RAM Performance

[sygnus21]

@ seekermeister,

Don't know if you've seen this or if it even applies but...... http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...-no-temp-reading-cpu-showing.html#post1448751

I'm not an AMD guy so I don't know if it'll help or not.

 

[seekermeister]

Wishmaster

I didn't see your previous link until after posting, but it was a very good read, and it clears up a lot of confusion for me. Yet, I'm still unsure what to do about it, because I definitely do not want to settle for the RAM running at 1066. I don't much like the idea of it running at 1333 either, but I will have to experiment on this to see what happens. I have been suspecting both the RAM and the motherboard, but never thought about the CPU as being the actual problem. When I previously did say something about the CPU controlling the RAM, I was told that I was wrong, and that only the RAM's SPD chip controlled this. However, this is one time that I'm not sure that I like having been right.

sygnus21,

I don't think that the link applies to anything that I'm having a problem with, because I am getting CPU temps on a variety of programs.

 

[seekermeister]

I went ahead and bumped the memory clock to DDR3 1600, but after checking with MaxMeMM2, it shows the right memory, but the wrong CAS settings. Before I mess with them, I want to be certain that I change the right ones, because with all of those T codes, all that I can do now is to guess by their numerical values. Can someone tell me specifically which to change? They should read 7-7-7-20. I don't know if it should be T1 or T2.

 

[seekermeister]

As can be seen in the screenshots, I changed the CAS settings to match those published for my RAM, but instead of improving performance, it dropped off some:

 

[Dwarf]

How much RAM do you actually have installed? Is it just the 2 sticks of Patriot giving 4GB, or do you also have installed the 2 sticks of Corsair giving 6GB in total? If you also have the Corsair installed, what is their part number?

 

[seekermeister]

No, the only Corsair RAM involved is in my other computer, not this one. I have 2x2GB of Patriot PGS34G1600LLKA, nothing more.

 

[seekermeister]

Something that bothers me, is that while the maximum temperature that AMD publishes for this processor is 62 degrees, the TJMAX is 70 degrees. I would think that a temperature safety switch would be set at or below the maximum temp.

 

[Sardonicus]

Seekermeister,

Take a look at the first sentence of the last paragraph, page 2 of the following link.
BCCHardware - Your Daily Tech News & Reviews - ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4 Motherboard
RAM that runs at those higher frequencies, need to be tweaked as indicated by "OC" for overclock. I don't think there's a problem with your RAM. It's just that it has to be adjusted manually.

ASRock > Support > FAQ

Regarding your pics on the first page, the memory is running at it's advertised timing of 7.7.7.20. The voltage is 1.5, but it's advertised at 1.7.
Newegg.com - Patriot Gamer Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGS34G1600LLKA

The CPU-Z "SPD" tab shows the timings, frequency and voltage that are recommended.

Example

 

[seekermeister]

Seekermeister,

Take a look at the first sentence of the last paragraph, page 2 of the following link.
BCCHardware - Your Daily Tech News & Reviews - ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4 Motherboard
RAM that runs at those higher frequencies, need to be tweaked as indicated by "OC" for overclock. I don't think there's a problem with your RAM. It's just that it has to be adjusted manually.

That's curious, because the only ram marked as OC in the QVL for my motherboard are the 1800 and 1866. 1600 says nothing like that in the ASRock list.

ASRock > Support > FAQ

Not sure what this link is for, because it doesn't pertain to my MB or RAM.

Regarding your pics on the first page, the memory is running at it's advertised timing of 7.7.7.20. The voltage is 1.5, but it's advertised at 1.7.

Maybe you have the forum laid out differently than I do, because all of the posts of this thread are on the same page for me. Please give me a post # to go by, because I'm not aware of it being set at 1.5v, because in the BIOS, I do have it set to 1.7v.

Newegg.com - Patriot Gamer Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGS34G1600LLKA

The CPU-Z "SPD" tab shows the timings, frequency and voltage that are recommended.

Example
View attachment 163852

As I have said before, the SPD tab of CPU-Z is entirely grayed out, and is of no use.

 

[seekermeister]

p5bdkw,

I found the reason that the SPD tab was grayed out for me, I was using too old of a version. I updated to 1.58, and the SPD tab is no longer grayed out, but what it says confuses me even more than before. The memory tab agrees with my BIOS settings, except that the DRAM Frequency is too low. However the SPD tab doesn't agree with anything, either in the BIOS or elsewhere.

If this data is being read directly from the RAM's SPD chip, how do I reset it if the BIOS settings do not?

 

[seekermeister]

While I realize that this problem may not be common, I would have thought that someone would have some kind of idea of how to solve it. Since the CPU controls the RAM, I suspect that it is what is telling the RAM what bandwidth and CAS settings to operate at, thus voiding my BIOS settings, but I have no idea of how to change or tweak this. Doesn't anyone?

 

[sygnus21]

Why not just look to an AMD forum to see if anyone can answer your question. I know when I had questions about overclocking with my Gigabyte board I went to Tweak Town's - GIGABYTE forum and had a lot of success. You might check out their ASRock forum.

Good luck

 

[seekermeister]

Why not just look to an AMD forum to see if anyone can answer your question. I know when I had questions about overclocking with my Gigabyte board I went to Tweak Town's - GIGABYTE forum and had a lot of success. You might check out their ASRock forum.

Good luck

I took part of your suggestion, and posted the question on the AMD Forum, since AMD appears to be the source of the problem. I hope that someone there really knows what this is about.

 

[sygnus21]

Good luck.

 

[essenbe]

Seekermeister, I have not had time to read the entire thread and links. But the controller is on the CPU. It will by default set your ram at 1066or1333 9-9-9-24. Remember your board is different in that it was made for the BD CPU whick has natural support for ram up to 1866. So, I'm not sure how they interact. My AMD board set my ram by default at 1333 9-9-9-24 at 1.6V. The voltage was correct but the speed and timings were not. I had to manually set the timings. I set them the way they were rated 7-8-7-24. The only way to set the frequency was to either set the FSB/dram ratio to where the freq. was right, which my board didn't like (not all boards have this function) or to increase the FSB. If you increase te FSB a black chip like you have will usually take it OK. If you do not want to overclock your CPU you can lower the multiplier to bring your CPU back down. If you have stability problems, I had to increase the CPU NB to 1.2 to stabilize mine, but I didn't have a black chip.

The only issue may be that I had an 890 board and you have a 990. The 990 is set up for the BD chip whaich have not been released yet. So, I don't know how the 990 deals with an AM3 CPU. tw33k has a 990 board and may be able to give you some hints.

 

[sygnus21]

I know nothing of AMD boards but the Intel i7's are like that in that the controller is built into the CPU, however you can individually control/tweak the memory to bring it up to specs without overclocking the CPU.

And just as you describe I've have to do the same with my performance memory - manually set the parameters - 1600MHz @ 8-8-8-20 @1.65 volts.

I could also use the XMP profile that's stored on my memory and read by the BIOS just by enabling XMP in the motherboard's BIOS, which would set the same parameters I set manually, although this would also raise other voltages as well, which is something I'd like to avoid.

Anyway I’ve never had an AMD system so I have no suggestions to give for settings.

 

[seekermeister]

Seekermeister, I have not had time to read the entire thread and links. But the controller is on the CPU. It will by default set your ram at 1066or1333 9-9-9-24. Remember your board is different in that it was made for the BD CPU whick has natural support for ram up to 1866. So, I'm not sure how they interact. My AMD board set my ram by default at 1333 9-9-9-24 at 1.6V. The voltage was correct but the speed and timings were not. I had to manually set the timings. I set them the way they were rated 7-8-7-24. The only way to set the frequency was to either set the FSB/dram ratio to where the freq. was right, which my board didn't like (not all boards have this function) or to increase the FSB. If you increase te FSB a black chip like you have will usually take it OK. If you do not want to overclock your CPU you can lower the multiplier to bring your CPU back down. If you have stability problems, I had to increase the CPU NB to 1.2 to stabilize mine, but I didn't have a black chip.

The only issue may be that I had an 890 board and you have a 990. The 990 is set up for the BD chip whaich have not been released yet. So, I don't know how the 990 deals with an AM3 CPU. tw33k has a 990 board and may be able to give you some hints.

No I have a 890FX Deluxe 4, therefore it is an 890 chipset, not 990. You speak of OCing, but it's not OCing just to set the RAM to run the way that it supposed to.

I somewhat understand what you have said, but not enough to go changing a bunch of things in the BIOS without a better understanding. The thing that bugs me, is the fact that it has partially ignored the changes that I have already made in the BIOS, which makes me wonder if that is where to makes the changes in the settings, or if there is a way to directly input them to the CPU memory controller?

 

[seekermeister]

I know nothing of AMD boards but the Intel i7's are like that in that the controller is built into the CPU, however you can individually control/tweak the memory to bring it up to specs without overclocking the CPU.

And just as you describe I've have to do the same with my performance memory - manually set the parameters - 1600MHz @ 8-8-8-20 @1.65 volts.

I could also use the XMP profile that's stored on my memory and read by the BIOS just by enabling XMP in the motherboard's BIOS, which would set the same parameters I set manually, although this would also raise other voltages as well, which is something I'd like to avoid.

Anyway I’ve never had an AMD system so I have no suggestions to give for settings.

I can't use XMP since that is an Intel feature. AMD Overdrive does have a place to load profiles, which makes it appear that it is designed to either load a local profile, or one downloaded from elsewhere, but when I tried that, it said that none were available.

 

[essenbe]

My AMD board would tell you what the XMP values were but there was no way to set them except manually. My Intel board I just enabled XMP and set the frequency, it set the correct timings and voltage. I liked Intel's way much better.

 

[essenbe]

Seekermeister, I have not had time to read the entire thread and links. But the controller is on the CPU. It will by default set your ram at 1066or1333 9-9-9-24. Remember your board is different in that it was made for the BD CPU whick has natural support for ram up to 1866. So, I'm not sure how they interact. My AMD board set my ram by default at 1333 9-9-9-24 at 1.6V. The voltage was correct but the speed and timings were not. I had to manually set the timings. I set them the way they were rated 7-8-7-24. The only way to set the frequency was to either set the FSB/dram ratio to where the freq. was right, which my board didn't like (not all boards have this function) or to increase the FSB. If you increase te FSB a black chip like you have will usually take it OK. If you do not want to overclock your CPU you can lower the multiplier to bring your CPU back down. If you have stability problems, I had to increase the CPU NB to 1.2 to stabilize mine, but I didn't have a black chip.

The only issue may be that I had an 890 board and you have a 990. The 990 is set up for the BD chip whaich have not been released yet. So, I don't know how the 990 deals with an AM3 CPU. tw33k has a 990 board and may be able to give you some hints.

No I have a 890FX Deluxe 4, therefore it is an 890 chipset, not 990. You speak of OCing, but it's not OCing just to set the RAM to run the way that it supposed to.

I somewhat understand what you have said, but not enough to go changing a bunch of things in the BIOS without a better understanding. The thing that bugs me, is the fact that it has partially ignored the changes that I have already made in the BIOS, which makes me wonder if that is where to makes the changes in the settings, or if there is a way to directly input them to the CPU memory controller?

As far as I am aware,there is no way to change anything in the CPU. The only changes have to be done in bios. With mine, I had to first set the memory to manual, it then allowed me to set timings. I had to set the voltage the increase the FSB to get it to rated speed. Then I had to raise the CPU NB to stabilize the settings.