[SOLVED] Help! I bought DDR4-3600 RAM but my motherboard only supports up to 3200 MHz. Can I still make it work?

[Salzeda]

Alright, first off, the specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte A320M-S2H-CF (using latest BIOS F53) (a budget board but it gets the job done)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X running at 3.50 GHz (stock settings) (got it for $69 a couple years ago on Amazon, not too shabby)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 970 Windforce (stock settings) (6 years old and it just keeps trucking)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800)
OS: Windows 10 64 bit

I realized something was wrong when I enabled XMP in the BIOS but it still wasn't running above 2133 MHz. It turns out the A320M only supports RAM speeds of up to 3200MHz. Whoops, probably should have checked that before buying. Derp.

Is there a way I can manually set the RAM to run at the highest speed supportable by the motherboard? I assume this would involve overclocking (which I'm not terribly familiar with). I'd rather do that than return the RAM. I mean it's working okay at 2133 MHz but I'd like to get the most out of my purchase, y'know?

I did some brief research and came across an app called EasyTune which looks like a straightforward way of tweaking the speed. Should I try bumping it up to 32 in that little drop-down menu or is that too risky? Would I be better off tweaking things in the BIOS? Trying to play it safe so I'm asking before changing anything.

Would appreciate any help or input

 

[Nemesia]

You're gonna have to use 3200MHz or 2933MHz for that 1500X when using XMP.

Like you said if you want to try and get higher than 3200MHz you're gonna have to manually set the timings etc yourself.

 

[Tioym]

by "Support" it means that you're guaranteed to be able to run RAM at 3200 MHz that are in the memory QVL of your motherboard.
Since it "Officially" only supports upto 3200 MHz kits that means your 3600 MHz kit wont be in the memory QVL but most RAMs will work regardless of whether they are in that list or not, in very few cases that ram wont work.
There can be 2 problems:

1. Your RAM may be unstable at its XMP Profile
2. Your Mobo and RAM may be fine but your CPU may be unable to do 3600 MHz. or maybe even 3200 Mhz since it's older( I have seen people running 3200 MHz with 1500X though)

You can try:
First go into the BIOS, try to enable XMP. If it's not stable at all you wont get a boot so your motherboard will probably reset you back to 2133. In the off-chance it gets stuck at boot, you can do a CMOS reset by following your motherboard manual, not too hard and it will reset you back to defaults and allow you to boot at 2133.
If you are able to boot but your PC gets blue-screens it means your memory is unstable and you have to go lower.

If Default XMP of 3600 is not stable try going lower, maybe start with 3000 MHz, move upto 3200 MHz manually. 3000Mhz should work, 3200 may work as well.

 

[Salzeda]

You're gonna have to use 3200MHz or 2933MHz for that 1500X when using XMP.

Like you said if you want to try and get higher than 3200MHz you're gonna have to manually set the timings etc yourself.

by "Support" it means that you're guaranteed to be able to run RAM at 3200 MHz that are in the memory QVL of your motherboard.
Since it "Officially" only supports upto 3200 MHz kits that means your 3600 MHz kit wont be in the memory QVL but most RAMs will work regardless of whether they are in that list or not, in very few cases that ram wont work.
There can be 2 problems:

1. Your RAM may be unstable at its XMP Profile
2. Your Mobo and RAM may be fine but your CPU may be unable to do 3600 MHz. or maybe even 3200 Mhz since it's older( I have seen people running 3200 MHz with 1500X though)

You can try:
First go into the BIOS, try to enable XMP. If it's not stable at all you wont get a boot so your motherboard will probably reset you back to 2133. In the off-chance it gets stuck at boot, you can do a CMOS reset by following your motherboard manual, not too hard and it will reset you back to defaults and allow you to boot at 2133.
If you are able to boot but your PC gets blue-screens it means your memory is unstable and you have to go lower.

If Default XMP of 3600 is not stable try going lower, maybe start with 3000 MHz, move upto 3200 MHz manually. 3000Mhz should work, 3200 may work as well.

Appreciate the quick replies. I tried changing the frequency directly in the BIOS but it wouldn't let me, whether XMP was enabled or not. That's when I came across EasyTune, but I'm unsure if it's safe to use or not. Should I give EasyTune a shot or suck it up and learn how to tweak timings/voltage in the BIOS?

EDIT: I have figured out how to tweak things in the BIOS; I was just using the incorrect keyboard shortcuts. Derp again.

I set the memory frequency to 3200 MHz and it successfully booted and everything seems stable for now. Will update again if things go south.

Also, it turns out you can't overclock the CPU with the A320M. For some reason I forgot about that.