[SOLVED] 3000MHz RAM running at 2133MHz

[bothamlet]

Hello to everyone. I'm writing because I've encountered a problem/inconvenience and none of the forum posts seemed to solve it.
I would really appreciate any help given.

Specs:

Motherboard - A320M-A PRO M2
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2600
GPU - NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER
RAM1 - G.skill Aegis 8GB F4-3000C16S-8GISB DDR4
RAM2 - G.skill Aegis 8GB F4-3000C16S-8GISB DDR4
(one of them is dual and another single apparently)
PSU - Aerocool ACP-650LRD
OS - Windows 10 64

I've been perusing some of the very similar questions to mine but have yet to find an answer that worked.
I figured I would try to ask here as my last hope.

What I have tried:

My 1st solution was to update BIOS to the latest non beta version provided (7C52v16). That didn't change anything.
My 2nd solution after that was to turn on A-XMP (tried both profiles) but that solved nothing. One interesting thing was that I quit BIOS with the saved settings my computer shut down, turned on for a few secs and then procceded to shut down again. Then it booted up like nothing happened. This made me think that maybe the settings didn't change and it simply rebooted at default settings (I had the option in BIOS which tried to boot a couple of times with chosen settings enabled) but after restarting and going into BIOS the settings remained there (although the first couple of times I found A-XMP turned off).
My 3rd solution was to change the DRAM frequency to 3000MHz and later to 2933(?)MHz. This had no effect.

What I have not tried:

I have not touched the timings or voltages. (wasn't completely confident in myself and it honestly looked a tad intimidating)
I have not switched RAM places (my motherboard only has 2 slots so I figured there was no need)
I have not tried to test both RAM sticks separately. (maybe my the new stick is faulty?)
I have not updated certain drivers (motherboard too) for some time. (maybe problematic?)


I appreciate any help provided.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Read the following guide, particularly the section titled "The odd man out (Or mixed memory)". The problem is likely due to using unmatched DIMMs and potentially also DIMMs that might not even be validated as compatible with your motherboard. Generally speaking the Aegis memory kits didn't have great compatibility with early Ryzen platforms and then mixing them on top of that is an almost surefire way to see anything beyond the JEDEC baseline configuration not work. Not saying it can't be done, but those are hard to overcome, unlike some other memory issues.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

I would definitely recommend that you try using only a single DIMM, first one, then the other, in the DIMM_B1 slot, then enable A-XMP, save settings and see if it will POST at that setting with one stick. If not, try the other.

Also, you should verify compatibility by checking the motherboard QVL list to see if the memory is on it and also the G.Skill memory configurator to see fit THEY show it as compatible by motherboard model.

https://www.gskill.com/configurator

 

[thx1138v2]

Anything over 2667 MHz is considered overclocked. See here.

So set everything up for that speed and try it with both DRAM modules. Once that is working try each different speed listed until it becomes unstable. Then back up one setting and try that. If it boots but become unstable gain later back up once more and try that. Proceed with procedure until you reach a stable configuration.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Anything over 2667 MHz is considered overclocked. See here.

So set everything up for that speed and try it with both DRAM modules. Once that is working try each different speed listed until it becomes unstable. Then back up one setting and try that. If it boots but become unstable gain later back up once more and try that. Proceed with procedure until you reach a stable configuration.

Yeah. Listen to them. They seem to have it all figured out so just do that.

 

[bothamlet]

Read the following guide, particularly the section titled "The odd man out (Or mixed memory)". The problem is likely due to using unmatched DIMMs and potentially also DIMMs that might not even be validated as compatible with your motherboard. Generally speaking the Aegis memory kits didn't have great compatibility with early Ryzen platforms and then mixing them on top of that is an almost surefire way to see anything beyond the JEDEC baseline configuration not work. Not saying it can't be done, but those are hard to overcome, unlike some other memory issues.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

I would definitely recommend that you try using only a single DIMM, first one, then the other, in the DIMM_B1 slot, then enable A-XMP, save settings and see if it will POST at that setting with one stick. If not, try the other.

Also, you should verify compatibility by checking the motherboard QVL list to see if the memory is on it and also the G.Skill memory configurator to see fit THEY show it as compatible by motherboard model.

https://www.gskill.com/configurator

Thank you for your reply and thank you for the link you provided.

What I ended up doing was reading the provided forum post and testing both RAM's separately. When used alone they performed at advertised speeds (XMP was possible to enable). After testing them both I simply swaped them around from their original positions and booted with XMP enabled. After inserting both sticks the computer failed to boot 2 times but on the 3rd time it succeeded. Both sticks currently run at 2933MHz.

My only question is if I should be worried about the 2 failed boots and if I should test the memory like said in the quoted forum post (even though I did not manually set any of the timings/voltages)?

Thank you once again Darkbreeze.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, they were not "failed boots", it was the system training the memory and it is normal. Keep in mind, even though the XMP profile will provide the desired primary and some secondary timings, generally the system needs to train the CMOS for acceptable tertiary and some secondary timings through trial and error. Now that it is trained, it would be wise to go into the memory section of your BIOS settings and see if there is a setting available named something like "fast boot" which will allow the system to simply boot in the future using the previously trained memory settings rather than retraining every boot. Sometimes it won't do it, but other times it will. Really it depends on the motherboard, chipset, platform, how old it is, etc. as to whether that setting is available or not.

If there is no such setting in the memory section, then don't worry about it. If it's working fine and not doing it each reboot, then it's up to you whether you make that change or leave it alone. I always set fast boot from the memory section to enabled if it's available once I know the memory configuration is where I want it.

 

[bothamlet]

I've had it enabled from before and you're right it does boot instantly ever since the "memory training".

Thanks a lot!

 

[Darkbreeze]

No problem. Good luck man.