Hello together,
 
i need help with my 790i Ultra SLI and 8GB RAM. It freezed after hours during gaming, but also sometimes on desktop or other things.
 
I have tried many things that i found her in the board but i stillhaving the problems. I'm also not en expoert for all the different bios settings.
 
Regards, Henry
 
here are my settings.
 

790i Ultra SLI
QuadCore Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, 3000 MHz (9 x 333)
4 x 2GB Patriot PX534G2000ELK - DDR3 2000MHZ (9 - 10 - 9 - 27) - 1,65V

BIOS Version: P10 
**System ** 
CPU Freq, MHz: 3.0 GHZ 
FSB Reference Clock, MHz: 1333.3 
CPU Multiplier: [9X] 
PCle x16-1 & 16-2, MHz:  [100]  
PCle x16-3, MHz:  [100] 
SPPc->MCP Ref Clock, MHz:  [200.0] 
nForce SPP --> nForce MCP:   [5X] 
nForce SPP c-- nForce MCP:   [5X] 
**Spread Spectrum** 
CPU Spread Spectrum: [Disabled] 
HT Spread Spectrum: [Disabled] 
PCle Spread Spectrurn(SPP): [Disabled] 
PCle Spread Spectrurn(MCP): [Disabled] 
SATA Spread Spectrum: [Disabled] 
**FSB & Memorv Config** 
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [unlinked] 
FSB - Memory Ratio: AUTO
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1333] 
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: 1333.3 
x MEM (DDR),  MHz: 2000 
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: 2000.0 
P1: [AUTO] 
P2: [AUTO] 
**Memory Timing Setting** 
Memory Timing Setting: [Expert] 
tCL (CAS Latency): 9 
tRCD: 10 
tRP: 9 
tRAS: 27 
Command Per Clock: [2T] 
** Advanced Memory Settings ** 
tRRD: [Auto]  (6)
tRC: [Auto]  (50)
tWR: [Auto]  (12)
tWTR: [Auto] (20)
tFAW: [Auto] (31)
tREF: [Auto] (7.7uS)
tRFC: [AUTO] 160
**System Voltages** 
CPU Core: [AUTO] (1.20V) 
CPU FSB: [AUTO] (1.1V)
Memory: [1.650V] (1.650V)
nForce SPP: [AUTO] (1.40V) 
nForce MCP: [AUTO] (1.500V) 
GTLVREF Lane 0: [Auto]  (-30mv)
GTLVREF Lane 1: [Auto]  (-30mv)
GTLVREF Lane 2: [Auto]  (+00mv)
GTLVREF Lane 3: [Auto]  (+00mv)
**CPU Configuration** 
Limit CPUlD Maxval: Disabled 
Intel Speedstep: Disabled 
xPPM Mode: [Native] 
CPU Thermal Control: [Disabled] 
C1E Enhanced Halt State: [Disabled] 
Execute Disable Bit: [Enabled] 
Virtualization Technology: [Disabled] 
CPU Core 0: [Enabled] 
CPU Core 1: [Enabled] 
CPU Core 2: [Enabled] 
CPU Core 3: [Enabled] 

Yes, I'm running these:
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145330
 
Took a lot of tweaking to get the performance out of them that I was getting with:
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220344
 
If you're curious about my settings (these are prime stable 8+ hours - and Intel Burn Test max 10):
Relevant info only:
 
790i Ultra SLI
QuadCore Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, 3600 MHz (8 x 450) 
2 x 4GB Corsair CMT8GX3M2A2000C9 - DDR3 2000MHZ (8 - 9 - 8 - 27) - 1.65V

BIOS Version: P10 
**System ** 
CPU Freq, MHz: 3.6 GHZ 
FSB Reference Clock, MHz: 1800
CPU Multiplier: [8X] 
**FSB & Memorv Config** 
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [LINKED] 
FSB - Memory Ratio: SYNCED
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1800] 
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: 1800 
x MEM (DDR),  MHz: 1800 
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: 1800 
P1: [ENABLED]
P2: [ENABLED] 
**Memory Timing Setting** 
Memory Timing Setting: [Expert] 
tCL (CAS Latency): 8 
tRCD: 9
tRP: 8
tRAS: 27 
Command Per Clock: [2T] 
** Advanced Memory Settings ** 
tRRD: (1)
tRC: (26)
tWR: (10)
tWTR: (19)
tFAW: (20)
tREF: [Auto] (7.7uS)
tRFC: 90
**System Voltages** 
CPU Core: (1.400V) 
CPU FSB: (1.15V)
Memory: (1.650V)
nForce SPP: (1.50V) 
nForce MCP: (1.500V) 
GTLVREF Lane 0: (-35mv)
GTLVREF Lane 1: (-35mv)
GTLVREF Lane 2: (-35mv)
GTLVREF Lane 3: (-35mv)
 
The only real difference between these and my old Patriot 2x2s was the fact that I could run at a command rate of 1T at 1800 and also 8-8-8-20 vs 8-9-8-27... My Everest read performance is almost at 12,000 - so I'm very happy with these sticks.
 
One thing that I have to say is that memory controller on these 790i Ultras are phenomonmal - especially if you give them some extra volts. As you can see, my GTLVRefs are calculated using Intel's reference spec so no magic there (the auto settings on these boards are ridiculous and make no sense - almost like they want you to use more volts then you need to OC) - I mean - look at my FSB voltage for 1800 - very low - but I had to adjust the GTLVrefs - and I didn't do any magical calculations - just put them within Intel's reference spec that they suggest.
 
Anyways, you posted like you were surprised I was using 2 x 4 - I assumed lots of people were now that the prices had come down significantly? Are these boards not supposed to run high density chips? Based on my experience with the the 790i Ultra SLI memory controller I wouldn't be surprised if they ran 4 x 4 with the right settings... Just a beautiful board this 790i - one of the best boards I've ever owned and I've gone through a lot of them. Too be honest, I don't even see a reason to upgrade an i7 any time soon - my QX9650 and 8 gigs of mem are still more then enough to feed my ATI 5970.
 
Hope this helps!
 
Kind Regards,
 
- Marco
 

Yep yep... black slots.
 
Not sure why'd I'd be the only one - didn't see anything in nvidia reference spec that suggested the board couldn't do it - I mean, if it can run 4x2 it should be even easier for the board to run 2x4 - maybe I'm wrong.
 
As for why I run 1.50v on the northbridge - well - based on the three different sets of mem I've had in this board and the fact that I'm wanting 1800 FSB linked/synced - I've always had to up my northbridge voltage - usually right into the red - which hasn't been a big deal since even with the stock (cheap) fan and my case sides off it doesn't usually go over 51 degrees.
 
From my experience with this board, the SPP voltage is where most people should be focusing - especially for quadcores and high FSB. So many times I see crazy juice (ie. 1.30 volts on the FSB) which I believe just ends up causing more signal noise and actually lowers potential overclock. Even 1.45 on the SPP severely hampers my FSB overclock - especially with this memory I got now... but as soon as I put it to 1.50 I get very good stability and can focus on the memory timing and sub-timings from there.
 
It makes sense that the northbridge would require volts - especially such a well designed northbridge like the 790i Ultra SLI has. Look at my subtimings - they are incredibly low considering I'm at 1800 FSB.
 
A lot of my experience with this board has come from three specific articles that almost made me pull out my hair reading them so many times - but they have been instrumental in me getting the performance I've wanted out of this system - it's just so time consuming... LOL.
 
I'll link them:
 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2482
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2500
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2404
 
Those last two especially since the Asus Striker is based on the same chipset and they use a 45nm QX9650 in their review (which I have) and the GLTREF stuff in the last article was super helpful (and very plain to understand).
 
Hope that helps - if I can answer any other questions just ask - I'm shocked to find out I'm the first you've heard... maybe this will open doors for other 790i peeps!
 
 

Ya, but I bet if you upped the SPP to 1.50 you could do it at CR1 - unless you're already running it at CR1 - although most people seem to think you can't run 4 gigs at CR1 at 1800 - which is not my experience. Just need some more volts...
 
But I hear you about laziness... besides, 1.25 isn't that high... I wouldn't wanna go any higher though... and I bet you could lower it to 1.15 by bumping up your SPP... I don't know what kind of cooling you have though. If you're like me - you probabaly have your mobo sitting on the desk ;-)

The main reason is because from what I've read, especially when it comes to 45nm chips, more volts on the FSB tend to cause a lot more noise vs. tweaking your GTLVREFs and the northbridge benefits exponentially more from voltage then your FSB. I can't remember where I read it... let me see if I can find it...
 
Here it is:
 
http://www.thetechreposit..com/showthread.php?t=87
 
Notice this line:
 
"Simply raising VTT may or may not create voltage margins necessary to sufficiently skew signals as required to meet minimum sample and hold times for increased bus frequencies. Additionally, processors are particularly sensitive to even small increases in VTT as bus impedances and termination resistance values are quite low. In fact, increasing VTT will most likely just create unwanted device heating with little to no change in FSB stabilization."
 
Notice that additional VTT voltage will also increase the temperature of the CPU... So there are a lot of pros to keeping FSB voltage low and getting gains via the northbridge voltage. Or so it seems to me. What do you think?
 
 

Thank you.  I read the link in post #11 (a few times)....food for thought....

Well, there is one way to find out... I could order another 8 GB of the same memory and try and get it running. ;-)
 
I can always return the memory once I get it running... Or eVGA could sponsor the test ;-) Would we be the first in the world to run a 790i Ultra SLI with 16 GB?

tt0ne

Well, there is one way to find out... I could order another 8 GB of the same memory and try and get it running. ;-)

I can always return the memory once I get it running... Or eVGA could sponsor the test ;-) Would we be the first in the world to run a 790i Ultra SLI with 16 GB?

If you have the time and money to spend.....I say; "knock yourself out, man." You could very well be the first one to try it. Personally, the 8GB's I currently have is way more than I believe I'll ever need.
 
EDIT: If you do attempt this...Please create a new thread to discuss your findings as, we have thoroughly "hijacked" this thread already.......My apologies to the OP for doing so. 

JeffreyHam
EDIT: If you do attempt this...Please create a new thread to discuss your findings as, we have thoroughly "hijacked" this thread already.......My apologies to the OP for doing so. 

Ditto.....my bad.

No, that RAM he has is not EPP ready. http://www.patriotmemory.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=5&catid=79&prodgroupid=183&id=1005&type=1 
 
Yeah, I call any RAM rated lower than 1.7v-1.8v low-voltage. The 790i "prefers" 1.8v-2.0v...IMHO.

He did not say that he has any kind of CPU OC goal in mind so, maybe he just wants a stable system. I figure it is always best to start at the bottom and slowly work your way up. He'll probably never be able to run that CPU at 2000MHz to match the rated speed of the RAM.
I feel that it is a waste for anyone to purchase 2000MHz for the 790i because, it will almost certainly have to be run underclocked. That is why I bought 1600MHz RAM and OC it to 1800+.....makes me feel I got real value for my $$'s.

Please tell us how things go after some game time...
Remember though, even though your memory is specced to run at 2000 MHZ, there is no performance benefit of running it higher then your FSB (which is 1333) - if anything you'll get more performance running it linked/synced with tighter timings (although from my experience, DDR3 doesn't benefit nearly as much from tighter timings vs/ FSB bandwidth.)

 
I have done some test with AIDA64 (Everest), outgoing from the settings that i wrote in post #26 (SPP 1.5V).
 
Like you described there is no real different in the performance benchmark from AIDA64, except the Latency.
 
Today I have time to do a longer game session to see if the system freeze again or not. At the moment I use the settings from Test 1-1. I'm hope it works, because there was no freeze till now after I changed the settings like described.
 
 
What's your suggestion, which setting from the 4 I have to use?
 
And what means the P1 and P2 setting?
 
Regards, Henry
 
Test 1-1: (2000Mhz, 9-10-9-27-2T manually)
http://img641.imageshack.us/i/cachemem11.png/
 
**FSB & Memorv Config**   
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [unlinked]   
FSB - Memory Ratio: AUTO  
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1333]   
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: 1333.3   
x MEM (DDR),  MHz: 2000   
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: 2000.0   
P1: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
P2: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
**Memory Timing Setting**   
Memory Timing Setting: [Expert]   
tCL (CAS Latency): [9]  - 9   
tRCD: [10] - 10   
tRP: [9] - 9   
tRAS: [27] - 27  
Command Per Clock: [2T] - 2T   
** Advanced Memory Settings **   
tRRD: [AUTO]  (6)  
tRC: [AUTO]  (50)  
tWR: [AUTO]  (12)  
tWTR: [AUTO] (20)  
tFAW: [AUTO] (31)  
tREF: [AUTO] (7.7uS)  
tRFC: [AUTO] 160  
 
 
Test 1-2: (2000Mhz, 9-14-14-36-2T AUTO Timing)
http://img199.imageshack.us/i/cachemem12.png/
 
**FSB & Memorv Config**   
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [unlinked]   
FSB - Memory Ratio: AUTO  
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1333]   
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: 1333.3   
x MEM (DDR),  MHz: 2000   
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: 2000.0   
P1: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
P2: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
**Memory Timing Setting**   
Memory Timing Setting: [Optimal]   
tCL (CAS Latency): [AUTO] - 9   
tRCD: [AUTO] - 14   
tRP: [AUTO] - 14  
tRAS: [AUTO] - 36  
Command Per Clock: [AUTO] - 2T   
** Advanced Memory Settings **   
tRRD: [AUTO]  - 6  
tRC: [AUTO]  - 50  
tWR: [AUTO]  - 12  
tWTR: [AUTO] - 20  
tFAW: [AUTO] - 31
tREF: [AUTO]  - 7.7uS  
tRFC: [AUTO] - 160  
 
 
Test 2-1: (1333Mhz LS, 9-10-9-27-2T manually)
http://img155.imageshack.us/i/cachemem21.png/
 
**FSB & Memorv Config**   
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [Linked]   
FSB - Memory Ratio: [Sync Mode] 
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1333]   
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: 1333.3   
x MEM (DDR),  MHz: 1333.3
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: 1333.3  
P1: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
P2: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
**Memory Timing Setting**   
Memory Timing Setting: [Expert]   
tCL (CAS Latency): [9]  - 9   
tRCD: [10] - 10   
tRP: [9] - 9   
tRAS: [27] - 27  
Command Per Clock: [2T] - 2T   
** Advanced Memory Settings **   
tRRD: [AUTO]  (4)  
tRC: [AUTO]  (33)  
tWR: [AUTO]  (12)  
tWTR: [AUTO] (16)  
tFAW: [AUTO] (21)  
tREF: [AUTO] (7.7uS)  
tRFC: [AUTO] 107  
 
 
Test 2-2: (1333Mhz LS, 9-9-9-24-1T AUTO Timing)
http://img708.imageshack.us/i/cachemem22.png/
 
**FSB & Memorv Config**   
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [Linked]   
FSB - Memory Ratio: [Sync Mode] 
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1333]   
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: 1333.3   
x MEM (DDR),  MHz: 1333.3
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: 1333.3  
P1: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
P2: [AUTO]  => Enabled 
**Memory Timing Setting**   
Memory Timing Setting: [Optimal]   
tCL (CAS Latency): [AUTO] - 9   
tRCD: [AUTO] - 9   
tRP: [AUTO] - 9  
tRAS: [AUTO] - 24  
Command Per Clock: [AUTO] - 1T   
** Advanced Memory Settings **   
tRRD: [AUTO]  (4)  
tRC: [AUTO]  (33)  
tWR: [AUTO]  (12)  
tWTR: [AUTO] (16)  
tFAW: [AUTO] (21)  
tREF: [AUTO] (7.7uS)  
tRFC: [AUTO] 107