Z890 Extreme Board BIOS 1501 RAM is now unstable

[roger251]

I was previously running BIOS version 1401 on my ASUS Z890 motherboard, which was stable at 8,400 MT/s (CUDIMM 2x24GB, XMP1 profile). Stability was confirmed with zero errors over a 12-hour test using testmem5@absolut. Given the RAM's rated speed of 8,800 MT/s and considering the motherboard's cost and advertised specifications (including the ASUS website and QVL), even 8,400 MT/s was somewhat disappointing

Now I updated to BIOS 1501 and it is extremely unstable with the exact same settings that were perfectly stable on the previous BIOS. Getting like 2-3 errors per minute now in testmem5. How can this happen? Obviously my expectation would be to get something that is MORE stable not some crap that breaks my computer 

Currently, the system isn't stable even at a reduced speed of 8,000 MT/s. Is it possible to safely downgrade back to BIOS 1401, considering BIOS 1501 included an ME update? Would the ME update also revert during the downgrade?

Alternatively, is there an existing solution or fix for this instability? Has anyone else experienced similar issues after upgrading to BIOS 1501 on this motherboard?

[markusm]

I have the same board and the same RAM (CUDIMM 8800), and unfortunately the exact same experience. I was running my kit at 8400 without any issues on 1401, but wasn't able to get it stable at the same speed on 1501. At all.

Personally, I did revert to 1401 and will wait for the next BIOS update in hopes that it will finally enable us to run XMP at 8800 (or whatever the advertised speed for everyone is).

[roger251]

Thanks for sharing that, how did you downgrade? Did you need to downgrade ME in the BIOS or the ME driver in Windows manually?

[markusm]

I use EZ Flash, (I think just hit F3 during boot), you just download the file for 1401 and flash it how you'd flash a new BIOS. Everything else can stay updated.

[markusm]

Forgot to mention, since you have the same board, there's a new update for it in Armoury Crate. After I installed that update, I can't access the display section anymore and get a note asking me to download firmware 107 from the official website. 

The website does not have 107 so far, long story short, maybe wait with the update. 

[raybrunetti]

I have the same issue after updating this morning. Wonder when that 0107 will be posted? 

[markusm]

Yeah, I've created a post with the issue but no response so far. It's not super critical but somewhat annoying.

[roger251]

I would never ever install Armoury Crate, so I am safe there 😉

[markusm]

I've been running it for years, mostly without issues, this one is a bit bizarre and a first though, haha

[Mach10]

You gave me the piece of the puzzle that was missing and I think I can help everyone.

First of all, I haven't been able to run anything stable but DDR5-6400 on 1501, my kit is DDR5-9000, wasn't sure why, until I found your post.

I loaded 1401, set ram to 8400 like you did and it was stable, then I set it to 8600 and started getting a lot of memory corruption errors. I adjusted voltage on VDD and VDDQ to 1.46v (default is 1.45v), memory test has been running stable for about an hour so far.

I will keep making adjustments until I reach DDR5-9000 and report back findings.