Sure, can I upgrade RAM to more than 2133 MHz? My motherboard is an MSI Z170A Gaming M5.
Sure, can I upgrade RAM to more than 2133 MHz? My motherboard is an MSI Z170A Gaming M5.
I keep trying to make my RAM go faster than 2133 MHz but something stops me from doing it right now. Here is what I have: My motherboard is an MSI Z170A Gaming M5 and the CPU is an i7 6700k. I am using memory that has 32GB total (two sticks of 16GB each) called G.Skill Ripsaw V Series DDR4 running at 3200 MHz. When I try to turn on XMP in the BIOS, my computer shuts down and shows a memory error. Then I tried pressing "Memory Test It!" to check things out, but even if I set it higher than 2133 MHz, I get the same error. Is there any way to adjust the timings manually without being too hard? Or maybe these sticks of RAM don't fit this board at all? The specs on my mobo list DDR4-3200 as compatible so I thought that those sticks would work fine. Thanks, Matt
The right places look good, though do you have the newest BIOS? Something was updated recently that might make this work better.
No, I bought that motherboard way back in 2016 and put it through a few builds. I never touched its BIOS, so I was thinking about flashing it but holding off on it just in case something breaks if I don't have to. Maybe I should actually try it.
It's not really scary. Using the Flash utility in your BIOS will make sure the file works before starting. Just put the bios file on a flash drive (USB stick) that has FAT32 format and is unzipped (if you zipped it, unzip it again). Make sure there are no extra folders inside. The only chance of trouble is if the power goes out right when the flashing starts. This process only takes about a minute.
Thanks for sharing your tips. I updated my BIOS to the newest version. Turning on XMP didn't work, so I tried the "memory test it" preset again. I couldn't get my computer to start up with any profile between 3066 and 3200 MHz (my RAM's advertised speed), but I did manage to make it boot when using a 3000 MHz setting. I ran MemTest64 on the system for a few rounds, and everything stayed stable there. I don't know if sticking with exactly 3200 MHz will give me better results or even go higher than that by changing settings myself—that might take a lot more research. I couldn't find my specific setup listed on G.Skill's RAM configurator page for a 32GB (two 16s) kit, but looking at the specs for 8GB and 16GB versions shows they probably aren't compatible anyway either. For now, I'm going to stick with the 3000 MHz speed since I doubt it will make much difference. Thanks!
You can check your CPU speed settings by opening the SPD tab in CPUz. If you want to set specific timings manually, go into BIOS and adjust those numbers there too. You could also just look at what XMP does when it's on. Check the timing page after turning it on to see how much memory voltage is used. Then switch back to manual mode and type in the same values. Try setting the command rate to 2T, maybe you'll find that somewhere near the timings list. Also set the DRAM voltages to 1.35v.