Memory timings issue with P67A-UD3P-B3

[Patchu]

Hi, I'm currently having a problem setting my memory timings to the correct settings. I'm also having the issue mentioned here http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,4269.0.html , although my memory is only DDR3-1333, and has no XMP profile to speak of.

The freezing issue has been hell to troubleshoot, but I'm thinking maybe this issue is the cause of my troubles.

My PC Specs are as follows:
i7 2600K (Replaced to no avail)
P67A-UD3P-B3 (RMA from a v1.0 board which I still had this problem on)
AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Tried using a 4870 to no avail)
XFX 650W 80+Bronze PSU (Tried using a 500W OCZ and a 750W XFX to no avail)
60GB Corsair SSD (Tried using a 160GB Hitachi HDD instead to no avail, have tested different ports, tested with all but OS drive unplugged)
Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit (Tried a clean reinstall to no avail)

The memory I have tried using is as follows:
G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 4GB (SPD CL9-9-9-24 1.5v) (F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL)
Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 2GB (SPD CL9-9-9-24 1.65V) (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
Corsair DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 4GB (SPD CL9-9-9-24 1.5V) (CMV4GX3M1A1333C9)

My problem is that nomatter which module I use, nor how I set the memory timings and frequency in the bios, automatic or no, in speccy or cpu-z in windows, it is reported as running at 6-6-6-20 2T. I've tried to manually set it to 9-9-9-24 2T, using all the options available to me, and it still shows up as CL6 in Windows. The sticks all pass memtest86+, and also show up as 9-9-9-24 in the monitoring screen in the bios. The weird thing is, if I use these sticks in another PC, they show up as 9-9-9-24 in Windows. I'm wondering if my motherboard is faulty in some way, as doing a bit of googling online couldn't find anything like my issue. I've also tried clearing the CMOS but it didn't fix it.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi sounds like you have been busy already. What BIOS are you currently running ?

I think the first thing is to do an extended CMOS clear by following these instructions exactly please.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery for at least 5 hours before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Optimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self like disabling the floppy drive, disabling the full screen logo and making the HDD the primary boot device and then press F10 to save and exit.

[Patchu]

Oh whoops, I forgot to include that. Currently I'm using the F4 bios, which is the newest for the P67A-UD3P-B3.

I only cleared the CMOS with the jumper the last time. I'll leave system unplugged and the CMOS battery out while I'm at work tomorrow or something, and let you know of the results when I get home.

A word on the freezing issue I've been having as well, the freezes/restarts are essentially random and don't seem to be related to what I'm doing at the time, happening both while it's idle and when I'm actively doing things. Neither results in a BSOD, minidump, or anything other than an error-code-less kernel-power 41 in event viewer. From that thread I gathered that the freezes seemed to be happening because of memory settings, so when I noticed this anomaly with my memory timings, I figured it might be related.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes you could well be correct but we need to go through various stages first just to eliminate other causes and make sure everything else is working as it should.

[F5BJR]

*
At first time use only BIOS default parameters

After test with DPCLAT for look latency ( normal values are  some 20 µS )

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Pierre

 

[Patchu]

I can't run it entirely default as I need to select AHCI else windows will throw a hissy fit. I'll try what you suggested, though.

[Patchu]

Okay, so the results are in.
I left the bios battery out and the system unplugged while I was at work for roughly 9 hours.

First and foremost I ran the utility F5BJR suggested after only setting AHCI, and my latency was a smooth 40-50µs, no abnormal spikes whatsoever.

Next I restarted, loaded optimized bios defaults and tested my three memory modules, first by letting it select the timings automatically, then after a second reboot I tried set the timings manually according to the CL9 SPD. For the Corsair XMS3, I also configured it a third time, this time using the XMP set to Profile1, and manually set the DRAM voltage to 1.50 to stay within the spec of the board. In all cases, the timings in the bios status screen showed up as 9-9-9-24 and a command rate of 1, although it even showed up as that when I had the XMP set, so I'm not sure how accurately the bios was reporting it.

For every setting I tried, after booting into windows (I tried with my fresh install on my other drive a couple of times for good measure), the timings were reported as 6-6-6-20 and a command rate of 2T, even for the Corsair XMS3 when it was using the XMP Profile1. The memory frequency, however, was at all times correctly reported as 666, and 800 for the Corsair when it was set to XMP.

Edit: Okay, so I decided to stick both 4GB sticks of my dual channel kit of G.Skill in as a final test, and when I booted it up, the timings were 9-9-9-24 1T as they're supposed to be. Now my XMS3 is also part of a dual-channel kit, but the unnamed Corsair ram isn't, and still showed up as 6-6-6-20 2T, so it seems to be specific to when the memory is configured in single-channel.

Double edit: I found this thread, which seems to be very much like my problem http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=5552.0 ! I'm going to try using memory channel A and see if it makes a difference like it did for that guy.

Triple edit: Just as I suspected, putting the stick in channel A causes the timings to show up as 9-9-9-24 in both CPU-Z and Speccy. Now whether this is a mere cosmetic issue or something more serious is the question. Interestingly, I actually had a hard lockup after around 5 minutes of having both of my G.Skill modules in dual channel mode, but still haven't crashed running with single modules.

[Dark Mantis]

Generally it is a no-no to try and run two different types of memory in a system. Ideally it should consist of matched memory modules but sometiomes you can get away with using two matched kits that are the same type.

[Patchu]

Generally it is a no-no to try and run two different types of memory in a system. Ideally it should consist of matched memory modules but sometiomes you can get away with using two matched kits that are the same type.

Oh, I think you misunderstood. I'm not running mismatched or even different part no. memory modules simultaneously. I was testing these SEPARATELY. The only time I've had two modules in at the same time was when I was using both G.Skill DDR3-1333 moduiles, and they're part of a 2x4GB pair. Sorry if I worded it ambiguously in my previous post.

[ex58]

Oh whoops, I forgot to include that. Currently I'm using the F4 bios, which is the newest for the P67A-UD3P-B3.

BIOS F4 is released more then 3 months ago.
Try BIOS F5d:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3763#bios

[Patchu]

Haha, that must have been uploaded only a few hours after I made that post. I'll try it out and let you know if it fixes it.

[ex58]

Haha, that must have been uploaded only a few hours after I made that post. I'll try it out and let you know if it fixes it.

Yes,3 hours before your post.

[Patchu]

Haha, that must have been uploaded only a few hours after I made that post. I'll try it out and let you know if it fixes it.

Yes,3 hours before your post.

But I checked that page as I was making the post to make sure I remembered the bios number correctly, and the latest was still F4! I don't have browser caching enabled either!

[ex58]

GB has twice a day (mon-fri) updates (if).
First is 7am and second 4-5pm UK time.
Use http://www.gigabyte.com ,instead of http://uk.gigabyte.com

[Patchu]

Oh, it might be because I was checking on the UK site, then. Anyways, I updated to the F5b bios and the issue is the same. If I run with a single module in channel A, the timings are normal, while if I run with a single module in channel B, the timings are reported as 6-6-6-20 2T by Memtest86+, Speccy and CPU-Z. With dual-channel the timings show up correctly as 9-9-9-24 1T, but you gotta wonder if there's an underlying issue.

I've currently got my machine set up with a single 4GB G.Skill DDR3-1333 module in channel A to see if it'll lockup/restart in this state, as so far my machine has only locked up with both 4GB G.Skill modules in dual channel mode. It could be an issue with the ram, or it could be an issue with dual-channel; sadly I don't have a second dual-channel kit to test with.

Seems odd though, as last time I had faulty memory, I got bluescreens and application failures all over the shop, and it failed memtest, whereas in this case I haven't had a single bsod and it passed memtest.