I want to upgrade ROG Strix G18 (2023) RAM to 5600mhz in BIOS

[NecipReis]

I want Asus officials to support this issue. I want to upgrade ROG Strix G18 (2023) RAM to 5600 mhz. Please do a bios update for it. Other brands allow up to 6000 MHz.

[Yokehoo]

Dear @a3x05,

as I'm not a native english speaking person I could get things wrong 😉 I just want to point out that I'm only a normal enduser cause it sounds to me that you thought I have a shop 🙈 In some cases I should be use a translation tool more often or a second one to get more accurate translations. My bad. 

However, you did a great job. Sometimes my brain is stuck. As PHS is located here in germany it would be much more easier for me to ask them in my native language german. I don't know why I didn't came to the idea to contact them and simply ask them what kind of chips they're using. Stupid me. 😂 

When it came to moding the BIOS I'm still in to you. It's still interesting and I would like to take a look into the fully options and if it's build up like desktop UEFIs. Otherwise there must be a reason why they hide these options. As I remember correctly it was MSI where there are some kind of secret key combination to get full access to the UEFI options but I never figured out if some kind of secret stuff is existing for our ASUS laptops, too. This would be the best and safest way I guess. Surely of course, when you get full access and doing some dumb and stupid things on it, you still can possibly damage your system. That's the reason why ASUS hide these stuff from us I guess. They don't want to return hundrets or thousand of laptops with only faulty settings users made in the UEFI and which now won't run anymore. That's also bad in statistics for reliability 😄 So let's see what will happen in the future. As the brand ROG is build for gamers and ethusiasts I'm still in hope that XMP will come to our system some day.

[a3x05]

I'm not a native speaker too, I tend to write too long sentences^^

In fact I'm from Austria and contacted PHS in German 😄 I keep the discussion in English so other people can read it too.

They replied: The chips are from Micron and they claim 5600Mt/s, seems they didn't get what I meant with my question. However, should run on 5200Mt/s on the G614JI.

Regarding the BIOS mods; it's not as easy as some key combination, you need to retrieve the file, modify it and flash it again, which could cause some trouble since it's not signed anymore (at least that's how I got it). There are however special tools from by the BIOS manufacturers.  The bios-mods forum has some very skilled people in this regards. I bet you could get someone to help you. Usually users just request some features and send them the BIOS file, they modify it and return it. Sketchy but seems it worked most of the times. I don't know if you have options to fall back if the BIOS isn't functional anymore. Regarding XMP, I bet they don't enable it because of temperature concerns, the RAMs get already pretty hot with just 5200Mt/s. Asus is pretty restrictive with what can be enable in BIOS, I can't even set a battery limit there. Annoying and pointless in my opinion. For sure they can't ship fully unlocked machines, that would, as you said, lead to countless returns. But they could at least as permissive as XMG is with their machines. Endless options and no problems since you still can't break anything because there are of course safety caps, like max voltage etc. Some other companies let you select which BIOS brand you want.

@sonertari The company claims that the G614JI supports 96GB of RAM. Please update us!

[Yokehoo]

Nice one @a3x05 😉

That's the exact same reason I'm writing here in english, too. And of course, I know the fact of building to long sentences ( and write to much and to long storys ) 🤣

As PHS is talking about 5600 MT/s Micron chips I think they're the same as used on Crucial modules ( or maybe exact the same Crucial modules as we don't know what kind of modules the sell ). That must be sound good to @sonertari and his project 👍

When we shortly switch back to the modding theme I know about the sites you're talking about. 😉 But like I told you I don't want to get a stranger to modify any kind of UEFI settings and send me back a "mysterious" file which I have to flash to my ( not realy cheap ) laptop within warranty status. The risk is to high to damage something and when you're using unofficial stuff the warranty void. This could end up in a broken system and I don't have the money to waste in such "experiments" 😁 At this point I have to be patient and hopeful that ASUS release the XMP profiles officialy in the UEFI some day.

[sonertari]

I have just ordered the following:

- ASUS Strix SCAR 16 G634JZ
- 2x Crucial 48GB 5600/5200/4800

I think we are almost sure that the Scar series should support 96GB, hence the G634 model.

I couldn't find any independent third party info about PHS, no comments, no ratings (plus, customs processing could cause trouble). And trying 96GB on a G814 would be too risky based on what we know. So I have given up on G814, even though I have paid US$600 more now.

Btw, yesterday I found someone selling a used G634 where I live. In fact, I went there and inspected the laptop myself, he even let me use Linux Mint 21.1 released in December on my USB stick. It could not detect the SSD in G634. Plus, I see that people report issues with the audio card support. But I am hopeful that Linux Mint 21.2 released in July will detect the SSD just fine, and I don't care much about the audio card (I don't want to fall back to Windows 11). We'll see how it goes.

I'll try to post updates on my progress (I think it's going to take a few weeks though).

Thank you @Yokehoo and @a3x05 for your replies.

[Yokehoo]

Dear @sonertari,

as we figured out the Intel i9-13980HX should support 48GB modules ( while PHS has tested and confirmed to run like they say on their website ). Which should mean it doesn't matter if you're using a G834, G634 or a newer G814, G614 modell. The CPU is the same and the integrated RAM controler on the CPU should support it ( like the Intel doc describes ). As @a3x05 has fresh informations from PHS ( see post above ), they use Micron chips on their modules which must be the same like Crucial is using on their modules ( or maybe real Crucial Memory modules ? ). So I guess that your favorized combination will also work.

As I have no clue to Linux I can't tell you about the driver support to the M.2 NVME slot. I think it depends on the manufacturer and size of the build in and used M.2 NVME. Same to the audio drivers. Maybe they're to old or non accurate to the used chips ? Like I said, I have no clue about Linux and it's drivers. Maybe you can load and implement some newer drivers to get full functionality to the system ? It also depends on the used combination. Is there only one M.2 in single use or two in any kind of RAID configuration ? That can make some differences and the reason why it's not been recognized and detected correctly.

From my site I can only tell you my G834JZ is running with 2x 32GB Kingston modules at 5200MT/s ( while double ranked ) with 2 single configured Samsung M.2 NVME drives ( 1TB drive 1 and 2TB drive 2 ) within Windows 11 without any issues or problems.

[sonertari]

Hi @Yokehoo, @a3x05, and All,

I have successfully completed my project. Now I am running 96GB RAM at 5200MT/s on my ASUS Rog Strix SCAR G634JZ. The first boot took about 1 minute, that's all. I have tested the RAMs using the BIOS utility, and no problems.

The following are the outputs of two commands I ran on Linux.

Partial output of "dmidecode --type 17":

# dmidecode 3.3
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.5.0 present.

Handle 0x003C, DMI type 17, 92 bytes
Memory Device
	Array Handle: 0x003B
	Error Information Handle: Not Provided
	Total Width: 64 bits
	Data Width: 64 bits
	Size: 48 GB
	Form Factor: SODIMM
	Set: None
	Locator: Controller0-ChannelA-DIMM0
	Bank Locator: BANK 0
	Type: DDR5
	Type Detail: Synchronous
	Speed: 5600 MT/s
	Manufacturer: Crucial Technology
	Part Number: CT48G56C46S5.M16B1  
	Rank: 2
	Configured Memory Speed: 5200 MT/s
	Minimum Voltage: 1.1 V
	Maximum Voltage: 1.1 V
	Configured Voltage: 1.1 V
	Memory Technology: DRAM
	Memory Operating Mode Capability: Volatile memory
	Firmware Version: Not Specified
	Module Manufacturer ID: Bank 6, Hex 0x9B
	Module Product ID: Unknown
	Memory Subsystem Controller Manufacturer ID: Unknown
	Memory Subsystem Controller Product ID: Unknown
	Non-Volatile Size: None
	Volatile Size: 48 GB
	Cache Size: None
	Logical Size: None

Handle 0x003D, DMI type 17, 92 bytes
Memory Device
	Array Handle: 0x003B
	Error Information Handle: Not Provided
	Total Width: 64 bits
	Data Width: 64 bits
	Size: 48 GB
	Form Factor: SODIMM
	Set: None
	Locator: Controller1-ChannelA-DIMM0
	Bank Locator: BANK 0
	Type: DDR5
	Type Detail: Synchronous
	Speed: 5600 MT/s
	Manufacturer: Crucial Technology
	Part Number: CT48G56C46S5.M16B1  
	Rank: 2
	Configured Memory Speed: 5200 MT/s
	Minimum Voltage: 1.1 V
	Maximum Voltage: 1.1 V
	Configured Voltage: 1.1 V
	Memory Technology: DRAM
	Memory Operating Mode Capability: Volatile memory
	Firmware Version: Not Specified
	Module Manufacturer ID: Bank 6, Hex 0x9B
	Module Product ID: Unknown
	Memory Subsystem Controller Manufacturer ID: Unknown
	Memory Subsystem Controller Product ID: Unknown
	Non-Volatile Size: None
	Volatile Size: 48 GB
	Cache Size: None
	Logical Size: None

Partial output of "lshw -C memory":

  *-firmware                
       description: BIOS
       vendor: American Megatrends International, LLC.
       physical id: 0
       version: G634JZ.318
       date: 07/28/2023
       size: 64KiB
       capacity: 32MiB
       capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd acpi biosbootspecification uefi
  *-memory
       description: System Memory
       physical id: 3b
       slot: System board or motherboard
       size: 96GiB
     *-bank:0
          description: SODIMM Synchronous 5600 MHz (0.2 ns)
          product: CT48G56C46S5.M16B1
          vendor: Crucial Technology
          physical id: 0
          slot: Controller0-ChannelA-DIMM0
          size: 48GiB
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 1305MHz (0.8ns)
     *-bank:1
          description: SODIMM Synchronous 5600 MHz (0.2 ns)
          product: CT48G56C46S5.M16B1
          vendor: Crucial Technology
          physical id: 1
          slot: Controller1-ChannelA-DIMM0
          size: 48GiB
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 1305MHz (0.8ns)

[Yokehoo]

Congrats @sonertari 👍

as we expected from the docs, this combination should run in this way. Thanks for sharing your experience. As I'm not in to Linux the line readings seems plausible to me. Detecting both modules correctly as 48GB 5600MT/s like it's programmed from manufacturer site and runnnig within the regular specs of 5200MT/s 👍 The first start ( after RAM change or UEFI update ) includes a training sequence where the RAM is been tested and configured to it's programmed speed and size. This start could ( and should ) durate a slightly longer term ( then normal system starts ) to check what kind of hardware is implemented for the first time. So first start tooks always longer 😉

You did a great job. Well done 👍 and thanks for sharing.

To all my Windows users out there ( dated today 09/22/2023 ) :

I had a little issue the last few days where my RAM usage keeps increasing up to 50% and overflow while in idle mode and doing nothing. I figured out, that the Intel ARC driver 31.0.101.4824 ( released 13.Sep.23 ) is responsible for this curious phenomenon. You can find an updated driver 31.0.101.4826 in the support area of the official Intel Website. After completly reinstalling and upgrading to the newer driver the problem was solved and you'll get access to the Intel ARC Control center again ( which was impossible for me in the 24 drivers ). The RAM utalisation normalizes to my formaly know 23%.

So if there are any Windows 11 users out there having the same problem of unusual RAM overflow problems, try this out.

Second phenomenon since yesterday ( after upgrading to the newest nVIDIA drivers 537.42 ), the small little taskbar icon which is normaly showing the status of using iGPU ( grey ) or dedicated GPU ( coloured ) is now continiously coloured while it says a programm called nVIDIA gamebar.exe is running. As the dedicated GPU is still in idle mode ( minimum voltage, Core and RAM clocks ) and not generating some extra heat to the system I guess it's just a little info bug.

[a3x05]

Hi,

congratulations! And nice to see it runs at the expected 5200Mt/s

Unrelated bu for anybody curious: I contacted PHS memory about the latency of the modules - they are CL46.

[Romch]

I want to share a sad story....😭 I have a laptop Asus Rog Strix 18 (2023) I decided to upgrade the RAM to run at 5600 (32GB). Since this one was not available: https://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KF556S40IBK2-32.pdf, but only this one was available: https://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KF560S38IBK2-32.pdf , then took the second one. I thought I would outsmart everyone, because it supports XMP profiles and I could set the one that supports the frequency of 5600... But it turned out, when I had already established that the BIOS did not support XMP profiles and the new RAM started at the default frequency, that is, what it was before that 4800))))) I don’t know what to do now. Gave the store 150 bucks)))

[Yokehoo]

That's realy sad to hear, but to be honest if I where in your situation I propably had done the same thing.

Sadly XMP isn't activated for us and I don't know how the modules are programmed so I would guess that the same JEDEC profiles are used in both modules plus some extra profiles for XMP use ( like you did ). But as we can read from the datasheet they're talking explicit that the standard JEDEC timings set to 4800 🤔 So, you can try to read out the specifications of the modules by using HWInfo tool. If you're lucky and there are some JEDEC profiles for 5200 or 5600 you can try to set your voltage offset in BIOS to 0 ( or disable it ) and try a hardreset for a new RAM training sequence and hope that they will recognize as 5600 modules. If you can't find any JEDEC standard profiles for 5200 or 5600 I guess the modules are only programmed in XMP mode to this speeds and therefore you have no chance to get this modules run at higher speeds without XMP support, which means you have to check with your dealer wether you can exchange the DDR5-6000 XMP modules to the correct ones ( DDR5-5600 PnP ). 😔

Cross my fingers that you can find some JEDEC profiles in there and get the modules run to your expected speeds. Otherwise I'm in hope that your dealer is nice and will change the modules.

Nevertheless by all the sad stuff I'm glad that you sharing this informations to us to avoid others from doing the same mistake 👍