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Aurora-R7, HyperX Fury 2933 problem
I just upgraded the RAM in my new Aurora R7 from 16 Gb of non-heat sinked Micron to 32 Gb of HyperX Fury 2933MHz. After putting all 4 RAM modules in place and making sure they were correctly installed I booted up the machine; however, it would not POST and all I had was a flashing greenish yellow Alien head. Removed and reinstalled the RAM again, but no joy still wouldn't POST. I took the 4 pieces of RAM and divided them into 2 pairs of 2 (16 Gb) then installed the first pair in to banks 1 and 3. The Aurora quickly POSTed and booted into Windows; CPU-Z and Alienware Command Center both reported the RAM to be running at 2933MHz and XMP 1. Powered the system down and moved the RAM into banks 2 and 4; once again everything worked as advertised.
I then replaced the RAM in banks 2 and 4 with the second pair and once again everything worked absolutely fine. Finally, I moved that pair into banks 1 and 3; as expected system POSTed and booted into Windows just fine. Okay, so all four sticks have now been confirmed to be working correctly across all four banks. I added the second pair back to the system, but lo and behold, the system will no longer POST. Removed a pair and once again the system booted normally.
Okay, time to contact Alienware Tech Support. After going through and explaining everything that I had done, and the problems I had been encountering the Tech wanted to check my BIOS version, which I had already upgraded to the 1.0.8 version. I was then informed that I probably needed a new motherboard. He asked for the part number from my RAM and placed me on hold. After returning, he informed me that "they" had all discussed it and that "the Aurora R7 will not run on HyperX 2933 RAM." He got a bit miffed when I said that "they" were incorrect, and if they would look at the Aurora system configuration page they would see that the factory installed high speed RAM option for the Aurora was in fact the HyperX 2933MHz. After that, it was decided to transfer the issue to the engineers.
So, anyone have any ideas about why my Aurora will run with 16Gb of HyperX Fury 2933, but will not POST if I install the full 32 Gb?
AlaskaWolf
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June 20th, 2018 14:00
Just keep in mind the manual is incorrect. The DIMMS need to be installed as pairs in Slot 1 and 3, or 2 and 4. Reference page 19, the black tabs (items 4 & 6) are DIMM Slots 1 & 3 or memory channel 1. The white tabs are Slots 2 & 4 or memory channel 2. One DIMM, either 8GB or 16GB, can be installed in Slot 1 and the R7 will run correctly, however, two DIMMs need to be installed as pairs in one memory channel.
I did try installing as recommended on page 76 just to see what would happen, and as expected absolutely nothing happened. The R7 would not POST at power up and simply gave me a Bad Memory indicator. ;)
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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August 9th, 2018 19:00
Hey @AlaskaWolf ,
Not sure if you are still around (or still working on this) but I found this while searching for something else.
Looks like Four 8gb DIMMs worked back in the Aurora-R5 days.
https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General/Aurora-R6-Memory-Question-Why-a-single-DIMM/m-p/5591805/highlight/true#M93400
AlaskaWolf
82 Posts
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August 10th, 2018 07:00
@Tesla1856 wrote:
Hey @AlaskaWolf ,
Not sure if you are still around (or still working on this) but I found this while searching for something else.
Looks like Four 8gb DIMMs worked back in the Aurora-R5 days.
https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General/Aurora-R6-Memory-Question-Why-a-single-DIMM/m-p/5591805/highlight/true#M93400
Yeah, I had read this article some time ago. I have noticed that Alienware has addressed memory issues in several recent BIOS updates, but whether or not they fixed the defect with the system not being able to run 4 - 8Gb modules I do not know. I suspect they might have, as both Micron/Crucial and Kingston/HyperX took an interest in the issue. In the end, I simply installed 4 - 16 Gb of HyperX 2666 MHz RAM after my performance testing showed that the performance of the HyperX 2666 was virtually identical to that of the HyperX 2933 RAM, only at half of the cost.
Interesting enough, the XMP2 mode on the HyperX 2933 is 2666 MHz with identical timings to standard HyperX 2666 RAM. This leads me to suspect that the HyperX 2933 is nothing more than overclocked HyperX 2666; but the 9% gain in speed is not producing a 9% increase in performance, it would appear to be a less than 1% performance increase for double the cost. Not worth it. Another note of interest, the 3000 MHz RAM modules I successfully tried in the R7 again showed only extremely minor performance improvements over the Z370 native 2666 MHz RAM.
mp_108
175 Posts
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December 10th, 2018 13:00
just to add my 2 cents worth.
I bought 2 x 8gb Hyperx Fury 2993. Installing them any of the 6 possible combinations would give 5 flashes - RAM failure.
I got them to work by updating BIOS from 1.0.9 to 1.0.17.; installed in white slot furthest from CPU and the adjacent black slot.
AlaskaWolf
82 Posts
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December 10th, 2018 20:00
With that configuration, your PC is running in Single Channel mode. To run in Dual Channel mode, both RAM modules MUST be installed in the same bank. The two white tabbed slots are one bank, the black tabbed slots are the second bank; with one module in each bank the system runs in Single Channel mode.
mp_108
175 Posts
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December 11th, 2018 11:00
Thanks for that; I just tried all 6 combination and only one works XXM1 (white) and 4 (black) as marked on board , single channel, disappointing :(
AlaskaWolf
82 Posts
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December 11th, 2018 12:00
I would probably call Tech Support. While investigating the problems the R7 was having running different 8 Gb modules, I had absolutely no problem running matched factory Kingston Hyper X 8 GB 2933 MHz modules in either bank. The R7 mobo is cantankerous and does not like any RAM mismatches.
mp_108
175 Posts
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December 22nd, 2018 04:00
I'm not the original purchaser so doubt tech support will talk to me.
The two modules are identical.
Which BIOS version do you have on your R7?
AlaskaWolf
82 Posts
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December 22nd, 2018 07:00
I'm running BIOS 1.0.17, I try to keep my BIOS updated because so many of the BIOS updates have been RAM related. And just because there have been so many BIOS updates. My 5 yr old XPS 8700 is only up to a V 13 BIOS; the 1 yr old R7 is already up to V 17 BIOS? I can honestly say that I haven't seen so many BIOS update to a Dell product as I have with the Aurora R7.
Did you purchase your modules as a matched pair? Unless they are actually a factory matched pair, they are not necessarily "identical". I have actually seen non-identical "identical" RAM modules fault out some fairly RAM tolerant motherboards, and the R7 motherboard is anything but RAM tolerant. Which is why the rule of thumb is to always buy your RAM as a matched set.
JIM HSING
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February 16th, 2019 07:00
I try 2133 and (or) 2400 all failed .Only amber light 2,2 short . (Crying)