[SOLVED] Alder lake MSI Z690-A WIFI D4 + Crucial 3600 CL 16-18-18 combination problem

[TheRealDaZee]

I'm new to the overclocking world. I went for msi z690a wifi d4 version after looking at the reviews saying this was the best board for the price. I have 12700K installed on it.
I bought crucial ballistix 2x8GB DDR4 CL16 3600 Mhz RAM. The ram runs well on the default JDEC 2666 Mhz, but I get BSODs when I enable XMP and run it at its rated 16-18-18 3600 timing. It is also stable on 3200 CL15 timings with XMP enabled. Am I doing something wrong? I ordered a replacement board and it shows the same issue.

Is it a board problem or ram problem or overclocking problem?

 

[Koekieezz]

I'm new to the overclocking world. I went for msi z690a wifi d4 version after looking at the reviews saying this was the best board for the price. I have 12700K installed on it.
I bought crucial ballistix 2x8GB DDR4 CL16 3600 Mhz RAM. The ram runs well on the default JDEC 2666 Mhz, but I get BSODs when I enable XMP and run it at its rated 16-18-18 3600 timing. It is also stable on 3200 CL15 timings with XMP enabled. Am I doing something wrong? I ordered a replacement board and it shows the same issue.

Is it a board problem or ram problem or overclocking problem?

you could try to update the motherboard bios to the latest, then enable xmp again, and put VCCSA/CPU SA Voltage at 1.2~1.25, and CPU VDDQ at 1.25~1.35.

 

[mdd1963]

Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 CL16 16GB RAM Kit Review

We put the Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 CL16 16GB RAM Kit to the test, overclock it, and see if this just might be the sweetest value for RAM.

www.thefpsreview.com

From the above website's article:

"The timings are 16-18-18-38 CR 1T at 1.35V. "

 

[TheRealDaZee]

you could try to update the motherboard bios to the latest, then enable xmp again, and put VCCSA/CPU SA Voltage at 1.2~1.25, and CPU VDDQ at 1.25~1.35.

Tried both, I can get into desktop, run few apps then BSOD happens with MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error.

Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 CL16 16GB RAM Kit Review

We put the Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 CL16 16GB RAM Kit to the test, overclock it, and see if this just might be the sweetest value for RAM.

www.thefpsreview.com

From the above website's article:

"The timings are 16-18-18-38 CR 1T at 1.35V. "

My RAMs are already running at 1.356 V. Changing it to 1.35 doesn't help.

My RAM and MOBO are still within the return window. Please let me know if this is just the overclocking problem or the problem with either of MOBO or RAM.

 

[Koekieezz]

Tried both, I can get into desktop, run few apps then BSOD happens with MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error.

oh also when you do set the xmp, is the command rate on 1T? i so, use 2T instead. Since alderlake dont have vccio, it is being replaced with vddq. you could try to do 1.35v on this, and the SA could be 1.2~.1.25v, after turning xmp on, and turn command rate to 2T if it's 1T.

 

[TheRealDaZee]

oh also when you do set the xmp, is the command rate on 1T? i so, use 2T instead. Since alderlake dont have vccio, it is being replaced with vddq. you could try to do 1.35v on this, and the SA could be 1.2~.1.25v, after turning xmp on, and turn command rate to 2T if it's 1T.

Tried everything you've mentioned. Nothing works... even bumped up the voltage higher.
Apart from these, tried Gear 2 as well, I was unable to get upto BIOS with that. Had to clear the CMOS.

I guess my best bet is to get a better board for +$50 or return this RAM for something like corsair.

 

[Koekieezz]

Tried everything you've mentioned. Nothing works... even bumped up the voltage higher.
Apart from these, tried Gear 2 as well, I was unable to get upto BIOS with that. Had to clear the CMOS.

I guess my best bet is to get a better board for +$50 or return this RAM for something like corsair.

it's not "something like corsair" since you could also get a bad ic die that wont do well. the main problems with alderlake is that VCCSA and VDDQ are being locked on non K skus, and that preventing it running on 3600 gear 1. You could test it on a rocketlake or comet lake platform to see if the ram kit are just doing fine, if so, then your motherboard could be the issue, or try enable xmp and run it on 16-19-19-36-55(tRC) at 2T command rate. If you look up into Thaiphoon burner and read the spd, and you have a Micron E/N die, it should clock real good.