: Need some advice on how to get my DDR4 memory running at 3000 MHz.
: Need some advice on how to get my DDR4 memory running at 3000 MHz.
Long time no overclocking and things were pretty stable (I thought so), but in a few games I started getting BSOD errors about Page Faults. When I ran Prime95, I noticed rounding errors, so I reset my BIOS back to default and started fresh. My specs are: an ASUS Strix 270F Gaming motherboard with the latest BIOS, an Intel i5-7600k Kaby Lake-S processor, a Corsair Vengeance LED stick that has 8GB of DDR4 RAM running at 3000MHz (15-17-17-35 timings), and I overclocked the CPU to 4600MHz successfully with these settings: 46 multiplier, BCLK set to 100 MHz Core Voltage set to adaptive, 1.20v turbo boost, offset mode set to auto, AC/DC load line at 0.01m/s, and LLC at 4. Everything else stayed on default. I ran different Prime95 tests all the time everything was fine, then did memtest86 and it passed completely too. Even when playing games that previously caused BSOD, they now work perfectly. Now I wanted to change my RAM speed from 2133MHz back up to 3000MHz by enabling XMP, but immediately got a BSOD on Windows startup again. I tried setting timings and voltage manually, and it was still crashing. Then I tried slowly increasing the VCore (vccio) and VCCKA voltages from 1.0V all the way up to 1.3V, but it kept crashing at startup. I don't even know how I got XMP working before because after three years of using it, only one game caused a BSOD; everything else was stable back then. Now I can't even start Windows without getting a BSOD with XMP as usual. The difference between my old settings (three years ago) and now is that before I was running the CPU at 4500MHz (now it's 4600) and voltage was in offset mode, maybe higher than 1.2V, and AC/DC load line was auto. So once again XMP worked fine for me before I reset my BIOS settings (only one game caused a BSOD back then), but now I can't even reproduce this state anymore. Need some help guys, I want to run my RAM at 3000 frequency. I don't know what to do next. I'm afraid to increase vcore voltage higher than 1.3V maybe it is something connected with vcore voltage? Because previously I had constant offset mode not adaptive.
When I try to run it at 3000mhz, yes, i set the voltage to 1.35 in bios. Even if i make it a little higher, because when i set it to 1.35v, bios shows me that it's actually running at 1.325v. Currently i am running it on 2133 Mhz frequency with 1.2v
They ran memory tests already at 3000MHz with timings 15-17-17-35 and a voltage of 1.35V. It looks like the RAM works fine on its own, even though I've read about it hitting speeds up to 3466MHz at those same settings. However, that exact memory sticks don't seem to fit well on this specific board when you run them through O/C (Overclock) mode anymore. I'd suggest trying a slightly looser set of timings like 16-18-18-38 just to see if the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) happens less often, and then slowly lowering the speed back down from the standard settings. It's hard to get an official return for defective RAM when they pass tests, so I think the board itself is probably the main problem here.
I can boot up Windows without any error messages when using these timings and a 1.35v memory stick. I even get Prime95 running, though it doesn't work well in blend mode. Since there are no BSODs, that's actually good progress. Back then I managed to run my XMP profile three years ago, but it wasn't perfect—it ran at about 95% stability every time. I'll try changing the frequency now to see what happens.
I took out the extra stick of RAM and put just one in the A2 slot turned on my CPU's speed settings (XMP) with a little boost. The computer seems to work fine now it runs Prime95 without crashing or showing up as broken. I will run more tests before putting the second stick back in. If this happens, what does that mean? It means if I try to put two sticks of RAM on my board at the same time with XMP turned on, the computer might not handle all of them right away?
So, I thought the problem was with Adaptive Mode. First, I tried slowly raising voltage from 1.0V up to 1.25V on both vccio and vccsa while using memtest86. Nothing worked. I did manage to get two successful passes at 1.12V for both voltages in memtest, but getting three passes was always hard. Next, I thought about Adaptive Mode again. In this mode, I set voltage only for turbo mode. Maybe the memory controller needs more power if it's working harder on the CPU. To keep things simple, I switched the CPU vcore to manual mode and added some extra voltages manually. Then, I started raising voltage slowly again. This time luck was on my side. At 1.11V for both vccio and vccsa, memory worked perfectly. I ran eight passes in memtest86 with no errors. After that, I loaded Windows and ran the HCI memtest at 600% speed, still no errors. Finally, I did Prime95 in blend mode too. Everything stayed stable now. So, my next step is to lower vcore voltage down a bit for manual mode. Then, I'll try switching back to Adaptive Mode if that doesn't work. If anyone has tips on how to change from Manual to Adaptive in this specific situation, please let me know. By the way, turning on XMP isn't as easy as just picking it in the BIOS =).