Asus rog strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4. What memory for xmp.

[Ubascouser]

I bought this motherboard months ago. I installed some corsair cmw32gx4m2z3600c18 64gb x4 sticks of 16gb. Xmp won't work so instead of running at 3600mhz they're running at 2666mhz. Tried the bios updates and different profiles. Now looking to change the Ram does anyone have this motherboard and what ram have you got running with xmp ? Looking for some RGB ram. Thanks.

[Ubascouser]

Running on Windows 11 64gb
Rtx 3070
I7-12700k
Corsair 650w psu

[Murph_9000]

4 sticks can be problematic for XMP, compared to 2 sticks. Also, I don't see "cmw32gx4m2z3600c18" on the Strix Z690-A Gaming Wifi D4 Memory QVL. That looks like it's a 32GB kit of 2 DIMMs, and it's generally inadvisable to combine multiple kits of memory if you can avoid it.

I strongly suggest picking something that's on the QVL, and make sure it's an exact match for the listed part number. For a 4 DIMM config, make sure the "Socket Support" column is "1,2,4"; any that are only "1,2" are for single or dual DIMM configs (and not quad). Use the filters on the QVL page to narrow down the search.

You do stand a reasonable chance of getting 4 sticks of DDR4-3600 to work (faster than that or DDR5 is tricky with quad configs). I have 4x16 Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 working nicely on X570S, but you might struggle to get those as Crucial/Micron have exited the enthusiast market for now.

[Ubascouser]

Murph_9000 wrote:
4 sticks can be problematic for XMP, compared to 2 sticks. Also, I don't see "cmw32gx4m2z3600c18" on the Strix Z690-A Gaming Wifi D4 Memory QVL. That looks like it's a 32GB kit of 2 DIMMs, and it's generally inadvisable to combine multiple kits of memory if you can avoid it.

I strongly suggest picking something that's on the QVL, and make sure it's an exact match for the listed part number. For a 4 DIMM config, make sure the "Socket Support" column is "1,2,4"; any that are only "1,2" are for single or dual DIMM configs (and not quad). Use the filters on the QVL page to narrow down the search.

You do stand a reasonable chance of getting 4 sticks of DDR4-3600 to work (faster than that or DDR5 is tricky with quad configs). I have 4x16 Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 working nicely on X570S, but you might struggle to get those as Crucial/Micron have exited the enthusiast market for now.

Thanks for the reply yeah I've tried even 1 stick enabling xmp sends the fans into overdrive and the cpu goes into overheat

[Murph_9000]

Ubascouser wrote:
Thanks for the reply yeah I've tried even 1 stick enabling xmp sends the fans into overdrive and the cpu goes into overheat

That sounds a bit odd. XMP, especially just moderate RAM OC like 2666->3600, shouldn't cause thermal extremes on the CPU. Faster RAM is going to make the CPU's memory controller a bit hotter, but 1800Mhz (the clock for DDR4-3600) shouldn't be that big a deal on 12th gen Intel. It sounds like you've already done this, but latest BIOS (and Intel Management Engine). If it's actually hitting thermal limits without something like a stress test running, something is very wrong about that.

Maybe check the cooler mounting and re-paste. It's just a wild guess at what could cause bad CPU thermals from XMP, but maybe poor contact with the cooler over the memory controller within the CPU package. Intel LGA1700 does have a design/engineering flaw when it comes to cooler contact.

One final suggestion for diagnosing XMP. Start with "load optimised defaults" and only the bare minimum of BIOS config needed to boot the system. Essentially take any other OC or random BIOS tweaks out of the equation and just try to get XMP working.

[pmerritt]

Ubascouser wrote:
I bought this motherboard months ago. I installed some corsair cmw32gx4m2z3600c18 64gb x4 sticks of 16gb. Xmp won't work so instead of running at 3600mhz they're running at 2666mhz. Tried the bios updates and different profiles. Now looking to change the Ram does anyone have this motherboard and what ram have you got running with xmp ? Looking for some RGB ram. Thanks.

I really like G.Skill but have you tried just running Dual channel and 32GB? 64 is serious overkill unless you truly need it for the type of work you do.

[Ubascouser]

I've tried 1 stick, 2 sticks etc cpu idles around 30c doesn't go much higher in games I'm running a ryujin II 240mm AIO on it. From what I've read there's multiple issues with this board. Tried about 3 bios updates as they came out then gave up. I did notice the Ram is ryzen optimised could that be the problem?