please help with corsair vengeance

[CJStorngHammer]

I just got the 12GB triple channel corsair vengeance kit for my i7 rig, but when I went into the BIOS and tried to load the XMP profile it would not boot. I am running a ASUS Rampage III extreme with everything at stock settings. I then went in and bumped the DRAM Bus voltage from stock 1.5V up to 1.6V thinking it may need more volts but it still wouldn't boot at 1600MHz. I then lowered the voltage back down to stock and set the frequency down to 1333MHz and it booted fine and is stable. Im hoping that there is a setting I’ve missed that will allow it to run at 1600MHz. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for any advice you may have,

CJ

 

[Getyasome]

I know I've had quite a few issues with 2 sets of CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Corsair Vengeance on my P67 set up , they do not do well on Auto settings or XMP .. So I manually set timings , voltage and speed and everything runs fine.

Try the above and see if it helps , If you haven't all ready..

Good Luck Mate.

 

[tinytomlogan]

You need to manually set the ram timings dude.

Also if you want to run 1600 youll have to adjust the bclk and the UCLK maybe even tweak the cpu volts.

If you dont know what you are doing why did you buy a rampage 3 extreme?

 

[CJStorngHammer]

Thanks for the help thus far. I should preface this by saying that this is my first time with x58. I have done quite a bit with older systems and this rig is replacing my core 2 duo rig. This was also my first time trying XMP, and I figured that it would be the easiest way to get things smooth at stock settings before overclocking. Guess I was wrong there. I did what you suggested and set the timings manually but that didn't help. I then moved on to the bclk, and found my max bclk was 220. I set it down to 200 with a 20x multi for a 4GHz OC at 1.25v then 1.3v. It ran wonderfully stable with the ram under 1600 with both voltage settings, but as soon as I bumped it up to 1600 it wouldn't boot at either. I then raised my uclk above exactly 2x the ram speed but that didn't do it either. I tried several different bclk, uclk and CPU core voltage settings and all were stable until setting the ram to or near, 1600MHz. Through all of this I manually set the dram bus volt to 1.6 and the qpi volts to 1.3. From what I've herd so far is that you don't really want to run the qpi any higher than that for a 24-7 clock, but I may have herd wrong. One last ditch effort I slackened the timings but still nothing.

Sorry for such a long post but this Is driving me up the wall. I'm starting to think that the ram may have some flaw stoping it from ever running at or above 1600. If you can think of anything I haven't tried please reply.

 

[Getyasome]

Please post the model # of the Corsair set you have and what CPU are you using? Core i7 920 , 930 , 950, etc ? The reason I ask b/c I know all 4 of the 1366 chips I had did better on a odd # multiplier , for example 181 , 191 , 201 BCLK , Ratio 19 , 21... 23 on the 950 was ok but the sweet spot was a 21 Ratio with a 201 BCLK.

12GB triple channel corsair vengeance kits run best a 1.52v , now if you add another set into the mix you may need to go just a bit higher. Make sure you have the modules inserted in A1,B1,C1 The orange DIMMS I believe. Pull all 3 out of there Dimms and reseat them back. Set the Modules to 1600 or as close as you can get , 9-9-9-24 2T , 1.52v.

Have a look at my video on Bios and Overclocking , As I never had a ROG Board before but It might help you some what.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_VEbiUyih8

I just looked on Corsair site and got the specs of your Modules (CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9), User Manual for your MB also, Looking throu it now.

 

[CJStorngHammer]

I am running the i7-950 and the ram number you posted is correct. I will try pulling them out and reseating them. I do have them in the red slots like you said. I checked the manual when I put them in, and am near positive that they are slots A1,B1,C1 but I will double check when I reseat them. Now that you mention it all the bclk clocks I tried were in multiples of 5 so maybe setting it to 201 instead of 200 will help. I will try that after reseating them. Again, thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it. 

 

[CJStorngHammer]

Just an update for you, I have now popped the DIMMs out and reseated them in the red A1, B1, C1 RAM slots. I then went into the BIOS and set them to 1600MHz at 1.52V, leaving my CPU at a 200 BCLK and a 20 multi for a 4GHz OC, and it wouldn't boot. I then went back in and set it up to 1.6V with no luck. I then set the ram back down below 1600 and the volts back to 1.52V and it booted fine and was 100% stable running 5 passes of intel burn test. I then went in to try what you suggested about the odd bclk and multi. I found a sweet spot at a 201 bclk and a 21 multi for a 4.2GHz OC, and again it is 100 % stable running 5 passes of burn test and a couple hours of Prime 95. However as soon as I turn the ram up to 1600 it just won’t do anything. Is there anything that I haven't already tried that I could do? Do you think that something could be wrong with the ram?

Anyway, thanks for all the help and any advice you may have.

 

[dugdiamond]

sometimes shhheeeet happens! - even though the RAM may say 1600MHz, you may not achieve it though awkward multipliers.

it is very rare to get awesome overclocks of both the chip and the ram at the same time

,as some mobos don't like it

 

[Getyasome]

Run Memtest It sounds like those Modules are not working correctly.

http://www.memtest.org/

@ 1.60v , 9-10-9-24 1N, They should hit 1866 MHz with no trouble , and they wont run at 1600 MHz.. I gave a girl those same settings not to long ago and she has no issues.. Same board and Ram Modules that you have.

What do you have your QPI/DRAM Core Voltage set to try bumping it to 1.3v

Also try 1N on CAS.

I've been doing some reading on this issue and from what I see It looks like It's the CPU vcore that's causing the memory controller troubles. Try to up the voltage on the CPU just a bit and see what happens.

Have a look at the review he got them to 2000 MHZ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQlE0LwKv-s

 

[CJStorngHammer]

Dude, thanks so much. I had tried that timing change before but at 1600 and 2000 with no luck, but when I went to the 1800 it did the trick. I have had it manually set to 1.36 qpi volts. Form looking around I herd that 1.36 is the max safe qpi volts. Is this true? Can you go higher? The main reason I asked is that to get max stability with games and burn test I had to really crank the CPU Core voltage. I am running water cooling so my temps are ok but I had to go all the way up to 1.38V with only a 4.2 GHz core clock. Even with those volts though my hottest core temp after 2hrs of prime was 74C. I guess from here my biggest question is, is it safe to raise the qpi above 1.36, and if I did would it then allow me to drop the CPU volts and maintain stability? Again, thanks a ton for all the help. It is greatly appreciated.