Maximus IV Extreme instability - RAM MHz detected too low

[neonitron]

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can provide me some recommendations for my next testing steps. I have an Asus Maximus IV Extreme motherboard. I purchased G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1866 CL9-10-9-28 Memory for my mobo. Since purchasing this RAM, I've never been able to achieve stability with my board.

I'm running windows 7 64-bit and have a Intel Core i7 2600K CPU. I have never even tried to overclock by any means, just trying to run with stock speeds. The reason I'm posting on this forum is because when setting my RAM speeds in the BIOS I've selected XMP due to recommendations from G-Skill forums, I've specifically ensured the RAM timings are correct, and also I've made sure that my I've specifically set the MHz to 1866.

The reason I'm concerned about stability is that if I use the default BIOS settings it will automatically choose that my RAM is 1600MHz, and also even if I use the XMP profile and manually set 1866MHz, when I view the status pane to look at my video card speed and RAM speeds it says "1600 MHz RAM running at 1866MHz".

Is my RAM not a suitable candidate for this mobo? I've checked the latest published list and my RAM is actually not on the QVL, so that may explain weird BIOS support. And/or are there any other settings that I can tweak to make this function better? At this point, I'm not complaining about speeds, I simply want stability. Every time ASUS has upgraded the BIOS I have updated mine and I'm currently running - BIOS 3211.

Thanks for any help and feedback you can provide.

Neil

[HiVizMan]

You ram is running at 1866MHz which is what you set in BIOS. Intel chipset default is 1600MHz. To achieve your 1866MHz you have to overclock. Which you have done.

All is good.

[neonitron]

Ok, well that's good to confirm that I simply have to up it to 1866 mhz in the bios. I've done that, but my main reason for posting on here is that I'm still having instability and freezing issues all the time.

I'm wondering what steps I can take to try and identify what hardware might be causing the problem? I don't have any spare hardware so it has been tough.

I'm thinking it could potentially be my RAM that is the source of the problem, hence why I was asking the question about the MHz.

Problem = While doing anything in Windows 7 my computer will freeze up and I can't even move my mouse. I don't get a blue screen of death, just simply freezes and can't do anything.

Troubleshooting I've done = RMA'd video card, RMA'd Motherboard, re-seated Intel i7 2600k CPU, re-installed Windows 7, updated all drivers, and I'm STILL having freezing problems.

I've set pretty much everything to auto in the BIOS and have never tried overclocking, except for upping my RAM to the correct MHz in my BIOS.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers .

[Zka17]

neonitron wrote:
I've set pretty much everything to auto in the BIOS and have never tried overclocking, except for upping my RAM to the correct MHz in my BIOS.

You have to understand that by setting your RAM at "the correct MHz", you are already overclocking! The "correct MHz" for your system is 1600MHz, everything above is OC'ing... - as HiVizMan already said...

Now, you have to set everything to default (memories at 1600MHz) and run Memtest86+ to see if everything is fine or not. Follow the guide in HiVizMan's signature! After your system passes at least 4 cycles at default settings, then you can start OC'ing... you have to be sure that everything is fine first...

[neonitron]

thanks for the reply. I'll try setting my RAM MHz back to 1600 and then run the Memtest86+ to see if everything is fine or not.

will post back after that.

Cheers

[Zka17]

Just simply hit F5 and Enter, then F10 and Enter...

[HiVizMan]

How old is your OS? And have you been installing drivers and updates over older drivers? The freezing and stopping thing could be ram yes, but it could also be a dirty OS. I can not recall if you said you had done a clean install.

The best way (and I am sure you have tried this) to set your ram would be to enable the XMP profile. If that proves unstable, then manually set the XMP profile values and do not forget to set your ram voltages.

[neonitron]

Alright so I reset the BIOS config to default

ran the Memtest86+

Let it run for 4 passes

Zero errors w/ RAM ... so that's good.


I've been up and running with the default BIOS settings and my system seems to be more stable which is good.

There shouldn't be any driver/windows gunked up because it's a new install of Windows 7 Ultimate from a few weeks ago.


I'll keep running it at the lower RAM setting of 1600MHz w/ the default BIOS settings to verify stability over the next couple days.

Thx

[Zka17]

If it seems stable, you should make a backup for future restores...

Also, I would suggest to turn of auto updates... both for OS and VGA driver... - those things can really mess up everything...

[neonitron]

Seems to be stable with the default settings. I'll definitely backup everything at this point.

I've checked the default BIOS CAS latency settings and they are now reading at = CL9-9-9-28

The strange part is that my RAM CAS latency is actually CL9-10-9-28.

I seem to only have the stability problems when I select the XMP profile for my RAM and it automatically sets the CAS latency, voltage, MHz, etc. When I use the XMP profile it does use the CL9-10-9-28, but was experiencing freezing.

G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1866 CL9-10-9-28

I'll be experimenting w/ different RAM configurations in the BIOS over the next few weeks. Going to enjoy this stability for the time being ...

Thx for your help guys .