GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

[Pyro451]

Hello,

I hope someone here can provide some helpful advice as I am at the end of my rope.

I just built a system with the motherboard and RAM in the title. The RAM passes memtest for over 2hrs at 1066MHz.

When I enable the XMP profile in the FA BIOS (the only non-beta one available) I can not get the system to boot into Windows 7. I had to pull one of the sticks to install Win 7 Pro x64.

I have all the BIOS settings related to CPU & RAM at their default settings. The only things I changed were the setting for HDDs as I have a couple of RAID arrays installed.

Any suggestions on what I should set in BIOS to get this RAM running to specs would be great and appreciated. The XMP Spec on the RAM is 6-7-6-18 at 1600MHz @ 1.65V.

I am not really interested in overclocking my i7-920, unless that is necessary to get the RAM to work.

Thank you!

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

just set the timing manually,select quick and type in 6-7-6-18 into the top 4 numbers,to raise memory speed adjust the spd memory mutiplier,set it to 12x i think to give you 1596mhz ram speed,finally set the qpi/vtt voltage to 1.31000v

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

Thank you very much for the quick reply and suggestion.

Just prior to reading this I received a similar suggestion from Mushkin forums.

Unfortunately, I could not get the system to POST with 12x multiplier, 6-7-6-18 timings, and QPI/VTT=1.335V, DRAM=1.64V.

Stuck at C1 on d-led on mobo.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

you might need more qpi/vtt voltage with those timings,set system performance enhance to standard aswell,and try with 1.35000v qpi/vtt

dram needs to be 1.66 in bios for 1.65 in windows

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

Just tried 1.355 / 1.66 and it booted into windows. Progress.

Unfortunately, windows shows 6GB and 222GB useable.

I also noticed the CPU temp in the BIOS seemed high for an i7-920, 63C.

I am running a CNPS9000LED cooler that should be plenty for this CPU.

Plenty of airflow in a CM Sniper case.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

63c is too hot for those clocks/voltages,check your cooler is mounted propperly and carefully inspect the cpu socket for any even slightly bent pins,if alls well then try with the timings on auto and see what the bios sets them at and lower qpi/vtt back to 1.31000 or around that

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

Oh CRAP!

That is what I was afraid of. I just spent over 12 hours rebuilding and reinstalling software.

I hope there are no bent pins. I can't even take it apart for another few hours when I get home.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

i hope so too,just inspect carefully and dont get any thermal paste in there which is easy if you let the clamp close when the cpu isnt in the socket,just check and make double sure and re-seat the cpu heatsink

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

Thank you very much for the tip on the CPU cooler. No bent pins. Whew!!

Problem is still not totally solved, but temps are down to 36-39C in the BIOS now.

I went as high as QPI/VTT=1.375V and DRAM=1.660V with the timings at 6-7-6-18 and multiplier at 12x. The machine boots at these conditions, but windows 7 says 6GB installed (2GB useable).

Any other ideas? I don't think higher voltage is a good idea since these values are already in the "pink" zone according to the BIOS.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

no you shouldnt need that much qpi voltage at stock clocks,you need to test each stick and ram slot now to see if you have a dead stick or slot seeing that its saying 6gb/2gb usable,pull all the sticks out and test one at a time in the first white slot from cpu socket,if alls well it will boot into windows with just one stick,do the same for the other two white ram slots

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

no you shouldnt need that much qpi voltage at stock clocks,you need to test each stick and ram slot now to see if you have a dead stick or slot seeing that its saying 6gb/2gb usable,pull all the sticks out and test one at a time in the first white slot from cpu socket,if alls well it will boot into windows with just one stick,do the same for the other two white ram slots

Thank you so much for all your assistance with this. I just want to be sure I understand what you are suggesting here.

Should I set the XMP profile with one stick at a time in slot 1, then slot 2, then slot 3 (9 total tests)?

Or are you suggesting something else?

At 1066MHz JDEC timings, all 6GB is available and seems to function fine.

Thanks,
Steve

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

no i just thought you might have a faulty stick or ram slot,but if its seeing full 6gb at stock ram settings then it can only be a bios setting thats causing 4gb to go missing,what does xmp set the qpi/vtt voltage at? have you just set the ram speed to 1600mhz and left timings and qpi/vtt voltage on auto? just to see what it puts the timing at

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

OK, I took a 1/2 step and set the speed to 1333MHz in the BIOS without touching anything else (auto all).

That resulted in POST and booting into Windows with all 6GB usable (running that setup now) with timings of 9-9-9-24-74-1t. According to CPUZ, that is the JDEC standard for 1333MHz at 1.5V.

Of course I paid top $ to get 6-7-6 at 1600MHz, so I'm not overly thrilled about this so far.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

set ram to 1600mhz and leave timings and qpi/vtt on auto and see what the qpi/vtt voltage is in the bios and what the timings auto uses

[Pyro451]

Re: GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2 & Mushkin 998691 Kit - No XMP?

OK,

I set the multi to 12x resulting in 1600MHz and left everything else on auto.

The machine POSTed and booted into Windows.

According to Windows 4GB of my 6GB was usable.
According to CPUID the timings were: 10-11-11-29-88-1t

Reboot and check BIOS

Timings: 10-11-11-29-5-24-88-1t
DRAM = 1.792V (ouch!)
Reporting 4GB of RAM only
Could not find actual QPI/Vtt readout in BIOS when set to Auto.

Very frustrating. I can't imagine I will ever bother with "high performance RAM" again. The only reason I bit this time was the "XMP Profile" was supposed to be set and forget. I will be at the office all day and not have access to this system again until about 6PM EDT. I will be happy to try any other suggestions then.

Thank you!