I dislike this board.
I dislike this board.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte Z390 Designare. I just installed new Vengeance LPX 3600 RAM. According to the motherboard specifications, it should work. It also confirmed that these are Samsung DDR4 modules. The RAM operates smoothly at the standard XMP configuration, delivering the advertised speed and timing. There were no issues there. However, when attempting to boost the RAM speed beyond 3600 MHz, the board automatically lowers it to between 3200 and 3466 MHz. For instance, if I set the BIOS to 3866 MHz, the system displays the RAM at that frequency, but CPU-Z and HWinfo64 report speeds from 3200 to 3466 MHz. I tried running it at 3600 MHz with tighter timings, but the board still downclocks again to 3200 or 3466, even though the BIOS sets it higher. Essentially, I can run at 3600 XMP with default timings, but I can't push beyond 3600 without sacrificing speed or stability. If I try 3600 and adjust timings, the board again reduces the frequency. Clearly, the RAM can only reach 3600 MHz with standard settings, and I can't lower latency by even a few ticks without forcing the board to downclock further—or risking failure altogether. Obviously, being unable to overclock the RAM is frustrating. So I decided to test it further... I installed the LPX on a budget ASRock ITX board. Surprisingly, it worked at 4000 MHz. This suggests the problem lies with the Gigabyte board or BIOS, not the RAM itself. For context, my second system uses an ASRock Z390 board with cheaper OLOy RAM sticks, which run well up to 3700 MHz. In the Designare, these sticks have trouble exceeding 3400 MHz. It seems both low-quality RAM and decent RAM perform better on budget ASRock boards than on premium Gigabyte models. Interesting observation. Please forgive me while I check Amazon's return policy... My questions are: 1. Is this typical behavior for memory overclocking on a Gigabyte board? 2. Did I end up with subpar LPX RAM? 3. Are others facing similar issues with Gigabyte boards? 4. What’s happening here? 5. Should I give up on this board? (Leaning toward yes on that point) Here are the system details for reference: Primary: Secondary: Z390 Designare ASRock Z390-itx/AC 9900K @ 5.1 i7-8086K @ 5.2 Vengeance LPX 3600 MHz C18 OLOy DDR4-2666 C16 @ 3700 MHz
It could be that the RAM isn't locking properly, causing the motherboard to prevent CMOS from being written. Look at the timing settings on the ASRock unit.
Gigabyte often changes BIOS settings automatically when the overclocking fails on their dual BIOS boards. It seems this can be stopped using a switch or jumper. Still, I believe you'll get more stable memory settings from an ITX board, since limiting to one slot per channel helps cut down electrical noise.
The auto start times on the AsRock board are terrible, yet it still powers on at 4000. That means the RAM likely has some room to spare.
Sure, but I doubt it performs well at 4000MHz with those settings. It’s not about compatibility issues—it’s because you’re pushing it too hard for the intended performance.
I realize the expected output won’t match the same settings. However, I’m still facing issues and can’t reach 4000 on the gigabyte board, even with all timings enabled and other settings adjusted. It’s not making sense—3600 seems to be the upper limit here, but it doesn’t align with what I should achieve.
Memory OC behaves oddly. My Gigabyte B350 worked fine for 3200 with my 3000 XMP setup all day, but any tweaks caused issues. I removed it because the VRM had trouble handling CPU overclocking even with a weak processor. I swapped it out for an MSI ITX board that handled higher voltages and supported CL14-17-17 on my 16-20-20 kit without problems.
It's a bit of a letdown. I thought getting that RAM would give me enough overclocking potential, but turns out the board limits it. Maybe I should've splurged on a better kit with an XMP profile above 4000.