REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's and RAM SPEEDS ???

[scjet]

I only have 8Gig of ram 4X2Gig sticks.

Voltage can be cranked quite safely up to 1.64V and even a little higher although you shouldn't need to.

If still having trouble try loosening the timings. My RAM is rated at 8,8,8,24 but is actually running at 9,9,9,27.

Make sure you're running in Unganged Mode

Hey Thanks buddy
 as you might have guessed I ain't much of an OC'er.  I assumed if I tried to set my Memory (ie: the Memory clk to 1600MHz ?) it would automatically adjust all else including Voltages if need be.... ?
 But ya, I increased the DDR Voltage to 1.61 Volts (but NOT any other Voltages) and it appreasr to be running stable at 1333Mhz, I also verified this with CPU-Z, and Sandra-benchmarkers).  I'm gonna run some more heavy load testing just to be sure it id stable.
 So, Do you think If I crank the Voltage up to around 1.65 <-> 1.7 I could get 1600 MhZ ?  

 BTW: with your settings/tweaks are you able to achieve 1600MHz with your Corsair Dominators ?

[absic]

Hi,
yes I can get 1600MHz from my RAM but I have kept it at 1300MHZ. I don't want to ruin the CPU and I have had a lot of e-mails, PM's and seen so many threads where people think they can run 1600MHz and do so for a period of time, then have their CPU's fall over that I won't risk it.

With your particular set-up and what you are using the PC for (I do similar work by the way) you are better off leaving your RAM at 1333MHz and then looking to up the speed of the CPU, if you have a good cooler, not the stock AMD one. Remember though O/C'ing the CPU isn't supported by AMD so you do so at your own risk.

You should be able to get it to run at 3.8GHz without too much trouble, just by upping the CPU Clock multiplier to 19X and leaving everything else alone. I have achieved this with the F5 BIOS but haven't tried yet with the new F6 version.
If you do go down this path though, you will also need to disable the Turbo Control feature in BIOS under M.I.T. and also the Core Boost too. I am still playing with this motherboard and haven't done much in the way of overclocking yet but I have struggled to get my CPU above the 3.8GHz and am planning on pushing it further later on, to see what I can actually get. On my old motherboard I did have it up to 4.2GHz so I know it should reach that.

EDIT:

Just tried with the F6 BIOS and it works too. This is on the Rev2.1 motherboard.


I also noticed that with the F6 BIOS my RAM Timings have changed to 9,9,9,24

[scjet]

 I'll run some more tests, it kinda "burped" under a load, , However, when I increased V -> 1.65, it passed the stress test, however, as you mentioned, I will have to adjust some timings as well.
 I tried 1600MhZ (with 1.65 V) and it cycled up but froze when Win7 was coming up. I'll have to leave it at 1333, or 1066.
 So this really confirms our AMD's AM3 controller limitations, and also the fact that Memory rated at 1.5V (more headroom) is much better than memory rated at 1.65 Volts.
- I'm pretty sure that might help as well. I'd like to know if anyone with 1.5V DDR3's has been successful ?
 
But, as far as OC'ing the CPU - yup, that has no problems, like you said, as long as I leave everything else default's/AUTO (and disable the CPU turbo-core stuff as well).
 It has only been when I tried to bring the memory to its rated 1600 MHz that I've been going NUTZ !

-Hey, thanks again, for the very handy tips though.

 

[bytheway_r]

Well, with all slots filled you may need up to 1.7v to run stable at 1600Mhz.

and also the fact that Memory rated at 1.5V (more headroom) is much better than memory rated at 1.65 Volts.

This is only partially true. Sure, it's better to have RAM rated at lower volts but it doesn't mean it'll have more headroom than higher voltage RAM. Good example being G.Skill's Eco series. They're rated at ultra low 1.35v but it doesn't mean you can overclock them to insane values with voltage of 1.7v+. From what I've seen they reach best results around 1.5-1.6v and upping volts any higher actually decreases stability.

But, as far as OC'ing the CPU - yup, that has no problems, like you said, as long as I leave everything else default's/AUTO (and disable the CPU turbo-core stuff as well).
 It has only been when I tried to bring the memory to its rated 1600 MHz that I've been going NUTZ !

Ahhh, the joys of overclocking, right?

[scjet]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/phenom-ii-x6-memory.html

 The above article based on the "Best DDR3 SDRAM for AMD Phenom II X6" is prety good, it goes into some important details regarding memory timings, north-bridge freq. limitations, ..., with some interesting benchmarks tests.
-a good read.

 Of course, I still don't know how he got his Patriot Ram running stable at "1600Mhz"    but with some more patience we'll get her.

[Dark Mantis]

Of course, I still don't know how he got his Patriot Ram running stable at "1600Mhz"    but with some more patience we'll get there.

Only trouble is if you do get there you are likely to fry your CPUs memory controllers! 

[absic]

Of course, I still don't know how he got his Patriot Ram running stable at "1600Mhz"

He's only using 2 sticks of RAM 1 per Channel. Easy when you know how. Wonder how he would get on with 8 Gig or 16 Gig of RAM though?

[Smitty]

I've been successfully running 16GB of RAM on the 890FAX-UD5 for a few days now.  They're G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 1.5v from Newegg.  I also need all that RAM for Adobe CS4.  I plan to eventually do some mild overclocking of the 1090T BE, but my rig is air-cooled, and this is also my only PC, so I can'r risk going too crazy.