Question 128G DDR5 3600Mhz Ram

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Victory Pete

Mar 2, 2022
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I bought a Dell XPS 8950 and was surprised to see it came with the slower 3600Mhz Ram. 64G and 32G come with 4400Mhz. Why is this?
 
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I have never been here before in any computer. Apparently XMP is the one I can set but it does not let me highlight it. Maybe I have to set something else first? Trying to post a picture
 
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Victory Pete said:
Something just occurred to me, I could pull 2 sticks to get 64GB at 4400Mhz. I imagine the Bios would automatically set the speed to 4400. I could then do tests to see the differences. Just a guess though.
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Not the way it works sorry. You would probably manually need to set the speed unless it offers XMP profile for it.
Dell is really good at locking BIOS because they don't wont you messing with them.

EDIT if you really look at it Dell is in business to make money just like all companies if they sell 500,000 of these world wide and save 300 bucks on the memory each one that is a massive amount of money. (150 million area)
 
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SK Hynix' data suggests that the slowest DDR5 memory will run at 3200 MHz while the fastest spans up to 8400 MHz as developments progress. However, as a starting point, the company intends for all its DDR5 memory to run at least at 4800 MHz, and speeds below 4800 MHz will simply serve to conserve power in efficiency-critical applications.
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128Gb can put a strain on the memory controller, and DDR5 is as yet not mature enough, and has not been around long enough that cpu life expectancy is a known factor. I can see Dell downgrading speeds to add stability and possibly prevent RMAs for memory related issues.

Also Dell tries very hard to put the smallest possible psu in a pc, so chopping an extra 40w± from the power draw is a bonus as it offsets the additional power draw from added sticks.

Dell has been using custom bios for as long as I can remember, which is quite a while. It's of no surprise that XMP is grayed out, it's technically an OC anyway. Dells unofficial moto is 'should have bought a more expensive model' if you want higher performance, they as a company do Not want you upgrading in any way except through them. Proprietary is an understatement.
 
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Zerk2012 said:
Not the way it works sorry. You would probably manually need to set the speed unless it offers XMP profile for it.
Dell is really good at locking BIOS because they don't wont you messing with them.

EDIT if you really look at it Dell is in business to make money just like all companies if they sell 500,000 of these world wide and save 300 bucks on the memory each one that is a massive amount of money. (150 million area)
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I think that is the way it works. The Ram in the computer is already 4800Mhz. It is just set to 3600Mhz. Please prove me otherwise. I will be pulling 2 sticks out tomorrow and see if I do get 4400Mhz.
 
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Xmp is an automatic setting, it applies standardized voltages, timings etc for that ram. But thats a 1 button click. It might be possible to manually set the voltage, speeds etc that's the same as the Xmp setting, or at least a little higher. Since none of us is intimately familiar with that exact bios, it'll be on you to search the tabs and decipher the variables and settings.
 
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Karadjgne said:
Xmp is an automatic setting, it applies standardized voltages, timings etc for that ram. But thats a 1 button click. It might be possible to manually set the voltage, speeds etc that's the same as the Xmp setting, or at least a little higher. Since none of us is intimately familiar with that exact bios, it'll be on you to search the tabs and decipher the variables and settings.
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Dell is trying to help on the Dell Forum by sending me Private Messages only, they don't respond to my Thread. Problem is I can not see those Private Messages clearly for some reason.
 
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Welcome to Dell bios. They do dumb stuff like this all the time. It's very common to only allow certain cpus, like a couple of i3 and i5, but deny the higher performance i3, i5, i7 and i9 cpus, even if the chipset would normally support such, simply to make prospective buyers purchase a more expensive model. The bios is custom chopped and based entirely on a particular model.

My Old Dell had an lga775 chipset, and would handle a quad core q6600 normally, according to chipset, but was stuck on dual core only because of the bios. If I installed the mobo manufacturer chipset bios and bypassed Dell entirely, would have (back then) cost me a new windows as that's tied in through Dell on the mobo, no Microsoft resistration key. $30 for cpu, $130 for WinXp Pro.

The reason Dell is telling you to return the entire pc is not because the ram is faulty, but because you most likely require a new higher tier pc that has a bios that allows Xmp or has higher ram speed settings. For an extra $100-$300+.
 
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Karadjgne said:
Welcome to Dell bios. They do dumb stuff like this all the time. It's very common to only allow certain cpus, like a couple of i3 and i5, but deny the higher performance i3, i5, i7 and i9 cpus, even if the chipset would normally support such, simply to make prospective buyers purchase a more expensive model. The bios is custom chopped and based entirely on a particular model.

My Old Dell had an lga775 chipset, and would handle a quad core q6600 normally, according to chipset, but was stuck on dual core only because of the bios. If I installed the mobo manufacturer chipset bios and bypassed Dell entirely, would have (back then) cost me a new windows as that's tied in through Dell on the mobo, no Microsoft resistration key. $30 for cpu, $130 for WinXp Pro.

The reason Dell is telling you to return the entire pc is not because the ram is faulty, but because you most likely require a new higher tier pc that has a bios that allows Xmp or has higher ram speed settings. For an extra $100-$300+.
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At $5000 I think I am at the Pinnacle.
 
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This is what is in the BIOS. the XMP is not accessible, but can changes be made to the 3 memory parameters that will set the speed from 3600 Mhz to 4800Mhz?

PDaqmqg.jpg
 
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Victory Pete said:
I took out 64G this morning and ran the tests. 128 is better at this point but the 64G did not reset to 4400Mhz like I had assumed. This makes me think that if I had the stock 64G XPS 8950 that is set to 4400G and then add 64G the total system may be at 4400Mhz which would be faster than mine at 3600Mhz. This is getting irritating.

AAX5fub.jpg

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A4oRwFk.jpg
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Where are you seeing the 3600/4400 speed?
Did you remove the proper 2 sticks for the 64GB test?
 
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This test shows the 128 winning, but it was only from a sample of 19 compared to 202 for 64G and it is only a ranking, not a numerical score. The other test did not sample Ram amounts separately and it is a numerical score.
Ram test for 64G 4400Mhz
NUNw7LV.jpg


Ram test for 128G 3600Mhz
pj6Ur0q.jpg
 
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