Question XMP causes instability, and the Gigabyte Z390UD BIOS is painful to navigate and understand ?

Dec 4, 2022
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My system is an i7-9700k, 3080ti, (just installed) Corsair Vengeance RGB RS 3600 Mhz (part no CMG32GX4M2D3600C18, 32gb) and a Gigabyte Z390 UD rev 1 with a new Corsair RM850x.
System is stable running at 2133Mhz with XMP disabled, but I paid good money for the RAM and want to use all its performance. I am very new to OCing stuff in the bios and the labels in my particular bios are very different to the ones I see in tutorials on the internet.

I would really appreciate it if someone is able to translate the gigabyte BIOS naming scheme into common terms.

My main goal is to edit the XMP profile if that is possible to make it more stable.
I have other concerns with the profile, as when its enabled, the clock is 3600mhz (as expected) but the voltage is 1.4 + some change which seems a little high.

I'll attach images of the relevant bios pages and some system information.
IMG_0949.jpg
IMG_0950.jpg
 

zx128k

Reputable
You can boot to Windows and are stable enough to run cpu-z. Thats great news. If the DRAM Voltage = 1.2 volts auto but for the profile to work you need 1.35 volts. That could be an issue.

Tested Latency
18-22-22-42

Tested Voltage
1.35


I have not used Gigabyte in a long time, I mostly use Asus motherboards and the DRAM voltage is set by the profile which means its no longer set to auto. If the kit requires 1.35 volts and the BIOS is auto'ing to 1.2 volts. Then that is a target cause for problems in stablity. There is a guide to DDR4 overclocking here.

Timings DDR4

How double data rate DRAM works
RAM timings explained 0
DDR4 timings explained 1: tCL tRCD tCR
DDR4 timings explained 2: THE ABSOLUTE CHAOS OF tRAS, tRP, tRTP and tRC
DDR4 timings explained 3: tRP VS tRAS for performance
DDR4 timings explained: tRRD & tFAW
The differences between X16 X8 and X4 DDR4 memory chips explained quickly.

Can't see the memory is the QVL document here which the last post stated. So this kit could be hard to get working. Also the stock RAM speed for the 9700k is DDR4-2666, so its not plug and play to get higher speeds working. Sometimes you need to put in the right settings yourself. Other times the IMC won't support it. Many people have manually set the profile timings and voltage to get the RAM kit working. Also sometimes a bump in the right voltage is required. Other times you can never get the kit to work.

Normally BIOS updates contain more support for RAM kits. So sometimes updating the BIOS helps.

Your manual explains each setting.



Don't put 1.45 volts into your RAM kit until you know its safe. Keep to the 1.35Volts of the RAM kit. Some RAM IC's will not like higher voltages. Samsung B-die is the IC that runs fine upto 1.5 volts. Other kits won't work for long at 1.5Volts. You need to work out what IC's your kit has and find the safe voltages for them before you pump more voltage into them.
 
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