Is your memory acting up?
Is your memory acting up?
This guy is using a computer with an AMD Phenom II X4 945 processor and a Gigabyte MoBo. He thinks the CPU can handle DDR3 up to 1333, but his motherboard says it supports going higher at 1800. The PC actually has two sticks of 4GB RAM running at 1333 speed in normal settings, though the CPUZ tool only sees them at 1066mhz when you check manually. When he tries to change the BIOS setting from AUTO to 1333, it causes a blue screen and won't turn on. What is happening here? Also, if he puts his two sticks of 2GB running at 1600mhz into this system, would that help or just make things worse?
I still have several Phenom II X4 955 and 965 setups running on Gigabyte boards. The default speed for DDR3 RAM is 1066MT/s, but your system runs better with two sticks of memory at 1333MT/s. However, something is definitely wrong here. For Phenom processors, going faster than 1333MT/s usually means you lose performance without gaining much extra power. I once tried pushing for 1600MT/s for a while using very loose timings, but the best balance is around 1333MT/s. I recommend running MemTest86 on two sticks of RAM at 1066MT/s to check if they are completely fine at that speed. A bad stick might show up here, making it even less stable at 1333MT/s. If your friend is trying to run OCZ RAM at 7-7-7-20 settings for 1333MT/s and voltages between 1.65V and 1.90V (as recommended by OCZ), they should probably drop it. I had weird errors for years with my OCZ sticks, which vanished once I switched to Kingston memory. Two sticks at 1333MT/s are more stable than four sticks of the same capacity, so adding extra RAM might not be a good idea right now. I'd test two 2GB sticks alone at 1333MT/s first; if it works, then run MemTest86 on them. You only get 4GB total, but that should hold up for now. I still keep my Phenom II systems running on Windows XP, 7, and Windows 10, not the latest version. If you have a JMicron SATA controller, Windows 10 might just not work properly with it.
👍 I forgot to include memtest86 testing in my reply but I meant it when I typed it at the end. 😒 Memtest86 download: https://www.memtest86.com/ How to install and use it: https://www.memtest86.com/tech_creating-window.html One full pass (all 15 tests) is enough as a minimum. Two full passes are better, while four full passes are okay. On time side, one full pass for 1x 8GB DIMM takes about 1 hour. For 2x 8GB DIMMs, it takes around 2.5 hours. Since the system has 2x 4GB modules, you can expect about 1.25 hours per full pass or about 5 hours if you do four full passes.
Phenom settings cap RAM speed at 1333MHz. If you try to push the RAM higher like 1866, it won't work because Phenom limits it down to 1333MHz anyway. If memory multiplier fails (like with XMP), just boosting FSB usually fixes this since the max stable speed is tied to the Northbridge clock.
Check every single stick by itself to see which one starts up and runs at 1333.