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RAM Won't Run At Advertised Frequency

BluRayHiDef

Banned
EDIT:

Problem Solved! See here.

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I have the following RAM kit installed in my PC: G.Skil TridentZ RGB 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR4-3600. As you can see, its advertised speed is 3600MHz. However, it runs at only 2666MHz in my PC. I inquired about this issue on Reddit and was told that the cause may be that the RAM isn't listed in my motherboard's QVL (Qualified Vendor List), which you can see here: QVL for Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) (click on the second link, which is the QVL for Ryzen 3000 Series Desktop Processors).

Prior to learning this, I tried to overclock the RAM to its advertised speed and failed; I manually set the frequency to 3600MHz, set the voltage to 1.4v, and set everything else to auto, but my PC would not boot.

After learning this, I tried to overclock the RAM again, but this time I used AMD's DRAM Calculator to guide me; I input all of the values produced by DRAM Calculator, but - once again - my PC would not boot.

What do you think that I can do to get this RAM to run at 3600MHz?

By the way, the following are my PC's full specifications:

01. Ryzen 9 3950X

02. Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI)

03. G. Skill Trident Z RGB 64GBs (2 x 32GBs) DDR4 RAM

04. PNY XLR8 Gaming REVEL EPIC-X RGB RTX 3090

05. Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SATA SSD (Windows OS)

06. Sabrent "Rocket" PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe 2TB SSD (games)

07. Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB HDD

08. Western Digital Blue 4TB & 6TB HDDs

09. Corsair TX850M 850 Watt 80+ Gold PSU

10. Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG
 
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Krappadizzle

Gold Member
What do you think that I can do to get this RAM to run at 3600MHz?
Get the ram you payed for. Sounds like you did every reasonable step. I've never had issues overclocking ram via BIOS, and from how you describe you could try a slightly smaller clock and voltage, but it seems like there isn't much else you can do. Did you maybe get fake ram? It's not incredibly uncommon believe it or not.
 
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Kerlurk

Banned
 
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888

Member
I don’t see mention of XMP in your post. Just manual overclocking. Make sure you enable xmp. But since it’s AMD and the ram isn’t on the QVL you may be SOL.
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
I have had the same problem myself in the past, with not being able to boot at the spec speed, and just gave up, and ran it at the speed that motherboard accepted it at.

That's a really high clock, but I would aim for 3200 if you can, and see if that can post.

Performance wise, you looking at a very small difference.
This is true too at 3200, he'd see a bigger boost from a CPU OC.
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I have had the same problem myself in the past, with not being able to boot at the spec speed, and just gave up, and ran it at the speed that motherboard accepted it at.

That's a really high clock, but I would aim for 3200 if you can, and see if that can post.

Performance wise, you looking at a very small difference.

You can try exchanging for another set, but choose a different manufacturer.

It seems half my life was spent trying to resolve PC issues. :( Some problems took days and days, before solution was found or gave up.

That monster graphics card of yours is taking a lot of power. Try another card, and see if it has a difference. If so, might need a bigger/better power supply.
I've tried overclocking it to multiple frequencies above 2666MHz, not just 3600MHz; it failed to boot every time.
 

01011001

Banned
#1: Is your bios flashed to the newest version?
#2: have you tried using the XMP profile?
#3: have you tried running slightly higher voltage?

I had a similar issue on my board (which was tied to an old bios as it turned out) it didn't correctly use the XMP profile and didn't post. so I manually had to tweak the voltage until it posted... apparently the XMP settings didn't properly adjust the voltage settings (the bios update fixed this later) and I had to manually tinker with it.
 
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BluRayHiDef

Banned
Get the ram you payed for. Sounds like you did every reasonable step. Did you maybe get fake ram? It's not incredibly uncommon believe it or not. I've never had issues overclocking ram via Bios, and from how you describe, seems like there isn't much else you can do.

I bought this RAM from Micro Center; they're a legitimate computer hardware retailer. Maybe the RAM is just incompatible with my board, since it's not listed in the board's QVL (even though my board is listed in the RAM's QVL).
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
I bought this RAM from Micro Center; they're a legitimate computer hardware retailer. Maybe the RAM is just incompatible with my board, since it's not listed in the board's QVL (even though my board is listed in the RAM's QVL).
Yeah, Micro Center is legit retailer for sure. Is there a mobo update you can do? Maybe support was added after manufacture of your board?
 
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BluRayHiDef

Banned
#1: Is your bios flashed to the newest version?
#2: have you tried using the XMP profile?
#3: have you tried running slightly higher voltage?

I had a similar issue on my board (which was tied to an old bios as it turned out) it didn't correctly use the XMP profile and didn't post. so I manually had to tweak the voltage until it posted... apparently the XMP settings didn't properly adjust the voltage settings (the bios update fixed this later) and I had to manually tinker with it.

1. Yes.
2. No. I don't see an option for XMP.
3. Yes.
 

Mithos

Member
Should have gone with "Ryzen" tested ram at least...
All 3 different sets of 2x 32GB ram G.Skill claim is tested and QVL with your mobo.

But ONLY the "G.Skill Trident Z Neo Series RGB 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR4-3200 PC4-25600 CL16" have specific information about being tested and made for Ryzen 3000 series and X570 on G.skills homepage for the ram.
 

Mithos

Member
I believe the AMD equivalent is D.O.C.P, that’s the setting you should look for if XMP is not there.

Correct should even be on the very first page you get to in ASUS Bios.
SjtI0io.png
 
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01011001

Banned
1. Yes.
2. No. I don't see an option for XMP.
3. Yes.

if you really don't see an option for activating XMP profiles then your board really doesn't at least natively support your ram.
this means you will have to tinker with voltages and clocks yourself until it runs stable at best, and at worst it will not run above 2666 at all :/

edit: for AMD it is either called "AMP", "D.O.C.P" or "A-XMP" depending on board
 
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Kerlurk

Banned
 
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M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Load up XMP profile. How is it called on AMD D.O.C.P I think, in Extreme Tweaker, you have to go to Advance mode and there you have that, it sets the proper voltage, otherwise it's not going to boot.
 

Armorian

Banned
You should just set memory profile and it should work. I had to bump voltage one notch up to make memory stable but other than that it's super easy.
 

01011001

Banned
Load up XMP profile. How is it called on AMD D.O.C.P I think, in Extreme Tweaker, you have to go to Advance mode and there you have that, it sets the proper voltage, otherwise it's not going to boot.

it depends on the board what it is called, common names are AMP, A-XMP and DOCP
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I think there's a higher chance it's the chipset that got messed up.

You can try taking the CPU out and see if there are any signs of burning on the CPU 'pins'. You can do the same for the motherboard itself. I don't think your graphics card would have suffered damage. Chances are quite slim for that, although it's not impossible. It would have to damage the chipset and the CPU before it can reach the graphics card.
#1: Is your bios flashed to the newest version?
#2: have you tried using the XMP profile?
#3: have you tried running slightly higher voltage?

I had a similar issue on my board (which was tied to an old bios as it turned out) it didn't correctly use the XMP profile and didn't post. so I manually had to tweak the voltage until it posted... apparently the XMP settings didn't properly adjust the voltage settings (the bios update fixed this later) and I had to manually tinker with it.
I believe the AMD equivalent is D.O.C.P, that’s the setting you should look for if XMP is not there.
XMP can be hidden under overclocking profiles. It took me a bit to find it on the Gugabyte Auros board I used recently. My Asus board was a bit quicker to find.
if you really don't see an option for activating XMP profiles then your board really doesn't at least natively support your ram.
this means you will have to tinker with voltages and clocks yourself until it runs stable at best, and at worst it will not run above 2666 at all :/

edit: for AMD it is either called "AMP", "D.O.C.P" or "A-XMP" depending on board
Xmp find it. Will be like winning the lottery
Load up XMP profile. How is it called on AMD D.O.C.P I think, in Extreme Tweaker, you have to go to Advance mode and there you have that, it sets the proper voltage, otherwise it's not going to boot.

I just loaded the D.O.C.P setting via the BIOS and it wouldn't post afterwards. I've reset the settings and am back in the OS (from which I'm typing this message). I'm just going to accept that this RAM isn't compatible. I bought it because it has RGB; I never considered that it could be incompatible.
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
I just loaded the D.O.C.P setting via the BIOS and it wouldn't post afterwards. I've reset the settings and am back in the OS (from which I'm typing this message). I'm just going to accept that this RAM isn't compatible. I bought it because it has RGB; I never considered that it could be incompatible.
Can you screenshot your DOCP settings? What timings, freq, voltages did you use? Was there a few profiles to pick from?
 
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M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I just loaded the D.O.C.P setting via the BIOS and it wouldn't post afterwards. I've reset the settings and am back in the OS (from which I'm typing this message). I'm just going to accept that this RAM isn't compatible. I bought it because it has RGB; I never considered that it could be incompatible.
Upgrade bios then, if you have ethernet, it should be painless...

it depends on the board what it is called, common names are AMP, A-XMP and DOCP
He has ASUS, that's DOCP
 
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01011001

Banned
I just loaded the D.O.C.P setting via the BIOS and it wouldn't post afterwards. I've reset the settings and am back in the OS (from which I'm typing this message). I'm just going to accept that this RAM isn't compatible. I bought it because it has RGB; I never considered that it could be incompatible.

I posted this above already, but my board didn't adjust voltages correctly when I activated the A-XMP (DOCP) profile (which was fixed in a bios update later), maybe try running it at 1.5v? you said you tried 1.4v but 1.5v might be worth trying, it is the upper limit of safe voltages and might be worth a try as a last resort basically.
 
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M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
There's a new beta version that was released on the 4th of this month (Link). Are beta versions safe? I'm using the latest finalized Bios.
No I would definitely not do that, rollback, it should be possible from beta. I had shitton of problems with beta version, to the point that I had to resume bios by that misterious USB port on X570-E...
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
No I would definitely not do that, rollback, it should be possible from beta. I had shitton of problems with beta version, to the point that I had to resume bios by that misterious USB port on X570-E...

I'm not using that BIOS. I'm using an earlier, finalized version. I was simply asking whether or not it's safe to use that one since it's a beta version.
 

mr.dilya

Banned
I had the same problem with gskill ram. I verified it was on my mobos QVL, installed them and my computer booted and was running like shit. Took them out, reseated them, rebooted, same problem. Put my old team ram back in and it was running fine again.

I exchanged the Gskill ram for another team Vulcan 32gb kit and have had no issues. Weird. Anyway I saved money because that gskill ram isn’t cheap.
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I wonder if it's trying to pick a clock automatically that's not gonna work? From within those settings can you manually set things?

The DOCP option in the BIOS includes the advertised frequency of my RAM in its name. Also, the BIOS subsequently displays 3600MHz as the targeted frequency of the RAM after I select the DOCP setting.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I'm not using that BIOS. I'm using an earlier, finalized version. I was simply asking whether or not it's safe to use that one since it's a beta version.
Oh so I would rather wait till full release and leave Ram at 2666Mhz even if that's quite a hog. Maybe switch position of those sticks? Also I would try to put just one a then the other, because it still can be faulty. RAM sticks sometimes can be faulty out of the gate.
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
I just figured this out on my system where it turned out my specific motherboard required the two memory modules to be in specific slots to hit 3200 or higher. I had them plugged into A1/B1 and had to move them to A2/B2. May not apply to your specific motherboard but something to look for.
Good point. BluRayHiDef BluRayHiDef Your ram isn't plugged in side-by-side is it?
 

jra101

Neo Member
My mobo has slots setup as A1/A2/B1/B2 from left to right so they weren't side by side, just in the wrong set of two slots.
 

Dogman

Member
Do you have a non-modular PSU? If so, did you connect a 4pin connector from the PSU into one of the fan headers? It sounds stupid but this can cause the board to short circuit or cause issues with power delivery
 

01011001

Banned
The DOCP option in the BIOS includes the advertised frequency of my RAM in its name. Also, the BIOS subsequently displays 3600MHz as the targeted frequency of the RAM after I select the DOCP setting.

the thing is, if your board correctly detects the XMP profile like that, that seems to me that it is supported... right? would the board detect the XMP profiles of the RAM if the bios wouldn't support that specific RAM stick? Has anyone ever tried this or know it from somehwere else trying it?
that's just pure speculation on my part... as I never tried anything like that (and I generally don't tinker around with my RAM that much tbh.)

I say, deactivate DOCP, set the frequency manually and run it at 1.5v if that doesn't work then it's really a support issue on the board's side or a power delivery issue.
 
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Mithos

Member
Move RAM to 2nd and 4th slot (these are the recommended slots when using 2 ram sticks on most boards, and yours according to manual)
Labeled: DIMM_B2* / DIMM_A2*
 
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BluRayHiDef

Banned
UNBELIEVABLE! Switching the RAM to slots 2 and 4 made it work! I can't believe that something that simple was the cause of the issue.

After switching the modules, I booted the computer, went into the BIOS and saw that the RAM was still running at 2666MHz. I then selected the DOCP option, which automatically set 3600MHz as the target frequency. Finally, I set my CPU's core voltage to AUTO since I had it undervolted to 1v; I did this because I wanted to remove all anomalies/ irregularities in the BIOS settings before attempting to boot into Windows (I also did this on my other, failed attempts). So, now that it's up and running, I'm going to undervolt my CPU again to see if the PC boots, because my CPU runs cool when it's undervolted.

54qy1uA.jpg

EDIT:

It boots even with my CPU undervolted to 1v. Great!

Thanks a lot for the help, guys. I can't believe that the source of the problem was so simple.

By the way, since I had to move the DIMMs to the 2nd and 4th slots, does this mean that if I buy two more DIMMS that I won't be able to run all four DIMMs at 3600MHz?
 
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Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
Perhaps a silly question, but have you enabled XMP in the bios?
Was going to ask the same thing.

Worked for my issue and I have the same ram set OP mentioned (Don't know if it is EXACTLY the same...but its paired AMD @3600)

*Edit* nvm seems like you got it working! 👍
 
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01011001

Banned
UNBELIEVABLE! Switching the RAM to slots 3 and 4 made it work! I can't believe that something that simple was the cause of the issue.

After switching the modules, I booted the computer, went into the BIOS and saw that the RAM was still running at 2666MHz. I then selected the DOCP option, which automatically set 3600MHz as the target frequency. Finally, I set my CPU's core voltage to AUTO since I had it undervolted to 1v; I did this because I wanted to remove all anomalies/ irregularities in the BIOS settings before attempting to boot into Windows (I also did this on my other, failed attempts). So, now that it's up and running, I'm going to undervolt my CPU again to see if the PC boots, because my CPU runs cool when it's undervolted.

54qy1uA.jpg

fucking hell... PCs really are fucking dumb some times lol... like why is that even a thing? :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy:

but I mean, if it works then... that's nice to hear :)
 
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