Issues with Z690 APEX and GSKILL 6000MHz CL36
Issues with Z690 APEX and GSKILL 6000MHz CL36
Hello. I am using Z690 apex board together with Gskill 6000mhz cl36 memory which is a Samsung one ( F5-6000u3636E16GX2-TZ5K). At first 14 days they seem to run ok at XMP2 but than one day during game loading computer crashed hard with error 55 on post screen since than I cant get this combo to be stable really. I had to remove one stick to post again and than I put both back. For few days it worked than crashed hard again….than I used JEDEC frequencies and even that soon crashed. It actually became so bad that I cant even use both sticks and get trough the post it always goes to error 55. Currently I am using only one stick and even that probably isn’t fully stable, but even if it is it is not a solution. I found out that this memory isn’t officially supported by ASUS for Apex but it sais it is compatible on Gskill site. Actually for apex there is no ram with Samsung chips on supported list. Is there any possible solution to this problem and is maybe going to be fixed in future with bios updates. I currently ordered Kingston FURY modules 5200mhz that are officialy listed on support page and I hope they will work as they should being much lees extreme ones. I still want to run gskill ones reall so is there anything possible to do to get them working ? Best wishes. Primož
Code 55 indicates missing memory. It might be due to the board not supporting the G.Skill kit, or the CPU memory controller not being compatible. Trying another kit could help identify whether the issue lies with the board, CPU, or memory. Assuming the BIOS is current, that’s likely the case.
Bios is currently the newest model, but many people report issues too. My memory isn't verified by ASUS on my board. Since my 12700k controller might struggle at 6000mhz, I chose a Kingston 5200. I just hope spending another 300 euros will make it work and that future BIOS updates will improve with G.Skill. It's frustrating buying a 500-euro kit that doesn't function properly.
My issues have been resolved completely. Once the Kingston RAM problem persisted, I disassembled the board to inspect it. After removing the CPU, I found a tiny dust particle inside one of the socket pins—it wasn’t aligned properly. Using a scalpel, I cleared it out. Reassembling the machine worked perfectly. To ensure stability, I adjusted XMP 1 settings by slightly increasing memory voltages to 1.35 and applied the 6000MHz CL32,35,35 ASUS profile. The command rate was set to 2, and after installing the latest beta BIOS, the N1 command rate became stable. Memtest passed, and after three days of regular use, everything functioned as expected.
The z690 memory controllers for DDR5 are quite poor, which is why I switched to DDR4. The z790 is expected to handle up to DDR5-6000, but z690 seems to support around DDR5-5200 at most.