Windows 7 Usable Memory Question

[Flava0ne]

When my system is on stock and not OC'ed, Windows 7 recognizes all of my 24GB of RAM as shown in the screenshot below:

But on my stable OC settings, Windows 7 only recognizes 16GB as usable as shown in this screenshot:

Obviously there's no problem with any of my memory modules, so why would my OC settings change the amount of usable memory that Windows 7 recognizes?

Below are my BIOS settings for my OC:

Memory Frequency [1333Mhz / 2:10]
tCL Setting [9]
tRCD Setting [10]
tRP Setting [9]
tRAS Setting [27]
Command Rate [2T]

EVGA VDroop Control [Without VDroop]
CPU VCore [1.38750V]
CPU PLL VCore [1.830V]
IOH PLL VCore [1.830V]
QPI PLL VCore [1.275V]
DIMM Voltage [1.650V]
IOH VCore [1.225V]
IOH/ICH I/O Voltage [1.550V]
ICH VCore [1.225V]

Intel SpeedStep [Disabled]
Turbo Mode Function [Disabled]
C×E Function [Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology [Disabled]
QPI Frequency Selection [4.800 GT/s]

CPU Clock Ratio [22 ×]
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) [200]
MCH Strap [DRAM Ratio]

* NOTE: All other settings were set to default or auto.

Any inputs or suggestions on what I should try to help me resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OneMoar]

to much stress on the IMC probly try playing with the voltages

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Off topic but is that like a gears of war skin for windows 7?

 

[newtekie1]

Definitely the IMC becoming unstable.

Off topic but is that like a gears of war skin for windows 7?

I think it is a EVGA Classified skin.

 

[Flava0ne]

So should I bump up the DIMM Voltage? I heard that Intel doesn't recommend using higher than 1.65V on their X58 chipsets.

Off topic but is that like a gears of war skin for windows 7?

The theme is originally the HUD Red Premium theme by Mr GRiM from VirtualCustoms.net I made that GoW start button myself.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Definitely the IMC becoming unstable.

I think it is a EVGA Classified skin.

It confused me because I saw a GoW COG as the start button but saw "Classified."

The theme is originally the HUD Red Premium theme by Mr GRiM from VirtualCustoms.net I made that GoW start button myself.

Tricky tricky!

 

[Flava0ne]

It confused me because I saw a GoW COG as the start button but saw "Classified."



Tricky tricky!

Yeah, I placed that "Classified" logo in the shell32.dll myself too.

But back to topic

I tried bumping the DIMM to 1.66V and when I rebooted Windows recognized 20GB as usable. So I'll bumping it up one notch and post back.

 

[Red_or_Dead]

Similar thing on my Dell laptop, never bothered me but now I'm curious, always said this from day 1 though...

 

[Flava0ne]

Well, tried 1.67V & 1.68V on the DIMM but went back to only 16GB as usable.

 

[OOZMAN]

O M G. Windows 7 has changeable skins?! Why have I not heard of this? How? Where? My pants... My poor pants...

 

[theonedub]

Similar thing on my Dell laptop, never bothered me but now I'm curious, always said this from day 1 though...


http://img.techpowerup.org/120115/Capturex.jpg

That's something completely different from the problem this thread is talking about. Your issue most likely revolves around shared VRAM (128mb being allocated to the GPU).

 

[newtekie1]

Well, tried 1.67V & 1.68V on the DIMM but went back to only 16GB as usable.

Well that means there is some kind of instability there. Maybe try looser timings? Or you can try lowring the memory divider to 2:8 just to see if the problem goes away. The slower memory will help take stress off the IMC.

 

[Mussels]

Similar thing on my Dell laptop, never bothered me but now I'm curious, always said this from day 1 though...


http://img.techpowerup.org/120115/Capturex.jpg

yours is different, the rams being used by your video card/onboard GPU/IGP.


the OP's problem is a massive amount of ram, commonly caused by various 'bugs' with the memory controllers (too tight heatsink, voltages/timings problems, etc)

 

[Flava0ne]

Well that means there is some kind of instability there. Maybe try looser timings? Or you can try lowring the memory divider to 2:8 just to see if the problem goes away. The slower memory will help take stress off the IMC.

I'll give it a try when I get back home and post back with the results.

 

[Steevo]

You might also want to blank out your activation code in the pics.

 

[Red_or_Dead]

That's something completely different from the problem this thread is talking about. Your issue most likely revolves around shared VRAM (128mb being allocated to the GPU).

yours is different, the rams being used by your video card/onboard GPU/IGP.


the OP's problem is a massive amount of ram, commonly caused by various 'bugs' with the memory controllers (too tight heatsink, voltages/timings problems, etc)

I can understand what you're both saying, my card has 1Gb dedicated VRAM, is this really still allocated ~140Mb from system memory?

 

[johnspack]

It's qpi voltage, you need more, especially if you are ocing the cpu. Try 1.4v on the qpi and see what happens.
Edit: can also try upping cpu pll to 1.88
Edit2: also might try enabling vdroop
Edit3: you may actually need more than 1.4 for qpi, mine needs 1.46, so experiment.

 

[ShiBDiB]

U could just try lowering ur OC.. Instead of putting more volts thru the RAM

 

[johnspack]

Honestly, he doesn't need that much ram voltage, mine run at 1.6v just fine. I actually was going to suggest he back off the ram volts.
He just needs to increase qpi voltage, first gen i7s need much more to run 4gb modules than sb does.

 

[OneMoar]

WARNING: your dram voltage must be less then 0.50 of your VTT/qpi voltage OR YOU WILL burn the chip

http://www.masterslair.com/vcore-vtt-dram-pll-pch-voltages-explained-core-i7-i5-i3/
Your DRAM voltage should never be more than 0.5 V above VTT, or it could cause system stability problems. Since the default VTT is 1.1 V, this means that your DRAM voltage shouldn’t be higher than 1.1 + 0.5 = 1.6 V–unless you also increase VTT. So if you’re using memory that has a default voltage of 1.65 V or you’ve overclocked to that amount, you should increase your VTT voltage to at least 1.65 – 0.5 = 1.15 V.

 

[newtekie1]

You might also want to blank out your activation code in the pics.

It is just the product ID, nothing really useful to anyone really.

 

[Flava0ne]

It's qpi voltage, you need more, especially if you are ocing the cpu. Try 1.4v on the qpi and see what happens.
Edit: can also try upping cpu pll to 1.88
Edit2: also might try enabling vdroop
Edit3: you may actually need more than 1.4 for qpi, mine needs 1.46, so experiment.

I tried putting my CPU PLL to 1.815V and my QPI PLL to 1.425V, anything higher and I'll get a BSOD. But Windows now recognizes all 24GB of my RAM:

WARNING: your dram voltage must be less then 0.50 of your VTT/qpi voltage OR YOU WILL burn the chip

http://www.masterslair.com/vcore-vtt-dram-pll-pch-voltages-explained-core-i7-i5-i3/
Your DRAM voltage should never be more than 0.5 V above VTT, or it could cause system stability problems. Since the default VTT is 1.1 V, this means that your DRAM voltage shouldn’t be higher than 1.1 + 0.5 = 1.6 V–unless you also increase VTT. So if you’re using memory that has a default voltage of 1.65 V or you’ve overclocked to that amount, you should increase your VTT voltage to at least 1.65 – 0.5 = 1.15 V.

The vales I can select for the VTT are in +mV and go up in increments of +25mV. Are you saying that I should set my VTT to +50mV if my DIMM is at 1.65V?

 

[OneMoar]

I tried putting my CPU PLL to 1.815V and my QPI PLL to 1.425V, anything higher and I'll get a BSOD. But Windows now recognizes all 24GB of my RAM:

http://img.techpowerup.org/120115/24GB364.jpg



The vales I can select for the VTT are in +mV and go up in increments of +25mV. Are you saying that I should set my VTT to +50mV if my DIMM is at 1.65V?

whats your current VTT voltage ? like the math says
1.65 - 1.1vtt = 0.55 = bad you want t to be 0.45 - 0.50
so set the vtt to it reads 1.20 that would give you voltage termination differnace of 0.45
(want)
if the VTT/Dim/QPI voltage has a larger difference then 0.50 between ANY of the voltages you risk permanent damage to the cpu

 

[Flava0ne]

whats your current VTT voltage ? like the math says
1.65 - 1.1vtt = 0.55 = bad you want t to be 0.45 - 0.50
so set the vtt to it reads 1.20 that would give you voltage termination differnace of 0.45
(want)
if the VTT/Dim/QPI voltage has a larger difference then 0.50 between ANY of the voltages you risk permanent damage to the cpu

Currently Auto which is showing +0mV.

 

[OneMoar]

Currently Auto which is showing +0mV.

that should be 1.1(the default) up the VTT to 1.15v
also set the qpi voltage to 1.35v / 1.38
see if that works the clog out of it