[SOLVED] Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 and Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X DDR4 issue

[TheFabled]

So i just bought the Alder Lake 12700k with The Gigabyte X690 Gaming X DDR4 so i could use the same ram i used on my old pc for a couple of years before i upgrade to meteor lake.
But there is a few strange issues that I'm having difficulty solving. And right now it's the RAM.

This RAM shows up in BIOS as 2133mhz ram, even though it's 3200mhz. I have 48GB, two 8GB sticks and two 16GB sticks, they are same brand and model and using same clock speeds.
If i go into BIOS and change to X.M.P (Which is what i did on my old PC which had i7-9700k on a GIgabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra MB) The PC won't even boot back into BIOS. I have to remove two of the sticks for it to work.
It does not matter if i then boot with two 16GB or two 8GB sticks, all of them together with X.M.P. enabled does not work. If i leave everything off it boots just fine, but it says it's 2133 MHZ.
I also tried to manually choose 3200MHZ without X.M.P enabled and i run into the exact same problem, that one of the pairs have to be removed.

I have also tried every combination, pairing one 8GB with one 16GB and so on. The only way my computer boots with 48GB is if i leave everything be. This is weird because one of the selling points for the alder lake for me was that it supports 3200mhz ram, which is exactly what i had, and why i didn't spend another 600$ upgrading to a better MB with 64GB DDR5 ram.

What is going on here? Anyone have any ideas?

EDIT: ON my old computer i had no issues what so ever with this. I just enabled X.M.P. and that was it, never ever had any issues and enjoyed my 48GB ram quite a bit as i need lots of it. Even 48GB is not enough at times, but i manage.

Images:
32GB stick: https://ibb.co/6BXDfdY
16GB stick: https://ibb.co/3y3nxyg
BIOS: https://ibb.co/Wc9mtbD
BIOS: https://ibb.co/0q2w86J

 

[--SID--]

have 48GB, two 8GB sticks and two 16GB sticks, they are same brand and model and using same clock speeds.

But not the same version. One is ver. 4.32 and the other is ver. 4.33. The chips on the sticks may differ. Both use Samsung chips but with different die.

 

[TheFabled]

But not the same version. One is ver. 4.32 and the other is ver. 4.33. The chips on the sticks may differ. Both use Samsung chips but with different die.

Well they worked perfectly fine together in my old computer, i used them for over half a year together without any issues.
The weird thing here is that they only have issues working together if i change the speed manually or enable XMP, other than that they work perfectly fine on this new computer. But they show up as 2133MHZ in both BIOS and programs like CPU-Z. They also show up as 2133MHZ if i run the pairs alone.

 

[sizzling]

When you were running the 9700k you were lucky. Even mixing 2 identical kits is not guaranteed to work without issues. The issues can be from the ability to run at rated speed up to not being able to boot or having stability problems. Have a look at the odd man out section here https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq...y-ram-and-xmp-profile-configurations.3398926/

With your new cpu is a new memory controller. It seems to be less forgiving to mixing RAM and not able to run this combination at its rated speed.

 

[TheFabled]

When you were running the 9700k you were lucky. Even mixing 2 identical kits is not guaranteed to work without issues. The issues can be from the ability to run at rated speed up to not being able to boot or having stability problems. Have a look at the odd man out section here https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq...y-ram-and-xmp-profile-configurations.3398926/

With your new cpu is a new memory controller. It seems to be less forgiving to mixing RAM and not able to run this combination at its rated speed.

Ok Thanks.
But do you know why the ram pairs on their own is still only running at 2133Mhz?
Alder Lake is suppose to support 3200mhz as where the 9700k only could handle 2666mhz.

 

[sizzling]

Ok Thanks.
But do you know why the ram pairs on their own is still only running at 2133Mhz?
Alder Lake is suppose to support 3200mhz as where the 9700k only could handle 2666mhz.

With Alderlake being so new I haven’t seen any reviews on how sensitive it is to different RAM kits. It’s always been recommended to use RAM on the motherboards QVL list or that the RAM manufacturer has stated is tested to work with a certain motherboard. While recommended it was not always necessary. Are either of the RAM kits on the motherboard QVL list or on the list of tested motherboards for that kit by Corsair?

You may even find motherboard BIOS updates improve RAM stability. I know the boards have just released but are there any BIOS updates yet?

 

[--SID--]

But they show up as 2133MHZ in both BIOS and programs like CPU-Z. They also show up as 2133MHZ if i run the pairs alone.

Because 2133 is the native setting of the both kits.
When you install the v4.33 kit only and enable XMP, does it run at 3200?

 

[TheFabled]

Because 2133 is the native setting of the both kits.
When you install the v4.33 kit only and enable XMP, does it run at 3200?

Yeah it does. Tested it now. CPU-Z says 3200mhz with XMP enabled.
So the question now is, do i really need 3200Mhz? The audio software i use doesn't really need that fast ram, i bought the new MB and CPU for gaming tbh. Going to play a lot of BF2042 i guess and other demanding games the next two years, but do i need 3200MHZ?

One thing i have been using, is quite a bit of ram, because i load up my system with samples and synths and what not. So this comes down to 48GB @2133 vs 32GB @3200. At least until a new motherboard BIOS is released that might support these two kits together in XMP.

 

[TheFabled]

You may even find motherboard BIOS updates improve RAM stability. I know the boards have just released but are there any BIOS updates yet?

Yes I had to update from F2 to F4 a couple of days ago because the motherboard couldn't detect any M.2 installed. It was a nightmare.
I made this post about it: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/nvme-and-gigabyte-z690-gaming-x-ddr4.3732759/

So yes now I'm on the latest BIOS. I guess i'll just keep looking for BIOS updates in the weeks and months to come.

 

[geofelt]

Ram speed and proper functioning is only guaranteed when bought in a single kit.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.

One thing you can try is to install a working ram pair and manually set the ram speed to 3200 in the bios and also increase the voltage a bit past the default.
Then install the second pair.

If no joy, I would not worry too much. Excepting a few ram intense apps, Intel does not seem to depend on ram speed for performance.
Early tests I have read about do not show much difference in performance between DDR4 and DDR5.

 

[TheFabled]

One thing you can try is to install a working ram pair and manually set the ram speed to 3200 in the bios and also increase the voltage a bit past the default.
Then install the second pair.

You mean manually set the speed to 3200 instead of enabling XMP?

Btw there is a lot of settings in the BIOS when it comes to ram, i can individually tweak every ram stick it seems. But i don't dare touch of any of that stuff, at some point i probably have to google how to reset bios to factory settings xD. Though that should be easy enough

 

[geofelt]

Yes,
XMP is handy, it is a bunch of settings embedded in the ram stick itself that allow the ram to run at various speeds and other settings.
When you select a XMP setting in the bios, the motherboard reads that from ram and puts the settings in the bios.
Very handy.

CPU-Z SPD tab will show you what XMP settings are available for each stick.
Pick the one for 3200 speed.
Use those to manually set them in the bios.
Except... for voltage, increase by .05

A bios will likely have an option to reset to default.
Failing that, there should be an option to clear cmos.
Likely a jumper on your motherboard.

 

[TheFabled]

Yes,
XMP is handy, it is a bunch of settings embedded in the ram stick itself that allow the ram to run at various speeds and other settings.
When you select a XMP setting in the bios, the motherboard reads that from ram and puts the settings in the bios.
Very handy.

CPU-Z SPD tab will show you what XMP settings are available for each stick.
Pick the one for 3200 speed.
Use those to manually set them in the bios.
Except... for voltage, increase by .05

Ok thanks.
But this answer felt contradictory. In BIOS i can manually set the ram speed to 3200, or specify it at least, this i can do without enabling XMP.
So to clearify. You want me to do what you said with XMP Enabled or Disabled?

 

[geofelt]

Sorry, I was trying to explain XMP.

What you want to do is to use the XMP specs, but enter them manually with a little boost to the voltage. To do this, XMP should be disabled.

 

[TheFabled]

Sorry, I was trying to explain XMP.

What you want to do is to use the XMP specs, but enter them manually with a little boost to the voltage. To do this, XMP should be disabled.

Ahh ok thanks.
Yes i will try this. Can you give me a suggestion on how much more volt i should try first?

 

[geofelt]

+.05

 

[TheFabled]

+.05

Thanks. I think i now know what went wrong when i previously tried to run it manually at 3200mhz. The volt was set to auto, but in this BIOS, without XMP, auto meant 1.2V, but these sticks need 1.35V. So i set the volt to 1.36V just to have some extra power going to it, since +0.05 wasn't possible. And now it booted with 48GB ram and 3200Mhz. Thanks

I haven't tested it in MemTest86 or anything like that, so i don't know if it's stable. But i'll find out soon enough i guess. If i get a bluescreen in the next few days, i guess the voltage either has to go one step down or one step up. 😊👍