How To RAM is running at 2133MHz instead of 3200MHz. Unable to fix this issue.

[ZenoSama]

Hello everyone.
I'm super new to PC Building. Worked on a good job and saved some money to finally achieve my own PC build. After a lot of research for parts that I can build my PC within my budget, I bought these.- Gigabyte B450M DS3H V2- AMD R5 5600G- Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16- Antec Atom v550 v2 SMPS- Adata XPG S70 Blade 1TB SSD

The build went well. Updated BIOS to latest fw. Installed the Chip, RAM and storage. Enabled Secure Boot. Installed W11. Used the PC casually for a day browsing web. Installed CrystalDisk and benchmarked SSD. Realised I'm using a Gen4 SSD in a Gen3 PCIE slot, hence got half the advertised speeds (which is more than enough for my current needs). Updated AMD chips via their Adrenaline Software. Everything was going great and installed my graphics designing softwares.

The initial load was slow and I thought first time app opening might take time. But it took same time for the next several app openings. Heck, it was on-par with my previous system app opening time. Opened task manager to see if CPU or SSD is not running at their optimal performance profiles (Yes, I have set the power settings to performance). Found out that my RAM was running at 2133Mhz instead of its advertised speed of 3200Mhz. After a lot of going through many forums and articles and YT videos, I understood that it was running at its default DDR4 speeds. And for it to run at 3200Mhz, I'll have to enable XMP in BIOS. Watched many videos w.r.t to my MoBo on how to do it (First time fiddling around an unknown BIOS setting). Enabled Profile1 in XMP (It showed DDR4-3200-16-20-20-38-58-1.35v). Then did F10 to save and exit. AND boom ! System did boot to Windows, though the CPU was running. Did a quick google and many articles and forum responses said to reset BIOS. Did that. But everything is back to how it was before. RAM is still running at 2133Mhz.

I don't know what the issue is. Found people saying to manually adjust voltage and timings and stuff, but all those options are greyed out in my BIOS. The only thing that I can change is either to select Profile1 or Disabled in XMP options.

Please help. With RAM being the bottleneck here, it hurts to see the other performance parts not being able to achieve what they are capable of. I have also raised a ticket in Corsair Support, but many ppl said their response time is very late and its better to ask people in forums where a lot of active and have knowledge on what can be done. So, here I am. Please help 🙏

 

[Brainonska511]

I'm confused by your story. Did you turn XMP on and then it wouldn't boot into Windows? The 5600G should run fine with the 3200MHz RAM, as it's in spec. Is the RAM on your board's QVL? Did you use the correct two slots for the RAM per the manual?

As for your PCI-e 4.0 drive: the 5600G only supports up to PCIe 3.0. You would have to go with a 5600 non-G to get PCIe 4.0 (assuming the board also supports PCIe 4.0; I don't think the B450 boards support 4.0).

 

[igor_kavinski]

From my personal experience, Corsair and Gigabyte don't work well together. You are better off returning that crappy RAM and getting Kingston instead. I wasted a whole month trying to troubleshoot instability on my Gigabyte mobo and it only became stable when I got rid of the Corsair RAM and installed Kingston. With KIngston, from the first boot till today, ZERO issues.

And it's not just RAM. I had a Corsair F60 SSD that crapped out on me. Not going to go with Corsair again unless I absolutely need to.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I have also raised a ticket in Corsair Support, but many ppl said their response time is very late

They won't be much help even if they respond.

 

[ZenoSama]

I'm confused by your story. Did you turn XMP on and then it wouldn't boot into Windows? The 5600G should run fine with the 3200MHz RAM, as it's in spec. Is the RAM on your board's QVL? Did you use the correct two slots for the RAM per the manual?

As for your PCI-e 4.0 drive: the 5600G only supports up to PCIe 3.0. You would have to go with a 5600 non-G to get PCIe 4.0 (assuming the board also supports PCIe 4.0; I don't think the B450 boards support 4.0).

- Yes after enabling XMP, it did not boot into Windows nor into BIOS. It just stayed ON. I waited for a while as I read somewhere that MoBo's don't straight up jump to whatever profile we selected, rather it would cycle through a set of steps to make sure it reaches the selected profile. But even after like 15 minutes, there was no display or any restart. So, I manually turned off everything and reset BIOS to get things back to working like before. Yes, both my MoBo and CPU together support RAM up to 3200MHz.

- No, apparently, I was not aware that there's an actual list of supported RAMs that have been known to be compatible with my motherboard. Since this was my first PC build, I used pcpartpicker.com and selected all compatible RAMs after adding the MoBo and APU to the Build list, and clicked on "select from selection" and it selected this RAM stick to be the most compatible from the list.

- Yes, I realized that after I looked up all the specs and found out that both my MoBo and CPU only support PCIe 3 while my SSD is a PCIe 4 NVME. I guess I cannot exchange MoBo or CPU from my seller because they have been opened and used now. But, 3GBPs is not a bad speed for my usecase. I've attached the SS of CrystalDiskMark for your reference. Please let me know if its good enough.

The RAM also works well in dual channel, but at 2133MHz which feels the bottleneck when I'm opening and using an heavy graphics designing application. That's why I'm trying to have my RAM running at 3200MHz which is the highest memory speed support from my CPU. But as per my MoBo specs, 3200 is an O.C. profile, but it supports 2933MHz natively without any O.C. or XMP. I think that would also be fine with me.
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After facing this issue, and going through many forums and articles, I think I've found the right way to find a RAM from the supported list (not sure but let me know if this is right):

I used AMD's tool - https://www.amd.com/en/processors/ryzen-compatible-memory - to find a list of compatible RAMs for my processor category. Listed them down and added filters as per my requirements (2Rx8, 16GB total, DDR4, AM4, a minimum native base clock of 2666MHz that is natively supported by my MoBo without the need for XMP/O.C.)

Found the below compatible RAM that matched my requirements :

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/p/memory/cmk16gx4m2z3200c16/vengeancea-lpx-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr4-dram-3200mhz-c16-amd-ryzen-memory-kit-black-cmk16gx4m2z3200c16

Cross-checked if this RAM is present in Gigabyte's B450M DS3H V2 motherboard memory support docs: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450M-DS3H-V2-rev-1x/support#support-doc

AMD 5600G falls in AMD Vermeer CPU (It actually falls in the Cezanne APU series but there's not list for that, but 5600G is basically 5600 + iGPU and 5600 falls in Vermeer CPU series) category PDF. Opened that PDF and checked if cmk16gx4m2z3200c16 was present in it. Found it. This means this RAM has been officially tested and is supported (compatible) by Both AMD and Gigabyte for the processor and MoBo combo we have.
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One interesting thing I found out during this was even though the product name and boxing of both this and the one that I have are exactly the same, their actual model no. are different. This compatible one has model no. as cmk16gx4m2z3200c16 while the one that I brought has model no. as cmk8gx4m1e3200c16. Even more interesting is that the one that I have is a single channel kit (I brought 2 sticks to be used as dual channel), while there's an actual dual channel kit with exactly the model no as cmk8gx4m2e3200c16 (the only thing that has changed in the model no. is m2. rest is same). Absolutely blown away by how complex it feels to choose a RAM that's compatible with the rest of the hardware.

 

[ZenoSama]

From my personal experience, Corsair and Gigabyte don't work well together. You are better off returning that crappy RAM and getting Kingston instead. I wasted a whole month trying to troubleshoot instability on my Gigabyte mobo and it only became stable when I got rid of the Corsair RAM and installed Kingston. With KIngston, from the first boot till today, ZERO issues.

And it's not just RAM. I had a Corsair F60 SSD that crapped out on me. Not going to go with Corsair again unless I absolutely need to.

While I was looking in many other forums before buying this RAM, people had mentioned good experiences with this. Only after I faced this issue, I came across many others who really felt the same as you. Some recommended me to go for GSkill or some known brand.

 

[ZenoSama]

They won't be much help even if they respond.

Never got a reply to the ticket though. So, I asked the same on their reddit channel. Here's the reply that I got.

From what i read on your initial post and answer the XMP doesn't work.
It could have been better to choose optimise AMD Ryzen module, for better compatibility, and choose a kit instead of 2 separate stick to be sure to get the stick working together.

As XMP / DOCP) doesn't work you'll probably need to setup everything manually.
Frequency / main timing / uncore and voltage.
To make it easier for your CPU memory controller try first with an UNCORE at half of the memory frequency.

For more help you can still reach our support through a ticket :
https://help.corsair.com/hc/en/requests/new

 

[Tech Junky]

@ZenoSama if it won't post try a single stick as one might be bad. Put it into a2 or whatever the mobo says to do in the manual.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Here's the reply that I got.

What they really mean to say is, "Tough luck, man! You bought single sticks instead of the kit so now you are on your own. Have fun manually tweaking them to work together!"

 

[Brainonska511]

Never got a reply to the ticket though. So, I asked the same on their reddit channel. Here's the reply that I got.

So you purchased as 2 separate sticks and not a paired kit? I'd go with the other suggestion here to test 1 stick at a time, but I'd also consider trying to exchange the individual sticks and buying a kit of 2 sticks that are supposed to work together out of the box.

 

[ZenoSama]

@ZenoSama if it won't post try a single stick as one might be bad. Put it into a2 or whatever the mobo says to do in the manual.

Tried that as well. One stick at a time into the DDR4_1 slot as per MoBo docs. They still ran at 2133MHz. Then tried enabling XMP. Same issue as before. The system would never boot and I had to reset BIOS.

@Brainonska511 @Tech Junky
From the specs sheet of MoBo, its mentioned

Support for DDR4 3600(O.C.)/3466(O.C.)/3200(O.C.)/2933/2667/2400/2133 MHz memory modules

which means up till 2933, its natively supported by MoBo and no need for XMP or OC. Anything above 2933 needs either XMP or OC. Right?

If my above understanding is correct, I have two questions.

1. My current RAM seems to not be compatible with running at 3200 or with XMP. So, should I try to manually reduce it to 2933 and see if that works? Do I need to change voltage and any other settings or keep it whatever it's currently using ?
2. Would it be better if I just simply buy a dual-channel kit of 2933MHz RAM from the compatible list (I'm not sure if the OEM keeps them updated) ?

 

[ZenoSama]

So you purchased as 2 separate sticks and not a paired kit? I'd go with the other suggestion here to test 1 stick at a time, but I'd also consider trying to exchange the individual sticks and buying a kit of 2 sticks that are supposed to work together out of the box.

Yes, I'm in talk with my seller regarding the same. His point is I should have known this before I opened the box seal and used those RAM sticks. But I'm trying to make him understand that there are simply different RAM sticks with exactly the same name, but with different serial/model no. leading to them having different clock timings and compatibility. Like I was literally pissed about that part I said in my previous message where, two set of RAM sticks, with just M1 and M2 differences in their serial no., actually have different clock timings as well as compatibility and dual channel operating nature. Felt like the brand intentionally has them in place so that people end up buying the wrong set.

 

[Brainonska511]

Anything over stock RAM speed is an overclock. XMP is overclocking.

I suspect the B450 board specs just say that 3200 is overclock because of the available processors at the time of release not officially supporting those faster speeds.

You could try: enable XMP (but don't save and exit the BIOS yet), then reduce the RAM multiplier so you are running at 3000 or 2933. You shouldn't really have to adjust the voltages or anything.

But the best solution would be to just get a kit of 3200 and try that instead.

Yes, I'm in talk with my seller regarding the same. His point is I should have known this before I opened the box seal and used those RAM sticks. But I'm trying to make him understand that there are simply different RAM sticks with exactly the same name, but with different serial/model no. leading to them having different clock timings and compatibility. Like I was literally pissed about that part I said in my previous message where, two set of RAM sticks, with just M1 and M2 differences in their serial no., actually have different clock timings as well as compatibility and dual channel operating nature. Felt like the brand intentionally has them in place so that people end up buying the wrong set.

Yeah, that's why you don't mix and match RAM. Suppliers will sometimes change underlying chips without changing model numbers, causing all sorts of issues. However, if even individual sticks aren't running at the rated speed, I'd opt for a return under the idea that something is defective.

 

[In2Photos]

The fact that Gigabyte doesn't have a QVL list for Cezanne processors for this motherboard is concerning. Additionally the kit you bought is NOT listed on the Vermeer list. The only 8GB dimms on that list are part of a 16GB or 32GB kit.

 

[Brainonska511]

The fact that Gigabyte doesn't have a QVL list for Cezanne processors for this motherboard is concerning. Additionally the kit you bought is NOT listed on the Vermeer list. The only 8GB dimms on that list are part of a 16GB or 32GB kit.

Beyond the QVL that motherboard makers put out, you could look at the RAM manufacturers to see if they have tested. G.Skill has a qualified boards list, like a reverse QVL that could be a good check if buying another kit.

QVLs are certainly a good place to start, but they are often lacking due to new processor configurations released long after testing, and just an overabundance of new memory kits hitting the market all the time.

 

[ZenoSama]

Beyond the QVL that motherboard makers put out, you could look at the RAM manufacturers to see if they have tested. G.Skill has a qualified boards list, like a reverse QVL that could be a good check if buying another kit.

QVLs are certainly a good place to start, but they are often lacking due to new processor configurations released long after testing, and just an overabundance of new memory kits hitting the market all the time.

Exactly. Now, even if my seller does agree to take them back and give me a chance to buy a different dual channel 16GB kit instead, I'm now not sure as to which exactly to be brought. Like even if its G-Skill or any known brand, I just don't want to fall into the same issue. And at that point of time, my seller would surely not agree to get them returned or even exchange for a different kit.

How would you go about this, if you were in my place and given a chance to get a different set of RAMs ?

I'm an extreme noob RN, stuck in my first build. Maybe I can learn something from people like you who have far better experience than me in this regards.

 

[ZenoSama]

The fact that Gigabyte doesn't have a QVL list for Cezanne processors for this motherboard is concerning. Additionally the kit you bought is NOT listed on the Vermeer list. The only 8GB dimms on that list are part of a 16GB or 32GB kit.

Yep. And cmk16gx4m2z3200c16 is the only RAM kit that found to be matching my needs as well as is listed on GB's Vermeer list as well as listed on AMD's Ryzen compatible memory list. But seeing many people having bad experiences with Corsair in general, IDK if its a good decision to stick to that brand OR be better off with something more reliable like G-Skill.

 

[Brainonska511]

Exactly. Now, even if my seller does agree to take them back and give me a chance to buy a different dual channel 16GB kit instead, I'm now not sure as to which exactly to be brought. Like even if its G-Skill or any known brand, I just don't want to fall into the same issue. And at that point of time, my seller would surely not agree to get them returned or even exchange for a different kit.

How would you go about this, if you were in my place and given a chance to get a different set of RAMs ?

I'm an extreme noob RN, stuck in my first build. Maybe I can learn something from people like you who have far better experience than me in this regards.

Not sure where in the world you are, or how you purchased the RAM.

If I was in your shoes:
1) return as defective/not compatible since they can't even run at XMP speeds in a single stick installed configuration
2) look towards credit card return protection if seller won't take back
3) try to RMA to manufacturer
4) buy a new kit: RAM is pretty cheap. Sure, it stinks to have to shell out more, but it is not a lot more
5) try to sell ram you won't use off

 

[Shmee]

Anything over stock RAM speed is an overclock. XMP is overclocking.

I suspect the B450 board specs just say that 3200 is overclock because of the available processors at the time of release not officially supporting those faster speeds.

You could try: enable XMP (but don't save and exit the BIOS yet), then reduce the RAM multiplier so you are running at 3000 or 2933. You shouldn't really have to adjust the voltages or anything.

But the best solution would be to just get a kit of 3200 and try that instead.


Yeah, that's why you don't mix and match RAM. Suppliers will sometimes change underlying chips without changing model numbers, causing all sorts of issues. However, if even individual sticks aren't running at the rated speed, I'd opt for a return under the idea that something is defective.

XMP is not overclocking, not the RAM. They are rated to run at that speed by the memory manufacturer. That said, it is not so simple, some motherboards and memory controllers may have trouble with higher speeds.

 

[Brainonska511]

XMP is not overclocking, not the RAM. They are rated to run at that speed by the memory manufacturer. That said, it is not so simple, some motherboards and memory controllers may have trouble with higher speeds.

XMP is technically an overclock. The RAM is spec'd per JEDEC standards and then tested to run at speeds above that standard. CPU and memory manufacturers simply state/certify that you can get up to a specific simple overclock through this standardized feature.

 

[tcsenter]

Populate the memory slots according to GB (and AMD) recommendation?



If already have DDR1 and DDR2 populated, might as well try to switch them to DDR3 and DDR4 for kicks.

 

[Dave3000]

Hello everyone.
I'm super new to PC Building. Worked on a good job and saved some money to finally achieve my own PC build. After a lot of research for parts that I can build my PC within my budget, I bought these.- Gigabyte B450M DS3H V2- AMD R5 5600G- Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16- Antec Atom v550 v2 SMPS- Adata XPG S70 Blade 1TB SSD

The build went well. Updated BIOS to latest fw. Installed the Chip, RAM and storage. Enabled Secure Boot. Installed W11. Used the PC casually for a day browsing web. Installed CrystalDisk and benchmarked SSD. Realised I'm using a Gen4 SSD in a Gen3 PCIE slot, hence got half the advertised speeds (which is more than enough for my current needs). Updated AMD chips via their Adrenaline Software. Everything was going great and installed my graphics designing softwares.

The initial load was slow and I thought first time app opening might take time. But it took same time for the next several app openings. Heck, it was on-par with my previous system app opening time. Opened task manager to see if CPU or SSD is not running at their optimal performance profiles (Yes, I have set the power settings to performance). Found out that my RAM was running at 2133Mhz instead of its advertised speed of 3200Mhz. After a lot of going through many forums and articles and YT videos, I understood that it was running at its default DDR4 speeds. And for it to run at 3200Mhz, I'll have to enable XMP in BIOS. Watched many videos w.r.t to my MoBo on how to do it (First time fiddling around an unknown BIOS setting). Enabled Profile1 in XMP (It showed DDR4-3200-16-20-20-38-58-1.35v). Then did F10 to save and exit. AND boom ! System did boot to Windows, though the CPU was running. Did a quick google and many articles and forum responses said to reset BIOS. Did that. But everything is back to how it was before. RAM is still running at 2133Mhz.

I don't know what the issue is. Found people saying to manually adjust voltage and timings and stuff, but all those options are greyed out in my BIOS. The only thing that I can change is either to select Profile1 or Disabled in XMP options.

Please help. With RAM being the bottleneck here, it hurts to see the other performance parts not being able to achieve what they are capable of. I have also raised a ticket in Corsair Support, but many ppl said their response time is very late and its better to ask people in forums where a lot of active and have knowledge on what can be done. So, here I am. Please help 🙏

Either your CPU's memory controller can't handle DDR4-3200 CL16 reliably or your RAM is defective. Have you tried disabling XMP and setting the timings manually. You probably just need to disable XMP and the Auto setting for memory to set the timings manually on your particular motherboard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but when a CPU manufacturer lists their supported memory speeds for their CPUs they really mean JEDEC standard memory at those speeds which include JEDEC timings and voltages and they don't mean XMP memory for their officially supported memory speeds (for example, a DDR4-3200 memory kit that is JEDEC 2133 natively but 3200 only through XMP or manually setting it)?

 

[Brainonska511]

Either your CPU's memory controller can't handle DDR4-3200 CL16 reliably or your RAM is defective. Have you tried disabling XMP and setting the timings manually. You probably just need to disable XMP and the Auto setting for memory to set the timings manually on your particular motherboard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but when a CPU manufacturer lists their supported memory speeds for their CPUs they really mean JEDEC standard memory at those speeds which include JEDEC timings and voltages and they don't mean XMP memory for their officially supported memory speeds (for example, a DDR4-3200 memory kit that is JEDEC 2133 natively but 3200 only through XMP or manually setting it)?

I'm pretty sure CPU manufacturers mean XMP/DOCP supported speeds.

Per AMD, the 5600G should support DDR4 3200.

 

[Shmee]

XMP is technically an overclock. The RAM is spec'd per JEDEC standards and then tested to run at speeds above that standard. CPU and memory manufacturers simply state/certify that you can get up to a specific simple overclock through this standardized feature.

Hmm, that is a way to look at it, like a factory OC. Like how some custom cards have higher rated clocks then reference. So not technically an end user, warranty voiding OC, (as the RAM is rated to run at that by the manufacturer) but still a higher speed than standard.

As for the issue, @ZenoSama have you tried memtesting for stability, at both DDR4 2133 and the XMP settings? If you find errors on either setting, chances are the RAM is defective. I agree that you should try to return the RAM, or get a refund from CC.

Personally I would be looking at good Gksill kits, DDR4 3200 to 3600. You can also look into what actual ICs different RAM kits have, and try to buy one with Samsung Bdie, or similar that are known to work well with Ryzens, particularly Zen 2 and 3. For instance, you could look into Gskill Ripjaws, TridentZ or FlareX with 3200C14 ratings, those are almost all Bdie kits.

 

[ZenoSama]

Populate the memory slots according to GB (and AMD) recommendation?

View attachment 85245

If already have DDR1 and DDR2 populated, might as well try to switch them to DDR3 and DDR4 for kicks.

This is a new build and I have two sticks. Have used them only in DDR4_1 and 2 sockets.
While checking them individually, I had them in slot 1.