Profile Mismatch Issue
Profile Mismatch Issue
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I recently found a difference between the RAM speed shown by CPU-Z and Task Manager with XMP enabled. Task Manager said 3200MHZ, but CPU-Z reported 1063MHZ. My BIOS settings showed 3200MHZ in its XMP profile, which was selected. I checked if XMP was actually active and saw that it was. Then I looked back in BIOS and it still displayed 2133MHZ even though XMP was enabled and set to 3200MHZ. After turning XMP off and setting the RAM frequency to 3200MHZ, CPU-Z and Task Manager both showed 3200MHZ and 1596.8MHZ respectively. This seems consistent with what I expect.
I’m wondering if there’s a clear reason why XMP isn’t working as expected. Could I have made an error? Are there any risks to my system from these changes? Which tool do you think gives the most accurate RAM speed reading? I know Task Manager isn’t always reliable for this, but I want to make sure I’m not missing something. Thanks in advance for your help—I’m still getting familiar with all this.
Yeah, that's correct. The advertised speed is in MT/s, which on DDR memory is always double the actual memory frequency which CPU-Z reads. XMP isn't reliable. It usually works, but issues like this can come up from time to time, especially on AMD based systems, though the fix usually is to just manually set the XMP parameters (frequency, voltage, and primary timings). You set the frequency which gets half the job done, though setting the voltage and timings will get the full rated performance out of the memory kit. Basically, you got unlucky. There is a history of Corsair memory having XMP profiles that don't play well with AMD CPUs, so that might play a role in it as well, though I'd probably more chalk this down as XMP being XMP. If you just set the frequency, that can sometimes cause instability if the kit requires higher voltages to hit that frequency, but that's about the only issue you can possibly run into given what you said you did. You aren't gonna damage your system or anything like that. Task Manager is about the worst program for reading any sort of frequency, it's very liable to just be completely wrong. I have a collection of screen shots of Task Manager being completely wrong about stuff, including things like saying my CPU is running at 40GHz (no typo, not missing a period). It's only really useful for seeing what programs are running, not what the hardware is doing. The two programs I'd use for checking RAM speed are CPU-Z and either ZenTimings or MemTweakIt, depending on whether your on AMD or Intel respectively. CPU-Z is the most reliable for reading memory frequency in my experience, I've yet to see where it's been wrong, but it doesn't tell you any of the memory subtimings that exist. ZenTimings and MemTweakIt are very good at reading memory subtimings, but they aren't that granular with memory frequency and can sometimes have issues reading BCLK values so the memory frequency can be a bit off when read from them since they can only really interpret the memory ratio, not the actual frequency. There are a couple others that work as well for reading memory timings, Ryzen Master can read memory timings, same with ASRock Timing Configurator and MSI Dragon Ball with Intel chips, those are just the ones that I use.
I've been using Overwatch without any major problems. It's true the game previously showed static at 144FPS, which might not fully represent stress testing. Can I say this suggests my system handles it well? If it does, will the right voltages and timing depend on my hardware, or can I find the correct settings? Thanks for clarifying this for me.
They match the specifications of the RAM module you own. On the physical stick, you'll find details like "DDR4 3200 CL16-20-20-38 1.35V." Adjust the first number for tCL timing, the second for tRCD timing (sometimes called tRCDRD on AMD boards), the third for tRP timing, and the fourth for tRAS timing. Set the desired voltage for the DRAM. This information is also available in the CPU-Z SPD section.
Have you updated the latest version of GPUZ? I recommend installing hwinfo64 and verifying the reported RAM speed, since this seems like an issue with GPUZ. When BIOS and Task Manager display 3200, it usually doesn't happen, but you'd expect a warning about the XMP profile not being applied during boot. If hwinfo64 also shows 3200, that might indicate another problem.
It's really great to hear! Your feedback means a lot. Installing HWINFO64 has been helpful, and it seems to be functioning well now. The reports from Task Manager match what you see in CPU-Z and Speccy. Switching between XMP profiles 1 and 2 without issues is a good move. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Occasionally two profiles have identical speeds yet differ in timing, usually only one functions properly. Looks like you've identified the correct one now. No worries!