[SOLVED] RAM frequency lower than advertised, blue screen after enabling xmp

Jun 5, 2020
6
1
15
Setup:
RAM: 4 sticks of 8GB xpg spectrix D60G DDR4-3200MHz
MOBO: ASRock X570 Steel Legend
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X (not oc)
GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700 XT

Problem:
I bought 4 sticks of 8GB 3200MHz RAM. However when checking the hardware (cpu-z) I found out the ram is running at 2666MHz. I didn't understand why this was, and then I realized I never enabled XMP. I went to bios and enabled the default xmp profile, but when rebooting I get a blue screen of death (kmode exception not handled), while or shortly after rebooting.

Thing I tried:
  • I did a full memory check (windows and memtest86) and all the sticks seem good.
  • Overvolting doesn't seem necessary since the default xmp profile sets it to 1.35, which is exactly matching the specs of the ram.
  • Using 2 sticks at a time, one by one
  • The other xmp profile does work, at 3000MHz and slower timings.
Question:
Why is the speed lower than advertised?
Why do I get blue screen when switching on xmp, and how do I fix it?
 
Solution
Ram has a default speed and set of timings and its pretty slow and very loose. So compatibility is quite high, even when using different kits. It's when you try and use XMP/DOCP that things get buggy because you are physically speeding up the ram and tightening almost 50 different timings in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary subsets. Faster and tighter you get, worse the chances.

The ram is rated at 3200MHz possible in those 2stick kits. Guaranteed from the factory. It's not guaranteed as a 4stick kit.

On top of that, Ryzen do not like 4 sticks at all, they work best with 2 sticks.

You can try adding 0.05v to dram voltage and adding 0.05v to SoC (memory controller), not to exceed 1.2v on either, with preference for lower...
Jun 5, 2020
6
1
15
Let's start with the fact that you're using 2 kit. Even if they are the same brand and model they are not from the same batch. So there is no guarantee that you can use 2 kits to run them at 3200MHz. Sometime it works. Sometime it doesn't. Even if you bought a RAM KIT of 4 sticks you might not be able to run at 3200MHz. 4 sticks = more stress on the CPU memory controller and sometime you have to run the RAM at lower speed.

A 2x16GB 3200MHz RAM KIT would have not given you any issues at trying to run them at 3200MHz.
Thanks for your explanation. However this can't be the cause of the problem, because 1 set of 2 sticks doesn't work either.
 

Endre

Reputable
Setup:
RAM: 4 sticks of 8GB xpg spectrix D60G DDR4-3200MHz
MOBO: ASRock X570 Steel Legend
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X (not oc)
GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700 XT

Problem:
I bought 4 sticks of 8GB 3200MHz RAM. However when checking the hardware (cpu-z) I found out the ram is running at 2666MHz. I didn't understand why this was, and then I realized I never enabled XMP. I went to bios and enabled the default xmp profile, but when rebooting I get a blue screen of death (kmode exception not handled), while or shortly after rebooting.

Thing I tried:
  • I did a full memory check (windows and memtest86) and all the sticks seem good.
  • Overvolting doesn't seem necessary since the default xmp profile sets it to 1.35, which is exactly matching the specs of the ram.
  • Using 2 sticks at a time, one by one
  • The other xmp profile does work, at 3000MHz and slower timings.
Question:
Why is the speed lower than advertised?
Why do I get blue screen when switching on xmp, and how do I fix it?

Check out to see if you’re on the latest BIOS version!
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Ram has a default speed and set of timings and its pretty slow and very loose. So compatibility is quite high, even when using different kits. It's when you try and use XMP/DOCP that things get buggy because you are physically speeding up the ram and tightening almost 50 different timings in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary subsets. Faster and tighter you get, worse the chances.

The ram is rated at 3200MHz possible in those 2stick kits. Guaranteed from the factory. It's not guaranteed as a 4stick kit.

On top of that, Ryzen do not like 4 sticks at all, they work best with 2 sticks.

You can try adding 0.05v to dram voltage and adding 0.05v to SoC (memory controller), not to exceed 1.2v on either, with preference for lower.

You'd start out with one kit installed, set everything up, including the added voltages in bios, save, exit, then install the other kit. Make sure to keep the kits seperate, one kit in A2/B2, the other kit in A1/B1. First kit goes in A2/B2 at first boot.
 
Solution
Jun 5, 2020
6
1
15
Ram has a default speed and set of timings and its pretty slow and very loose. So compatibility is quite high, even when using different kits. It's when you try and use XMP/DOCP that things get buggy because you are physically speeding up the ram and tightening almost 50 different timings in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary subsets. Faster and tighter you get, worse the chances.

The ram is rated at 3200MHz possible in those 2stick kits. Guaranteed from the factory. It's not guaranteed as a 4stick kit.

On top of that, Ryzen do not like 4 sticks at all, they work best with 2 sticks.

You can try adding 0.05v to dram voltage and adding 0.05v to SoC (memory controller), not to exceed 1.2v on either, with preference for lower.

You'd start out with one kit installed, set everything up, including the added voltages in bios, save, exit, then install the other kit. Make sure to keep the kits seperate, one kit in A2/B2, the other kit in A1/B1. First kit goes in A2/B2 at first boot.
Allright, thank you for your explanation :). I'll try it the way you described. However you said not to exceed 1.2v, but the default xmp profile is at 1.35v, which is exactly the specs on the website of the manufacturer. Does it hurt to run it at 1.35?

Also I just noticed that the sticks are indeed completely different. I bought them at the same time (they dont have 4 stick sets) so I thought they would be the same. Turns out even the DIMM manufacturer is different (Samsung and Micron). I think I will just return 1 of the sets and keep the 2 sticks of 8GB, which is hopefully enough.

Thanks again for helping :)