Extremely Baffled : Extreme Instability on New Rig Rampage IV Extreme

[TroubledBuilder]

Setup:
CPU: i7 3930k
MOBO: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
XMP 2 Kits : Kingston Hyper X 16GB Mem kit 1866 DDR 3 (32 GB Total 8 DIMM)
PSU: CM 1200 Gold Silent Pro 80+
GPU: ASUS HD 7970 DCU 2 Top
CPU Cooler: CM 412Slim
SSD: Corsair Force GT3
HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6
Chassis: CM Cosmos 2 x8 Case Fans (No Rads)

With all arrogance I've ignored the many problems I've seen on the net regarding the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme and on a different issue ~ the problems with SB and 8 DIMMs.

What started off from a 00 Debug turned into a bootable system after taking the pieces apart and putting em back with a much neater cable management.

So comes happiness. Being able to download and install updates, drivers, new bios versions (which seriously all previous bios stated improved stability.. coming from asus it's really a surprise or maybe it's my lack of skill and knowledge)

Stability went from unbootable (00 debug code) to bootable and constant freezes every 5-10 minutes. (AA which is supposed to be normal). Tweaked ram voltage to 1.6 for both ab and cd and stability went up to 3 hours however not so whilst gaming.

Earlier today before I slept, I resetted the entire bios again including jumpers, cmos clear etc etc and start fresh. Going into EZ mode set to high performance back to advanced for ram voltage to 1.6 and the XMP profile as well.

Stability was a nice surprise. I woke up 12 hours later and it was still running with no freezes and my torrents were all done with (an easy way i guess to see if there's any system hiccups)

With that I booted up Bullet Storm and after 20 minutes of gameplay much like every single run before the 12 hours clean uptime it freezes. (Debug still AA?)

So my arrogance had a hefty price tag on it and I don't know what else I can do. Would like it if anyone could help me out with this as I'm on the edge wondering what's wrong and I totally have no idea what to do next (not an overclocking enthusiast or a bios surfer, yeah i'm pretty much a plug and play guy >.<)

Edit: Bulletstorm used to run like a charm (crysis as well) on my Q9550 HD 7970 4GB Ram set up but on this rig, after turning everything to max, the menu screens becomes very choppy.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I think your memory needs 1.65V. Atleast if its the same I´m looking at. Overvolted memory is junk. Have you also run a memtest?

And try run the memory at a lower speed. For example 1066Mhz to test.

 

[TroubledBuilder]

I think your memory needs 1.65V. Atleast if its the same I´m looking at. Overvolted memory is junk. Have you also run a memtest?

And try run the memory at a lower speed. For example 1066Mhz to test.

Thank you was waiting for it to have a proper stable runtime before memtest. Will try to push it up to 1.65V and if the next 5 hours goes smoothly will run a full day memtest.

Nab question though : woulnd't a lower speed rule out the potential errors of higher speeds whilst error checking?

Sorry for the newbie question. I'm actually pretty new in this segment of computing and thank you so very much for your reply. Will restart now and test it at 1.65V

Edit: Running at 1.65 at the moment. Will try to stress the system a little. (crashed and just realized my v settings aren't saving)

 

[Yuriman]

Reset your bios to default settings and change your memory to 1.65v (or whatever those sticks are rated for). Run Memtest and then Prime blend once it passes. You need to narrow down what's causing your instability.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum that addresses stability testing.

 

[TroubledBuilder]

Reset your bios to default settings and change your memory to 1.65v (or whatever those sticks are rated for). Run Memtest and then Prime blend once it passes. You need to narrow down what's causing your instability.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum that addresses stability testing.

Thank you Yuriman I was reading through that too and learned quite a lot.

Though with these new settings freezes at windows after 10 minutes will try everything suggested and try to get it back to 12 hours and run the tests. Thank you

 

[ShintaiDK]

Thank you was waiting for it to have a proper stable runtime before memtest. Will try to push it up to 1.65V and if the next 5 hours goes smoothly will run a full day memtest.

Nab question though : woulnd't a lower speed rule out the potential errors of higher speeds whilst error checking?

Sorry for the newbie question. I'm actually pretty new in this segment of computing and thank you so very much for your reply. Will restart now and test it at 1.65V

Edit: Running at 1.65 at the moment. Will try to stress the system a little. (crashed and just realized my v settings aren't saving)

1866Mhz is memory controller overclocking. And assuming you are using 8 dimms there is actually more issues running higher speeds.

Classic example was the first Nehalems in the server space. 3 dimms 1333Mhz, 6 dimms 1066Mhz, 9 dimms 800Mhz.

1.65V is also overvolting the memory controller. Besides the memory itself. JEDEC standard is 1.35V for lowvoltage and 1.5V for regular.

 

[TroubledBuilder]

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/2386/test1au.png

taking note and not really a fan of overvolting as well but would love to get the system stable to run the tests for at least 12 hours. thank you all for your feedback and knowledge. things are improving at every posts

 

[dma0991]

What are your temps at 4.4GHz full load? I would definitely not be pushing 1.4V into a chip with a cooler that is not a whole lot better than a CM Hyper212+, its definitely gonna be toasty.

 

[TroubledBuilder]

What are your temps at 4.4GHz full load? I would definitely not be pushing 1.4V into a chip with a cooler that is not a whole lot better than a CM Hyper212+, its definitely gonna be toasty.

37~40 C highest point was 42.
I'm running extra monitoring slots on my front panel I was a lil curious too but it's still unstable. will update after trying out everyones suggestion. Thanks guys

 

[TroubledBuilder]

so far no go on gaming stability but os regular usage stability is near perfect.
will run memtest and prime and update tomorrow when i wake up.

thanks again everyone for giving this a new light of hope. close to giving up and bringing it to tech stores.

 

[Prey2big]

What are the memory timings set at?
With as many as 8 modules, try loosening up on the tRFC.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Oh, its overclocked...

 

[TroubledBuilder]

It wasn't oc'ed at the time the post was made but a few tries after bios resets i decided to give the 4.4 ghz suggested on the RIVE forums a try. still same ol same ol freezes ingame and shuts down after prime blend but i was sleeping half way so yeah xD (it was 6 am >.<)

stability did improve somewhat after 1.65 and 44 multipliers to all cores.

Edit:

Digi Power+ and change the DRAM ab/cd Power Phase Control to optimized, set the AB/CD Current Capabilities to 120%,, and turn DRAM AB.CD Voltage Frequncy to manual = 400.

4.4 GHz @ 1.32

things seem to be stable for now. will keep everyone updated as i have seen lots having similar problems across many forums thanks guys.

 

[TroubledBuilder]

no more freezes except for my asus gpu tweak not oc'ing properly or it's not saving its profile but overall its pretty much power on, do whatever, power off without problems thanks everyone

 

[cmdrdredd]

Download MSI Afterburner. It beats GPU Tweak ten fold.

 

[Hatisherrif]

 

[glenroebuck]

os issue maybe?

 

[TroubledBuilder]

Download MSI Afterburner. It beats GPU Tweak ten fold.

Loved AB on my previous rig but it does just about the same on this one. Will be pulling out the GPU later to see if any of the safety features are on or accidentally shorted to work. Thank you

Edit

Love that meme lol

os issue maybe?

if all else fails i'm guessing it was the tweaks i made and that may be it and will reformat and start from scratch now i know the direction to get it stabilize again a million thanks to everyone

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just an unnecessary afterthought on choosing total amount of RAM.

There are some applications which can use lots of RAM. However, for the over-clocker, there are costs if you are going to tweak the RAM or just validate that it works perfectly at spec after purchase.

It TAKES *&$%@ blanking for-EVER to run tests on 16GB, let alone 32GB. Example: HCI Memtest recommends "1000%" coverage (ten passes) for "extremely thorough test." Making progress with my little adjustments, my most recent "fail" completed 380% coverage before failure. That was 20 hours! Figure after adjusting my VCCIO and with some very solid expectations for it, I'll have to test again over 40 hours just to get close to "extremely thorough test."

Somehow, I think people will find it more cost-effective to use large amounts of RAM as needed in strictly "spec-adherent" (non-over-clocked) systems. If you OC, you will need to learn patience and detachment . . .

 

[TroubledBuilder]

Yeap i did those tests before i went forum begging and it was a total disaster.

After a lot of manual reading, site reading, and god knows what more everywhere + a lot of (and i can't emphasize more than ALOT OF KIND HEARTED FORUMERS) helped.

1.65V + 400 Frequency did the trick for me. It was perfectly fine at 1.6 but extra juice wont hurt and the AI Suite 2 made it a lot more easier as well as having connected via ROG Connect to my secondary rig for monitoring.

Had I known the complications of a *server set up marketed as enthusiast set up* or even the entire gimick before hand I would've gone with exactly what you suggested

Though now it's stabilized I couldn't be happier sadly however at the price of 5 days and a pair of very very dry eyes atm. But once again I really can't thank everyone enough! Thank you for all the knowledge and work-arounds that eventually patched up together like a rotten zombie test product worked wonderfully and I can't even begin to express how glad I am for everyone's input.

Cheers.