Question At a loss of achieving factory speeds

[SyCoREAPER]

Parents laptop is pretty busget, Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15AD05. It has a whopping (and wonderfuly /sarcasm) it's soldered. Per diagnostics it's Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD which should run at 2666Mhz. Along with matched speed Crucial 16GB.

Windows shows that it's 2400MTs and Adrenaline, CPU-Z, and HWInfo64 show it is 1200Mhz as Windows reports.

I tried a known good SKHynix stick (3200MHz but has a JEDEC profile for everything under the sun). Same 2400MTs/1200Mhz.

Removed the stick. Booted. Same thing.

Reset the BIOS to Defaults. Nope. Disabled Optimized Defaults, Nope.

Reflashed the BIOS. STILL locked at 1200Mhz.

Booted up into SmokelessUMAF and forced various speeds, STUCK IN 1200MHz.

WWWTH...
I have no idea where to proceed from here. I feel like I've tried everything, at least the obvious to me. Someone tell me I'm missing something obvious or something is wrong with this laptop.

 

[punkncat]

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05_Spec.PDF

Seems like it is what it is.

"Notes:[1] Installed memory is actually DDR4-2666 or DDR4-3200 but run as DDR4-2400 due to platform limitation."

 

[Lutfij]

Per diagnostics it's Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD which should run at 2666Mhz
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05_Spec.PDF
It won't go beyond DDR4-2400MHz, per the specsheet listed above.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05_Spec.PDF

Seems like it is what it is.

"Notes:[1] Installed memory is actually DDR4-2666 or DDR4-3200 but run as DDR4-2400 due to platform limitation."

Per diagnostics it's Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD which should run at 2666Mhz
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05/IdeaPad_3_15ADA05_Spec.PDF
It won't go beyond DDR4-2400MHz, per the specsheet listed above.

So the answer is I read part of the data sheetz, ergo, obvious.

What's not obvious is the decision behind it. AMD (at least higher end processors) like 3200Mhz RAM. Seeing as the RAM is capable of higher speeds but arbitrarily limited to 2400MHz, the question is why? Why even put those modules in and not lower speed ones which wouldn't have been cheaper for Lenovo (unless it was surplus?).

 

[punkncat]

So the answer is I read part of the data sheetz, ergo, obvious.

What's not obvious is the decision behind it. AMD (at least higher end processors) like 3200Mhz RAM. Seeing as the RAM is capable of higher speeds but arbitrarily limited to 2400MHz, the question is why? Why even put those modules in and not lower speed ones which wouldn't have been cheaper for Lenovo (unless it was surplus?).

$ and uninformed shoppers

 

[SyCoREAPER]

$ and uninformed shoppers

Wouldn't $ be using slower chips or a lower bin, better yet no name chips rather than Samsung?

I don't know. Corporate moves obviously benefit themselves even if not obvious to someone like myself.

 

[punkncat]

Let us play a little perception game, as it were.


https://www.amazon.com/Newest-HP-Pa...BTRV/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1


This PC was roughly $250 to 300 or so on release. It is pretty and red, comes from a reputable group in HP (at least many think so) and it has neat buzz words and "silver" in the name. Probably sold them at Sam's club or similar environments. Pop pop walks in and sees this, he needs a new PC and this fits the bill of what one thinks it should cost and off to the house with it we go.
Obsolete out of the box, 1 stick of RAM and that really doesn't matter because it is so handicapped in performance that doubling the amount does nothing at all for performance. Someone that knows anything at all about computers wouldn't buy this, but they also aren't the target audience.

Laptop makers sell crap because people will buy it thinking they are being thrifty and smart, and because they didn't know better. There might even be a good bit of hardware in there, such as faster RAM than it can use because the manufacturer got a good deal on a bunch of it. 2666 is BETTER than 2400, right? Science Fiction Theater 3000, right?!?

This machine you are dealing with is right along that same line. It was trash that never should have been made in the first place. If it fits the bill and lets you surf AAA and JCPenny then it was good enough.

Sorry to be so blunt, hope you understand where I was going with it.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Let us play a little perception game, as it were.


https://www.amazon.com/Newest-HP-Pa...BTRV/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1


This PC was roughly $250 to 300 or so on release. It is pretty and red, comes from a reputable group in HP (at least many think so) and it has neat buzz words and "silver" in the name. Probably sold them at Sam's club or similar environments. Pop pop walks in and sees this, he needs a new PC and this fits the bill of what one thinks it should cost and off to the house with it we go.
Obsolete out of the box, 1 stick of RAM and that really doesn't matter because it is so handicapped in performance that doubling the amount does nothing at all for performance. Someone that knows anything at all about computers wouldn't buy this, but they also aren't the target audience.

Laptop makers sell crap because people will buy it thinking they are being thrifty and smart, and because they didn't know better. There might even be a good bit of hardware in there, such as faster RAM than it can use because the manufacturer got a good deal on a bunch of it. 2666 is BETTER than 2400, right? Science Fiction Theater 3000, right?!?

This machine you are dealing with is right along that same line. It was trash that never should have been made in the first place. If it fits the bill and lets you surf AAA and JCPenny then it was good enough.

Sorry to be so blunt, hope you understand where I was going with it.

I do and I agree. I would have never gotten it when it was bought but they wanted cheap. I didn't look too much at at the specs aside from making sure it wasnt absolute trash like a Celeron or whatever those N-Series chips are (maybe they are Celeron don't know without looking it up).

I get what you're saying about giving the buyer a false ego boost but they could have accomplished that with no-name RAM chips rather than bottom-bin Samsung, it's not like they advertised the (whopping) 4GB as Samsung, just RAM. So your speed analogy makes sense but I'm still struggling to understand they why low-bin Samsung for what the audience you describe would never know any better either way. Why not some no name crap?

That aside, I'm wondering (I won't be lazy and read up more tomorrow) but if it's an actual limitation or if it's a BIOS level lockout. If it's BIOS level it makes sense why SmokelessUMAF couldn't change it (at least to me). Since I hate that laptop maybe I'll dump the firmware and see if there is some artificial block on place and worst case I kill the laptop and force them to get something good (or maybe my Asus G15 AE and I upgrade. Then again unless you go 4090 (maybe the 4080s are ok?) the VRAM is so damn low it's more a side grade from my current laptop.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'm wondering but if it's an actual limitation or if it's a BIOS level lockout.

It is a AMD SoC (System on Chip) platform limitation.
2400mhz is max supported on these mobile platforms.

 

[Misgar]

Why not some no name crap?

They might get more RMAs, if the junk RAM fais more often.

A few cents more for Samsung RAM might reduce the number of complaints.

 

[punkncat]

Either way, wouldn't really knock on the Samsung RAM. It isn't at fault.

Dell has, for years, used either Samsung or SK Hynix in their (DDR3) systems and it has turned out over the years to be good stuff. I assume that for the amounts these companies are purchasing that the pricing options must be really good.