Currently: 6200Mhz on 4 DIMMS

[Noles2003]

SPECS:
Asus ROG MAXIMUS Z690 FORMULA (Bios 1505)
T Force 16gbx4 6400MHz Ram Sticks
Intel 12th Gen 12900K
(a big newbie here so I am pretty sure that's all that matters in this scenario if not let me know and I will update)

The current settings are not anything special. I enabled the XMP 1 profile. Then I rolled the clock back to 6200MHz and added .03 volts to the VDD and VDDQ for some stability for a total of 1.38 (1.35 is the stock setting)

I only ran memtest86 for two passes. I know this isn't enough to guarantee flawless performance, but I never made it passed test 7 without at least 1 error prior to this, and I was tired of waiting and wanted to play after 4 hours of tinkering.

I imagine most people are having the same issues that I am:
Run one stick at max settings: no issues.
Run two sticks at max settings: no issue.
The moment I add the 3rd and 4th, COD Vanguard (Just happens to be the only game I have loaded on this new setup) crashes out within 5 minutes with a 6068 or 6065 error Which is frustrating because I spent a week chasing GPU issues in my spare time that didn't exist. On rare occasions, I would get a complete system reboot, or a blue screen.

I ran the system for a month with XMP disabled and would boot anywhere form 3200-4000Mhz with random crashes under load.

At the moment ASUS list the Group T Force 6400MHz ram on the approved vender list, but only for sockets 1 and 2. If you are like me and bought 4 the two empty spaces in the motherboard can be an eye sore. (Yes, I know that 64GB at 6400mhz is completely over kill for anything I will ever throw at it. I know that I can run 3 additional computers with the unused resources, but it makes me happy *when it works*)

I know this isn't a perfect solution for true MAX settings but if someone else is out there like I was for the last 4 days pulling their hair out, here is baseline of something that is working for me. Like I said, I have not run anywhere near the amount of test that I see some people running, but if someone will point me in the direction, give me a list, I can run one each day, Tuesday and Thursday as I work all day, and post the results. Just tell be which test, how I should set them up and provide me a link to DL the software. Like I said, I am rookie, learning as I go, so as always, I welcome any comments or constructive criticism.

Also, if anyone has been able to get the Group T force 6400MHz ram to run stable at full speed, I would love to hear your settings to see I can make them work for myself.

[Nate152]

Hi Noles2003

Welcome to the ROG forum.

You're unstable because you are combining two fast memory kits. You won't find any single 64GB 6400MT/s memory kits.

Simple solution - To keep the speed, use one memory kit in the recommended slots A2 - B2 (slots 2 and 4 from the cpu).

If you want to use all four sticks, settle for a lower frequency say 5400MHz - 5600MHz.

So all is not bad, you have the option to choose fast 32GB or slower 64GB.

I personally would keep the 32GB 6400MT/s.

[Noles2003]

Nate152 wrote:
Hi Noles2003

Welcome to the ROG forum.

You're unstable because you are combining two fast memory kits. You won't find any single 64GB 6400MT/s memory kits.

Simple solution - To keep the speed, use one memory kit in the recommended slots A2 - B2 (slots 2 and 4 from the cpu).

If you want to use all four sticks, settle for a lower frequency say 5400MHz - 5600MHz.

So all is not bad, you have the option to choose fast 32GB or slower 64GB.

I personally would keep the 32GB 6400MT/s.

Thank you for your reply. As I stated above I don't know a lot and the only things I do know/understand are form reading and doing things myself. When you say mixed kits... all 4 sticks are exactly the same. Does that still make them a "mixed kit"?

What qualifies a system as being stable? What is the standard and how would someone go about testing against that standard to see if they meet it?

As far as the z690 Maximus Formula and the 1505 bios: Will this board ever support 4 sticks at 6400 in the future or are the hardware limitations on this board the weak link?

When you say I have the options to set the MHz lower, where did you arrive at that number? Also, as far as real-world performance, how much difference are we talking with the difference of 1000 MHz?

Thank you for taking the time to help me understand,
-Brian

[Silent_Scone]

Noles2003 wrote:
Thank you for your reply. As I stated above I don't know a lot and the only things I do know/understand are form reading and doing things myself. When you say mixed kits... all 4 sticks are exactly the same. Does that still make them a "mixed kit"?

What qualifies a system as being stable? What is the standard and how would someone go about testing against that standard to see if they meet it?

As far as the z690 Maximus Formula and the 1505 bios: Will this board ever support 4 sticks at 6400 in the future or are the hardware limitations on this board the weak link?

When you say I have the options to set the MHz lower, where did you arrive at that number? Also, as far as real-world performance, how much difference are we talking with the difference of 1000 MHz?

Thank you for taking the time to help me understand,
-Brian

1. Use Karhu Ramtest or TM5 to test memory stability in the OS. Google Stress App (via BASH terminal) or HCI memtest pro also viable.


2. Four modules at 6400 is not possible. This is largely a limitation of 12th gen CPUs.


3. With a single memory kit comprising of 4x16GB, most configurations will hit a wall anywhere between 5200-5600 depending on the memory kit and CPU.

[Noles2003]

Silent Scone@ROG wrote:
1. Use Karhu Ramtest or TM5 to test memory stability in the OS. Google Stress App (via BASH terminal) or HCI memtest pro also viable.


2. Four modules at 6400 is not possible. This is largely a limitation of 12th gen CPUs.


3. With a single memory kit comprising of 4x16GB, most configurations will hit a wall anywhere between 5200-5600 depending on the memory kit and CPU.

Ok thank you. I will download a these tonight and run them over the next couple days in order to, at the very least, establish a baseline.

Thank you!

[Noles2003]

Not sure that I ran this right, I was under the impression it would take longer than this. 3 passes doesn't seem to be enough from what I have been reading.

[Silent_Scone]

Hello,

As above, do not combine memory kits. 4x16GB @ 6200 is not possible on this platform. Remove one kit and tune accordingly. The lack of 4 DIMM kits on the market seems to lead more users to try and combine them.

Memory kits are binned in the density they are sold in, when you combine them you eat into the vendor guardband. Neither the motherboard nor memory vendor support combined kits.

[Nate152]

Yep, two separate memory kits of the same is still combining kits.

With memory, you want to choose either speed or capacity. When going for speed choose less density, when going for density choose a lower frequency and always choose a single kit.

9 out of 10 times, instability with memory is caused with the cpu's memory controller, higher speed and more density puts more strain on the memory controller. Raising a few voltages in the bios can help stabilize unstable ram, but in your situation, you're trying to run more than what is capable.

Technically, the Maximus Z690 Formula supports up to 128GB of 6400MHz memory, but there are no memory kits like this available.

How I arrived at a lower frequency for 64GB, if you do search on 64GB DDR5 memory kits, you'll see there are no single 64GB 6400MT/s memory kits.

Games like speed over capacity. If you're just gaming, go with the higher speed of a single 32GB kit. And since you seem to be having good luck with it, you could try overclocking it even further. If you're doing work, the 64GB of memory may benefit at the cost of a lower frequency.

A stable system means you can run benchmarks and play games without any problems.

[Noles2003]

Nate152 wrote:
Yep, two separate memory kits of the same is still combining kits.

With memory, you want to choose either speed or capacity. When going for speed choose less density, when going for density choose a lower frequency and always choose a single kit.

9 out of 10 times, instability with memory is caused with the cpu's memory controller, higher speed and more density puts more strain on the memory controller. Raising a few voltages in the bios can help stabilize unstable ram, but in your situation, you're trying to run more than what is capable.

Technically, the Maximus Z690 Formula supports up to 128GB of 6400MHz memory, but there are no memory kits like this available.

How I arrived at a lower frequency for 64GB, if you do search on 64GB DDR5 memory kits, you'll see there are no single 64GB 6400MT/s memory kits.

Games like speed over capacity. If you're just gaming, go with the higher speed of a single 32GB kit. And since you seem to be having good luck with it, you could try overclocking it even further. If you're doing work, the 64GB of memory may benefit at the cost of a lower frequency.

A stable system means you can run benchmarks and play games without any problems.

Thank you for taking the time to educate me, I appreciate it. I know that the components that I choose for my build are far superior to any task or use I will ever have for it. I am not a true gamer or streamer, in fact I am pretty bad at most games, it's simply a hobby, and I just happen to know a little more than the average consumer about computers.

At present, I would say the hardest thing I ask my computer to do, is play COD vanguard at all Max settings, at a 1440p resolutions, while recording in OBS with a replay buffer and streaming music. Sometimes I'll render a 1440p video clip in Vegas Pro at the same time. That is probably the hardest thing my machine will ever have to do. I have yet to try that on the new settings, it did however work with the safe boot settings @ 4000 mhz (Minimal I know)

With the above-mentioned settings, I am able to maintain an average of 200FPS with 1% lows @ 144 and .1% low of 127. As a sidenote for anyone reading this: Turning off the OBS preview was good for around 80 FPS at times. I'm using a single PC setup which is why this was important to me, but I stumbled upon this trick by total chance as I believe this is not mentioned enough when people are trying to trouble shoot similar problems. (In all honestly, I could probably get that up a little if I ever remembered to stop the benchmark before the game ended instead benchmarking the 2 seconds of dead transitions 😂) And with these results I am more than happy. That being said, I might be measuring my own personal success by the wrong metrics of an actual computer expert.

I have yet to experience a crash while doing the above with about 5 hours of gaming non-stopped. Is it possible that the errors being generated are so small or infrequent enough that the other components are able to overcome the errors without having a critical error occur? Is there a place that logs these minor errors in a way that I could change settings to see my real world difference other than a benchmark program that I must run for hours at a time to get useful results?

In the meantime, I guess I just wait and hope that intel releases an LGA 1700 CPU in the future so I dont have to change the entire MOBO. :mad:

[Silent_Scone]

Try this config.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uegPn9ZuUoWxOssCP4PjMjGW9eC_1VJA