HELP! Need help configuring for 16GB of RAM for GA-990FX-UD5 MB & Windows 7 Pro

[kleaverjr]

I have been running Windows 7 on my current machine with little issue.  One issue I had was with the memory.  When I have tried installing more than one 4GB stick of the memory, the OS would not load properly.  I thought the one stick was bad.  I have never been able to figure out how to test them, I’m too impatient.  So I bought a second set of memory sticks, and the same problem is happening, so it can’t be the memory.  Chances of 2 sets of sticks being bad to me is very remote, so my suspicion is that something is not set up right in the BIOS for the memory to work properly.  I am not interested in over-clocking or getting maximum performance capable.  I’m looking for a stable working system, so if I have to tweak settings to slow things down a bit to now use all of the memory, I will do it.  I already tried reducing the “Clock speed” so it’s at 1066 (though it posts as 1073 for some reason).  So any recommendations on what to set on the other configuration settings in the BIOS for this memory so I can get Windows 7 to work properly I would greatly appreciate. 

Here are the relevant specs:

- GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

- AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core

- 2 x  CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9 (TOTAL 16 GB)

- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit


THANKS!

Ken L.

[Vezina]

If all slots are taken and and/or you are using more than 2 banks on the memory controller you will not be able to use them at 1600 Mhz.
The IMC in the 1090 T officially supports 1333 Mhz .
Unofficially can take 1600Mhz ,but only with 2 single sided sticks most probable.

Are you having issues at 1333 Mhz ?

1866 Mhz speed is not supported.

If the sticks are not matched properly you may even need to go for 1066 Mhz.

I also recommend you to test the modules one stick at a time as well.

LE:
Make sure each kit is installed as dual channel.Do not put the modules from one kit into one channel and the other in the other channel ,alternate them.But again , not being a 4 sticks matched kit from factory you may have stability issues.Try the Ganged modus as well.

[kleaverjr]

well it still didn't work at 1066 which is slower than 1333.  And all four are the exact same type of memory.  And each "set" is in the proper slot, still Windows 7 freezes, locks up, crashes, or doesn't load at all.  Each stick on it's own works fine! Put them together, and the trouble starts.  I was thinking maybe i don't have enough voltage going to them???  Idk.  The MB manual is no help.

Ken L

[Vezina]

What about each kit  ?
Do they work properly both or only the first kit ?!
You can try to set in BIOS the RAM voltage to 1,6V or 1,65V maximum if needed.
Try the Ganged setting in BIOS as well.

Sometimes putting 2 similar kits together may not deliver if they are from 2 different lots.
Most probable you were not lucky in this case.

When i ve populated my 890GPA-UD3 with 4 Corsair sticks i also had issues with stability.Same happened on a DDR 2 AMD motherboard with a Phenom 2 with some Kingston.If the kits are NOT 100% identical issues may arrive.You would better go for a 2 stick formula ,sell or return the others and get one kit with 2 matched sticks.

[kleaverjr]

System acts the same way (freezes, slows down, etc) with one kit.  The only way I can make the system stable is using one of the 4GB RAM sticks.  The second I place a second one in, the system messes up.

I purchased Windows 7 so I could use more than 4GB of memory, and I am getting frustrated this isn't working.

Thanks for the help!

Ken L.

[kleaverjr]

Problem Solved - MAYBE!!

I went back and read the Manual Again.  I THINK I was placing each "kit" in the wrong slot.  I was putting one kit together (i.e. next to each other). and the other in the other two slots next to each other.  As I reread the manual for the MB, it would seem I should be placing the sticks from each kit in every other slot.  So far the system is running "stable" with two sticks.  We will see what happens when I place the other two in.  But i want to see how long it runs stable with 2.

I'll keep updating as things come along.

Ken L

[kleaverjr]

SPOKE TOO SOON! 

Now I get the BSOD with a "POWER STATE FAILURE" Code 0x000009F.  IIRC that has something to do with the memory.  So there must be something wrong with the settings because it's not the memory.

Ken L.

[Wild Wally]

Try going into BIOS and select the optimum settings for stability.  Also, running ganged can improve your stability as well.

[kosobai]

Some motherboards / cpus can be picky about the kind of RAM installed. For example, with my 880GMA-USB3 board with x6 1065T, UMAX CETUS 1600 branded RAM would work at 1333 MHz with all four slots populated. It would even work at 1600 MHz with higher latencies. Then I put two sticks of the very same RAM into a GA-A75N-USB3 board with an A6-3500 CPU. Would it work? Would it Hell!

As others have mentioned, the x6 1090T officially supports RAM of up to 1333 MHz. Your RAM is rated faster, and while RAM usually works at lower than rated speeds, there is no guarantee.

As a footnote, there is absolutely nothing to be gained by overclocking the RAM on the Thubans. The bottleneck is the memory controller itself, not the bandwidth of the RAM. Just compare against Intel chips with AMD chips running RAM at 1333 MHz. The memory clock speed is the same, but the Intel memory controllers stomp all over the AMD ones.

[Vezina]

Maybe you should RMA the mobo to  be tested.
Something is wrong there.

[kosobai]

Maybe you should RMA the mobo to  be tested.
Something is wrong there.

Me? I took the board back to the shop, and they got it up and running fine. With another brand of RAM, it has been running fine for a few months now.

[Vezina]

Me?

No !  
I was talking to the OP.I would have quoted you otherwise.