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ASUS P5E3 Premium Wi-Fi @P Stability Problems - 4 GB XMP 1600


sgupta

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Hi RAM Guy,

 

Finally completed my first ever build. ASUS P5E3 Premium Wi-Fi @P, 4 GB RAM. I used TWIN3X4096-1600C7DHXIN for the X.M.P. profiles since I'm using a QX9770 processor (stock speed of 3.2 GHz) so I can have RAM at the full supported 1600 MHz speed.

 

BIOS boots fine and loads XMP settings of 7-7-7-20 fine. Had a few early overclocking errors, but I think the latest BIOS fixed that (505), at least so far.

 

Haven't installed an OS yet as I'm working for initial stability, so I ran memtest86+ a while last night. Unfortunately, got one failure (but 7 or so passes). Details of failure as follows if it tells you anything:

 

Test 4

Pass 1

Failure Address 00043f908c4 - 1087 MB

Good 8bbe2d9a

Bad 8bbe0d9a

ErrBits 00002000

Count 1

 

I'm kind of bummed because I'm not sure what to do here. First build and went like a dream more or less (heatsink mounting was the hardest part - lol) until now.

 

Heat really shouldn't be the issue (though of course anything's possible). Roomy Silvertone TJ-09 case with 5 case fans, and I'm using the Corsair Airflow unit directly over the RAM as well. Everything's cool to the touch and motherboard hovers at around 31C with processor in high 30's/low 40's.

 

Please help! Thanks!

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Just as an update. Saw the posts about disabling Legacy USB Support in ASUS BIOSes, so I'm trying that now. Unfortunately, I saw an Overclocking Failed! error again even though I thought 505 solved that. The strange thing with these errors in, when I go into the BIOS, the settings all appear fine/unchanged, and the next reboot usually works with those same settings, so the errors seem random. I don't get it.

 

Anyways, memtest86+ is almost through with the 1st pass with no errors so far...

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Just as an update. After disabling Legacy USB support, I ran 7 passes successfully this afternoon with no errors. I had to leave and, since this is a brand new build, decided it might not be wise to leave it run when I'm not here (probably overly cautious, but I'd like to keep my eye on it the first several hours of runtime).

 

So I restarted it tonight and let it run. On pass 3, another error on Test 4. =o( So I'm stuck. Help!

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Okay, figured out what to try next. Trying JEDEC standard at 1333 and seeing if it'll do okay at that. (Though I bought this memory to use X.M.P., so I'll be a bit disappointed if I can't get it to 1600 stably.) Also, if it matters, just thought I'd tell you I've been using the black slots since that was my manual's recommendation (and also it gives a little extra space from the CPU/heatsink).
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  • Corsair Employee
From what you have posted I would suspect the CPU is just not over clocking that well. What happens if you set the memory to DDR1333 at Cas 7-7-7-21 2T Command Rate at 1.8 Volts have you tried that? If that get's 2-4 passes then try and over clock the CPU slowly and remember to lower the multiplier as you raise the CPU FSB.
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Since the RAM seemed stable at 1333, I decided to try installing an OS. Running Prime95 right now but all seems stable and cooler than I expected so far...

 

Still need to know whether to try those settings since my processor is running at stock, NOT overclocked. Thanks for your help! I'd really like to get this working at it's potential speed!

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Oh? I thought with a QX9770 with native 400 FSB (x4 = 1600) instead of 333 (x4 = 1332), it supported 1600 native because of that FSB (only 1800 and 2000 require an OC). Furthermore, memtest read the processor at the correct speed (3204 or so), so I'm quite confused. Can you please elaborate? Thanks.
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Bus speed is 400 and FSB is 1600 (running now that way even with 1333 DIMM settings); confirmed with CPU-Z. The QX9770 is one of the extreme processors that's supposed to run at 1600 (stock); that's why I went with it - to use these modules to their fullest. (Unless I'm misunderstanding something, which is possible.) My processor is running at exactly the same settings now (speed, etc.) as it was when trying the memory at 1600.
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Not yet, but I can do that tonight. Glad to hear it should run at 1600. BTW, Prime95 is working great so far (running on all four cores), so I don't think (could be wrong) processor is an issue, and temps are great. Memory is also stable at this speed. SOoo...we'll see how memtest does on the individual modules later, but back at 1600.
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Interesting. Well, I'm using the latest BIOS available at the moment (I can see if there are any betas out), but yeah - I'll test the single ones tonight after I'm satisfied for now with Prime95 and we'll hope for a good result. I take it you feel I'd get more errors if a memory stick was actually bad? Or is it because it's Test 4?
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Well, I don't see any newer BIOS at this time, even beta.

 

Tested both sticks of RAM with 20 passes each of Memtest86+ - no errors at all. Used the first black slock (the one closest to the processor). 2nd stick gave me brief trouble and no POST the first time I tried it, but must have not have had it seated quite perfect as worked fine after reseating. I also got that overclock failed error with the second stick (this one involving the processor voltage even though it's stock), but I think that error only is coming up when there's some configuration change the first boot after, and after a restart it went away and worked. Yesterday if I didn't touch the BIOS or hardware, I restarted a lot and never saw an overclock error once. (And as I said, with the processor at the stock speed...just slower RAM...Prime95 ran perfectly on all four cores for several hours at what I feel to be reasonable heat levels [52C maxed out...a bit higher per core]).

 

Anyways, trying with completely reseated RAM to run all 4GB again through Memtest86+ with X.M.P. enabled...

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Thanks for the suggestion! I may try that if my current tests don't work. After switching the modules (still using the same slots, just reversed the module placement in the slots, thus also reseating both), I successfully ran 10 passes of Memtest86+ with no errors. I had to leave so shut down, but I just restarted it and plan to let it go at least another 20 passes. Then, 10 hours of 4 instances of Prime95 to verify.

 

I also briefly booted into Windows and tried running a game, etc. (just a few minutes) with no problems.

 

I'm not sure why, but my motherboard recommends using the black slots, so I'd prefer to stick with those, but it'd be interesting for testing purposes if I'm still getting errors to try the orange (or even one at a time in the other black slot).

 

Any chance this could have been some sort of weird seating issue all along?

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So, after running 10 passes (a little over 5 hours) earlier yesterday with no errors, I restarted (from 0) last night.

 

28 *more* passes and over 14 *more* hours of testing - not one error. (And yes, this is with X.M.P.).

 

Think, assuming it passes other tests like Prime95, etc., I can consider this issue solved and stable?

 

As I asked previously, could it have been some strange seating issue?

 

Thanks!

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Thanks for the input.

 

Well, memtest86+ and graphics card test (FurMark Xtreme Burning test) went flawlessly, but I am having problems with rounding errors and 4 instances of Prime95 now. Seems to be random...one run can have it right away...another takes a long time to get it. Have to try and isolate whether it's memory or CPU in this case. (Trying one more run...if I can get it to 12 hours stable, I'll be happy.)

 

May relax RAM timings to JEDEC again and see if that makes a difference.

 

Ugh - soooOO close. hehe.

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Whelp...still running, but Prime95 appears to be stable when memory is clocked at 1333 MHz, so it appears to still be a memory issue. Gonna let it keep cranking a bit longer to make sure.

 

I just think X.M.P. may be very slightly too aggressive with this board and processor at the moment.

 

Could you recommend some manual settings at 1600 MHz I could try? I'm not sure what timings to relax, etc. to work towards making this stable. I'd like to work down from the X.M.P. settings slowly if possible and see if I can get some form of 1600 DDR3 stable, so if you could let me know two or three timings to to try (progressing from most aggressive to least aggressive) or what settings to start relaxing one at a time or something, that'd be awesome. (This would still be faster than 1333 MHz 9-9-9-24 yes?)

 

Thanks!

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