M5A97 R2.0 Underclock/Overclock

I have an ASUS M5A97 R2.0 motherboard, and I've just discovered that it doesn't completely support my AMD FX 8350. It doesn't support the HyperTransport bus at anything more than 2400 MHz. Solarstarshines reminded me in another thread that the HT bus on this processor should run at 2600 MHz. Not a problem, I can fix that with a mild overclock.

The thing that really concerns me is my RAM speed and timings. I have 8 GB of Mushkin DDR3-1600 RAM, rated at 9-9-9-28 @ 1.65V, which I cannot get to run properly at XMP settings no matter how much I fiddle with it. It simply will not run at the advertised speed and timings.

I currently have the system mildly overclocked as such:






Notice the memory running at 1450. It's still not stable at this speed unless I run the timings at 10-10-10-30 @ 1.65V. The NB is actually slightly underclocked.

My question is this: Am I better off running the system this way, or using the stock system settings and running the RAM at 1333 with tighter timings?

Also, can someone recommend some good (free) benchmarking software?

Thanks

dont use XMP. just manually set the ram frequency in bios, then then timings.

You do not need XMP you should be able to set it at 1600 but seeing that you OC'ed the FSB
you need to default back and start from scratch mind you if you do use FSB to OC you will have to drop your ram down because moving fsb up brings up the ram too

Look at it as you drop ram to 1333 you would use more of the fsb to get it to 1600 mhz

Solarstarshines said:

You do not need XMP you should be able to set it at 1600 but seeing that you OC'ed the FSB
you need to default back and start from scratch mind you if you do use FSB to OC you will have to drop your ram down because moving fsb up brings up the ram too

Look at it as you drop ram to 1333 you would use more of the fsb to get it to 1600 mhz

I've been setting the RAM manually at 1600 for a while, but I can't get the timings to where they should be. A few days ago, after you mentioned my proper HT speed, I raised the FSB to get the proper HT clock rate. I had to drop the RAM to 1333, and with the OC it's now running at 1450. Even at the lower speed, I can't get the RAM to run at it's proper timings.

I have 8 GB in 2Gb sticks that I know work at lower timings at 1600. I'm thinking of dropping those in and seeing what happens with the new HT speed.

Mellon Head said:

Solarstarshines said:

You do not need XMP you should be able to set it at 1600 but seeing that you OC'ed the FSB
you need to default back and start from scratch mind you if you do use FSB to OC you will have to drop your ram down because moving fsb up brings up the ram too

Look at it as you drop ram to 1333 you would use more of the fsb to get it to 1600 mhz

I've been setting the RAM manually at 1600 for a while, but I can't get the timings to where they should be. A few days ago, after you mentioned my proper HT speed, I raised the FSB to get the proper HT clock rate. I had to drop the RAM to 1333, and with the OC it's now running at 1450. Even at the lower speed, I can't get the RAM to run at it's proper timings.

I have 8 GB in 2Gb sticks that I know work at lower timings at 1600. I'm thinking of dropping those in and seeing what happens with the new HT speed.

you know something since you mentioned this how is your ram installed ?

is it one stick then blank slot then one stick blank slot ?

or are Both sticks together ?

It's one stick, blank slot, one stick, blank slot. According to my manual, this is correct.