jlarimore Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Hello. I bought 64GB of Dominator RAM (2x CMD32GX3M4A2400C10) to go with my ASUS P9X79-E WS motherboard and Intel Core i7-3970X CPU. Since it was a new board, I wasn't able to confirm that the RAM had been tested with it, (couldn't even find a compatibility list) but I assumed it was fairly mainstream and would be made compatible if it was not already. So, now I am trying to overclock the RAM and am running into trouble. With the default BIOS, when I enabled XMP and ran the RAM at 2400Mhz, Windows would boot, but it would be highly unstable with lots of one-off oddities that felt like memory problems. It also blue screened a lot which I assumed was also memory. Now, I updated the Mobo BIOS in the hopes that the latest version would improve stability, but things got a lot worse. Now, with XMP enabled I can't even make it into Windows at all. Everything is stable and copacetic running at 1333. I assume this means I am going to have to disable XMP and set timings manually. I have never done that and was hoping with this machine that XMP would make life easy. Guess not. So, did I make a mistake and buy the wrong components? Is setting timings manually the answer? If so, is there a good guide I should read on what to do to reach stability? Wait until this RAM is officially supported in BIOS? What would you recommend I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Hello. I bought 64GB of Dominator RAM (2x CMD32GX3M4A2400C10) to go with my ASUS P9X79-E WS motherboard and Intel Core i7-3970X CPU. Since it was a new board, I wasn't able to confirm that the RAM had been tested with it, (couldn't even find a compatibility list) but I assumed it was fairly mainstream and would be made compatible if it was not already. Your in a tough spot kind of. There are a few issues that could be holding you baack. The biggest is using two 32 gig kit instead of a single matched 64 gig kit. Corsair does not suggest or support mixing/combing kits because there is no way they can guarantee that any two random kit's are gonna play nice together. I realize they are two sets of the exact same part number, but they can be made with different chips and so on. And these differences often cause this type of issue. So, now I am trying to overclock the RAM and am running into trouble. With the default BIOS, when I enabled XMP and ran the RAM at 2400Mhz, Windows would boot, but it would be highly unstable with lots of one-off oddities that felt like memory problems. It also blue screened a lot which I assumed was also memory. Now, I updated the Mobo BIOS in the hopes that the latest version would improve stability, but things got a lot worse. Now, with XMP enabled I can't even make it into Windows at all. Everything is stable and copacetic running at 1333. While your MB may support memory this fast, your CPU only supports a max of 1600mhz. So trying to run 2400mhz memory is pretty tough. Very few cpu's have a memory controller strong enough to run them at this speed. Have you tried backing them down to 2133mhz and see if they are stable at that speed? If not could you please and post the results. I assume this means I am going to have to disable XMP and set timings manually. I have never done that and was hoping with this machine that XMP would make life easy. Guess not. Thats very well possible with two unmatched kit's. You might try adding a little bit of DIMM voltage to them to see if that will get them stable. You might try 1.7v but that may be above intels spec, so you can do that at your own discretion. o, did I make a mistake and buy the wrong components? Is setting timings manually the answer? If so, is there a good guide I should read on what to do to reach stability? Wait until this RAM is officially supported in BIOS? What would you recommend I do? Reply With Quote From your first post it seems as if you purchased the wrong ram to begin with not knowing fully what your getting into and how large of a memory overclock is for your CPU. I would really consider returning the two kits you have and get a single matched 64gig kit @ 2133mhz. Something more conservative with the capacity you need. You wouldn't notice the difference between 2400 and 2133mhz without running a memory benchmark anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlarimore Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 Thanks for the advice. I'll probably start by taking out one of the RAM kits and seeing if I can get at least half of it running stable using XMP. If it's still unstable, I'll try to set timings manually. I have no problem running slightly slower at 2133 if that is the best I can do with my config. If it does run fine with one kit, I'll probably see if I can switch to a 64 gig matched kit. Buying two 32GB kits was an intentional risk as it saved $300 and I assumed the risk of it not working well in concert was not worth that kind of cost. It never even crossed my mind that the top-of-the-line CPU could be the limiting factor here. Which CPUs have better memory controllers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlarimore Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 I still need to run memtest for a while, but from initial testing it seems like 32GB is running fine at 2400mhz. So, maybe it's just the mismatched sets that are causing the instability. Maybe I'll see if I can return the RAM to Newegg and get the 8 pack of the 2133 RAM. It looks like the expensive 8-pack of 2400mhz RAM has been discontinued. (I wonder if I am discovering why the hard way) Thank you again for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 They are still in production. http://www.corsair.com/us/memory-by-product-family/dominator-platinum-ddr3-memory/dominator-platinum-series-64gb-8-x-8gb-ddr3-dram-2400mhz-c10-memory-kit-cmd64gx3m8a2400c10.html Just out of stock oat the moment. t never even crossed my mind that the top-of-the-line CPU could be the limiting factor here. Which CPUs have better memory controllers? Last edited by jlarimore; Yesterday at 11:32 PM. It has nothing to do with top of the line CPU's or not. Each memory controller is different. Some are strong enough to run memory that fast and some can't. Your also trying to run 8 sticks at that speed which also contributes to loads on the memory controller. Basically it's the luck of the draw. With just one kit , you may have a better chance at 2400mhz. It's less strain on the memory controller vs trying to run all 8 at 2400mhz. Thats just such a huge task to ask of it. Therer is a good article in the Corsair blog , although they are using 3000mhz memory, they had to go through 25CPU's to find one that would run that memory. Your in the same boat, just lower rated modules. And they were trying with just two sticks! Also as you can see from the article, your MB may also be a factor. They are the same as CPU's...some boards just overclock better. http://www.corsair.com/us/blog/vengeance-extreme-3000mhz-setup-and-overclocking-results/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlarimore Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 What are the chances that I will have any luck running 8 sticks at 2133? (even if they are a single kit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 What are the chances that I will have any luck running 8 sticks at 2133? (even if they are a single kit) Really, there is no way to give you that answer because each CPU will overclock differently. But they are definitely better than running all 8 at 2400mhz. Really all you can do is try and then run them through memtest to make sure they are stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlarimore Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Well no luck with the 2133 RAM either. The system is highly unstable when running using XMP enabled. I also let it try to find a stable overclock using the OC tuner and it just finds slower, but equally unstable configs. Is any of this a really bad sign? None of them survive Prime95 for more than a couple seconds. If I just set the BIOS to "performance", I seem to get a very minor, stable OC. But, I am definitely looking for something a lot better than that. So, I guess it's time to read up on doing this manually. Does anyone know of a really good beginner's guide that would help me do this for the first time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Is any of this a really bad sign? None of them survive Prime95 for more than a couple seconds. If I just set the BIOS to "performance", I seem to get a very minor, stable OC. But, I am definitely looking for something a lot better than that. So, I guess it's time to read up on doing this manually. Does anyone know of a really good beginner's guide that would help me do this for the first time? With a second set of memory that is unstable, i would have to say your Mb or CPU is bad. I would bet on the board first before the CPU though. While they do fail sometimes MB's have a much higher failure rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRHofman Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I also have memory with a XMP profile running at 1866 MHz while default is 1333 MHz. According to the manual al speeds higher then 1866 up till 2400 needs a O.C. profile. If you have updated your BIOS before I would start with clearing your CMOS. After that I would use the MemOK! button to see if your Mobo likes the modules or not. If they are ok the function will try to configure them. If not a led will be flashing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I also have memory with a XMP profile running at 1866 MHz while default is 1333 MHz. According to the manual al speeds higher then 1866 up till 2400 needs a O.C. profile. Well XMP is the overclock profile. Your CPU only supports a max of 1600mhz memory. So 1866mhz would be an overclock. Your MB is just stating that it has support for 1866mhz memory without the MB/CPU being overclocked. Even the XMP profile will overclock the CPU in some situations. The key is to have a CPU that has a memory controller strong enough to handle memory speeds that high. Which are far and few between. After that I would use the MemOK! button to see if your Mobo likes the modules or not. If they are ok the function will try to configure them. If not a led will be flashing. The memOK button just sets your memory to default speeds and also tries to get picky modules to boot at default speeds. It won't set them to XMP or overclocked settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRHofman Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Correct, you still need to set your profile at XMP. Its Auto, Manual or XMP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlarimore Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 An update: I noticed that occasionally not all 64GB of RAM would show up during post. So, I re-seated the RAM (even though it was in there pretty solid) and now I am having much better luck. I set timings manually and stepped up the speed from 1600 to 1866 and finally 2133. Prime95 seems stable so far. Thanks for all the suggestions and help. My next concern is heat. I haven't even touched overclocking the CPU at all and I am getting load temps of ~75C. I am cooling with a Corsair H90 (as exhaust) and am definitely disappointed that I don't really have any room to overclock. So, I am considering trying to squeeze an H110 in my 550D case. From my measurements it's going to be a REALLY tight squeeze. (I know Corsair's official stance is that they won't promise that it'll fit in this case) I have about 25mm of space between the two 140mm fans mounted as exhaust at the top of the case and a heatsink on the mobo. I need to find someone who can measure the heatsink on the H110 to see if it will fit. I guess even if it doesn't I could always find squatter fans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 What are your idle temps like now? Heat even at 2133mhz shouldn't be an issue since your not raising the memory voltage . You'll generate some extra CPU heat with higher memory overclocks , but they shouldn't be that high. I'm wondering if a remount of the cooling head with fresh thermal paste won't help you any? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlarimore Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 I'm idling somewhere around 37C. I started another thread over in the cooling forum about this and someone mentioned these hex core CPUs just run really hot. (they weren't surprised with my temps) But, I might try reapplying thermal paste if you think that would help. (I just used whatever was pre-applied to the H90) I have some AS5 handy. No one seems to know the dimensions of the H110 radiator. So, I might just have to bite the bullet and buy it to see if it'll fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Dimensions for the radiators are provided on every product page. Here's the H110 rad dimensions. Radiator dimensions: 140mm x 312mm x 29mm http://www.corsair.com/us/cpu-cooling-kits/hydro-series-water-cooling-cpu-cooler/hydro-series-h110-280mm-extreme-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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