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?

[AwenMilano]

AwenMilano wrote:
hello Silent Scone@ROG, thx for ur support foa all this time,
i think i find the stabillity until now, with my ram F5-6000J3636F16GX2 TZ5RK i use xmp 2 and increase volt mem controller, vdd, vddq into 1,4v also increase cpu system agen into 1,3v
but today want to try long time gaming for make it sure

but i just curious about this what you say "Solution implies all CPUs are the same" are this any chance my cpu has weak imc soo make me need tunning it manually for succesfull xmp?
becuase when i ask some people in youtube who reviewed z690 hero mobo and klevv 6000 ram with z690 hero, they say they can run xmp with left eveything in auto
when i asking people in linus forum they also say maybe my cpu have weak imc, or mobo defect so cant run xmp in auto presets.
i also asking my ram seller they say they can run xmp at auto presets in gigabyte m/b and no need tuning everything

still curious with this problem, why other people can use xmp with left all setting auto, and why i cant do that,
if we increase a volt manually, can it make our hardware life shorten?

update, playing overwatch still got random crash, really make me hopeless. now try lowering the speed to 5600 and left all auto

[Silent_Scone]

AwenMilano wrote:
hello Silent Scone@ROG, thx for ur support foa all this time,
i think i find the stabillity until now, with my ram F5-6000J3636F16GX2 TZ5RK i use xmp 2 and increase volt mem controller, vdd, vddq into 1,4v also increase cpu system agen into 1,3v
but today want to try long time gaming for make it sure

but i just curious about this what you say "Solution implies all CPUs are the same" are this any chance my cpu has weak imc soo make me need tunning it manually for succesfull xmp?
becuase when i ask some people in youtube who reviewed z690 hero mobo and klevv 6000 ram with z690 hero, they say they can run xmp with left eveything in auto
when i asking people in linus forum they also say maybe my cpu have weak imc, or mobo defect so cant run xmp in auto presets.
i also asking my ram seller they say they can run xmp at auto presets in gigabyte m/b and no need tuning everything

still curious with this problem, why other people can use xmp with left all setting auto, and why i cant do that,
if we increase a volt manually, can it make our hardware life shorten?

It's not always down to weak IMC problem but an alignment one. Some CPUs and memory kits are more comfortable at certain voltages (VCCSA/MemorycontrolVDD) than others. Ergo, it's not always "more" voltage.

[adrianpavee]

I've been having a difficult time getting stability as well with 2x sticks on my STRIX Z690 E. Initially this build was using a 16x2 Gskill 5600 kit (SAMSUNG) on 1403 BIOS. I kept getting random hangs, no BSOD just full lock up. Tried by process of elimination, to fix this, going through event viewer, reading all the tips here (disable PCIE ASPM, increase voltage values by +0.05, reduce DRAM freq, even turn off XMP ect) and nothing really worked. Sent the RAM back for RMA, since I thought at the time - It's probably the RAM.

I have a great vendor who is also a friend, so he suggested that he temporarily loan me a HyperX 8x2 5600 kit to test (Hynix) which I'm using now. So it seemed to be alright, until... It froze again. I knew it couldn't be the RAM kits. I've since flashed to BIOS 1304 since I've read that for some it's more stable. Trying this now, with XMP but DRAM freq reduced to 5200. If that doesn't work I'll drop the Auto (4800) and if that doesn't work, I'll drop lower. I hope it's not some hardware fault with the board. Freezing a few times every day is worrying, XMP on or not. I'll report back if the freezing stops.

[adrianpavee]

Ok guys, quick report. Since switching to 1304 BIOS from 1403, It definitely seems more stable. Running XMP with the borrowed Hynix RAM kit, but reduced from 5600 to 5200. It was stable for longer than 24 hours. However - There was a freeze when I left the machine idle overnight in the morning when I went to check on it. I'm still not sure what's causing the lock ups, but now I suspect since it only seems to happen when idle, that it might be CPU power management? I'm disabling C-states in BIOS to give that a try, maybe that's it. Not sure still what's causing it but by process of elimination the freezes are become less frequent. 1 freeze in 24 hours is great compared to the 3-4 freezes I was getting a day. Still not certain if it's DDR5 being a little too new or BIOS issues, but will continue to test.

I really don't know for certain if it's the motherboard either... I've seen some people report rock solid stability with their ASUS boards and DDR5. Maybe it's just this board? I'm unsure, but will continue testing and reporting back. Unfortunately I'm not pro-overclocker so I have no idea the effect of manually setting voltages and manually OC-ing the RAM, so I'm trying to avoid touching that. Anyone else experiencing lock ups? Anything you've tried to fix it?

[Ambidexter]

Silent Scone@ROG wrote:
Anyone trying to combine two kits rated at 6000MT is in for a rough time.

Stop combining kits and chalk it up to misadventure on your part. This has been covered many times, also see sticky on why not to combine memory kits in this section.

I want to get 64+GB. I have a Maximus Z690 Hero (with the OK capacitor!).

Quick question:

Does "combining kits" mean if I get a DDR5 16GB x 2 at 6000MHz kit, and I have that working at 6000 (at least most of the time!), that I should sell those and need to get a 4 x 16GB or 2 X 64GB kit and not have 2 "of the same" kit?

Variation on the same question: If I wanted 64G but nobody sold 6000MHz kits in 2 x 32G sticks or 4 x 16G could /should I have gotten 2 x the 1x32 or 2x16 kits?

Thanks,

Ambi