ASUS M5A99X AM3+ Motherboard - Is this memory supported?

[Leprekaun]

Hi all. I'm planning on selling my current motherboard right now and would like to get the Asus M5A99X AM3+ motherboard. I'm mainly changing the motherboard to consider the idea of SLI in future (current one only supports CrossFire). All other components (except the GTX 660 which I'm trying to sell) will be the exact same as in my sig (AMD Phenom II, same Corsair 16GB RAM, PSU etc.) but something that I wanted to doubly check before I find out too late after buying the Asus board is memory compatability. I downloaded the memory support list off the Asus website here: http://ie.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/#MSL and I had a look through the pdf but I couldn't find the exact model number for my RAM in the list (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9). I managed to find a slight variation of it CMX8GX3M4A1600C9 so does this mean that my RAM will probably work fine with it or definitely not? Thanks.

[Sauron_Daz]

They state that they don't test every module out there on the mobo. Chances are it will work just fine since other modules of same brand also work/are listed.
Just don't use memory of a brand not listed becuase of a higher (but still small chance) of being incompatible.

[Leprekaun]

Ah, ok. Thanks Sauron_Daz!

[Hammer_Time]

Honestly your board is pretty good, I would keep it for now to be honest.

Just upgrade your video card ( single best thing you can do to improve gaming performance of course ).

When you are actually ready to go SLi in the future, then upgrade the mobo ( save up and do it all at once ).

Why spend money now that you don't have to? Your board is fairly decent, just slap a decent cooler on your cpu to oc it and you are good to go methinks!

[Sauron_Daz]

I agree.
Don't know if you have an aftermarket cooler, but if not upgrading the GPU and a bit of OC on the CPU will most definatly be the best bang for the buck and a notable upgrade. Just changing the mobo will cost money only. And going SLI may introduce micro stutter..

[Hammer_Time]

Plus by waiting on the mobo he can potentially get a "better/newer" model down the road...

[Leprekaun]

Yeah, I never thought about the price of the board going down in future (Me: DUH! ).

I do have a Scythe Mugen 3 cooler but for some odd reason, I can't overclock my CPU AT ALL with when the memory is set to "Unganged" mode which I've been told provides better performance for modern applications that are x64. I was kind of hoping that the Asus board would allow me to OC but then again, I'm not certain. It just feels silly to run at stock CPU frequencies with a big ass aftermarket cooler attached . Is there much of a performance hit in terms of RAM if I run it Ganged? Or it will hardly make any difference?

[Sauron_Daz]

I don't see why the CPU can't be OCed with the memory in unganged mode. The memory in my PC is set to unganged (i.e. dual channel access) and the CPU is both unlocked to a quad, and running at 3.6 GHz (3.1 stock)
Originally this is a dual core Phenom-II X2 550.
It already runs like this starting in November 2009.

[Hammer_Time]

Of interest:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/26775 ... ion-790xta

sbus wrote :

"Also Patriot PGS34G1600LLKA runs pretty stable [on the GA-790XTA-UD4] with 4 sticks..."

I can't get that combo to run; I too have the same memory. It runs fine (and the memory tests fine) at PC1333 settings, but at PC1600 I get random BSODs and Memtest86+ logs errors.

Any hints? What are your BIOS settings?

I also purchased the GA-790XTA-UD4 and Phenom X4 965 combo from Fry's. System is completely stable at 1333, but when adjusted to 1600 I get random blue screens and memory errors in games. I'm running a pair of KHX2000C9D3T1K2/4GX Kingston HyperX memory. I had the same problems with another pair of Corsair 1600 memory and took it back to get the Kingston pair. In product reviews on Newegg I do see people mentioning instability at 1600. I've been thinking about updating the Bios, but does anyone have any other suggestions? Other then not being able to run at advertised memory speeds, I'm happy with the board.

you might want to try moving the memory to slots three and four - I had same issue on a 790fxt-ud5. Moving the memory over solved the problem. I know the manual says to put it in one and two - but for whatever reason works better in 3 and 4. Good Luck

So even thought this mobo officially "supports" DDR-3 1600 Mhz ram ( of which you have 16 GB DDR-3 1600 Mhz ) it seems to have some issues if you fill all 4 ram slots and try to run at those speeds.

More proof about your finicky ram slots:

http://www.tvclip.biz/video/GZDQ05-fQzU ... 3-bug.html

Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 DDR3 BUG

To reach DDR3 1866 MHz or above, you must install two memory modules and install them in the DDR3_3 and DDR3_4 memory sockets.

Just for fun, why not remove half your ram from the first 2 slots like dude above recommends, just leave 2 sticks in slots 3 and 4 ( contrary to what the manual says! ) and see if that helps... also I am assuming you have latest version of BIOS on your board... I think we covered that question before but just double checking here...can't remember that detail off the top of my head right now...

So use half your ram, make sure your bios is up to date, and then try overclocking in ganged or unganged mode...see what happens...don't be afraid to underclock your ram either, to 1333 Mhz where the board is super happy it seems...no real performance diff that you will notice between 1333 and 1600 Mhz anyways, at least not in gaming, makes no difference in gaming...

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=3803.0

You should be able to get your cpu to 3.8 Ghz stable with that Scythe cooler on it... good luck!

[Leprekaun]

Well the odd thing is that it's specifically a problem with running 4 modules of RAM. I've tried just running 3, it overclocks fine on 3, 2 and 1 module. It's just the 4th module of RAM that is causing the CPU overclocking issues. It's not a case of a particular module either because I've tried switching modules around, it made no difference which would lead me to believe that it's some sort of motherboard issue. I'm already running the latest stable BIOS (F3). There is a beta (F4) version but I suspect that while I could overclock fine with 4 modules in F4, when I got my motherboard back from Gigabyte, I noticed that the issue with the graphics card failures seems to have involved something to do with the BIOS. According to the notes Gigabyte left, and upon first boot of the system, I found out that the BIOS version was changed back down to F3 so Gigabyte must've downgraded the BIOS since F4 seems unstable.

[Hammer_Time]

I see... they are keeping you on your toes so to speak... frustrating for sure...

Mebbe it is time for a mobo upgrade since you cannot get good o/c results on this board with 4th stick of ram installed...hmm...

[DIREWOLF75]

It's not a case of a particular module either because I've tried switching modules around, it made no difference which would lead me to believe that it's some sort of motherboard issue.

It may be a motherboard issue yes, but your description leaves things very open to a number of other possible problems as well.
There may for example be a slight mismatch between the modules, small enough that running under normal circumstances, there is no issue.
Part of the above could be added that there may be a small voltage droop while running 4 modules, making them more susceptible to mismatch issues.
The chipset may have issues running too many modules while OC.
The cpu may not be able to handle too many modules while OC.

As i´ve by now probably said hundreds of times before, this is why OC is not something you should ever count on being able to do. It IS out of bounds, which causes screwy things to happen.
A good example of that, my previous system, a dual socket A one, i tested both cpu:s in my older single socket A system, both could OC well enough. I tested the motherboard with 2 Duron cpu(1 borrowed ), and managed to raise FSB with stability to a nice OC...
But with the Athlon XPs i used as the normal cpu:s, if i rasied FSB beyond 135 stability was in question, above 136 and it didn´t even start(from 133 ).
If everything had played nicely together, i could probably have reached a 150 FSB, Durons managed higher still as long as i kept their multiplier down enough(damn fiddly since this was in the bad old days when changing multiplier meant using a grafite pencil to connect the right bridges on the cpu, that´s one thing i do not miss!).

[Hammer_Time]

ha ha ha, I remember those days... used a "lead pencil" to connect the traces on my Duron 600 cpu so I could o/c to 1 Ghz , it ran like that for 2 years before I sold it...awesome chip at the time... and no, I don't miss having to do that either...

Edit: is it worth the money and effort to upgrade the mobo just for another possible 400 to 600 Mhz overclock on his cpu? Probably not... I understand him wanting to get as much speed as he possibly can out of his 945 cpu...but a mobo change is a lot of work for a few extra measly megahurtz...

[DIREWOLF75]

Totally not worth it. Especially since getting a new motherboard might not add success to the OC anyway.

[Hammer_Time]

Agreed... since he is on a budget I agree with you here 100%

[Sauron_Daz]

Me too.

[Sauron_Daz]

ha ha ha, I remember those days... used a "lead pencil" to connect the traces on my Duron 600 cpu so I could o/c to 1 Ghz , it ran like that for 2 years before I sold it...awesome chip at the time... and no, I don't miss having to do that either...

But it was an improvement, at least moneywise, over the goldfinger device ( if I got that name right)!

[Leprekaun]

ha ha ha, I remember those days... used a "lead pencil" to connect the traces on my Duron 600 cpu so I could o/c to 1 Ghz , it ran like that for 2 years before I sold it...awesome chip at the time... and no, I don't miss having to do that either...

At least he can get his cpu to 3.42 Ghz... not so bad really... from stock 3.0 Ghz... is it worth the money and effort to upgrade the mobo just for another possible 400 to 600 Mhz overclock on his cpu? Probably not... I understand him wanting to get as much speed as he possibly can out of his 945 cpu...but a mobo change is a lot of work for a few extra measly megahurtz...

That's the thing, I am running at stock 965 BE multiplier, no OC at all (965 BE stock clocks: 3.42Ghz). Granted, I know the Scythe cooler will probably have my CPU run longer since it'll provide better cooling but the whole point in me getting the Mugen cooler was to OC the CPU and now that purpose is gone

[Hammer_Time]

Doh! I see...stock speed is 3.4 Ghz for your 965 cpu... shame you cannot overclock it but its not worth replacing the mobo just for a few hundred Mhz more... wait and do a complete system upgrade in a year or two...mobo/ram/cpu etc...do the whole thing when it makes sense down the road is my advice...

[Sauron_Daz]

He can, but not while using 4 memory modules.