# ASROCK AM3 970 Extreme 3 and Kingston Hyper X 16GB (2x8): only 8 gigs available to W7



## Vario (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi guys,

I have a stable system but what bothers me is windows 7 professional only shows 8 gigs available, even though it recognizes the existence of two sticks of 8 gig inserted and 16 gigs present.

Any thoughts? I'd like to be able to make use of all my ram.

The ram is Kingston HyperX Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ...
and the motherboard is ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3....


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## suraswami (Dec 19, 2012)

did u check on Bios Updates?


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## Aquinus (Dec 19, 2012)

Is your machine at stock settings? I know you have an OC log going on, so I want to make sure you're running at stock before trying to diagnose this.


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## Vario (Dec 19, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Is your machine at stock settings? I know you have an OC log going on, so I want to make sure you're running at stock before trying to diagnose this.



I'll return to stock and see what happens.  Was about to really push things at 8 hour stable prime95 with the last setup.  

I will return to stock.  Then try the bios update.

Picture of stock bios, shows both ram sticks present 






Wait a sec.... 16 gigs are now shown in the task manager...






Going to reload the overclock profile and see if they show up...


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## drdeathx (Dec 19, 2012)

Make sure you have the memory in the correct dimm slots.


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## Vario (Dec 19, 2012)

With the overclock profile the memory now goes down to 8 gb in the task manager even though cpu-z shows it present








drdeathx said:


> Make sure you have the memory in the correct dimm slots.



The Memory is in slots 1 and 3


I had to overclock the fsb to 240hz to get the ram to run at 1600, which is its rated setting.  There was no selectable 1600 speed in the bios.  I still have not updated the bios.  I want to see if this can be fixed iwthout doing a bios update because I saw no mention of ram profiles on ASRock's update section.

My gut says to try running more voltage on the ram.  Currently I have it at 1.51, ram is rated at 1.50.  I will try bumping it another notch.  Also will try CPU-NB voltage. it is at 1.125 I believe.


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## Vario (Dec 19, 2012)

Update: Nothing beyond 1.125 until 1.375 on the CPU NB Voltage.  I don't know if that is a safe voltage to use, I read a few guides saying that 1.350 is the max to run on the phenom II with air cooling.  1.125 still does not show any ram beyond 8gb.


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## suraswami (Dec 19, 2012)

When there is a bios update its better to do it especially when you are having issues.  Sometimes they don't really mention what exactly is fixed in that particular release.  You can update it and if you don't like it you can always go back to the one you have.


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## Vario (Dec 19, 2012)

Edit:

It seems that whenever I select 1600 speed ram in the bios it removes 8 gigs by the time it gets to windows.  if I leave the ram speed on auto in the bios, it keeps all 16 gigs.

Any ideas?


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## drdeathx (Dec 19, 2012)

Is your ram on the comparability list of the board?


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## Vario (Dec 19, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> Is your ram on the comparability list of the board?



I looked on the list and while Kingston hyper x 16gb (2x8 is listed), it is not the exact same model of hyper x.

Here is the list.

I will try a bios flash now.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970 Extreme3/?cat=Memory

This thread seems surprisingly similar: 
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/319645-30-asrock-extreme3-fails-notice-ddr3-1600-bios-settings

Here is what my ram looks like if the bios is left on auto for memory:  (I have not messed with the memory on this profile, just changed my fsb and voltages)


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## ooiman92 (Dec 19, 2012)

Make sure that your RAM is completely seated in the socket. I've had a situation before where one stick of memory wouldn't detect but still boots up.


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## Vario (Dec 20, 2012)

ooiman92 said:


> Make sure that your RAM is completely seated in the socket. I've had a situation before where one stick of memory wouldn't detect but still boots up.



Its seated I think because it shows up in windows as long as the speed is not set to 1600.

Edit: Just confirmed that.  The OC profile that only showed 8 gigs will show 16 gigs if the speed is set to 1280.  The Timings are more aggressive however.  1280 is the only profile below 1600 that the motherboard lists when the FSB is at 240.


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## drdeathx (Dec 20, 2012)

try the opposite slots


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## Vario (Dec 20, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> try the opposite slots



I'll give it a shot in a second.

I just tried setting my FSB back to 200 and it allows me to run ram at 10-10-10-27 at 1600.

Weird.  It doesn't like any FSB changes.


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 20, 2012)

Download intel burn test and use the same settings I have here and see if it fills up close to 16GB if so then the OS is using ALL 16gb and windows is lying to you.


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## craigo (Dec 20, 2012)

I will be watching this thread with great interest,
I recently purchased an Asrock 970pro3 mainboard.

I have all 4 dims populated with 2gb corsair xms3 1600mhz modules
windows 7 x64 sees 8gb but reports 6gb as "useable"
the bios (latest version) sees all 8gb it makes no difference if the memory is at default (1333mhz) or if I load the xmp profile to run the memory at 1600mhz..

I have checked with cpuz and adia64 and all memory is present and installed in the windows environment as well as the bios.

I think it may have something to do with the XFASTRAM utility which asrock supply on the driver disk... did you install this utility?

I have removed the utility and still have only 6gb available though...

I am about to try an Ubuntu live disc to see if that uses all 8gb... then I will RMA.

This is not the first thread I have visited in regards to the asrock 970 based boards pertaining to ram issues.


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## Vario (Dec 20, 2012)

craigo said:


> I will be watching this thread with great interest,
> I recently purchased an Asrock 970pro3 mainboard.
> 
> I have all 4 dims populated with 2gb corsair xms3 1600mhz modules
> ...


I think I have the same issue as you.I am wondering if maybe the ram table on the motherboard (purely newbie speculation here) isn't really adequate with the variety of ram that is out there so it doesn't allow for most ram to run at its normal setting.  Thank you so much for posting this because I was questioning my memory or my overclock setting.

I have the Xfastram installed I think! but I do not see it in my program list.

I guess I have three options:
Run stock and have ram auto setting at 665.2 3:10 9-9-9-24 1T
Run with 240 mhz fsb that i spent hours getting stable oc ram auto setting at 640 3:8 7-7-7-20-27 2T
Run with 200 mhz fsb with 12x northbridge multiplier, and get ram auto setting 800 10:3 10-10-10-27 2T

The motherboard doesn't really like it when I change the ram timings manually.

I don't plan to go through the effort of RMA because it would mess with my windows 7 activation I think (different motherboard detected?).  I am curious if compatible ram listed from ASRock's website will allow proper speed and timings.  Any harm in running 7-7-7 @ 1280 on this ram  (rated 9-9-9 @ 1600)


edit: I guess the bios doesn't mind my manually changing the clocks as long as the ram is under 1600 or something because it let me move the ram timings on the 640 mhz frequency to 9-9-9-24 2T which is close to stock.  If it passes memtest I might consider that close enough.


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## Vario (Dec 20, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> try the opposite slots



Okay looked in the manual and it says A2 and B2 are RECOMMENDED for DDR3-1600.

I had them in A1 B1.  Also my computer doesn't like booting after large bios changes, even resetting to stock.  It failed to post several times and I disconnected power supply and a bunch of stuff for a few minutes until it let me back in.

I don't think I'll do ASRock in the future.

The bios 1.80 update failed through windows due to a Pi mismatch, so I did not flash the bios.  Atleast it warned me of the mismatch before the flash process.

Edit1: holy &%@! it worked.  It lets me boot in DDR 1600 with reasonable timings.  I wish it said in the manual that it was unstable in A1 B1, not that it was unrecommended.  Kind of annoying.  Hopefully this will take on a similar overclock but with 16 gigs this time.

Edit2: same problem.  What a pos.  Doesn't let me see all 16 gigs @ DDR3 1600 when the fsb is overclocked.  

Edit3: is it a problem with XMP not supported on this board? Don't know anything about XMP.


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## Aquinus (Dec 20, 2012)

amp281 said:


> Doesn't let me see all 16 gigs @ DDR3 1600 when the fsb is overclocked.



Obviously your IMC can't handle the higher speeds. You do have a Deneb chip, you're not going to see memory clocks like you do from FX, Thuban, and modern Intel CPUs regardless of the memory you throw in there.


amp281 said:


> Edit2: same problem. What a pos. Doesn't let me see all 16 gigs @ DDR3 1600 when the fsb is overclocked.



Try dropping your NB speed to 2200 from 2400, I would try increasing the NB voltage to around 1.35v to 1.40v as well if you want to try and run 2400, ~1.1v is pretty conservative on the NB voltage, you could be starving it.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 20, 2012)

amp281 said:


> I guess I have three options:
> Run stock and have ram auto setting at 665.2 3:10 9-9-9-24 1T
> Run with 240 mhz fsb that i spent hours getting stable oc ram auto setting at 640 3:8 7-7-7-20-27 2T
> Run with 200 mhz fsb with 12x northbridge multiplier, and get ram auto setting 800 10:3 10-10-10-27 2T



Continue running 1333 (or under with tighter timings), what your chips IMC is rated for.


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## Vario (Dec 20, 2012)

Thanks guys I will stick with the 1333.  I don't even feel like messing with the 9-9-9-24 timings.  Every other time I mess with the timings on the bios it fails to post and just sits with black screen.  
Here it is after around 10 hours of prime 95


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## Vario (Dec 20, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Obviously your IMC can't handle the higher speeds. You do have a Deneb chip, you're not going to see memory clocks like you do from FX, Thuban, and modern Intel CPUs regardless of the memory you throw in there.
> 
> 
> Try dropping your NB speed to 2200 from 2400, I would try increasing the NB voltage to around 1.35v to 1.40v as well if you want to try and run 2400, ~1.1v is pretty conservative on the NB voltage, you could be starving it.



Thanks for the info.  The bios allows control on both a CPU-NB voltage and a NB voltage.  I am assuming you mean the CPU-NB?


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## Aquinus (Dec 20, 2012)

amp281 said:


> I am assuming you mean the CPU-NB?



Yes, it's kind of a misnomer. You don't need to mess with the NB voltage unless you're overclocking hyper-transport which won't do anything for you anyways. Best to leave that stock.


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## drdeathx (Dec 20, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Yes, it's kind of a misnomer. You don't need to mess with the NB voltage unless you're overclocking hyper-transport which won't do anything for you anyways. Best to leave that stock.



CPU/NB voltage needs to be raised though... Just clarifying


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 20, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> CPU/NB voltage needs to be raised though...



But how much is the question.... I doubt due to the density of the modules, will never get to be stable.


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## drdeathx (Dec 20, 2012)

JrRacinFan said:


> But how much is the question.... I doubt due to the density of the modules, will never get to be stable.



I use 1.3-1.35 on my Phenom II's. I got a 980 to 4.5Ghz stable and have seen newer batches of 955 and 965's do close.


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## Aquinus (Dec 21, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> I got a 980 to 4.5Ghz stable and have seen newer batches of 955 and 965's do close.



Yeah, the 980 is a special animal, it clocks exceptionally well. I think JrRacinFan was referring to the density of the memory modules though and that is a reason why it might doesn't want to take to 1600Mhz.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 21, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> I use 1.3-1.35 on my Phenom II's.



That was rhetorical. I've used up to 1.37v without ill effects.


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