MSI Z97-G45 GAMING Sata controller performance

Hello
I have an question about the Intel Z97 Express Chipset Sata 6gb controller on my MSI Z97-G45 GAMING motherboard.
Is there any difference between the sata ports performance that can make different results when testing the hard drives. I have an Seagate 3Tb HDD and an WD RE 3Tb HDD and the Segate seems faster. When testing the drives with the manufacturers test suites Seagate takes about 1min to test and WD takes 2min to test and in HD Tune Pro Segate shows a faster speed and a more even curve.
Could this big difference between the harddrives be affected with which sata port that is being used or are the all the same?
Thanx
Niklas

Im quite sure my sata cables in my new computer says 6gb on it but im not 100 sure. Im using Asus black Sata cables with black/white connector and the Sata cable included with the motherboard. So there should not be any problem.
From reading this test it seems there no difference between 6gb and 3gb cables as long as they are high quality cables from known manufacturers. I only own Asus red 3gb cables in my old computer and black/white Asus 6gb cables and the ones included with the modtherboard in my new computer.
Sata II vs Sata III cable test:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/SATA-cables-Is-there-a-difference-97/

Similar Messages

MSI Z97-G45 Gaming VS MSI Z97 Gaming 5

Hello there!
As I received much of good help on these forums already, here comes my next help request. I will have to decide which motherboard should I buy soon (upgrading to Intel Core i7 4790K), I have done some research and found out that these two models I mentioned in the thread subject would be of my main interest. I am, however, a bit uninformed, as I could not find any test of MSI Z97-G45 Gaming. I have a few questions about those two.
First of all, Z97-G45 has a fast boot in official specification on MSI Global and Gaming 5 does not say anything about it. Does it mean that Gaming 5 boots long? How I should understand that?
I think Z97-G45 looks better, that red dragon is really fancy, however Gaming 5 laminate looks more black, which makes it also atractive to me.
All that I really need to know is, which one of these will perform better for CPU overclocking? Is there any difference at all? The price is really simillar. I also see that G45 does not contain an M.2 and neither of them got Sata Express. Could anyone explain if Sata Express or M.2 are really worth having them right now? Will M.2 improve my current SSD speeds? And Sata Express will improve my HDD speed? Or how does it work? Will it only boost up drives that are particularly made to work with those connectors?
Thanks in advance!

Quote
First of all, Z97-G45 has a fast boot in official specification on MSI Global and Gaming 5 does not say anything about it. Does it mean that Gaming 5 boots long? How I should understand that?
All modern mainboards support fastboot as it is a Windows8 feature.
Quote
I think Z97-G45 looks better, that red dragon is really fancy, however Gaming 5 laminate looks more black, which makes it also atractive to me.
All that I really need to know is, which one of these will perform better for CPU overclocking? Is there any difference at all? The price is really simillar. I also see that G45 does not contain an M.2 and neither of them got Sata Express. Could anyone explain if Sata Express or M.2 are really worth having them right now? Will M.2 improve my current SSD speeds? And Sata Express will improve my HDD speed? Or how does it work? Will it only boost up drives that are particularly made to work with those connectors
Z97 Gaming 5 is the more modern board. It offers more ram speed dividers. M.2 is pretty much standard for Z97 boards so G45 is more an option for those still willing to use slower msata devices. Of course M.2 is only any use for you if you are using a PCI-Express based (!) M.2 SSD. If you buy such an M.2 SSD (e.g. Plextor M6E) then it will speed up data transfer a lot as SATA 6GB/s limits latest generation SSDs already. M.2 on Z97 boards being PCI-Express based is running directly through PCIe lanes to the CPU while throughput of SATA is limited by the SATA interface. SATA Express being a similar technology is not supported by both boards but devices are also not available really.

MSI Z97-G45 Gaming can not POST or enter BIOS but has display

Hi
First post here and sadly a technical one. I just bought the following hardware:
- MSI Z97-G45 GAMING MoBo (no idea on BIOS since I cannot enter it at all)
- Intel Core i5 4690K s1150
- 16GB (2x8GB) Patriot Viper 3 Black Mamba 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Dual/Quad Channel Kit [PV316G160C9K]
- Corsair CX750M PSU
and installed the hardware with the following old hardware that I am carrying over:
- 2 X Hitachi 1TB Sata HDD
- 2 X GTX 275 SLI
To begin with, my existing drives were setup as RAID 0 and has a installed Windows 7 64-bit on there already. I unregistered the Product key before taking it all apart with the idea of registering it again once the new hardware was all together.
So basically, when I received all the new parts yesterday and put them all in. Upon powering on, I see the MSI Dragon logo fullscreen with the option to press DEL or F11. I let it continue without pressing any key to see how it goes. After the dergaon logo, all I get is "Missing Operating System" at the top which did not really worry me and I assumed it would be realted to the Raid not setup (right?)
So I rebooted the PC and decided to press DEL to enter BIOS. However, every time I want to enter the BIOS the screen turns black! The display is still functional though from what I can tell (the display does not lose signal).
Following that, I reset the CMOS from behind by pressing the button with a pen tip. Starting the PC again now gives me a display of all my hardware that it detected (correct CPU, Correct amount of ram, correct HDD etc...). It also gives me two options... F1 to Enter setup or F2 to Continue. Pressing F1 displays the text "Entering Setup..." at the bottom but again it fails to enter the BIOS (it freezes on the above screen - does not turn black this time) and choosing F2 to Continue freezes as well.
I have tried to boot up with the following changes:
- No GPU and use on board VGA only
- One stick of ram in multiple slots
- No HDDs connected at all
- I've checked the CPU to make sure no bent pins
- Reconnected the PSU cables into the motherboard
I should also mention that when I test it on the bare minimum (CPU, PSU, 1 stick of ram) I get A9 in the lower corner before the dragon logo appears.
Right now I am out of ideas and any suggestions would be helpful or at least some insight in what problems I described may indicate. Thanks!

Quote from: Bernhard on 08-July-14, 19:43:46
Can you post your board's serial number. This contains the manufacture date. From that one could deduce the BIOS version on that board.
As for the windows installation from your previous system, you would be very lucky if you were able to boot with that. Perhaps force safe mode if and when you are able to boot, and then try installing the new drivers. The problem is that with the old drivers still in the boot menu, you are probably heading down a slippery slope trying to re-use it. A clean installation would be advised.
Whatever is on the HDD now should however not prevent you from getting into the BIOS.
The fact that your CPU is recognised by its make doesn't mean that its supported. The CPU ID is probably read by the BIOS, but the microcode of the CPU may be missing in the BIOS support. I am trying to think of possible reasons here, and these are just some of my current ideas as to why you may not be able to get into the BIOS.
Have you tried your MB outside the case yet, i.e. on a non conductive surface, i.e. wood or cardboard to eliminate any chances of a potential short?
Also, you may want to check your CPU seating again and carefully inspect the CPU socket pins to ensure that none were bent or are not making proper contact
Yep here is the serial number: 601-7821-050B1405415963
Yeah I didn't really expect to have too much luck with the original windows 7 installation but I had no choice since my last computer failed to power on (faulty PSU I suspected).
However, as you also mentioned, I do not think it would prevent me from reaching the BIOS setup.
Hopefully the above serial can make some sense for you but I do recall some sort of date after a CMOS reset at the top... I think it was 21 April or May 2014 or so. This was next to the following: E7821IMS v2.0.
Once I get home, I will try a few things like you suggested but trying to get as much info as I can before I get home so I have a few things to try.
Thanks again!
EDIT - as a side note, I also contacted the Online Retailer I got it from and the first response from them was that the DEBUG "A9" code meant it was the RAM not fully inserted. That is another thing I have to be 100% sure of but I am fairly sure it was fully clicked in on both sides... but you never know!

MSI Z97-G45 Gaming MOBO DIMM issue

So, I have what seems to be a rather common issue I've heard as I continue to research more about the issue, and I'm hoping that it's not my board... but chances are it is my board. My (relevant) specs are as follows:
CPU: Intel I5-4690k
Heatsink: Cool Master Evo Hyper 212
GPU: Radeon HD 6970
Memory: 2 x 4GB DDR3-2133mhz G.Skill Ripjaws X
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500gb SSD
So, when I first cracked open my new MOBO box and got a look at this beauty a few days ago I was overjoyed, but quickly became dismayed. At first I thought the pins were bent where the processor mounts, but that isn't the issue here. The issue is that whenever I stick my RAM into the third and fourth socket it literally does not boot up. I can turn it on, the fans go, power turns on and lights flash... except there's no picture on my monitor, the light to my keyboard doesn't boot up, and then it restarts itself before turning back on and resuming... again without any sound, picture, or keyboard use. I stick 1 RAM stick into the third or fourth slot, just one and no others, and it won't boot to the bios or OS, but if it's in the first and second slot then it runs no problem. Except for the first time I received a windows error - my screen went blue and pixelated as I was playing Skyrim for a split second before it rebooted. The error it gave was ProblemEventName: BlueScreen LocaleID:1033...
A quick google search will show that it's listed under a ram issue. So, I was hoping that it was ONLY my ram and decided to switch it out for 2 x 4g 2000 kingston ram from another system in my home. First and second slot no problem, yet if it goes into the third or fourth slot then same as before; no boot to BIOS or OS. I can't believe that two sets of RAM are faulty as I have the kingston's dual channeled in another system that has been running quite well for over two years now. I'm hoping anyone else has had this issue and solved it, because I really, REALLY, don't want to RMA my motherboard, but as far as I can tell I received a defective board and am going to need a new one from MSI. Can anyone help me out or just confirm what I think I already know to be true? Thanks in advance for the help!

Yeah... sadly that's my conclusion as well, but I thought to get a second (and third) opinion just in case my own diagnostics were lacking. Part of me wants to just leave the problem, but I know it won't go away. Looks like I'll be RMA'ing my board - here's to hoping it doesn't take longer than two weeks to get another one back! I was really digging the BIOS interface and the better performance, too :( .

Z97-G45 Gaming boot loop issue

Hey everyone,
My new build seems to be giving me problems. I put everything together, imaged my SSD and everything seemed to be working fine at first. I had games running and was getting excellent performance with everything on stock settings. Then I started to sync my Plex media server with all it's contents and my computer froze. The keyboard/mouse were non-responsive so frustratingly I reset the computer manually.
Now my computer fans will boot up and then immediately turn back off.
So far I've:
-Disconnected everything except my CPU/RAM and PSU -- I got the same boot loop response
-Initially, I was able to get the system to the BIOS by changing the configuration of the RAM. Now that no longer works. It would require me to change the RAM multiple times, and the system by random chance would sometimes boot to the BIOS. It would freeze if I tried to get into the OS.
-I just exchanged the PSU with a known working component. (Both 750W)
-I reseated the CPU and ensured I had a proper connection between the heat sink and CPU
There doesn't seem to be any physical degradation of the motherboard.
Here's the specs:
MSI Z97-G45 Gaming Motherboard BIOS v2.0
Intel Core i7-4770k processor
Corsair H70 CPU heat sink
16GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600(I've tried both w/ XMP on and off when I can get the system to boot)
Nvidia Gefore GTX 750 TI Graphics Card (also tried onboard DVI connections)
Corsair HX750W (tried also my Thermaltake 750W)
Zowie Mechanical Keyboard
Zowie optical mouse
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64-Bit
1x 250GB Western Digital Black
1x 1TB Western Digital Black
1x 120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD (Broken in my attempts to plug/unplug it and the terminals snapped -- SOOOO frustrated at that. I have the 1TB Western Digital imaged with the same OS now.)
Hopefully you guys have an idea to try before I RMA it...

It's used to clear the CMOS, so no, it should not have a jumper on it. Most use a flat tip screwdriver to short it to clear CMOS, or the clear CMOS button at the I/O plate if one is provided there.

MSI Z97-G45 Smart fan control Bios v2.0 vs Bios v2.3

Hello
I have an MSI Z97-G45 Gaming motherboard in my new setup with 4ghz i7 4790k and 16gb of ram and so on that i bought a few weeks ago. At first the motherboard had v2.0 Bios and everything worked just fine but as i like maximum compatability and other fixes i upgraded the bios to the latest one v2.3.
In my setup i use the bios smart fan control for both system and CPU fan, i set it at a curve where the fans instantly will rise the fan speed when doing tests like Prime95 and Aida64. When doing the tests the fan rised from idle 800rpm to neded fanspeed for the correct cooling for my CPU and reached maximum 1500rpm in a matter of seconds to keep the CPU cool. This worked perfectly with Bios v2.0 but after i upgraded the bios to v2.3 the smart fan control changed fanspeed extremely slowly, it took almost 50sec for the fan to speed up from 800rpm to 1500rpm when stressing the CPU at 100%. When i stoped the stress test the fans slowed down to idle 800rpm very fast with bios v2.0 but with bios 2.3 i took a looong time to slow down to idle speed again from 1500rpm.
Because of the slow changing fanspeed in bios v2.3 i downgraded to v2.0 again and then my fans works just as i want them to do.
What is the reason for this problem/change in bios v2.3 and will this be fixed in future versions? Is this a known problem with newest bios?
When people will buy this MB and it has v2.3 from factory the smart fan control will not work properly and buyers will not know how good it can acctually be. I think the Smart fan control in v2.0 is super great
//Eson

Hello,
reflash this bios .241:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40094917/E7821IMS241.rar
then retest

Any new BIOS for Z97 G45 Gaming ? USB issue

I have a MSI Z97 G45 Gaming with latest BIOS 2.40 but since I've bought this mobo there is a problem with USB ports under MS Windows 7/8.1 and latest Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9860. The problem is with gaming keyboard Saitek Cyborg. This keyboard working only when is connected to the front USB panel (right side). Rear USB ports (even 3.0) and left front USB port are not recognizing this keyboard. Under Linux, BIOS and DOS everything is ok.
Please fix it.
Thank you.

Does the LED lights on when you plug in? What does it show under device manager? Did you install the keyboard driver??? where does the front USB panel connect to this mobo?

M-Sata on MSI Z87 G45 Gaming Bootable?

Hi, I was wondering if the Msata port on the MSI Z87 G45 Gaming motherboard can be used for your boot drive/os?
I really hate sata connectors as they always seem to break over time or pretty-much any movement in the case.

Yes. Just set the correct boot order in the bios.

MSI Z87-G45 Gaming not entering setup or boot menu

Please someone help, I am getting no setup or boot menu, case & CPU fans come on, drives come on, led's come on, but blank screen.
I took out the graphic card & ram sticks, pulled the plug for leds & case fans, took all cables off HDD's, now only cpu & one stick of ram in dimm 2 connected + power switch.
plugged vga cable direct in MB, blank screen, then plugged cable in MB HDMI, blank screen.
tested monitor, ram & power supply in my sons computer which is a x58 LGA1366, all worked well.
I have no means of testing motherboard or cpu.
specs:
MB: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
CPU: i5-4670k
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 1866MHz 9-9-9-27 1.5v
PSU: Corsair CS650M
I also tried another PSU a Thermaltake AP850W
P.S.
I have reset all i.e. pulled plug, taken battery out, pressed reset & shorted the two reset pins next to battery.

newer board are different they need at least a CPU to even show a code as they use that to activate the BIOS and if they do not have that it will FAIL to post anything as the board is used as a backbone as nearly all the important stuff is on the CPU itself (Processor, IMC, SATA controller, Network Controller, VRM (on Haswell), GPU and many other things) so it will fail to post as before it was only a processor but now there more of a system on chip really and has most of the important stuff that used to be on the Board itself so without that the Motherboard is just an electrical plane with impressively limited connections as all the good stuff is now on the Processor that you do not have!
There is not much that you can tell till you at least get that CPU as the board has nothing to work with as there is nothing to process the signals from the BIOS so its just a useless item so shows nothing.

MSI Z87 G45 GAMING erratic BSOD/freeze @ 2300, stable @1600. Can't solve.

Hi All,
I would welcome some advice. I am about 4 months into a new machine build:
* MSI Z87 G45 GAMING motherboard
* i7-4770K Haswell 3.5 GHz & aftermarket heatpipe cooler
* 4 x 4Gb G.Skill SNIPER DDR3-2133 PC3-1700 (F3-17000CL11D-8GBSR)
* GeForce GTX 650 Ti w/ 2 Gb Video RAM
* Samsung 840 Pro 256 Gb SSD
* Thermaltake 700W Toughpower
* Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1
The system seems to run fine at the default 1600 MHz RAM speed, however if I implement either of the X.M.P. profiles (which kick the memory speed up to the RAM's advertised speed of 2133 MHz), the system will occasionally (every 8 to 48 hours) freeze or BSOD. The BSOD stop codes are inconsistent in number (0x00, 0x41, 0x1E, 0xC4) and driver. When the system freezes, there is no consistent behavior. I am not doing any other overclocking besides using the X.M.P. profile in the memory.
RAM timing on the 2133 X.M.P. profile is: 11-11-11-30.
I have updated the BIOS to 1.5, including the ME, and updated all drivers in the system. All irrelevant hardware and drivers are disabled. Also I have done the following:
* MemTest+ 5.01 for over 30 hours, all 4 sticks in. No errors.
* Intel BurnTest on 'Very High', 10 passes, no errors
* Prime95 for over day with 90 C CPU temps constantly being hit. No errors.
* Unigine Valley Benchmark for 30 minutes; no issues
I increased V_DRAM from 1.60V (from the XMP profile) to 1.65V, and I also added +0.10V offset to increase the CPU I/O ANALOG , CPU I/O DIGITAL and SYSTEM AGENT voltages. Didn't seem to help. All other CPU voltages are default from [auto].
I rolled the memory speed back to the default 1600 MHz, and the system seems stable as a rock.
I don't really need to have the memory run at 2133 MHz, but it irks me that the system is not stable with the rated components, and I'm befuddled why the stress tests seem to pass just fine, then the system will randomly hang with arguably a far less demanding load than the stress tests.
Note that I have not yet:
* reset the CMOS when changing to X.M.P. Perhaps I should?
* reseated the graphics card or CPU. The latter will require R/R of the thermal grease, which I will do if needed, but it's a pain. Since the system is stable at 1600 MHz, I assumed that all basic systems are working as they should.
* Tried to work my way up in memory speed step by stem from 1600 to 2133 to see where things fall apart.
* Tested the video memory
I suspect main system memory, despite the clean bill of health from MemTest, and based on many of the comments to others with similar problems from the veterans on this board. I don't want to push the CPU voltages too much above the default/auto values, for fear of damage and reduced lifetime.
Also, the power supply is a nice unit from an older high-end gaming rig. It is rated at 700W. The PS does probably have over 30,000 hours on it (24/7 use for 3-4 years), however. Strange that it would work at 1600 MHz fine, and with only slightly more power load at 2133. I suppose stranger things have happened.
I've read the suggestions to run only 2 sticks, rather than 4, but I can't justify dropping $140 on new memory (I don't really need the extra speed benefit, it's more curiosity and just not knowing at this point).
Anyway, perhaps more seasoned souls than I can share their thoughts. The system is perfectly usable at 1600, but I'd really like to know where the lockups are stemming from. Troubleshooting is maddening because of the inconsistency in the long times before failure and lack of repeatability to reproduce the issue.
Thanks in advance for your time.
-Paul

Thank you both for the prompt replies. I'm learning a lot.
Turns out I also found this from G.SKILL in going over reviews of the memory modules I have. Another user had a similar configuration as mine and was having similar problems. G.SKILL replied:
Quote
We are sorry to hear you were unable to get two kits working in the same system. It is not guaranteed two kits can operate at the rated specifications since they were not pre-matched, tested, and guaranteed at factory. With multi-channel motherboards, perfectly matching memory is necessary to achieve high frequency. This is why we must offer high capacity 32GB, 64GB kits, otherwise we can just sell one module at a time and have you purchase as many as you need. Unfortunately, memory does not work that way. If you purchase a 16GB kit rated at DDR3-2133, you should have absolutely no issues. For any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us directly for assistance.
Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT
Not knowing any better, I simply purchased two "kits" of 2x4 GB each and installed them. Perhaps worse, if the modules were matched, I may well have mixed them up so the matched modules don't even sit in the same channels 1/3 or 2/4. G.SKILL seems to have a pretty responsive board, so I'll ask them what they suggest.
Also in the end, I really just want a stable machine. This is a basically an office/engineering machine. My initial thinking was that if the system was unstable at 2133 then there is something wrong with it that needs to be fixed. It sounds instead like getting to 2133 is not guaranteed, and is much more of an art than simply throwing the modules in and powering up the system.
I'm perfectly happy at 1600 knowing the system is stable. Indeed realizing now that 2133 requires overclocking, I may well have backed off to 1600 even if everything had worked just fine at 2300, just to trade extra stability for the (small) performance improvement that I would likely never notice anyway.
I'll put together a post for the G.SKILL forums, and if I get anything useful I'll post what I learn here for completeness.
Thanks again for the fast and informative replies. It's much appreciated.
Best,
-Paul

Z97-G45 Gaming updating UEFI BIOS stuck at 18% (using MFlash)

System:
Z97-G45 Gaming Motherboard (upgrading from BIOS 2.5 to 2.6)
Intel 4790K
2x 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaw X 1600MHz
Gigabyte GTX 970 G1
Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
I downloaded the newest BIOS from the Z97-G45 page on MSI's website, unzipped the files, and put them on a FAT32 fromatted 2GB flash drive. I then rebooted the computer into BIOS. I used the MFlash utility to select the file and flash the update. The update progressed fine at first, but has been stuck at 18% complete for an hour now.
What courses of actions can I take at this point? I avoided flashing the BIOS in Windows because I read that it could fail, but it doesn't seem like the method I chose was any more successful.
UPDATE:
I cleared CMOS and rebooted and it loaded BIOS and Windows fine. It is still running the old version of the BIOS, so I suppose it never really started flashing the new version.

Hi,
Try again with single RAM stick with 1333MHz frequency, without graphics card and SSD/HDD. If still gets stuck at some point leave it for another 1 hour, and if doesn't proceed then turn off and clear CMOS. Then either:
-Try different BIOS file, making sure to follow the instructions right
->>Use the MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<<
or
-Contact MSI about it >>How to contact MSI.<<
May I ask why are you trying to update? Reason "I want to have latest" is no reason and is not worth taking the risk of updating the BIOS.

Msi z87-g45 gaming, no display, no beep.

I am building a gaming computer. When i turn on my computer the cpu fan spins quickly then immediately slows down to a slow spinning state. My Boost audio light is on as well. But i get no display. I have tried the DVI HDMI and VGA outputs. I also accidentally pressed the cmos button while the compute was on. I also removed my mobo battery for 5 mins. Oh and on top of all that i dont have my standoffs. So maybe the board is short circuiting. But if that was the case my is my cpu fan remaining on as well as my boost audio light?
Here are my specs:
Ultra 550w ATX Power Supply
2 DDR3 in slots 2 and 4
Cpu with no bent pins (that i can tell)
Thanks for your help.

Im having exactly the same problem did you manage to get it working in the end?
The board has been tested by aria computing and came back fine they have also replaced the RAM and CPU incase they were the problem. Il list all the things Iv tried so far. Thing that gets me is there is no beep when I turn it on so something is wrong and im banging my head against the wall not being able to figure it out.
Checked both power connections many many times
Check for shorts
Changed power supply
Changed RAM (and tested in all configerations)
Tested 3 monitors on all ports (onboard DVI, VGA and HDMI)
Put 3 GPU's in it as well and tested all ports on them
Tested on a low end CPU
Tried out of case with just power leads and a monitor connected (no HD,USB,frount audio)
Reset COSMOS and checked the battery
Here are the specs
Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
MSI Z87-G45 GAMING Intel Z87 (Socket 1150)
16GB Mushkin Enhanced Silverline #997018 (2x8GB) 1333 (PC3-10666) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM CAS 9-9-9-24 1.5V
XFX Double D FX-785A-CDJ4 Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card
Antec TP-750w
WD 500GB sata green Hard drive
240GB Crucial M500 2.5" SATA 6GB/s (SATA-III) Solid State Drive
Please help if you have any ideas :(

MOVED: Difficult overclocking i7-4770k on an MSI Z97-G45

This topic has been moved to Overclocking, Undervolting.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=251097.0

My suggestion is update to the latest BIOS since it's improved RAM compatibility.
And see this compatibility report for OC memory, but crucial only tho..
http://www.msi.com/support/mb/Z97-G45-GAMING.html#support-ocmem

Difficult overclocking i7-4770k on an MSI Z97-G45

Hi,
I have tried some very modest overclocks with my machine, but it does not seem to like it very much at all (random reboots etc).
I posted in the sticky thread about the G-SKILL RAM, and tried some suggested timings (DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 @ 1.50V), but I still had problems (random reboot happened a day or so later).
I am now back to complete defaults for everything, which seems to be the only configuration that has not yet crashed. I'm quite new to OCing, so can anyone point me in the right direction for troubleshooting this?
For reference, my hardware is as follows:
- MSI Z97-G45 (BIOS is the default that was installed when I bought it ~July).
- 4 x 8 GB G.Skill Ares DDR3 1866
- i7-4770K
- Zotac 4GB 770 GTX
Thanks!

My suggestion is update to the latest BIOS since it's improved RAM compatibility.
And see this compatibility report for OC memory, but crucial only tho..
http://www.msi.com/support/mb/Z97-G45-GAMING.html#support-ocmem

MSI Z97 G45 Motherboard (CPU / RAM PROBLEM)

Hey guys! I recently built my first PC and need some help! I'll list my setup before elaborating.
Case = NZXT H440 Black/Red
MOBO = MSI Z97 G45
CPU = i7 4790k
RAM = TridentX 2400 (16GB)
PSU = Corsair AX 760 Platinum
GPU = MSI GTX 970
SSD = Samsung Pro 850
Okay so basically after I finished the build and fired it up everything worked GREAT! But, I realized the DRAM was only running at 1333 mhz by default. I did a little research and read that you're suppose to enable XMP Profile 1 on this MSI MOBO in order to achieve the 2400 mhz this memory offers - so that's what I did! However, this caused the CPU to overheat! Apparently XMP overclocks the CPU as well? Bad! I'm on stock cooling. It took me forever to figure out that it was the XMP that was causing the overheating too.
How can I achieve 2400 mhz WITHOUT overclocking the CPU and frying my PC? Why do I have to overclock at all? The ram is sold as 2400 and suppose to be compatible with my motherboard, processor, etc.
Please help!

Quote from: badboy2k on 11-March-15, 18:36:20
Memory speed is down to how your computers CPU's Memory controller handles the higher frequancy and if the CPU sees that the IMC is suddenly loosing a hold it will boost up the Voltage on the IMC (More voltage = More Heat) its a total shot in the dark that any CPU can use above its listed memory speed without needing more voltage to be stable!
your CPU's IMC will be overtaxed by running at 2400 so the voltage is increased to use that as the speed is at 150% what the IMC was rated at (1333/1600Mhz)
for your 4790k
Memory Specifications
Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)    32 GB
Memory Types    DDR3 1333/1600
Max # of Memory Channels    2
Max Memory Bandwidth    25.6 GB/s
ECC Memory Supported ‡ No
if i was you its always a good idea to get a aftermarket cooler as the intel stock ones are very poor and are just barely enougth so the best thing to do is get a better one (e.g. a Coolermaster Hyper 212) that has a higher cooling capacity for not that much money!
that ram is putting 150% its design load on the IMC so it will be generating more heat then it was meant for so you need better cooling if your running those high OC memory sticks!
So what happens if I turn up the frequency to 2400 mhz without using the XMP profiles? Will the CPU still overclock? I know the memory needs more voltage at higher frequency, but what about CPU? Sorry I'm new to all this it's a lot to take in.

MSI Z97-G45 GAMING Sata controller performance

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for