Hi,
Just finished putting together a new computer.
I have doublechecked the manual and the hardware installation and I?m certain I installed everything correctly. (I am a Systems Integrator).
The motherboard At POST and in the System Info in the BIOS will display 4GB of RAM, while the Memory-Z Page will display all 3 DIMM?s populated correctly.
Windows (7, x64) will also display only 4GB Of available RAM.
After reading a few posts in the forum with similar problems (And tried all the solutions), I can?t convince myself that the board is DOA.
I have tried:
- BIOS Reset.
- BIOS Flash (To v1.90).
- Re-Installing CPU and RAM modules.
- Messing with all kinds of BIOS Settings.
- Praying
Still... no luck.
UPDATE: PROBLEM SOLVED!!!
After spending many hours testing and trying, I finally got it right.
I recommend everybody who's having memory issues, Bluescreens, freezes and whatnot to follow these steps:
1- Leave all your RAM Modules in, all BIOS settings on standard, Download Memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) Burn it and boot from it, let it run at least two passes.
- If there's no errors, you should be fine. In my case It started spitting errors almost instantly. I tried removing one of the modules, it threw less errors, leaving one module in, I had no errors.
- I tried switching the module's order, same results, I tried testing every module by itself, only one module reported ERRORS. This is what lead me to believe that my hardware was OK.
While I was testing my modules, I happened to look at the sticker on the ram module... and in this little tiny corner I read "1.65v"... So I was like ... "Hold on a second..." I checked with CPU-Z and my Module's SPD were reporting 1.5v to the motherboard... and that was exactly the amount of voltage that they were getting. So I pulled the specs on my ram module and compared them with what the bios was displaying. I called OCZ, basically to [***CENSORED***] at them as in "Why on earth would your RAM's SPD report wrong requirements?!?" and the technician's answer was "Well, it's to maximize compatibility."
DO NOT Go over 1.65v for your DRAM unless your Manufacturer specifically says so!
Also, make SURE that you are increasing the voltage to the right component, if you happen to increase your core CPU to 1.65v you can be pretty much sure that you will fry your CPU.
2- Check that your BIOS has the correct settings for the RAM. That mean's "DON'T Relay on AUTO settings".
So I did just that, checked every setting including the "Advanced D-RAM Settings" and whatnot. I also noticed that all my timings were off, so I setup my RAM to the manufacturer's specs, and voil?.
Bios and Windows now both report my 6GB of ram, and everything works flawlessly (Not to mention BLAZING FAST!).
( I also added 0.1v to the QPI )
Also I can only recommend this little tool: http://www.ocbase.com/
(I'd recommend you let every test run at least once!)
With it, I also figured that my PSU (Tagan 480W) was not delivering steady voltages under heavy load to the 3.3v and the 5v. So I installed a 600W Enermax PSU and the voltage problem was fixed as well.
PS: I OC'd my I7 920 up to 3.0 GhZ and my RAM to 1200GhZ and the whole thing runs even better.
Just finished putting together a new computer.
I have doublechecked the manual and the hardware installation and I?m certain I installed everything correctly. (I am a Systems Integrator).
The motherboard At POST and in the System Info in the BIOS will display 4GB of RAM, while the Memory-Z Page will display all 3 DIMM?s populated correctly.
Windows (7, x64) will also display only 4GB Of available RAM.
After reading a few posts in the forum with similar problems (And tried all the solutions), I can?t convince myself that the board is DOA.
I have tried:
- BIOS Reset.
- BIOS Flash (To v1.90).
- Re-Installing CPU and RAM modules.
- Messing with all kinds of BIOS Settings.
- Praying
Still... no luck.
UPDATE: PROBLEM SOLVED!!!
After spending many hours testing and trying, I finally got it right.
I recommend everybody who's having memory issues, Bluescreens, freezes and whatnot to follow these steps:
1- Leave all your RAM Modules in, all BIOS settings on standard, Download Memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) Burn it and boot from it, let it run at least two passes.
- If there's no errors, you should be fine. In my case It started spitting errors almost instantly. I tried removing one of the modules, it threw less errors, leaving one module in, I had no errors.
- I tried switching the module's order, same results, I tried testing every module by itself, only one module reported ERRORS. This is what lead me to believe that my hardware was OK.
While I was testing my modules, I happened to look at the sticker on the ram module... and in this little tiny corner I read "1.65v"... So I was like ... "Hold on a second..." I checked with CPU-Z and my Module's SPD were reporting 1.5v to the motherboard... and that was exactly the amount of voltage that they were getting. So I pulled the specs on my ram module and compared them with what the bios was displaying. I called OCZ, basically to [***CENSORED***] at them as in "Why on earth would your RAM's SPD report wrong requirements?!?" and the technician's answer was "Well, it's to maximize compatibility."
DO NOT Go over 1.65v for your DRAM unless your Manufacturer specifically says so!
Also, make SURE that you are increasing the voltage to the right component, if you happen to increase your core CPU to 1.65v you can be pretty much sure that you will fry your CPU.
2- Check that your BIOS has the correct settings for the RAM. That mean's "DON'T Relay on AUTO settings".
So I did just that, checked every setting including the "Advanced D-RAM Settings" and whatnot. I also noticed that all my timings were off, so I setup my RAM to the manufacturer's specs, and voil?.
Bios and Windows now both report my 6GB of ram, and everything works flawlessly (Not to mention BLAZING FAST!).
( I also added 0.1v to the QPI )
Also I can only recommend this little tool: http://www.ocbase.com/
(I'd recommend you let every test run at least once!)
With it, I also figured that my PSU (Tagan 480W) was not delivering steady voltages under heavy load to the 3.3v and the 5v. So I installed a 600W Enermax PSU and the voltage problem was fixed as well.
PS: I OC'd my I7 920 up to 3.0 GhZ and my RAM to 1200GhZ and the whole thing runs even better.
