Question Xmp Enabled won't boot. How to find the correct values.

[EzPepz]

Hi all, I just built my new rig, with the following parts:

Cpu: i7 13700KF 3.40Ghz
Motherboard: ASUS 1700 TUF Z690-PLUS Gaming
Memory: Corsair DDR5 32GB 5600 Vengeance CL36 CMK32GX5M2B5600C36 2x16GB

Everything works great; so I went in my Bios to enable Xmp, cause the ram was working at 3600. I tried both the Xmp I and II and the pc won't boot, it stops during the check, giving a warning led on the Dram.
So I manually started to test other frequencies, and the maximum with Xmp enabled seems to be 4400mhz.
Now my question is: is this a normal behaviour and should I start to increase the voltage step by step to raise the frequency? I remember the last rig I had I just enabled the Xmp profile, which set the frequency to the max and it worked.
I'm not looking for an immediate solution, just trying to understand how to proceed; I don't mind doing the necessary trial and error, but since the voltage may be involved, I'm looking for advice to avoid doing any damage to the hardware XD

 

[Aeacus]

just trying to understand how to proceed

Here's further reading that answers it: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/overclock-ddr5-ram

You can start by tweaking timings (e.g loosen them) to get higher frequency stable. If no luck, you can look towards voltage increase. But do everything with baby steps and also test for stability.

To get most out of your RAM, by manually doing the OC + testing, is one very tedious and time consuming thing to do. But end result may be what you're looking for.

 

[Nine Layer Nige]

It's possible but I dont know exactly, but BIOS updates might introduce more stability, so what version BIOS are you on ? The latest BIOS is Version 2103 2022/10/19.
DDR5 is very new and there have been many compatibility and stability issues reported.
As always, BIOS updates can be risky, so consider that too.

 

[EzPepz]

It's possible but I dont know exactly, but BIOS updates might introduce more stability, so what version BIOS are you on ? The latest BIOS is Version 2103 2022/10/19.
DDR5 is very new and there have been many compatibility and stability issues reported.
As always, BIOS updates can be risky, so consider that too.

Yes, I checked that yesterday and the Bios was way outdated, but I already updated it to 2103 with EzFlash, but didn't solved the Xmp issue.

@Aeacus thanks for the link, I'll look into it ^^

 

[Karadjgne]

How long are you waiting on the dram led? There's often a certain amount of memory training that's happening as the memory controller adjusts voltages and settings in bios to accommodate the new raise in speeds. It can take a minute or 3 and even several reboots as the bios adjusts. DDR5 is ECC ram, and the voltage regulation is on the stick, no longer in the cpu, which can complicate things.

XMP is a generic setting. The ram itself is factory guaranteed to be able to hit that speed and be stable, but there's no guarantee that your particular cpu/motherboard will be happy with those settings, often requires manual adjustments to the memory controller or transmission voltages to get it to work.

 

[EzPepz]

How long are you waiting on the dram led? There's often a certain amount of memory training that's happening as the memory controller adjusts voltages and settings in bios to accommodate the new raise in speeds. It can take a minute or 3 and even several reboots as the bios adjusts. DDR5 is ECC ram, and the voltage regulation is on the stick, no longer in the cpu, which can complicate things.

XMP is a generic setting. The ram itself is factory guaranteed to be able to hit that speed and be stable, but there's no guarantee that your particular cpu/motherboard will be happy with those settings, often requires manual adjustments to the memory controller or transmission voltages to get it to work.

I waited 4-5 loops in which the pc restarted every time and then shut it off after the led was stuck on the Dram, without going in loop anymore. Maybe I'll try to wait a little more.

 

[viperwasp]

This may or may not help. But I had issue PC not booting with TUF Gaming Z690-Plus- WIFI D4 and 64 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600Mhz C18. Fixed it by updating Mobo firmware. And also using XMP Profile 2 I think? Not 1? I think it needed both of these to fix the issue. The mobo/bios update and profile 2. I will be honest I'm not a pro. So I don't know if it was bios or firmware I updated. Or if these are the same thing? But I had to go to my motherboard website and grab an update to fix this. And even then I believe it still failed on XMP 1. However XMP 2 also failed before the motherboard update.

I made sure my ram was running properly. It was running at correct speed. And Benchmarks and tests where showing ram operating well so I moved on. lol