 

http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX1600C9D3K3_6GX.pdf

http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX1600C9D3B1K2_8GX.pdf

 

 

I'm guessing you killed it by running it overvolted all this time.

 

The spec sheets also states: " Each module kit has been tested to run at DDR3-1600 at a low latency timing of 9-9-9 at 1.65V", this is also the setting of the XMP profile. I guess it shouldn't have killed it, or did i read it wrong?

 

Try lower voltages - 1.425-1.575 as stated above - might still work, also it doesn't have to run at 1600MHz all the time, the processors actually monitor and change the speeds themselves to be more efficient - for example mine is at roughly 1333mhz right now even though it's a 1866MHz RAM and can overclock far above, but I'm not using anything RAM intensive so system reduces the clock speed.

 

But yeah, try lowering the voltage and set your clock speed to auto as well if you forced it to be at 1600 on bios. See if that helps you out, if not - you might have fried it. Note - 1600MHz or 1000MHz won't even be a notable difference so if you're not getting exactly 1600 on even harder load - don't worry about it too much.

 

 

When i am having trouble, 1333mhz does always work, if the performance difference isn't that much i could always downclock to that speed.

[Pofi]

The spec sheets also states: " Each module kit has been tested to run at DDR3-1600 at a low latency timing of 9-9-9 at 1.65V", this is also the setting of the XMP profile. I guess it shouldn't have killed it, or did i read it wrong?

 

 

 

When i am having trouble, 1333mhz does always work, if the performance difference isn't that much i could always downclock to that speed.

Unless you're doing professional video editing on large files... as in... MASSIVE files - no, you won't see any difference. I was playing Watch Dogs (which has 6gb minimum RAM requirement) with a ~1100MHz 1x4GB RAM at literally like 3-5fps lower and a tinyyy bit longer loading speeds than my current 2x8GB 1866MHz kit (I couldn't run any background programs though obviously, since they simply wouldn't have enough RAM and the whole system would start lagging). RAM numbers are extremely overrated, trust me there, you'll be easily fine with 1333MHz.

In general though you shouldn't be overclocked or tweaking your RAM in any way for any normal use (normal includes hardcore gaming and slight video editing) - cpu and gpu should be the only things you touch if you do decide to overclock stuff. New CPUs automaticallly adjust clock speeds of your RAM even beyond their said limit - for example my 1866MHz can work at even 2100MHz if my processor decides that it's necessary - so I highly recommend always keeping RAM at auto. And never ever ever never change voltages of ANYTHING in your computer unless you've done super ultra crazy research on it. Voltages can screw you up instantly and heavily and no warranty will cover that.

[Krzyimprt]

When i am having trouble, 1333mhz does always work, if the performance difference isn't that much i could always downclock to that speed.

Unless you're doing professional video editing on large files... as in... MASSIVE files - no, you won't see any difference. I was playing Watch Dogs (which has 6gb minimum RAM requirement) with a ~1100MHz 1x4GB RAM at literally like 3-5fps lower and a tinyyy bit longer loading speeds than my current 2x8GB 1866MHz kit (I couldn't run any background programs though obviously, since they simply wouldn't have enough RAM and the whole system would start lagging). RAM numbers are extremely overrated, trust me there, you'll be easily fine with 1333MHz.

In general though you shouldn't be overclocked or tweaking your RAM in any way for any normal use (normal includes hardcore gaming and slight video editing) - cpu and gpu should be the only things you touch if you do decide to overclock stuff. New CPUs automaticallly adjust clock speeds of your RAM even beyond their said limit - for example my 1866MHz can work at even 2100MHz if my processor decides that it's necessary - so I highly recommend always keeping RAM at auto. And never ever ever never change voltages of ANYTHING in your computer unless you've done super ultra crazy research on it. Voltages can screw you up instantly and heavily and no warranty will cover that.

Exactly what Pofi said, 1333 is perfectly fine.

[nicknick]

Well i set the ram to 1333 9-9-9-24 and put the rest on auto, the system seems stable again.

Strange how the thing ran on 1600 without any problems for 4 years but started acting up now .

 

Also, it's annoying how the XMP profile puts the ram on 1.66V if it could damage the system, wonder how many people damaged their computers...

 

 

Thank you all for your help.