- last edited on by
ROGBot
EDIT: IB-E has surfaced since I put together this guide. It will have slightly different RAM handling and posibilities, though the exact details on this are of course still emerging.
If you're headed down the IB-E road a good start would be to read Raja's preliminary guide here http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?38018-Guide-Easy-Overclocking-with-Ivy-Bridge-E-%96-The-Lis...
What follows will be sometimes more and sometimes less applicable.
For SB-E it's more more than less....if you see what I mean :confused:
INTRODUCTION
OK, so first things first: One thing you should know - X79 is picky with RAM! And the RIVE is a high end board that caters for a market that, it is assumed, wants and knows how to tweak RAM as part of fine tuning and is therefore even more difficult to please. This basically means that the RAM you buy for this platform and this board has to be suitable for it and that you should expect to have to make adjustments in setting it up.
Lets also be very clear from the start; that Intel rates the chipset to run at 1600 MHz so any frequency above this is considered OVERCLOCKING. XMP profiles are just this, overclocking profiles. Also you have to know that the Memory Controller (IMC) is now situated on the CPU so it also comes down to the “silicon lottery” if you get a CPU with an IMC that is able to handle quad channel at higher frequencies. Every time you step up frequencies 1866, 2133, 2400 etc. you are increasing the chances that a less capable IMC shows itself in some way; either meaning extra tweaking or, in the worst case, that the RAM does not work.
CHOOSING RAM
The RIVE is not a cheap date!! You should really be looking at a quality product tested to work on the board for the greatest chance of running your RAM. Buying “value” RAM (it used to be called cheap ;)), might well mean problems. Manufacturers BIN their RAM chips and as always you get what you pay for. Better quality chips are binned together to form the better quality and higher frequency kits.
An important point about BINNING! One kit of RAM is made up of chips that the manufacturer tests to work together. This kit is, as such, an entirely self contained self sufficient entity. A common assumption is that another kit of the same make and model will be identical and will work in harmony with the other. This is simply not true. Running multiple kits is not advised by any manufacturer (read the small print) and is definitely not advised on X79 in general, the RIVE included. Buy one kit of RAM of whatever size and frequency you want from the start! Don’t plan to upgrade by adding another kit at a later date. It is possible and other people do it....but you could say the same of dating Eva Mendes...are you that lucky? https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?57038-Don%92t-combine-memory-kits!-The-meat-and-potatoes-o...
How much RAM? Well, this is up to you but it is also dependent on your Operating System....your OS. Different OSes support different RAM quantities:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx
What frequency RAM? Again this is up to you but I would suggest a sweet spot at the high end for the RIVE is 2133. Not the very top, but that step back leaves you more chance that your IMC can do it and the performance will still be right up there!
Sometimes you'll see funny numbers associated with RAM kits...just divide them by 8 for MHz:
10666 is 1333MHz
12800 is 1600Mhz
14900 is 1866Mhz
16000 is 2000Mhz
17000 is 2133Mhz
19200 is 2400MHz
Choosing a frequency is sometimes also complicated a bit by the timings of the RAM. There is a formula that can help you in deciding if one kit is faster than the other when the timings are taken into account.
(CAS/frequency) x 2000 gives you a number in nanoseconds for comparing speeds.
Say you see a 1600 kit at 7-8-7-20 and a 1866 kit at 9-10-9-28 which is faster?
Well 7/1600 x 2000 = 8.75 nanoseconds; 9/1866 x 2000 = 9.646 so the 1600 kit actually looks quicker.
If these numbers are close or the same choose the higher frequency it will be more efficient.
What kits work with your RIVE? The first and most obvious place to look for compatible RAM is the ASUS QVL. You can get this from the Motherboard’s downloads page on the ASUS website. “R4E-DRAM-QVL”:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/Rampage_IV_Extreme/#download
This list should be relatively up to date and pretty extensive. However, ASUS don’t test every kit of RAM available against the board, even from the top vendors. So, if you have a favorite vendor you can check their website to see if they themselves have tested a kit with the RIVE and certified it compatible. For example:
Corsair Memory Configurator: http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore?id=12373
G.Skill RAM Configurator: http://www.gskill.com/en/configurator
The listing of these two companies is not random. They both produce some excellent kits that work great on X79 and the RIVE in particular. G.Skill Z series in particular being a good choice.
A quick note on Corsair Vengeance RAM: I personally would stay away from this RAM. The forum is full of threads where the problems turn out to be with these kits. Corsair is a good manufacturer and I have nothing against their higher end kits, in fact I have no problem in recommending them. But they have dropped the ball on this line on X79…they just don’t work on many X79 boards; or in harmony with the CPU’s IMC.
SETTING UP YOUR RAM
OK, so you've done a bit of research and bought yourself a kit that is rated to work and you like the color of 😉 (You haven’t picked a kit for the color, that might or might not work!!:rolleyes:) What now?
Now you have to fit it to the board….simple right? Well, yes and no. There are a whole load of problems that can be caused at this stage. The RIVE does not have latches at both ends. Only the top ends have lever locks. Believe it or not but it is perfectly possible to fit your RAM and close the locks at one end and have the RAM badly seated. This has been the solution to a great many problem threads. Double check that the RAM stick has seated with a nice “click” at both ends and give it a gentle wiggle to make sure it’s seated properly. Other things you can do at this stage.. blow out the ram slot with a lens blower or can of compressed air if you are having issues.
Placement:
If you want to run triple channel A1 B1 D1 works fine.
Right, it’s in and seated properly and when you get to the BIOS it is all showing up as it should. Next step is to set XMP in AI Overclock Tuner, choose a profile if you have more than one, save and exit BIOS and boot into the OS.(Great visual guide here: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?27272-A-Beginner-s-Guide-To-Setting-Up-RAM-Speed&country=&s... ) Done! Well, I hope so…but if you’re reading this maybe it didn't go so well.
If you're headed down the IB-E road a good start would be to read Raja's preliminary guide here http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?38018-Guide-Easy-Overclocking-with-Ivy-Bridge-E-%96-The-Lis...
What follows will be sometimes more and sometimes less applicable.
For SB-E it's more more than less....if you see what I mean :confused:
INTRODUCTION
OK, so first things first: One thing you should know - X79 is picky with RAM! And the RIVE is a high end board that caters for a market that, it is assumed, wants and knows how to tweak RAM as part of fine tuning and is therefore even more difficult to please. This basically means that the RAM you buy for this platform and this board has to be suitable for it and that you should expect to have to make adjustments in setting it up.
Lets also be very clear from the start; that Intel rates the chipset to run at 1600 MHz so any frequency above this is considered OVERCLOCKING. XMP profiles are just this, overclocking profiles. Also you have to know that the Memory Controller (IMC) is now situated on the CPU so it also comes down to the “silicon lottery” if you get a CPU with an IMC that is able to handle quad channel at higher frequencies. Every time you step up frequencies 1866, 2133, 2400 etc. you are increasing the chances that a less capable IMC shows itself in some way; either meaning extra tweaking or, in the worst case, that the RAM does not work.
CHOOSING RAM
The RIVE is not a cheap date!! You should really be looking at a quality product tested to work on the board for the greatest chance of running your RAM. Buying “value” RAM (it used to be called cheap ;)), might well mean problems. Manufacturers BIN their RAM chips and as always you get what you pay for. Better quality chips are binned together to form the better quality and higher frequency kits.
An important point about BINNING! One kit of RAM is made up of chips that the manufacturer tests to work together. This kit is, as such, an entirely self contained self sufficient entity. A common assumption is that another kit of the same make and model will be identical and will work in harmony with the other. This is simply not true. Running multiple kits is not advised by any manufacturer (read the small print) and is definitely not advised on X79 in general, the RIVE included. Buy one kit of RAM of whatever size and frequency you want from the start! Don’t plan to upgrade by adding another kit at a later date. It is possible and other people do it....but you could say the same of dating Eva Mendes...are you that lucky? https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?57038-Don%92t-combine-memory-kits!-The-meat-and-potatoes-o...
How much RAM? Well, this is up to you but it is also dependent on your Operating System....your OS. Different OSes support different RAM quantities:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx
What frequency RAM? Again this is up to you but I would suggest a sweet spot at the high end for the RIVE is 2133. Not the very top, but that step back leaves you more chance that your IMC can do it and the performance will still be right up there!
Sometimes you'll see funny numbers associated with RAM kits...just divide them by 8 for MHz:
10666 is 1333MHz
12800 is 1600Mhz
14900 is 1866Mhz
16000 is 2000Mhz
17000 is 2133Mhz
19200 is 2400MHz
Choosing a frequency is sometimes also complicated a bit by the timings of the RAM. There is a formula that can help you in deciding if one kit is faster than the other when the timings are taken into account.
(CAS/frequency) x 2000 gives you a number in nanoseconds for comparing speeds.
Say you see a 1600 kit at 7-8-7-20 and a 1866 kit at 9-10-9-28 which is faster?
Well 7/1600 x 2000 = 8.75 nanoseconds; 9/1866 x 2000 = 9.646 so the 1600 kit actually looks quicker.
If these numbers are close or the same choose the higher frequency it will be more efficient.
What kits work with your RIVE? The first and most obvious place to look for compatible RAM is the ASUS QVL. You can get this from the Motherboard’s downloads page on the ASUS website. “R4E-DRAM-QVL”:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/Rampage_IV_Extreme/#download
This list should be relatively up to date and pretty extensive. However, ASUS don’t test every kit of RAM available against the board, even from the top vendors. So, if you have a favorite vendor you can check their website to see if they themselves have tested a kit with the RIVE and certified it compatible. For example:
Corsair Memory Configurator: http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore?id=12373
G.Skill RAM Configurator: http://www.gskill.com/en/configurator
The listing of these two companies is not random. They both produce some excellent kits that work great on X79 and the RIVE in particular. G.Skill Z series in particular being a good choice.
A quick note on Corsair Vengeance RAM: I personally would stay away from this RAM. The forum is full of threads where the problems turn out to be with these kits. Corsair is a good manufacturer and I have nothing against their higher end kits, in fact I have no problem in recommending them. But they have dropped the ball on this line on X79…they just don’t work on many X79 boards; or in harmony with the CPU’s IMC.
SETTING UP YOUR RAM
OK, so you've done a bit of research and bought yourself a kit that is rated to work and you like the color of 😉 (You haven’t picked a kit for the color, that might or might not work!!:rolleyes:) What now?
Now you have to fit it to the board….simple right? Well, yes and no. There are a whole load of problems that can be caused at this stage. The RIVE does not have latches at both ends. Only the top ends have lever locks. Believe it or not but it is perfectly possible to fit your RAM and close the locks at one end and have the RAM badly seated. This has been the solution to a great many problem threads. Double check that the RAM stick has seated with a nice “click” at both ends and give it a gentle wiggle to make sure it’s seated properly. Other things you can do at this stage.. blow out the ram slot with a lens blower or can of compressed air if you are having issues.
Placement:
If you want to run triple channel A1 B1 D1 works fine.
Right, it’s in and seated properly and when you get to the BIOS it is all showing up as it should. Next step is to set XMP in AI Overclock Tuner, choose a profile if you have more than one, save and exit BIOS and boot into the OS.(Great visual guide here: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?27272-A-Beginner-s-Guide-To-Setting-Up-RAM-Speed&country=&s... ) Done! Well, I hope so…but if you’re reading this maybe it didn't go so well.
Hello. Having trouble installing ram. I ordered my system with 32gb. I went to add 16 gb more of quality ram (16GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz RipjawsX Series for Intel/AMD ) and when I try to restart the computer it turns on for a few seconds and then turns off. The screen never goes to anything other than black. The ram I currently have is DDR3 PC12800/1600Ghz 4pcof 8gb each.Please help. Any suggestions?
