Question Experiences with the "Memory Try It!" feature on the MSI B550 Tomahawk ?

[hyperreal]

Hi all,

I recently built a new system with Ryzen 5 5600X, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk, 2 x 16 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600 MHz CL18 & MSI Radeon RX 6800 Gaming X Trio.
Putting it all together was somewhat of an ordeal and when it finally booted I casually enabled XMP in the UEFI settings. After that the machine didn't post, the DRAM error led was lit and I had to remove the ridiculously huge GPU along with its anti-sag bracket to access the CMOS reset jumper.

Now, I've been looking into this and it seems that either the default BIOS version had some bugs in the XMP settings or I had bad luck in the silicon lottery and the memory controller on my 5600X can't handle 3600 MHz. I have received suggestions to turn on XMP and then manually lower the memory clock to 3200 MHz and FCLK to 1600 MHz while retaining the XMP timing settings. It seems like a safe bet but I've been hesitant to try anything yet.

I'm NOT looking to squeeze out every last bit of performance and I know next to nothing about RAM overclocking aside from what I've read during the last couple of days. I'd rather have stable RAM with a moderate performance increase than spend days tweaking timings.
Currently the RAM clock is at 2666 MHz (plug'n'play). According to various software tools the memory ICs are Micron Rev. B series.
And yes, the sticks are installed correctly into slots A2 and B2 as instructed in the mobo manual.
I'm also fully aware that there is no foolrpoof way to get everything working on the first try but I'm trying to gather information to avoid any unnecessary hassle since my free time is limited.

In the motherboard manual there is a mention of a feature called "Memory Try It!" It's some sort of automatic memory overclock checker that should be able to revert to previous working settings in case the RAM config fails. Can anyone tell me if it's worth trying and does it actually work? Not having to clear the CMOS after every failure would save me a lot of time. I've upgraded the BIOS to the newest version 7C91vA8

 

[Vic 40]

First of all, does the motherboard run the latest bios?

 

[hyperreal]

Yes it does. Version 7C91vA8. But I haven't tweaked anything after updating it so all the previous mishaps happened with the factory-loaded older bios version.

 

[Vic 40]

In the motherboard manual there is a mention of a feature called "Memory Try It!" It's some sort of automatic memory overclock checker that should be able to revert to previous working settings in case the RAM config fails.

Don't know about the last part, but you can use it to test a speed step lower with say same timings for XMP settings.

You did read this?
https://www.msi.com/blog/Boost-Gaming-Performance-on-your-B560-Motherboard

https://www.msi.com/blog/memory-force

does the ram btw have two XMP profiles and did you try both?

 

[hyperreal]

You did read this?
https://www.msi.com/blog/Boost-Gaming-Performance-on-your-B560-Motherboard

https://www.msi.com/blog/memory-force

Yes. And that is why I was looking for experiences with the feature. In the UEFI menus Memory Try It! is right above the Memory Retry Fail settings which leads me to believe that the mobo should be able to recover from bad RAM settings (unless they are really messed up) either with, without or regardless of Memory Try It! being enabled. But it didn't happen at least with the old, factory-loaded bios. I can't remember the exact version but I think the build date was way back in 2020.

does the ram btw have two XMP profiles and did you try both?

It does but they are identical. Same clock speed and same timings.

 

[Vic 40]

Usually when ram is at a point that ram settings are too off to make things boot or be stable does the bios revert to spd settings aka 2133mhz so is most of the times little harm in testing different ram settings. And there is also clear cmos if things are really bad.

does the ram btw have two XMP profiles and did you try both?

It does but they are identical. Same clock speed and same timings.

Sure about that,? Usually timings are different.

 

[hyperreal]

I'm sure. After first asking for advice from the retailer (a very reputable PC part retail & custom building company) they also asked me to check profile 2. CPU-Z and Thaiphoon Burner both show only one profile though.

 

[Vic 40]

Okay.

 

[hyperreal]

Since I bought the CPU second-hand, I contacted the seller and asked him if he had similar problems. He also had Corsair Vengenace RAM (different model though), a kit of 2 x 16, and had no problems with XMP profile of 3600 MHz CL18. So that pretty much rules out the CPU and memory controller, unless something happened while installing the CPU into my board.

I'm now trying to schedule myself some time to test the RAM extensively, including one stick at a time.

 

[Vic 40]

Not all Vengeance ram is the same so that his kit worked doesn't mean yours should too.

You could add some voltage to the SOC , maybe that wil help to stabilize. Don't go over 1.2V, just one tick above what it is now, or 0.05V.

 

[hyperreal]

I went with XMP profile 2 but manually dropped the DRAM clock to 3200 MHz and FCLK to 1600 MHz and kept the XMP profile timings and DRAM voltage of 1,350V. So far so good. I might try 3600 MHz when I feel like it but for now I'm satisfied unless I start running into stability issue.

 

[Vic 40]

Okay, good to hear, just go like that and see where you end up.

 

[cajun33]

I don't know if this will help anyone as I'm trying to figure out if this did change settings with xmp enabled. I got the 3200 mhz speed, that by default is 16-20-20-40 in SPD, but went with 16-18-18-36 instead using memory try it, oh but at 3330 mhz from my calculator, its 1665 MHz x2 frequency..When using Memory Try it settings, it had turned xmp off in bios. I now have enabled xmp 2 in bios, and it still uses at least the new timings when I'm looking in cpu-z, everything seems ok so far, not even sure what is the best timings on these teamgroup expert ram chips. Just wanted to bring up, xmp is on and using memory try it at the same time. I think xmp had to be enabled for increasing overclocking voltages.. What i found in last two years since building my pc is start with higher numbers, then see if you get crashes or errors, but overall Ill go back to factory specification soon timing for durability.