New RAM, but woe is me

[FrankG2625 9]

Hello all,

 

I have a problem. I just upgraded my RAM from 8GB Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3-1600 to 8GB Mushkin Black DDR3-2133, but I'm having a bit of an issue with overall system stability. My motherboard is a MSI P67A-GD55 (B3), and my processor an Intel i5-2500K.

 

With the DDR3-1600 RAM, I had no problem running the board with RAM at 1600MHz and the CPU at 4.5GHz. Stability was fine, and I only had one or two BSoDs in the year I've owned the system, most likely from fidgeting with things I had no real knowledge over. In any case, the system ran fine, the temps were fine, and I was a happy camper. Yesterday, in a bid to slowly make my computer more-or-less bleeding edge, I got the DDR3-2133 RAM. Now, I read on MSI's website that 2133 is supported, but as overclocked. Fine, I was going to overclock anyway, so that wasn't a huge deal. I put the RAM in, and after resetting all the various voltages and such (the 1600 needed 1.65V, the 2133 apparently 1.5V), the system booted fine and FSX loaded fine. Anyway, about 10 minutes into using FSX, I get a BSoD. I figure it's a one-off thing, so I go to reset the system, and then the problems started.

 

My system booted for all of two seconds, then rebooted (the fans spooled up then cut off). This happened a few times, before I got the message that the overclock failed and I needed to check out the settings. My overclock settings save the RAM part were the same as the 1600 RAM, so I cut the CPU overclock out (back to x33 multiplier) and rebooted. All worked well. I had set the memory via XMP to 2133, and all appeared to work again. However, I got another BSoD after playing FSX for about 10 minutes. Then I did the same except I didn't use XMP and used the other option to put my RAM at 2133. Same story, BSoD after a few minutes (only when playing FSX). My system is now running the ram at 1333 (almost half!), and haven't had an issue yet, so I'm 100% sure the problem is with the RAM at 2133MHz.

 

My question is, what did I do wrong? How can I fix it? I would love to keep this RAM, but it almost looks like I'm going to need another motherboard if I want to keep the RAM, since my MSI won't accept the 2133MHz (overclock). Are there settings I'm missing? I'm attaching my CPU-Z specs if that helps.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Frank

 

 

[Kosta 122]

and after resetting all the various voltages and such (the 1600 needed 1.65V, the 2133 apparently 1.5V)

 

There should be a feature in the BIOS which sets the voltages and all automatically - called the XMP, at least that is what is called on Asus. You select XMP somewhere and the BIOS sets the voltages, latencies according to the XMP specification in the CPUZ.

 

Did you check if there is a BIOS update for the board?

[dazz 69]

Chances are it's the IMC and not the board what can't cope with those 2133MHz, or the memory sticks themselves. Upgrading the mobo is likely not going to help solve the problem. Try increasing the Vccio to 1.2V and maybe the Vdimm to 1.55V, then if it's stable work your way down from there

[RamonB 449]

Seems the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Processor (if that is your proc) can't cope with the Mushkin Black DDR3-2133 memory sticks.

Memory Types DDR3-1066/1333

 

remember memory rated at/or setting to 1.65 V can permanently damage the processor (Intel Info)

[dazz 69]

Seems the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Processor (if that is your proc) can't cope with the Mushkin Black DDR3-2133 memory sticks.

 

That's just Intel's defaults. There's tons of people (me included) running Sandy Bridge at 2133MHz (and 1.65V for that matter).

 

remember memory rated at/or setting to 1.65 V can permanently damage the processor (Intel Info)

 

1.65V is fine so long as your sticks are rated to that too.

To the O.P., if you don't feel confident with overvolting your RAM, you can also try loosening your timings a tad bit. Those have virtually no effect on performance anyway

[FrankG2625 9]

Thanks all for your replies. Unfortunately time is tight today, so I'll get around to testing your suggestions tomorrow. I'll keep you updated! Thanks again!

[Illegitimi non carborundum 4]

Isn't it counter intuitive to mess with RAM settings on a SB rig. AFAIK the FSB or BCLK in a sandybridge rig is limited to 100 Mhz so altering the RAM settings can cause major issues but may not increase performance significantly and possible the cpu/RAM will run at a higher temperature. Isn't it far better to use the fast RAM but allow the cpu/mobo to use the default timings where possible as the cpu/RAM transfer rate will be unchanged regardless of the RAM settings.

I doubt that you would see much performance gain on an i5-2500K moving from 1333Mz RAM to 2100 and there would have been a much better gain moving to an i7-2700K cpu and leaving the RAM alone, but then anything can happen in computing

I'm surprised that the OP didn't see an api.dll error which is usually the sign of a "bad" RAM setting.

Just my 2c worth.

PeterH

[westman 257]

Isn't it counter intuitive to mess with RAM settings on a SB rig. AFAIK the FSB or BCLK in a sandybridge rig is limited to 100 Mhz so altering the RAM settings can cause major issues but may not increase performance significantly and possible the cpu/RAM will run at a higher temperature. Isn't it far better to use the fast RAM but allow the cpu/mobo to use the default timings where possible as the cpu/RAM transfer rate will be unchanged regardless of the RAM settings.

I doubt that you would see much performance gain on an i5-2500K moving from 1333Mz RAM to 2100 and there would have been a much better gain moving to an i7-2700K cpu and leaving the RAM alone, but then anything can happen in computing

I'm surprised that the OP didn't see an api.dll error which is usually the sign of a "bad" RAM setting.

Just my 2c worth.

PeterH

 

Can you explain your thoughts little bit more, i dont agree

If read my Adia you see the BCLK and memspeed and its a huge diff running the same

clock with 1333mhz the diff is 10% or slightly more.

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/329116-fsxmark11/page__st__475#entry2416365

 

Cheers Hasse

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Frank,

 

I swapped out my 1600MHz RAM for 2133MHz too without any kind of problem, at very high overclocks:

 

http://forum.avsim.n...ped-out-my-ram/

 

I use 1.65v since that is what the RAM specs call for. As Dario said, it is no problem with Sandy Bridge.

 

Kind regards,