GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 - new build, what's best?

[Aussie Allan]

  Dam! .... It's always the most obvious things with 20/20 hindsight..........Memtest........1 dimm at a time .....in your boards slot one.......10 passes each unfortunately until you find what I think is a crook module......post back with the results..... if it's not......at least the memory is ruled out.

  Aussie Allan

[kampa532]

will do! thanks.

[Dark Mantis]

Once you have checked them all with Memtest (which takes ages but there is no other way) if there isn't any problems with them it could just be that you have filled all the memory banks and are putting more load on the memory controller than standard. Not a problem but does require manual setup of timings and voltage.

[kampa532]

Ok. Will report back. In the meantime, and as I am unfamiliar with this motherboard, could you please tell me if my bios settings settings are correct (see pics)? Would really appreciate!

[Aussie Allan]

 I don't have a "Z" board myself but besides the mem being at 1333 which I'm sure you now about.......XMP can be hit and miss......when things go tits up with XMP, just means config must be done Manually.......the only other thing I could pick up was you had "Hard off" ....set to 4 sec delay before off............once Killed a Raid set by brushing the button.......never used hard off ever again!...... and S.M.A.R.T was off.......some like it on .....some not........it will let you know if a drive is about to fail.......

  looking forward to the results......hope it's the first one and not the last.

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Your BIOS settings that I could see seemed fine apart from the ones Allan has already picked up.

[kampa532]

Thanks for reviewing the bios.

I did 10-15 passes on each module with memtest and no errors found.

I am doing the following test: I've put the greens back into the system and I am running only 2 ram modules instead of 4. XMP enabled... and, well, so far no bsod...

It does seems that there is an issue with timing and voltage, as suggested, with all four rams.

At least I know that I have a stable system if I want, but I would prefer to run the 16g set (noticed improved speed over the current 8g setup) at 1600... any idea how?

[Aussie Allan]

Thanks for reviewing the bios.

I did 10-15 passes on each module with memtest and no errors found.

I am doing the following test: I've put the greens back into the system and I am running only 2 ram modules instead of 4. XMP enabled... and, well, so far no bsod...

It does seems that there is an issue with timing and voltage, as suggested, with all four rams.

At least I know that I have a stable system if I want, but I would prefer to run the 16g set (noticed improved speed over the current 8g setup) at 1600... any idea how?

 
              Like as with my system.....with lots of drives and all the mem slots filled took a little extra tweaking....... what I did with mine to get stability (before and after a clock).........when all slots are filled.......manual input of memory timings is sometimes required..........while in XMP profile......go into BiOS and write down the full  memory configuration.......not just the first 4 parameters ....... next you will have to take it out of XMP and put in what you wrote down......this is where the full list is helpful........auto might have different ideas as to what works......but you know the XMP profile is stable so use these XMP parameters ....... next raise Vdimm , Memory Voltage for 1.5 to 1.6 if your using 1.5 rated mem.......Especially if you have T1 set.......Give QPI/VTT a little extra as well with all the slots filled.......0.15 of a volt to start should be enough for stock speeds......this should bring about the extra stability you might need filling all mem slots..........tightening timings will have a far bigger impact on overall system performance then raising the memory speed......this can come later but going from 9.9.9.24 to 8.8.8.24 is much better then going from 1600 to 1740Mhz

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

The extra memory should only affect your system when either doing a lot of multi-tasking or using huge files  like with graphic manipulation or video transcoding etc. On everyday computing you are not going to benefit at all.

If you would just like to remind me what board, memory timings and voltage and cpu you have and I will see if I can hellp you with the settings.

[kampa532]

Thanks to both for your inputs!

The board is a GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 & i7 2600K unlocked. 4x4 Corsair Vengeance, DDR3-1600, CL9-9-9-24 @1.5V.

[Dark Mantis]

Thanks for the info.

Yoiu will need to go into the BIOS and under memory management you will have to select Manual instead of Auto. This will then enable you to enter the timings that you have just posted .9-9-9-24. Also under the voltage enter 1.5v. You may well need to increase this up to 1.56 - 1.58v but try at the default first.

You may well need to tweak your QPI/Vtt as well but we shall have to see. As with all things like this it is a case of suck it and see.

[kampa532]

As Alan suggested I entered manually all the XMP settings and started with 1,5v and QPI/VTT 1.2. BSOD. Then I upped voltage as Dark Mantis suggested to 1.56 (BSOD), 1.58 (BSOD) and 1.6... still BSOD... regardless of using 16g or 8g of ram.

Pics bellow show the settings...

Any suggestion welcomed - would love to be able to achieve stability!

[Aussie Allan]

 You/we/I need those error codes to move ahead.....here's a really handy piece for you to read and about half way down is a small list of the most common BSOD code applicable to what you're doing

    http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/538439-guide-overclocking-core-i7-920-930-a.html

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

The only way to move forward from this is to post the STOP code from the BSOD. It will point us in the right direction to fix this problem.

I expect that you are going to have to increase the QPI/Vtt voltage but we need that code.