Asus Z790 Apex XMP issues

[kvarq]

Asus Z790 Apex
13900KF SP 103 (P113/E83/MC73)

G.Skill 2x16GB 6400MHz C32 F5-6400J3239G16GX2-TZ5K (M die)

It seems that the Z690 XMP issues are still persisting this round as well...
XMP I or II activated seem to not be ok for games (these are crashing for some reason), ALTHOUGH GSAT passed overnight for long hours or TM5 with anta's profiles passed as well
Did not touch the IA/SA voltages, just XMP is enabled...

[iBruceypoo]

You should not have to be tweaking separate individual voltages at this time. The 6400 kit should run with XMP l settings, period.

If it doesn't then try a different mem kit A-die if you can get your hands on one.

That 6400 kit is M-die. Have you tested with a proper A-die kit?

I have a 13600K i5 with an MC SP 35 and it can push the 7600 kit to 8000 stable with Apex, your 13900KF MC SP 76 should have no issues at all.

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My next step would be - test XMP with another/different mem kit - borrow an A-die kit from a friend if you can and simply run XMP l with NO other settings applied in bios NONE, and NO settings to your CPU.

[kvarq]

iBruceypoo wrote:
You should not have to be tweaking separate individual voltages at this time. The 6400 kit should run with XMP l settings, period.

COMPLTELY agree.
EXACTLY my thoughts, a 900 eur mobo should handle properly at least a 6400MHz kit on XMP.
Shouldn't touch at all those voltages, should have worked properly if bios was well done by Asus technicians...

It might be bios fault or maybe memory tracers are not good on my mobo.

My initial kit was M-die, then I tried A die kits.
That's why I bought another kit, manufactured Jan 2023, it's A die and the result is the same.

I'll get there... eventually. Or not.
Tachyon was on stock for few days, but I missed that.
Next time, my mobo won't be an Asus for sure.

[kvarq]

iBruceypoo wrote:
You should not have to be tweaking separate individual voltages at this time. The 6400 kit should run with XMP l settings, period.

COMPLTELY agree.
EXACTLY my thoughts, a 900 eur mobo should handle properly at least a 6400MHz kit on XMP.
Shouldn't touch at all those voltages, should have worked properly if bios was well done by Asus technicians...

It might the bios which needs more adjustments or maybe memory tracers are not good on my mobo.

My initial kit was M-die, then I tried A die kits.
That's why I bought another kit, manufactured Jan 2023, it's A die and the result is the same.

I'll get there... eventually. Or not.
Tachyon was on stock for few days, but I missed that.
Next time, my mobo won't be an Asus for sure.

[akgis_]

Your board or ram sticks must be defective, consider RMA

XMPI should work out of the box on a Z790 Apex no questions asked expecialy a sub 7k kit and no need for tunning, Load Optimized defaults set XMP1 dont touch anything else it should be stable.

[iBruceypoo]

akgis_ wrote:
XMPI should work out of the box on a Z790 Apex no questions asked expecialy a sub 7k kit and no need for tunning, Load Optimized defaults set XMP1 dont touch anything else it should be stable.

Exactly Correct! Load Optimized Defaults (I set CPU fan monitor to IGNORE since I'm using a separate fan controller) and I also don't touch anything else. Boot back into bios set XMP l and save out of bios.

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@ kvarq - the above statement is assuming you've already done the following:

-fresh install of Windows 10/11 with updates. Don't use an 8month old cluttered up OS with a new platform.

Back in Windows install these in the following order:

1) Install latest MEI drivers for Apex
2) Install latest ME firmware and update (it's 2-steps to complete here)
3) Install lates Apex Bios - bios 0812

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I'm assuming Mr. kvarq all this was completed PRIOR to setting XMP l in bios for your 6400 kit for the very first time. 🙂

If not - that may be your issue. Just go back and START again with a fresh clean install of Windows and follow the list above my friend. :cool:

[kvarq]

Everything is up to date of course from the drivers point of view... bios 0812.
I had like 5-6 fresh installs so far since I bought the board from December :))

And again, I know at least 3 boards that cannot run XMP, manufactured on different dates, so it's not about a batch or something.

Could be bios or maybe indeed or the board defective...
As I stated on the previous page I cannot RMA it because it is bought from abroad, warranty is not valid since Asus warranty is LOCAL, not even within the EU

Could be something from the bios side though - it's weird though that after enabling the XMP some voltages are quite low - the SA voltage is 0.89V and MC voltage is 1.154V...

A 900 Eur mobo should work out of the box just enabling XMP though.

[Silent_Scone]

kvarq wrote:

A 900 Eur mobo should work out of the box just enabling XMP though.

Please see the sticky in my previous post. No vendors guarantee overclocking.

kvarq wrote:


Could be something from the bios side though - it's weird though that after enabling the XMP some voltages are quite low - the SA voltage is 0.89V and MC voltage is 1.154V...

Please see previous suggestions for these rails. You will need to tune them methodically. Another alternative is taking the PC to a system integrator and getting them to dial it in for you.

[kvarq]

worst case scenario I'll fill in manually all the XMP stuff (timings and frequency), that was the only workaround back then - it was (and still is) weird that with XMP enabled passed hours of testing with TM5 or GSAT but in games not stable whatsoever
no one could tell why, this "solution" (dropping XMP and switching to manual) worked for most of people
with the default voltages (including the SA voltage 0.89V and MC voltage 1.154V) the system passed hours and hours GSAT overnight and TM5 with anta's profiles...

Silent_Scone@ROG wrote:
Please see the sticky in my previous post. No vendors guarantee overclocking.
Please see previous suggestions for these rails. You will need to tune them methodically. Another alternative is taking the PC to a system integrator and getting them to dial it in for you.

For MC voltages I tried 1.30 and 1.33 V and crashes are happening faster... I am trying as suggested to test with a lower voltage 1.2-ish V, below 1.3V
Did not find in earlier posts a suggestion for the SA voltage, but I assume it should be 1.2-1.3V maybe even higher - I remember when I had the Z490 board that each bios had its "own" SA preferred voltage for 4000C16 - sometimes worked with 1.28V and sometimes even 1.36V. Back then things were pretty much clear, if the ram passed GSAT there was like 99% chance to be rock solid in gaming. Since Z690 this changed.

[kvarq]

iBruceypoo wrote:
Yea but Mr. kvarq had a bad experience with his Z690 Apex and now it's happening once again with Z790 Apex - that ain't fair. 😞

Silent_Scone@ROG wrote:
This is objectively incorrect, Bruce. No one CPU will be the same and not all will follow auto rules or predefined settings beyond reference code. This is why the UEFI allows for manual adjustment in the first place. If what you were saying were true, why would the majority of rails be made adjustable for the user? It's as though you've created a pseudo trip point in your mind where you feel things should "simply work". Sadly, this isn't how overclocking works. One would have to have an extremely large sample size pool to form this opinion, and even then it's not an absolute guarantee.

Pointing individuals on the right path is more important than telling them what does and doesn't work. It comes down to an alignment issue that needs to be dialled out. Of course, the more we increase the frequency the slimmer the margins become - but this doesn't mean lower speeds are impervious to instability and do not require adjustment.

Silent_Scone@ROG wrote:
Please see the sticky in my previous post. No vendors guarantee overclocking.

In a way I might agree with Silent_Scone's statements, but then why the expensive boards are advertised that "can do 8000MHz+"?
If they sell something expensive, then they should deliver what they promised - to quote our good fellow Bruce.

In the end, let's face it, it's not a fact that they sell, but just an... "opportunity".
If even a low XMP is not working, "you're not lucky, your CPU is crap". Not fair.

[akgis_]

kvarq wrote:
Everything is up to date of course from the drivers point of view... bios 0812.
I had like 5-6 fresh installs so far since I bought the board from December :))

And again, I know at least 3 boards that cannot run XMP, manufactured on different dates, so it's not about a batch or something.

Could be bios or maybe indeed or the board defective...
As I stated on the previous page I cannot RMA it because it is bought from abroad, warranty is not valid since Asus warranty is LOCAL, not even within the EU

Could be something from the bios side though - it's weird though that after enabling the XMP some voltages are quite low - the SA voltage is 0.89V and MC voltage is 1.154V...

A 900 Eur mobo should work out of the box just enabling XMP though.

Those voltages are the default ones, you only get the XMP voltages next time you restart the system from saved settings in BIOS.

You should check the voltages in Windows in HWinfo for example like I said.