Question New PC just out of the box and half ram is hardware reserved?

[Metalkeik]

Hello,

First of all i would like to say that i checked a few other posts but nothing helped my situation, so i thought i should ask directly.

I just bought a new PC and today i plugged it in for the first time, installed windows just fine and then i opened my task manager to check the performances and to my surprise, more than half the ram is hardware reserved. (16GB installed, 7.9GB useable, 8.1GB Hardware Reserved). Also i didn't build the PC myself, i asked the company to sent it to me "prebuilt".

The build is:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4Ghz Six-Core Pinnacle Ridge
MB: ASRock B450 Gaming K4
RAM: 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000MHz
GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GTX1050 Ti 4GB Windforce OC
Windows: Windows 10 Professional x64

The DIMMs are installed in slots 2 and 4 and according to CPU-Z they are running at 1064.1MHz Dual Channel (2133MHz).

Things i tried:
-BIOS is up to date so i didn't mess with that (latest version).
-Remove the DIMMs and separately test them to see if they are actually working. Both of them booted up and showed 8GB of ram, none reserved.
-Tried to change the profile from BIOS, it was set to Auto so i changed it to XMP 2.0 and 2400MHz just in case but here i found another problem, the PC restarted, didn't boot and then it restarted again by itself with 2133MHz settings
-Tried the check-uncheck Maximum Memory box on msconfig (it was unchecked by default).
-Reinstall windows although it was just freshly installed.

I do not remember if i tried anything else at the moment but any help is appreciated. Thank you very much!

Spoiler: CPU-Z info and Task manager picture

 

[rgd1101]

is 3000mhz, try the profile that said 3000mhz or 2933.

check the bios version?

 

[Metalkeik]

Hello, first of all thank you for the fast reply.

I was just looking at the motherboard Manual and i came across some interesting information.

According to Page 23 on the Manual it says that for Pinnacle Ridge Ryzen Series CPU it supports 2667MHz on SR (Single Rank) on Slots 2 and 4, and up to 2400MHz on DR (Dual Rank) on slots 2 and 4. Maybe is that the reason that it couldn't boot up when i used 2400MHz? Because according to CPU-Z my DIMMs are both Single Rank



EDIT- So i tried both the 2667Mhz Profile and the 3000Mhz one, none of them booted and it automatically reverted to 2133MHz again

 

[Metalkeik]

UPDATE-

So i figured out something. Apparently if i put the DIMMs in slot 1 and 2 instead of 1-3 or 2-4 they get recognized and i can use all 16GB, although they are working as single channel.

Is this supposed to happen? And how am i better using them as 16gb single channel or 8gb dual channel?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Are you sure BIOS of your board is latest version?
Latest version is 3.50.
Asrock recommends 3.40 to be used with Pinnacle Ridge cpus.

 

[Metalkeik]

Hello, thanks for your reply!

My version is indeed 3.50, and i do see it in the site that it is not recommended if im running Pinnacle, Raven or Summit Ridge CPU. But it came out of the box with 3.50
You think i should flash 3.40 ? Since it's my first time doing this i have to also ask, is there any chance its going to mess up with my windows installation and i gotta reinstall?

 

[SkyNetRising]

If BIOS update is done improperly, this can brick your motherboard. So be careful.
BIOS update should not impact windows.

 

[Metalkeik]

Alright, i will think about it since i'm not 100% commited on potentially bricking a new MB. Although i kinda feel "what can go wrong" because the Asrock site has a guide on how to do it, but still you never know.

I guess ill run them in slots 1-2 as 16GB single channel for now. Thank you for your time! I will repost in case i go ahead with the BIOS downgrade.