[SOLVED] RAM (and CPU) being automatically underclocked.

[NotAPhaze]

So, here's the thing:
I've been running this setup for a while:
-ASUS Prime X370-A
-AMD Ryzen 5 1600
-G.Skill 8GB DDR4 3000MHz Aegis (single channel)
-Seasonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze
As for the rest (which I don't think is relevant, but will leave here for the sake of safety) I'm running my old 2GB GTX960 GDDR5 and a (very old and worn out) 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDD.

The problem is:
I can't seem to get RAM speeds working properly. No matter how much I fiddle with it, I'll always get something along the lines of this:

Spoiler: CPU-Z screenshots

I've even gone so far as to use completely stock BIOS settings (as in not even enabling DOCP and letting the RAM run at 2133Mhz), but to no avail. I've been told that the first D in DDR stands for Double and that's why it always shows around half the value, but I vividly remember once having the actual value there, which is why I'm asking.

As for the CPU, if I try to fiddle with the clocks or even let the ASUS motherboard do its auto-clocking thing, it'll reset to somewhere around 1550Mhz. Right now it's running fine with the default BIOS settings, the only weird thing is that the BIOS says the CPU speed is 3.2Ghz, while CPU-Z displays 3.4 (with the actual x34 multiplier)

Spoiler: CPU-Z screenshot

 

[compprob237]

The CPU will automatically "underclock" to reduce power consumption at idle. That's completely normal.

The "Memory" tab shows the DRAM frequency and since they're Double data rate (two operations per clock) this number is multiplied by 2 to give your 1496.4 as DDR4-2992.8 (Almost DDR4-3000). It looks like your kit should be set to the XMP-3002 profile but, judging by the looser timings of 16-22-22-50 instead of 16-18-18-36, it is not set to it. Did you set the X.M.P. for your kit in BIOS?

EDIT: Your RAM stick is in the wrong slot. Move it to slot #2 (2nd slot from the CPU). Another thing of note: The 1st gen Ryzen's are finicky with their RAM so you might need to fiddle with it to get it to work at its rated speed.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[bmacsys]

Your ram is running at 3000 MHz. 1496.4 x 2 = 2992.8 That is why it is called DDR. Unfortunately you have only one stick so you are basically at 1500 MHz. You ram isn't underclocked.

 

[NotAPhaze]

The CPU will automatically "underclock" to reduce power consumption at idle. That's completely normal.

The "Memory" tab shows the DRAM frequency and since they're Double data rate (two operations per clock) this number is multiplied by 2 to give your 1496.4 as DDR4-2992.8 (Almost DDR4-3000). It looks like your kit should be set to the XMP-3002 profile but, judging by the looser timings of 16-22-22-50 instead of 16-18-18-36, it is not set to it. Did you set the X.M.P. for your kit in BIOS?

EDIT: Your RAM stick is in the wrong slot. Move it to slot #2 (2nd slot from the CPU). Another thing of note: The 1st gen Ryzen's are finicky with their RAM so you might need to fiddle with it to get it to work at its rated speed.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

As for the CPU, if it's just running low on idle, will that affect the information that CPU-Z is giving me?
And as for the RAM, I took the screenshot after completely resetting all bios settings. After this I've already gone to enable the DOCP profile that's included (with those specific timings), and ran userbenchmark, which yielded this result:

Spoiler: CPU-Z screenshot

CPU results were fine.

 

[compprob237]

As for the CPU, if it's just running low on idle, will that affect the information that CPU-Z is giving me?
And as for the RAM, I took the screenshot after completely resetting all bios settings. After this I've already gone to enable the DOCP profile that's included (with those specific timings), and ran userbenchmark, which yielded this result:

Spoiler: CPU-Z screenshot

CPU results were fine.

CPU:

This CPU is clocked at 4.7GHz but the "Core Speed" says it is currently running at 799.61MHz.
It looks like your Ryzen 5 1600, with its base 3.2Ghz and boost 3.6GHz, is currently running at 3.4GHz. I'm not sure if it's fixed at that speed though. It should change when the system is idling low enough unless the multiplier is fixed and the power saving features are disabled (as if you were overclocking).

Now your userbenchmark screenshot is interesting. Mine, 6600K Userbenchmark, shows my RAM running @ 2400MHz like it is set to. This may just be an oddity of your motherboard/chipset since it appears that the kit is performing close to where it should. That large peak at the lower-end of the speed scale for your kit is people that are probably running the kit at the default setting of DDR4-2133. HWiNFO64's "Summary" has a very similar window to CPU-Z but consolidates it more conveniently.

Says my RAM is Clocked at 1200MHz and since they're DDR that number's double to give me DDR4-2400 (Not shown but is correct). Now, if you pull this up and that "Clock" field under Memory shows "748.2 MHz" (748.2x2=1496.4) then you do have a problem.

 

[compprob237]

Your ram is running at 3000 MHz. 1496.4 x 2 = 2992.8 That is why it is called DDR. Unfortunately you have only one stick so you are basically at 1500 MHz. You ram isn't underclocked.

By the way, that's not how the RAM speed works. I have a triple-channel DDR3-1333 system and if I run one stick in there it's not 1/3 (444MHz) that speed. It shows "667MHz" regardless of stick count. DDR stands for "Double Data Rate" which means that the RAM's able to perform two complete operations per clock cycle. Multi-channel (dual-channel for example) merely increases the maximum throughput that they're capable of.

 

[NotAPhaze]

CPU:

This CPU is clocked at 4.7GHz but the "Core Speed" says it is currently running at 799.61MHz.
It looks like your Ryzen 5 1600, with its base 3.2Ghz and boost 3.6GHz, is currently running at 3.4GHz. I'm not sure if it's fixed at that speed though. It should change when the system is idling low enough unless the multiplier is fixed and the power saving features are disabled (as if you were overclocking).

Now your userbenchmark screenshot is interesting. Mine, 6600K Userbenchmark, shows my RAM running @ 2400MHz like it is set to. This may just be an oddity of your motherboard/chipset since it appears that the kit is performing close to where it should. That large peak at the lower-end of the speed scale for your kit is people that are probably running the kit at the default setting of DDR4-2133. HWiNFO64's "Summary" has a very similar window to CPU-Z but consolidates it more conveniently.

Says my RAM is Clocked at 1200MHz and since they're DDR that number's double to give me DDR4-2400 (Not shown but is correct). Now, if you pull this up and that "Clock" field under Memory shows "750 MHz" then you do have a problem.

Over the last few restarts I managed to get the automatic OCTuner to yield some results, and the speeds are stable. I once got it to run at 3.8Ghz but it was too much of a hassle to configure manually and it completely screwed itself over when I formatted my hard-drive, which should have nothing to do with it, so I won't take the risk again.
The RAM shows up similar to how yours does, except it's Single Channel, which is normal since I'm running a single stick.

Spoiler: HWiNFO64

Spoiler: CPU-Z

Does this mean I'll need a second stick to get it running at full speed? I'm planning to buy another one (the same one) to get 16GB in the future.

 

[compprob237]

Over the last few restarts I managed to get the automatic OCTuner to yield some results, and the speeds are stable. I once got it to run at 3.8Ghz but it was too much of a hassle to configure manually and it completely screwed itself over when I formatted my hard-drive, which should have nothing to do with it, so I won't take the risk again.

Sounds like an unstable overclock.

The RAM shows up similar to how yours does, except it's Single Channel, which is normal since I'm running a single stick.

Ah, good that's what it should show.

Does this mean I'll need a second stick to get it running at full speed? I'm planning to buy another one (the same one) to get 16GB in the future.

Technically it is running at full speed. You're just not getting the benefit of multi-channel bandwidth. You honestly wont notice the difference, except in theoretical benchmarks, in the real world and even in gaming if you're running a single stick. The worst that you would see is possibly extended spikes in low framerates/hitching/stalls due to a large data transfer demand that goes beyond what a single stick can transfer before you'd notice. Your 16GB DDR4-3000 stick would need to transfer >285MB of data in less than 17ms before you start to see your framerate suffer.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSX2taw-Y4

 

[NotAPhaze]

Sounds like an unstable overclock.
Ah, good that's what it should show.
Technically it is running at full speed. You're just not getting the benefit of multi-channel bandwidth. You honestly wont notice the difference, except in theoretical benchmarks, in the real world and even in gaming if you're running a single stick. The worst that you would see is possibly extended spikes in low framerates/hitching/stalls due to a large data transfer demand that goes beyond what a single stick can transfer before you'd notice.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSX2taw-Y4

Well, thanks for the help, then. Seems like it's all running stable, then. The last problem was the RAM after I managed to stop the CPU multiplier from resetting to x15 all the time, but it seems it's running fine as well.
And above all else, thanks for the patience. You've been a godsend these past few minutes!

 

[bmacsys]

Over the last few restarts I managed to get the automatic OCTuner to yield some results, and the speeds are stable. I once got it to run at 3.8Ghz but it was too much of a hassle to configure manually and it completely screwed itself over when I formatted my hard-drive, which should have nothing to do with it, so I won't take the risk again.
The RAM shows up similar to how yours does, except it's Single Channel, which is normal since I'm running a single stick.

Spoiler: HWiNFO64

Spoiler: CPU-Z

Does this mean I'll need a second stick to get it running at full speed? I'm planning to buy another one (the same one) to get 16GB in the future.

Yes, you need a second stick.

 

[bmacsys]

Sounds like an unstable overclock.
Ah, good that's what it should show.
Technically it is running at full speed. You're just not getting the benefit of multi-channel bandwidth. You honestly wont notice the difference, except in theoretical benchmarks, in the real world and even in gaming if you're running a single stick. The worst that you would see is possibly extended spikes in low framerates/hitching/stalls due to a large data transfer demand that goes beyond what a single stick can transfer before you'd notice. Your 16GB DDR4-3000 stick would need to transfer >285MB of data in less than 17ms before you start to see your framerate suffer.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSX2taw-Y4

Saying he won't notice that he is not running in dual channel mode with a Ryzen cpu is just plain wrong.

 

[compprob237]

Saying he won't notice that he is not running in dual channel mode with a Ryzen cpu is just plain wrong.

You must be new here. He'd notice in theoretical tests but real-world comes down to the speed the kit is running at. Since it's running at DDR4-3000 then it's right where Ryzen runs better. Obviously 3200 would raise the performance even more but it's fine where it is. It's better than DDR4-2133 that's for sure.