[SOLVED] BIOS reports 3600 RAM running at 3200, is that normal for the BIOS?

Cyber_Akuma

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I just setup the bare minimum needed for a system to POST.

A z490 motherboard, a 10700k cpu, a cooler, 3600mhz RAM, and a psu. Don't even have any additional fans or drives in the case yet.

Anyway, first thing I did after it posted was update my motherboard's BIOS to the latest version. Then the second thing I did was enable XMP... but that's when it went a little south.

The first time I attempted that, it did not reboot, then claimed it had detected a boot error. However, after that, it seems to POST with XMP enabled just fine. I tried rebooting with XMP turned on and OFF and it seemed to have no trouble posting.

However.... I noticed that it said my RAM speed was 3200Mhz, when it's supposed to be 3600 and the XMP profile is identifying it as 3600 in the BIOS.

I did notice that sometimes, like my CPU speed, it could fluctuate in the BIOS, but never go above 3200.

Should I be worried? Or is this normal behavior for the BIOS? I haven't installed an OS yet to check there as I want to let Memtest86+ run for a while first. I did get both the RAM and the CPU as open box.... but that was from Micro Center, which I was told I generally could trust open box items from.
 
Solution
:)

At one time, memtest86+ stopped development, but it has recently started to be updated.
Possibly 64gb of ram might have been an issue.
The current version is 5.31b

Alternatively, you can try the free version of memtest86

Lutfij

Titan
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first thing I did after it posted was update my motherboard's BIOS to the latest version
That's good to hear. Not everyone does that. ;)

Then the second thing I did was enable XMP... but that's when it went a little south.
Sadly XMP doesn't always hit home. Though you could try manually inputting the timings, frequency and voltage(as stated on the sticker of the rams) leaving the rest on AUTO and see if you can get to your advertised speeds.

Using CPU-Z, check to see what the DRAM frequency is on the memory tab.

For the sake of relevance, we will need to know the make and model of the motherboard, the rams, the PSU and the version of BIOS you're on at the moment. Can you recall what BIOS version you were on prior to the update?
 

Cyber_Akuma

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Motherboard is a "Gigabyte 490 AORUS PRO AX "

RAM is "G.Skill F4-3600C18D-64GVK "

PSU is a "Seasonic PRIME PX-850, 850W 80+ Platinum"

I don't fully recall what BIOS I was at initially, I could have sworn it was revision F3-something.... but the oldest bios on their site is revision F5 so I might be wrong.

Right now I am at the latest BIOS revision, F20b
 
G.skil shows your ram as being supported on your motherboard.
You might contact g.skil with your issue.
Such ram has a lifetime warranty.

In the mean time, try entering the xmp settings manually.
CPU-Z spd tab will detail the supported settings.
Often adding a bit more voltage to the ram will get things to work.
 

Cyber_Akuma

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Ok, I can try that after memtest86+ has run for a while if it shows no errors.

How likely could it be that it's the CPU or the Motherboard by the way? The CPU was also open box, though the motherboard was new.
 
Open box might be simply a return for wrong product bought.
Or, it could be a return for something that did not work properly.

A bad intel cpu is extremely rare. I would put that last on my list.
Another possibility is that your motherboard cpu socket has a bent pin.
such damage seems to impact ram most, but I have not heard of a ram speed issue.
A faulty motherboard is always a possibility, but I doubt that for a simple speed selection issue.

Your motherboard manual will identify the preferred pair of slots in which to insert 2 stick kits.
Have you checked that?

I might add that Intel performance is not impacted much by ram speed.
It is not the end of the world to run at 3200.
 
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Alex Storm

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Ok, I can try that after memtest86+ has run for a while if it shows no errors.

How likely could it be that it's the CPU or the Motherboard by the way? The CPU was also open box, though the motherboard was new.
Quite possibly. You must use the exclusion method. Install another memory in your mobo, or instal your memory in another mobo. You can do the same with the CPU.
 

Cyber_Akuma

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Your motherboard manual will identify the preferred pair of slots in which to insert 2 stick kits.
Have you checked that?

This looks like it might have been the problem. I checked the manual, and when you have two sticks it recommends installing them in slots A2 and B2, I had them installed in A1 and B1.

And when I went back to correct this, I noticed that memtest86+ had tossed out hundreds of errors...... all of them past the 64GB point...... which considering that I only have 64GB of RAM installed in that thing....

Anyway, after I plugged them into A2 and B2 it immediately came up as 3600. Just to make sure I tried disabling XMP and they went down to 2666, re-enabled it and it right back to 3600 with no complaints.

I really hope that was it, though the errors in memtest concern me. If my bios or especially memtest had mis-identified my amount of RAM as 128GB then I wouldn't be worried, but every screen in my BIOS and even memtest itself saw that I had 64GB..... yet it still tried to test past the 64GB mark. I hope those errors weren't real and were just because they were plugged into the wrong slots.

Really hope it was not the slots or the CPU communicating with those slots that was bad, I don't have any other DDR4 sticks to use to test that.
 
:)

At one time, memtest86+ stopped development, but it has recently started to be updated.
Possibly 64gb of ram might have been an issue.
The current version is 5.31b

Alternatively, you can try the free version of memtest86
 
Solution

Cyber_Akuma

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Thanks, I was running the latest stable version as of about two days ago, which was apparently updated last April.

Anyway, the RAM ran fine at 3600 for two passes of Memtest86+ (took about 12-14 hours) with zero errors (though it was a bit weird how it listed my Chipset and Memory Type as "Unknown"), so I guess it's safe to say my memory is working fine now. Didn't see any way to mark the topic as solved, but I guess it's safe to say my problem is solved now. Testing my CPU temps now.