Road to XMP stability - DDR5 4x16 (GSkill 6000CL36) on Z690 Formula

[Peazmack]

Looking to share some input as well as try to get some from other, more experienced people in the field of OCing and coping with Z690/DDR XMP issues. So I went ahead of me, and bought 2 kits of GSkill DDR5 2x6 @6000MHz CL36. Of course, like for majority of us I reckon, it does not boot in either of the XMP settings. Now before I give up and switch back to using only 2 sticks instead of 4 which seem to cause more issues, looking for some input on the below. Im using latest bios available as of now for my motherboard (Z690 Formula with 12900K).

Closest to the XMP that I got is 5400 CL36 with VDD and VDDQ left alone at 1.3, System Agent left on auto (1.25 it seems) and Memory Controller on 1.23. That seems to be rock solid, had over 2.5 hours spent in Karhu's RAM Test without any errors the other night. VDD and VDDQ did not really impact the stability here, unless it went over 1.35, then I started getting errors. 1.23 for memory controller was the lowest I could go while being free of errors.

Attempted to go for 5600 CL36 tonight, but hardly any progress. Closest to Stability was VDD and VDDQ at 1.31 (I doubt it made any difference here), System Agent still on Auto and Memory Controller on around 1.29. I could boot no problem, but had constantly first ram error found within first 30 minutes of RAM Test, which I consider a fail. Any advice how to move it forward? Shall I push the Memory Controller above 1.3 threshold and look for stability there? Any other setting I'm missing here?
Additionally, should I settle for 4x16 5400 CL36 quad or switch to 2x16 dual with XMP 6000 CL36? Which would be more beneficial (I know it's rather marginally better) for gaming?

[Khello89]

I have Z690 Extreme and the Gskill 2x16gbCL36 6000MHZ cant get past 4800mhz CL 40 without any errors in Memtest.



Another Question, can u guys change the RGBs with armoury Crate on G skill rams?
I cant.

[MostHostLA]

Put me down as another sucker.
I *need* 64gb of ram for work. Running 32 just won't work / cannot do what I need to do.

Obviously, a kit doesn't seem to yet exist.

I seem to be able to load the XMP profile, drop down to 5200hz and pass memtest86
(Memtest says the timings are 40-40-40-77 with 4800htz, instead of the 36-36-36 they should be on 5200hz, so I'm confused on this...).

Tested separately, both kits (a_2, b_2) take kindly to XMP1 and XMP2.

The moment you put them together the board won't even boot without dropping the frequency down.

Is there any hope?

Should I just sell both kits and buy a matched 128GB kit of ddr4 instead? (Because realistically for what I do, even 64GB is barely enough).

Suggestions/timings to test, etc, all advice definitely welcome.
Particularly if you know of high performing ddr4 kits that would equal or beat the clocked down ddr5...

[Silent_Scone]

MostHostLA wrote:
Put me down as another sucker.
I *need* 64gb of ram for work. Running 32 just won't work / cannot do what I need to do.

Obviously, a kit doesn't seem to yet exist.

I seem to be able to load the XMP profile, drop down to 4800htz and pass memtest86
(Memtest says the timings are 40-40-40-77, instead of the 36-36-36 they should be).

Tested separately, both kits (a_1, b_1) take kindly to XMP1 and XMP2.

The moment you put them together the board won't even boot without dropping the frequency down.

Is there any hope?

Should I just sell both kits and buy a matched 128GB kit of ddr4 instead? (Because realistically for what I do, even 64GB is barely enough).

Suggestions/timings to test, etc, all advice definitely welcome.
Particularly if you know of high performing ddr4 kits that would equal or beat the clocked down ddr5...

What board? There are a couple of test UEFI builds that were released that might help with a partial remedy, however, it's very unlikely the kits will ever operate at XMP when combined as it wasn't designed to.

[MostHostLA]

Obviously the one they just recalled for catching on fire...
Because of that, I'm currently on a crap strix z690-f
Will definitely go back to a maximus as soon as possible. This board is just all sorts of a downgrade.
(At worse I can sell the extra ram/mobo as a combo.)

From what I have been reading on so far, it seems that even with a matched 64gb kit you cannot really get even remotely close to the xmp profile performance values...
I put in a support message with gskill to see what they suggest in terms of performance equivalent ddr4 kits of larger total sizes.

Also, now that I remember the issue was very similar going from ddr3 to ddr4 for early adopters - but at the time, I was broke and in school, so I actually researched things throughly before making purchases...
While now, in all the excitement of finally getting a proper rig in order for the studio that would finally run the programs we use without even blinking, I completely forgot about the fact that we are in fact in an early adoption stage...

Thanks for the quick reply though - all advice welcome.

[Silent_Scone]

MostHostLA wrote:
Obviously the one they just recalled for catching on fire...
Because of that, I'm currently on a crap strix z690-f
Will definitely go back to a maximus as soon as possible. This board is just all sorts of a downgrade.
(At worse I can sell the extra ram/mobo as a combo.)

From what I have been reading on so far, it seems that even with a matched 64gb kit you cannot really get even remotely close to the xmp profile performance values...
I put in a support message with gskill to see what they suggest in terms of performance equivalent ddr4 kits of larger total sizes.

Also, now that I remember the issue was very similar going from ddr3 to ddr4 for early adopters - but at the time, I was broke and in school, so I actually researched things throughly before making purchases...
While now, in all the excitement of finally getting a proper rig in order for the studio that would finally run the programs we use without even blinking, I completely forgot about the fact that we are in fact in an early adoption stage...

Thanks for the quick reply though - all advice welcome.

Matched kits will work, that's why they're matched. What's limited is high-frequency kits in that configuration.

The reason? It's not possible on this gen to run them that high. Up to 5600 should be achievable with a good IMC in 4 DIMM configurations, though. If the memory vendors thought it was worth it, they would be selling these types of configurations. Right now on this generation, it is not worth the vendor's time due to platform limitations.

[Edwin7700]

I am on the same boat. Had the Hero and returned it for the Formula. Have the two sets of 2x16GB GSkill 6000MHz CL36 and cannot get anything higher than 5000Mhz with the built-in profile, 5200 ran fine but gave me errors in game. I do not feel that comfortable doing any of the manual tuning.

I just bought the Corsair 2x32GB 5200MHz CL40 set to test and will return the others if I can run it no problem maybe even clock it a bit higher.

Such a shame because I can run the 2x16GB at XMP and its great, but I need 64GB for work because of Revit and want to be future proof. For gaming, 32GB is more than enough.

Dang it, new tech, need to pay the early adopter fee!

[Cutsman]

Just had to clock down to 5600 XMP1, was getting game crashes and verified with TM5 showing errors too. This RAM really isn't up to it's XMP specs.

[Silent_Scone]

Cutsman wrote:
Just had to clock down to 5600 XMP1, was getting game crashes and verified with TM5 showing errors too. This RAM really isn't up to it's XMP specs.

Have a read of this sticky if you get time.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?98041-Understanding-and-using-XMP

[Undertoker]

I run an Asus z690 maxi is extreme board
I was initially using a hero board (a total pile of crap the hero board)
I’ve used both a 12900k and a 12900ks in both boards

I’ve run two sticks of 16gb G-sill Trident Z5 6000mhz using XMP profiles 1 and 2 in both boards using both CPU’s
It’s never ever run stable on either board , though much better on the extreme board *but not 100% stable.
Only when I clock the memory down to 5800mhz can I get a stable experience - that is using just two sticks

I’m disappointed in honesty and it’s put me off buying any more memory for a while, at least until we see some decent bios updates and memory released that actually does what it says it’ll do
Having a platform with four ddr5 sockets that cannot actually run four sticks is a joke really and I’m not laughing at it.
They should not be selling kit that doesn’t do what it says it’ll do on the box - but they are.
All this does is make me more determined not to spend a penny now until I let others do the buying and beta testing for me.
I’m not sure if it’s the 1403 bios that isn’t fully working or the Ddr5 that just isn’t up to spec, I’ll keep trying it at 6000mhz with each new bios update and see if and when I can get it to run as it says it should.
For me 12th gen is impressive, but it has not been a joyful experience like the 9th gen/z390 platform was.
I find it very unstable and unpolished generally and this for me is disappointing **
I will say I’m more than happy with my 12900KS, the app on it is 96 and it holds 5.5ghz pretty much most of the time under load and peaks at 5.7ghz, that’s insane.
What is ever better is I only use a Z63 nzxt AIO, and it never gets hotter than 75Deg C, which I find amazing.
Clearly I’ve got a very good cpu sample.
*

[ko3v200ma9295]

Undertoker wrote:
I run an Asus z690 maxi is extreme board
I was initially using a hero board (a total pile of crap the hero board)
I’ve used both a 12900k and a 12900ks in both boards

I’ve run two sticks of 16gb G-sill Trident Z5 6000mhz using XMP profiles 1 and 2 in both boards using both CPU’s
It’s never ever run stable on either board , though much better on the extreme board *but not 100% stable.
Only when I clock the memory down to 5800mhz can I get a stable experience - that is using just two sticks

I’m disappointed in honesty and it’s put me off buying any more memory for a while, at least until we see some decent bios updates and memory released that actually does what it says it’ll do
Having a platform with four ddr5 sockets that cannot actually run four sticks is a joke really and I’m not laughing at it.
They should not be selling kit that doesn’t do what it says it’ll do on the box - but they are.
All this does is make me more determined not to spend a penny now until I let others do the buying and beta testing for me.
I’m not sure if it’s the 1403 bios that isn’t fully working or the Ddr5 that just isn’t up to spec, I’ll keep trying it at 6000mhz with each new bios update and see if and when I can get it to run as it says it should.
For me 12th gen is impressive, but it has not been a joyful experience like the 9th gen/z390 platform was.
I find it very unstable and unpolished generally and this for me is disappointing **
I will say I’m more than happy with my 12900KS, the app on it is 96 and it holds 5.5ghz pretty much most of the time under load and peaks at 5.7ghz, that’s insane.
What is ever better is I only use a Z63 nzxt AIO, and it never gets hotter than 75Deg C, which I find amazing.
Clearly I’ve got a very good cpu sample.
*

Join the boat here.

I have a z690E Motherboard and with 16gb G-sill Trident Z5 6000mhz*2 kit with Bios 1403. XMPI and XMPII just do not work. Everytime I play games at around 5 mins, the game will crash or my computer just reboot automatically. I don't understand why it has been half year and the issue still exist..And no any updates from ASUS like they are trying to fix this. Please at least tell us you are working on it.. ASUS come on..