I figured as much but, I sure didn't think you would put that much juice to it.
 
Yeah......you'll run that way until Windows gets so corrupted that it won't start up....as I mentioned in my post #26.

Hello everyone, I am another newbie on this forum, my apologies in advance. I also have a 790I Ultra (XFX unfortunately) and after finding your thread, I am currently running 12 GB of Ram. 2 x 4 GB of G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL (Black slots) and 2 x 2 GB of OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Signature Series Green Low Voltage Dual Channel (Grey slots), with a Q9550 (C1 stepping at 3.6125 OC). All at 1.55v with the timings at 9-9-9-24 and a slight overclock to 850.0 MHz everything else is set to auto in the Bios except the memory voltage and timings.  I have been running this for a few weeks and so far it has been 100% stable.  Zero boot issues and Win 7 works perfect.  I have Everest reports and Speccy screenshots if you are interested. I have not tried to play with this anymore as of yet (no time) but plan on seeing if I can push a bit farther. I know this is an EVGA forum (running an EVGA GeForce 280 GTX also slightly overclocked) but once again if you are interested I would like to participate in the experiment.
Thanks,
Bob H.

All other voltage settings is the auto I was referring to (newbie sorry not very clear), I have the FSB with a slight OC as I mentioned at 425.0 MHz for 3.6125 core speed on the CPU with a rated FSB of 1700 MHz. I can’t really go to much higher with this chip (C1 stepping) I will be dropping my other Q9550 (EO Stepping) into it next week to see if I can push it farther. However, when I dropped just the G.SKILL 2 x 4’s into the system and set everything and I do mean everything on auto the FSB was 1333MHz and the Board picked up the memory at 1600MHz by default (Black slots). Here is the Everest Sensor report as currently set up:
--------[ EVEREST Ultimate Edition ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
    Version                                           EVEREST v4.60.1500
    Benchmark Module                                  2.3.237.0
    Homepage                                          http://www.lavalys.com/
    Report Type                                       Quick Report
    Computer                                          BHWIN7-PC
    Generator                                         BH Win7
    Operating System                                  Windows 7 Professional Media Center Edition 6.1.7601
    Date                                              2011-03-25
    Time                                              12:30
 
 
--------[ Sensor ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
    Sensor Properties:
      Sensor Type                                       Winbond W83627DHG  (ISA 290h)
      GPU Sensor Type                                   Diode  (NV-Diode)
      Motherboard Name                                  nForce 790i Reference Board
      Chassis Intrusion Detected                        Yes
 
    Temperatures:
      Motherboard                                       29 °C  (84 °F)
      CPU                                               43 °C  (109 °F)
      CPU #1 / Core #1                                  44 °C  (111 °F)
      CPU #1 / Core #2                                  44 °C  (111 °F)
      CPU #1 / Core #3                                  47 °C  (117 °F)
      CPU #1 / Core #4                                  45 °C  (113 °F)
      SPP                                               58 °C  (136 °F)
      MCP                                               61 °C  (142 °F)
      GPU1: GPU                                         54 °C  (129 °F)
      GPU1: GPU Memory                                  46 °C  (115 °F)
      GPU1: GPU Ambient                                 44 °C  (111 °F)
      GPU1: GPU VRM                                     48 °C  (118 °F)
      GPU2: GPU Diode                                   48 °C  (118 °F)
 
    Cooling Fans:
      CPU                                               1507 RPM
      nForce                                            2566 RPM
      GPU1                                              701 RPM  (40%)
 
    Voltage Values:
      CPU Core                                          1.30 V
      +3.3 V                                            3.30 V
      +12 V                                             12.20 V
      +5 V Standby                                      4.99 V
      VBAT Battery                                      3.06 V
      3.3V Dual                                         3.30 V
      North Bridge Core                                 1.42 V
      DIMM                                              1.54 V
      GPU1: GPU Vcc                                     3.30 V
 
   Motherboard:
      CPU Type                                          QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, 3600 MHz (8.5 x 424)
      Motherboard Name                                  XFX MB-N790-IUL9  (2 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 3 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
      Motherboard Chipset                               nVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI
      System Memory                                     12288 MB  (DDR3 SDRAM)
      DIMM1: OCZ OCZ3SG1600LV2G                         2 GB DDR3-1066 DDR3 SDRAM  (7-7-7-16 @ 533 MHz)  (6-6-6-14 @ 457 MHz)  (5-5-5-12 @ 380 MHz)
      DIMM2: OCZ OCZ3SG1600LV2G                         2 GB DDR3-1066 DDR3 SDRAM  (7-7-7-16 @ 533 MHz)  (6-6-6-14 @ 457 MHz)  (5-5-5-12 @ 380 MHz)
      DIMM3: G Skill F3-12800CL9-4GBXL                  4 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM  (9-9-9-28 @ 800 MHz)  (8-8-8-25 @ 711 MHz)  (7-7-7-22 @ 622 MHz)
      DIMM4: G Skill F3-12800CL9-4GBXL                  4 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM  (9-9-9-28 @ 800 MHz)  (8-8-8-25 @ 711 MHz)  (7-7-7-22 @ 622 MHz)
      BIOS Type                                         Award (10/26/09)
 
Hope this makes sense and is of value.
Bob

Welcome to the Forum, hastingsbob.
 
I also have the XFX branded 790i Ultra.....NO unfortunately here.....I love it....it's the best MoBo I have ever had. As far as I know, the XFX and the EVGA 790i Ultra's are the same exact boards. If I recall correctly, they were actually both made by Pine Technologies. Someone else may have better knowledge regarding this.

Hi LuzTeTT,
To answer your questions:

1. I just rebooted and here is the Bios information:

“Phoenix Award Bios – Award Bios V6.00PG
(6A61MB03) Release Number 811N3P09
Nvidia Bios Version 2.053L4”
1.  According to the XFX website, I am using the latest Bios they have released, P09.
I understand that XFX is a bit slower than EVGA to release Bios updates and I was warned not to use the EVGA Bios on an XFX Board. I am also using the current NFORCE driver from the NVIDIA site, 15.53. I do not use any of their NVIDIA System Tools as I found them to be less than satisfactory for my system.  I do not know about the part number difference, as you did not supply yours.  Yesterday I took out the OCZ and tried 2 X 2GB of A-Data (AX3U1600GB2G9-2G) with the 2 x 4GB of G.SKILL, it booted fine but I got some random BSOD’s occasionally, so I am back to the OCZ with no issues (Memtest86+ 4.10 all night with zero errors). I just ordered some G.SKILL 2 x 2GB Ram (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) because I found it cheap on eBay.  When someone has another sale on the G.SKILL (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL) I will buy it and see if 16 GB’s work.  I might try a set of PNY XLR8’s just for fun.  In addition, just to see if everything was legit I reset the Bios to its default values and changed nothing except the default boot items, getting rid of the floppy drive boot etc... Therefore, as of now I am operating with 12 GB’s at 100% auto settings, FSB @1333 and Memory @1600.
2.  Yes it is true, while the G.SKILL modules support XMP not EPP they boot at 1600MHz with 9-9-9-24, 1T timings on 100% auto settings on my Board.

 
I hope this answers your questions.  Good luck and have fun.
Bob

hastingsbob
Therefore, as of now I am operating with 12 GB’s at 100% auto settings, FSB @1333 and Memory @1600.

What is the point of running your memory at 1600Mhz, and your FSB at 1333Mhz when your FSB is the connection between your memory and CPU FSB?  It is your system, so you can do as your please, however, I have seen cases where running the memory faster than the FSB has caused data corruption.

VistaHead

hastingsbob
Therefore, as of now I am operating with 12 GB’s at 100% auto settings, FSB @1333 and Memory @1600.

What is the point of running your memory at 1600Mhz, and your FSB at 1333Mhz when your FSB is the connection between your memory and CPU FSB?  It is your system, so you can do as your please, however, I have seen cases where running the memory faster than the FSB has caused data corruption.

I was running a 780i with overclocked 1066MHz DDR2 memory at 1100MHz for two years.
I was running a 790i with overclocked 1600MHz modules at 2000MHz for two years.
With no instability hit whatsoever, without antivirus and without care. The system did not fault or slow down once.
 
The point is the higher rate is an actual reflection on performance and bandwidth. Yes, there are certain bottlenecks with unsynched CPUs and DRAM frequencies, but those bottlenecks are easier to overcome by running modules at frequencies they're designed to operate at rather than  a fixed divider.
Most of the time however those bottlenecks are irrelevant because they do not reflect latency and responsiveness of the module, which is directly affected by the timings and clock speed.
 
The trade-off, whenever applicable, is the overclocking.
DDR3 modules are usually run at a 1:2 ratio. A 1:1 ratio is redundant however will give more stability for overclocking, and nothing more. Running the module lower than it is designed for will decrease performance of your memory. This however has no importance over your CPU clock rate, so prioritizing your memory clock rate over your CPU clock rate is pointless.
 
Regardless of either rate a higher CPU clock rate and a higher memory clock rate with lower timings if possible is much better performing than the nearest linked and synched equivalent, especially at higher numbers with more DIMMs.
 
As for the rest... that gets down to the benchmarks.
 

LuzTeTT
however

JeffreyHam

Thank you so much for the LuzTeTT.

I had a feeling you would respond like that.
I particularly like how it completely disproves all of the sources I had looked at before posting my statements.
 
I'm just going to completely ignore you now.

Successful boot with 4 x 4 GB of G.SKILL, F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL on the 790I Ultra.
Mem Test 8 passes – Zero errors. No overclocking yet…
 

 
 

this is great news!!!  time to go ram shopping
 
great work everyone

Well, I decided to see what happens, I bought 2 of the 8GB Dominator GT DDR 3 2000 kits ( CMT8GX3M2A2000C9 )
 
I will get 8 stable in one machine, then see if I can get to 16, or have to stop at 10 or 12...
 
Running a 790i Board with a 9770. I intend to run the CPU at 3.6, instead of the stock 3.2
 
Will report the results!

i can confirm that I am currently memtesting 2x4g Hyper X at ddr3 2000 at 9-9-9-27 while waiting for my new board and proc to arrive i couldnt wait and had to pop in the memory and surprise there she is a running along ... using an old boot disc of memtest 1.65

I worked with a member who bought 2 of these modules: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220544 
 
They passed MemTest with flying colors at their rated spex...did not attempt any OC'ing.

Thanks for the info; I need to upgrade the memory in my server after seeing this.