/?pid=phenom-ii-am3-facing-ddr3-1333-stability-issues-5852

Updated:05:28 PM EST Feb 14


this is ggmania.com subsite Phenom II AM3 Facing DDR3-1333 Stability Issues - TechAmok

Phenom II AM3 Facing DDR3-1333 Stability Issues - [hardware]
03:39 AM EST - Feb,14 2009 - post a comment

If you're eying an AMD Phenom II AM3 platform, you'll want to pay attention to this budding issue. TechPowerUp reports that AMD has acknowledged a limitation with the DDR3 memory sub-system:
Barely a week into the introduction of the DDR3-supportive AM3 socket CPUs, the processors seem to be having design flaws. This, as circulated by AMD in its revision guide document for the 10h family of processors (found here, page 80). The issue, as described by AMD, centers around the DDR3 memory sub-system. On machines with more than one PC3-10600 (1333 MHz) memory module populating a memory channel, the users may experience unreliable operation. The company does not get into the specifics of the symptoms. This issue however, does not affect systems with a module per channel (one or two modules installed in the motherboard), and only those with three to four modules installed.

The AMD K10 memory controllers on AM3-socket processor provide a 128-bit wide memory interface (with DRAM Ganged mode enabled), which amount to two 64-bit wide memory channels. On most motherboards, four DIMM slots with two slots sharing a memory channel are present. With this issue, one is not recommended to use more than one DDR3-1333 memory module per channel. AMD recommends a quick fix for the issue for systems using more than one DDR3-1333 module per memory channel: to manually specify the memory to run at 533 MHz (1066 MHz DDR), and accordingly set DRAM timings. As a little compensation, one can tighten DRAM timings with the drop in frequency. AMD will fix this issue in the next stepping (sub-version) of the CPUs. The "x-factor" with this erratum revolves around DRAM voltage, a significant factor. One might note AMD saying "the processor memory subsystem may exhibit unreliable operation over the allowable VDDIO voltage range", which leads us to think if there is a potential workaround with adjusting the DRAM voltage beyond the allowable range (read: over-volting the memory). We hope to hear more from AMD on this.

UPDATE (02/13): AMD replied to the report, saying that work is in progress toward fixing the issue. While not getting into the specifics, AMD indicated to us that apart from addressing the issue, the company is also working toward something "which will make you ‘feel cozy' about the DDR3 support". The statement is ambiguous, and is best left uninterpreted at this point in time.

Short overview of recent news articles

Google Releases First Beta Version of Android 17 (Feb,14 2026 )

The Audiophile Gaming Headset - HIFIMAN x ROG Kithara (Feb,14 2026 )

7zip Malware: Beware 7zip.com (Feb,14 2026 )

REDMAGIC 11 Pro Review: Can This Be Your ONLY Phone? (Feb,14 2026 )

Google Docs now has AI-generated audio summaries (Feb,13 2026 )

Apple Patches Actively Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerability Across (Feb,13 2026 )

What is the Windows.old folder and can I delete it? (Feb,13 2026 )

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman: "Most White Collar Work Will Be (Feb,12 2026 )

Helldivers Movie Lands November 2027 Release, Jason Momoa to Star (Feb,12 2026 )

Apple 0-Day Vulnerability Actively Exploited in Sophisticated Attack (Feb,12 2026 )

Apple releases iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3 to the public (Feb,11 2026 )

T-Mobile Announces Live Audio Language Translation as a Network (Feb,11 2026 )

Windows 11 26H1 Drops Exclusively on New Snapdragon X2 Devices - No (Feb,10 2026 )

Fake 7-Zip downloads are turning home PCs into proxy nodes (Feb,10 2026 )

Microsoft Patch Tuesday February 2026 - 54 Vulnerabilities Fixed, (Feb,10 2026 )

Snapdragon X2 Elite Early - Performance Preview (Feb,10 2026 )

AI Chat App Exposes 300 Million Messages from 25 Million Users (Feb,10 2026 )

My Kids can Pick ANY Phone They Want For a Present (Feb,09 2026 )

Microsoft Removes Printer Drivers in Windows 11 Update - What You (Feb,09 2026 )

Apple's Next AirPods Pro Will Literally See the World Around You (Feb,09 2026 )

Beware of Apple Pay Phishing Attack that Aims to Steal Your Payment (Feb,09 2026 )

NASA to Allow Astronauts to Bring Smartphones to Space (Feb,08 2026 )

AT&T Launches New Samsung Phone for Kids (Feb,08 2026 )

Headphones with Noise Cancelling that Don't Stick in your Ear - (Feb,07 2026 )

Microsoft Just Killed Your Old Printer: Legacy Drivers Officially (Feb,07 2026 )

RenEngine Loader and HijackLoader Duo Infects Over 400,000 Gamers in (Feb,06 2026 )

EpsteIn Tool: Check If Your LinkedIn Contacts Appear in 3.5 Million (Feb,06 2026 )

Bitcoin's $64,000 Reality vs. $87K+ Production Costs Sparks (Feb,05 2026 )

Crypto Analyst Issues Urgent 'Final Warning' on XRP: Claims (Feb,05 2026 )

AI-Powered Breach: Hacker Claims AWS Kingdom in Under 10 Minutes (Feb,04 2026 )

Microsoft Axes Standalone SharePoint and OneDrive Plans in Push to (Feb,04 2026 )

Nvidia's $100 billion OpenAI deal has seemingly vanished (Feb,04 2026 )

The Best 14" Gaming Laptops Right Now (Feb,04 2026 )

The Solution to the RAM Crisis is... DDR4??? (Feb,04 2026 )

Google Meet can now join Microsoft Teams calls (Feb,03 2026 )

The Devil Wears Prada 2 - Official Trailer (2026) Meryl Streep, Anne (Feb,03 2026 )

*EPSTEIN HAD THE SEC SUE RIPPLE/XRP - HOLY SH*T | Gensler Worked For (Feb,02 2026 )

Mozilla Firefox is making it super easy to turn off its generative (Feb,02 2026 )

Windows 11 quietly gets a new security feature to protect system (Feb,01 2026 )

WARNING: TRUMP & RIPPLE/XRP SECRET AGREEMENT AT DAVOS (Feb,01 2026 )

China's new RAM company, CXMT, is selling RAM at $138 (Feb,01 2026 )

Windows keeps a permanent record of every USB device you've ever (Feb,01 2026 )

Intel Is BACK - Panther Lake Changes Everything (Feb,01 2026 )

NVIDIA Releases GeForce Security Update Driver 582.28 for Legacy (Jan,31 2026 )

AMD 'Zen 6' CCD Packs 12 Cores, 48 MB L3 Cache (Jan,31 2026 )

Microsoft Set to Disable Legacy NTLM Authentication by Default in (Jan,31 2026 )

NVIDIA GeForce 591.86 WHQL Driver (Jan,30 2026 )

iOS 26.3-Important New iPhone Location Privacy Feature Coming Soon (Jan,30 2026 )

I Made the Ultimate Steam Machine Before Valve (Jan,29 2026 )

Wardriver - Official Trailer (2026) Dane DeHaan, Sasha Calle, (Jan,29 2026 )

>> News Archive <<

TechAmok - Privacy Policy        loading time:0.08secs