Gigabyte Z690 model struggles with 3600 MHz DDR4 speed.
Gigabyte Z690 model struggles with 3600 MHz DDR4 speed.
I was looking for details about the memory controller voltage. There was a discussion a while back about a Gigabyte board, mentioning it in a post labeled "Memory controller voltage." I haven’t seen that thread recently, and I suspect it might have been overlooked. Let me know if you need anything else!
I experimented with clocks yesterday, dropping to 14-14-14-35 and achieving worse outcomes in 3D Mark compared to 14-15-15-15-35. However, I can't set BIOS tRAS below 35—it won’t save, and rebooting brings it back up to 35. UPTADE: It feels so unpredictable it’s becoming absurd. I tried DRAM V 1.6V just to test booting at 3600MHz, but it failed completely. Then I increased VCCSA to 1.21 while keeping DRAMV at 1.6V, still no luck. After recalling xg32’s advice, I lowered DRAMV to 1.41V and set VCCSA to 1.21. Restarting got me into Windows, but a blue screen appeared shortly after. Now I’m stuck at 3600MHz with VCCSA at 1.21V and DRAM voltage at 1.45V—testing stability soon. But yesterday morning I was there too, and I saw a black screen the next day. I’m not hopeful. To be honest, I don’t know of any settings like VCCIO or Memory controller voltage to adjust.
It seems the issue is related to RAM stability. Once you locate something reliable, make sure to activate MRC FASTBOOT so your board doesn’t reinstall incorrect data. At this stage, I’d recommend replacing it with a MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 or Tomahawk model. Gigabyte shouldn’t be able to handle this kind of problem.
Interesting takeaway there. Fast bios loading helped a lot. Returning the motherboard after swapping cards would be tricky—cracking the PCIe lock might mean permanent damage. I’m planning to wait two weeks for a hassle-free return, but I doubt they’ll accept a cracked unit. Probably won’t get another Gigabyte unless they fix the BIOS or something changes.