32gb DDR4 Ram (3.2ghz) only running at 2.8ghz

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TheJohnnyD

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Mar 19, 2017
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Hi all,

Firstly my system specs: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RwrsxY

My benchmarks!: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/3153622

My situation:

Since I have DDR4 ram (2x16gb, 3.2ghz) and my Mobo supports upto 3.4ghz Oc'd ram speeds,I wanted to unlock its full potential.
I have the i5 6600k CPU which I decided to overclock it from the factory clock speed of 3.9ghz to 4.6ghz, where it is stable and hitting temperatures of ~50degrees whilst playing Battlefield 1 on Ultra, on a 1440p resolution.
I hit around 70 FPS atm which is the average FPS for bf1 with my system .
My idle CPU temps at the moment are around 30 degrees as well with that CPU overclock which seems good.

What happened:

So I tried setting my RAM speed from the default 2133mhz to 3.2ghz via BIOS but I got an error saying 'overclock failed', so I tried 3ghz which didnt work either. So I then tried 2.8ghz via bios again which worked. On my MOBO the 'EZ XMP' switch is OFF but in my BIOS the XMP profile is enabled so I dont know if enabling that will make any difference. Technically I'm not even trying to overclock my RAM since 3.2ghz is the limitation.

My question:

Can someone explain why my ram isnt able to run at its full potential, let alone be overclocked?

Thanks!
 
Solution
Vic 40

Might just be what this cpu's memory controller can handle. You could maybe add voltage to that,but can't be sure that it will be stable then.
Under the "AI Tweaker" look at the "CPU System Agent Voltage" ,you could try and up it with 0.05V (might add another 0.05V,but don't go too high),see if it helps.If it doesn't help are you probably stuck at 2900mhz and would i reset the voltage to what it was since already working fine with that at 2900mhz.


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The Paladin

The Paladin

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why do you think your 2133hz Ram can perform at all at 3000mhz ?

in the hardware world, ram is produce in batches, from this batch, each are tested for max speed, when a company sells a chip at 3000 it is because it has passed those tests, when it doesn't it is relegates to a lower speed range ie 2133 when it runs stable.
trying to push a 2133 back to 3200mhz will more than likely fail ....

Why would a company sells you a product that can do 3200 and then they sell it for the price of a 2133 ?

take your OC off ram, enable XMP on ram as well and see how fast it gets pushed, likely about what you discovered already.. not much
 
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TheJohnnyD

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The ram I have isn't 2133mhz, it is 3200mhz. So it cost the price of 3200mhz, not the price of 2133mhz.
Here's a link to the ram itself:
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-led-32gb-2-x-16gb-ddr4-dram-3200mhz-c16-memory-kit-white-led-cmu32gx4m2c3200c16

The ram is meant to hit 3.2ghz, or somewhere close I guess but I would expect that with some tweaking 3.2 is achievable considering some people can legit overclock their ram speeds past 3.2ghz.

So you suggest I enable the switch on my motherboard titled 'EZ XMP' rather than go through bios ?


 
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Enable XMP in BIOS. That should allow the kit to run at 3200. And it's DDR or double data rate. The real speed will be 1600Mhz but DDR moves information on both the rising and falling edges of the clockcycle making the effective data rate 3200Mt/s. RAM is sold and marketed at the DDR speeds not actual speeds.

You have the latest BIOS on that board?

Those are the cas 16 models so I don't think they have the Samsung B-die ICs. If they did it would be cas 14. So I don't know how well they will overclock but they absolutely should run at 3200 cas 16.
 
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XMP or Extreme Memory Profile is a set of timings compatible with Intel CPUs hardcoded into DRAM modules. Enabling XMP does not overclock the CPU....
 
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TheJohnnyD

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Well I had XMP enabled in BIOS, and had it RAM frequency set at 2800 mhz. I pushed it to 2900 and my PC powered on just fine, but anything past that resulted in an overclocking failure. When I put the XMP settings on auto, it made ram speeds 2133 so I guess for now I will just keep it manually at 2900 mhz.

Still curious to know why my PC isnt able to handle the overclocking of ram, suppose I wanted to hit 3.4GHZ. My mobo is able to handle it, and I oc'd my cpu via intel tuning utility to 4.6ghz.
 
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Do you have the latest BIOS? Your board should be able to run that memory at its rated speed with no problems. If it has an early BIOS revision it might not though. Almost all Z170 BIOS updates added RAM support.

You may very well be able to hit 3466 but lets get it stable and working at the rated speed first.

Oh wait, look in your manual. Using the OC utility may very well prevent you from using XMP. Don't use the utility anyway. Most of them use much higher voltage than necessary. Overclock in BIOS.
 
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TheJohnnyD

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My bios isn't up to date but its only 3 revisions older, should it make a big difference?
Since my bios version, the following has occured:
1.CPU uCode update
2.Support more PCIe-1394 devices.
3. Improve system stability

I actually haven't used any OC utility, I've been using bios since the beginning :p
These are the steps I took:

Opened BIOS > Advanced settings> AI tweaker > XMP enabled > dram frequency set to 3200mhz

This failed, but setting the frequency to 2900mhz worked.
 
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Update to the newest BIOS. Enable XMP Profile 1 most likely is how it will be listed. Almost all Z170 BIOS revisions added memory support.
 
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TheJohnnyD

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I just updated my bios and tried that, enabled profile 1 which is meant to be 3200mhz but it came up with the error again, overclock failed.
Do you need any other info by any chance?
 
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TheJohnnyD

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Update: Now that I've updated BIOS, i get a different error message when I try enabling XMP and booting windows: "the system has been POSTed in safe mode, this may be due to the previous POST attempt failing because of system instability, or if the power button was held in to force the system off. If the system failed to POST after you made changes to UEFI settings, you may wish to revert to stable settings to prevent POST failure. Press F1 to run setup'

Still working fine upto 2900mhz, just nothing past that.
 
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Vic 40

Vic 40

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Might just be what this cpu's memory controller can handle. You could maybe add voltage to that,but can't be sure that it will be stable then.
Under the "AI Tweaker" look at the "CPU System Agent Voltage" ,you could try and up it with 0.05V (might add another 0.05V,but don't go too high),see if it helps.If it doesn't help are you probably stuck at 2900mhz and would i reset the voltage to what it was since already working fine with that at 2900mhz.


 
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