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Freeze Poll - Gigabyte Z87 boards in general (And perhaps with D,3 & H in the ending)

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Motherboard
<< need manufacturer and model # >> See Forum Rules !!
CPU
i5 4670K
Graphics
hd 4600 + GT610
Mac
  1. iMac
I'm opening this poll to focus on the freeze issues me and some of my GA-Z87*-*** comrades
have been having.

After having FREEZE issues myself .. I combed the internet looking for similar cases/solutions
And found out I'm far from being alone .. many users with GA-Z87*-*** boards report
freeze issued and MOST of them resolved them with leaving ONLY 2 dimms in the build.
Perhaps it's only with hackintoshes, perhaps it also affects windows.
Let's find out by posting out experiences with these boards.


The freeze is a TOTAL SUDDEN/RANDOM FREEZE ..
No particular stimuli ---> no mouse, no keys, no sound, if there's video/audio playing it'll stop and halt as is.
And - no kernel panic and/or mention in CONSOLE - A FREEZE :sick:

So ..
  1. ARE YOU AN OWNER OF A GA-Z87*-*** MOTHERBOARD ?? If so - WHICH ONE ??
  2. Do you have more than 2 DIMMs ?? Explain.
  3. Have you had FREEZE ISSUEs ? (With or more or less than 2 dimms ?)
  4. What did you try to resolve the issue ?
  5. How did you end up resolving the issue ?
  6. How did your system run WINDOWS with more than 2 dimms?


My Answers :

  1. YES I own the GA-Z87M-D3H
  2. I started out with a NEW Corsair 8GB and 2xGB G-skill from a previous build
    I got to a point where I thought one of the 2x4GB are damaged and was the reason
    of the freeze however it'll work with either of them alon with the 8GB Corsair but NEVER both.
  3. I've ONLY had freezes when I had MORE THAN 2 dimms installed.
    *I don't remember if I tried with ONLY the 2x4GB (without the 1x8GB) but I will do it this week and report back to the thread.
  4. I tried everything I possibly could think of EXCEPT working with a Haswell compliant PSU
    (From replacing the motherboard .. to trying different drives,RAM, graphics cards and bios settings & versions.)
  5. Leaving only 2 Dimms in my build is the ONLY thing that seems to solve it.
    I am running stable installations of both Mountain Lion 10.8.5 AND Mavericks 10.9.1
    with ALL my hardware (GT610, HD4600, 2xSSD, 2xHDD, 2xUSB PRO sound interfaces and various bluetooth mouse keys etc.. ) working properly.
    The only thing I don't have is HDMI AUDIO from the HD 4600
    but that's solvable with Toleda's guide.
  6. For the short while I had WIN 7 installed on my build, it ran as you'd expect it to.
    *I had some Blue Memory Dump screens but it was related to a graphics issue/driver.
    So apparently its OSX that had trouble with more than 2 dimms ..
    I'm not sure I've had WIN 7 run long enough .. but it sure had longer up times than my freezing 3 dimm build.




Please post your experience with the GA-Z87*-*** boards ..
so we could have as much info on them as possible.
 
Hello there,

Motherboard: GA-H87-D3H
Graphics: on board graphics hd4600
CPU: Intel Core i5-4430
Harddrives: SanDIsk Extreme ssd 120 gb (system drive) AND one 1 tb harddisk for other files
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 8 gb


I havent been able to get this rig to work properly, it has two sticks of 4 ram, I havent tried taking one of them, and I have mavericks on it, but it keeps freezing randomly as you describe.

Is taking the ram sticks the only solution you have found so far. I have tried everything software wise...
 
Motherboard: GA-H87-D3H
Graphics: on board graphics hd4600
CPU: Intel Core i5-4430
Harddrives: SanDIsk Extreme ssd 120 gb (system drive) AND one 1 tb harddisk for other files
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 8 gb

For now I solved it taking one RAM stick out, it would freeze with both on, but work fine with just one. Run memtest and they are fine, not problems. I have to figure out how to make them both work...


 
Interesting !

Mine worx with an 8GB + 4GB ..
Next week I'm getting another motherboard for a different build so while the "lab" is working
I'll test other dim combos with my Z87M-D3H

I have 8GB Corsair and 2x4GB G-Skill
Right now stable on 12GB (8+4)
once I drop the extra 4GB it'll freeze (tried it time and again) SOLID with 12GB

I'm gonna try getting my hand on an 8GB dimm for testing.

FRECHITO : can you test your system with 1x8GB ? and perhaps 2x8GB ?

I don't remember if it was stable when I only had the 2 Gskill inside ..
perhaps it has problems with 4GB dimms.

as I said ... interesting :)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT !!!
 
my spec:
motherboard: GA-H87-D3H
MEM: 4x G.Skill DDR3 8GB 1600Mhz 11-11-11-28

Same here, this is different motherboard but it's having exactly the same issue, it appear to be common among all the motherboards from this series (Z77,Z87,H87). for me it works only if i put 2 sticks in sockets DDR3_1 and DDR3_2.

This is a link from gigabyte forum that report the same problem from users with Z77 motherboards on windows:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,8885.0.html

I will let you know guys how stable is it.
Also, I think gigabyte need to refund all the owners of those motherboards.
 
To fix the ram x4 dimm freeze issue, you have to manually configure your ram in the bios, there are other forums about it, default or auto settings don't work.

its easier to run x2 dimms, if you get the larger size ram to begin with.
 
Our problem system is a GA-Z87X-UD3H, 4771 processor, GTX 660 Ti graphics and 32 Gig of Patriot Viper memory. It had bios F7 which in trying to work through the problem I updated to F8. It wouldn't let me update to the latest F9 giving an error that I needed a more current bios utility from Gigabyte. There isn't any available online. I called up tech support and they said to upgrade to F9, I needed to RMA the board in. That gives me a clue that something very unusual is going on with this chipset.

Here is some history on how I've done a workaround: This system ran for quite some time, months, and then suddenly began to freeze randomly, progressively getting worse until it would freeze after only a few minutes and wouldn't really run at all beginning probably around April 6th or 7th. It is dual boot and on the Windows OS, no problems at all. We took out two memory sticks and now it has run for about 5 hours without a problem. Can't someone get a definitive answer as to what has to be done? TonyMac has very good contacts in Gigabyte, I wonder if they can get a resolve?
 
The processors that fit in a 1150 socket have a dual channel memory controller. Using a single memory module cuts the memory bandwidth in half. Real world performance won't be half, but it will be less, so not a great idea. It's why adding the second Dimm if your real Mac only came with one stick is such a good idea.

There are only 2 channels, but there are 4 slots. This means that if you use more than one module on a single memory channel, the individual modules not only have to drive the memory controller, but the other module as well, and the memory controller now has to drive 2 modules instead of one, twice the electrical load.

Theoretically, if you manual set timings, and put the 2 4GB modules in one channel, and the single 8 GB in the other channel, you could get a stable machine running in dual channel. Don't make the assumption that the motherboard can choose the right timings, or that a setting in the bios is correct. The motherboard could always have some inherent flaw in the design that limits the signal quality, necessitating slower memory settings for stability. Of course, don't over look the auto over clocking features as well.

Memory is sold to run at a certain speed, say 1600 for your 2x4GB pair. That was sold as a pair, and they assumed on separate channels when installed. A 1600 dual channel kit installed in to a single channel should only be expected to run at 1333, the next step down due to the effects on the digital signal due to the additional memory chips being driven.

If a set of memory is sold for dual channel, but comes with 4 sticks, then the manufacturer has done the validation that the modules work together on the same channels at the rated speed and timings. You can do your own validation if you want, you need a copy of memtest. That's what over clocking is.

To the thread in general, you might just have to manually set your timings, and decide if you want more memory, or faster memory. That's why enterprise machines with large amounts of memory don't have fast memory.

Using memtest to fine tune memory settings is a great idea for any computer builder. Here is the link: http://www.memtest.org

Some Linux live distr.'s and motherboard bios already has this integrated.
 
The processors that fit in a 1150 socket have a dual channel memory controller. Using a single memory module cuts the memory bandwidth in half. Real world performance won't be half, but it will be less, so not a great idea. It's why adding the second Dimm if your real Mac only came with one stick is such a good idea.

There are only 2 channels, but there are 4 slots. This means that if you use more than one module on a single memory channel, the individual modules not only have to drive the memory controller, but the other module as well, and the memory controller now has to drive 2 modules instead of one, twice the electrical load.

Theoretically, if you manual set timings, and put the 2 4GB modules in one channel, and the single 8 GB in the other channel, you could get a stable machine running in dual channel. Don't make the assumption that the motherboard can choose the right timings, or that a setting in the bios is correct. The motherboard could always have some inherent flaw in the design that limits the signal quality, necessitating slower memory settings for stability. Of course, don't over look the auto over clocking features as well.

Memory is sold to run at a certain speed, say 1600 for your 2x4GB pair. That was sold as a pair, and they assumed on separate channels when installed. A 1600 dual channel kit installed in to a single channel should only be expected to run at 1333, the next step down due to the effects on the digital signal due to the additional memory chips being driven.

If a set of memory is sold for dual channel, but comes with 4 sticks, then the manufacturer has done the validation that the modules work together on the same channels at the rated speed and timings. You can do your own validation if you want, you need a copy of memtest. That's what over clocking is.

To the thread in general, you might just have to manually set your timings, and decide if you want more memory, or faster memory. That's why enterprise machines with large amounts of memory don't have fast memory.

Using memtest to fine tune memory settings is a great idea for any computer builder. Here is the link: http://www.memtest.org

Some Linux live distr.'s and motherboard bios already has this integrated.

Thank you for the insightful reply. That is certainly very interesting information but I'm not sure what that means to me. I bought a 32 Gig set of Patriot Viper memory designed to work as 4-8 gig sticks. Now that it only works correctly with two sticks, I'd like to get some very specific insight as to what I need to change to what settings to get this back working as a 32 gig instead of 16 gig machine. What does the memtest utility tell me and how do I use the information?
 
A lot of people seem to set the XMP profile and then leave the remaining memory settings at Auto.

You might like to try setting not only the XMP, but also memory speed settings.

Ths may resolve some of your issues.

Also, it is not a good idea to mix different modules from different manufacturers. Although they may be the same speed, the timings for each may be different. This will not be helpful.
 
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