RAM frequently reverts to 2133 MHz instead of the desired 3000 MHz following a reset.
RAM frequently reverts to 2133 MHz instead of the desired 3000 MHz following a reset.
Hello, I visited a tech support place today to replace the heat paste on my processor and graphics card. Everything seemed normal, so I came home and let it settle in the room temperature. The readings were within range... considering the size of the unit. Then I started playing CS:GO—an app that works on any system. After a while, I encountered a freeze. I figured it might be my first time crashing this old game, not because of extreme settings or anything. I plan to test it later with Days Gone to check how fast the card heats up. Running without fans helped, but only one model works for me. I managed to order a new PCG today. I put the game in the graphics manager and didn’t know what to do except open Task Manager. It showed that 80% of the RAM was used. I wondered how much RAM the game actually needed at medium settings—at 40 FPS it stalled. I checked the RAM usage and saw only two of four slots were occupied, though my card was 8 GB while I had 16 GB. Since 2019 I’ve never had issues with overheating, except for temps. Now fans are gone, so things got worse. The fan spun noisier than usual. After shutting it down, I opened Task Manager again. It displayed a 3000 MHz clock and then dropped to 2133. I thought maybe the BIOS reset something. I restarted, went into BIOS, and saw XMP1 removed. I restored it, saved settings, and tried increasing frequencies. The PC restarted a few times before it worked. Now it’s running at 3000 MHz with 16 GB RAM. Strange. I was really upset—I almost called someone to fix it. I ended up cleaning the motherboard, replacing that tiny component, and reinserting the CMOS battery. It reset everything again. Now I’m still confused about what happened.
Removing the CMOS battery will reset most BIOS configurations, effectively reverting RAM performance to JEDEC 2133 standards.
It's unclear why he did that. He removed the case (when the PC wasn't running) and pressed the power button several times. I'm not very familiar with PCs; I could have asked him there. My goal was to reset my CPU and GPU, not just change the motherboard settings. Here are my details:
Specs:
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE B450M DS3H
- Power Supply: S12II-520 Bronze 520W
- Hard Drive: WD Blue 1TB SATA-III 7200 RPM
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 8GB DDR4 3000MHz
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB
- SSD: SSD Kingston A2000 500GB PCI Express 3.0 x4 M.2 2280
You don’t have to refresh your BIOS. (With a Ryzen 2000, proceed with extra caution—adding 5000 series support might remove compatibility with older models.) If you adjusted the speed to 3000 directly, it should work fine. XMP isn’t a special feature; it simply adjusts RAM speed to its rated value. Setting it manually can be just as effective or even more so than XMP.
Despite setting it to manual mode, I encountered a crash and blue screen afterward. Afterwards, my RAM was restored to 2133. It seems the system no longer allows me to access my RAM.
Yes, it will indicate whether your current RAM meets the requirements for running HWInfo64 or similar tools.
Currently I’m unable to use my PC, yet Task Manager displays 16 GB RAM at 2133 MHz, and HWMonitor also shows the same amount. Tomorrow I plan to install HwInfo64.
Here’s a revised version of your message:
Sorry about the duplicate post! This is what HWInfo64 is displaying: https://imgur.com/a/V5JAKh9, and here’s what CPU Z shows: https://imgur.com/a/3vyrYSw and this one: https://imgur.com/a/XQpZ6Zm.
Is there anything else happening when the computer starts up? If it keeps looping to the same setting, consider replacing the CMOS battery. If the battery was bad, the clock time might not display correctly because it can't save settings properly. You may also want to check which DRAM slots are active—usually the first stick should go in the second and fourth slots, but if one fails, swap it with the first and third slots.
It isn't damaged or malfunctioning... my PC operates normally until that software reset of my MOBO happened unexpectedly. The main problem is I can't increase the RAM speed anymore; it's stuck at the default frequency and I can't reach the 3000 MHz. When I switch the profile from Disabled to XMP1, it works initially, but after a few minutes it may crash during gameplay or display a blue screen, freezing and then returning to the default speed. Currently, slots 2 and 3 are active in dual-channel mode.