Temperatures increased following the application of XMP profile.
Temperatures increased following the application of XMP profile.
Hello everyone, welcome! I’m new here and facing a rather strange problem. My system has two 16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM sticks, each with 3000MHz speeds. However, I noticed my PC was running them at 2133MHz instead of the intended 2667MHz. To fix this, I enabled the XMP profile in BIOS and set it to 2667MHz, which caused the PC to become very unstable and even cause boot loops.
Over time, I read that moving the RAM from slots 1-3 to 2-4 could help reach higher speeds. After updating the BIOS, I tried a different configuration. Initially, when I tried to start the PC, the RAM wasn’t properly seated, so I shut it down and reinserted them correctly.
Since then, I’ve noticed my CPU idle temperatures are slightly higher—about 3-4 degrees above normal (35-38°C)—which is typical. However, during gaming, especially in games like Monster Hunter Wilds, the temps jump to 15-20°C more than before, reaching up to 84°C. This is unusual and concerning. When the PC boots up, it stays around 70°C instead of the usual 50°C, and it drops afterward.
I undid everything I’d changed: I switched back to slots 1 and 3 for the RAM, turned off XMP, and now the temperatures are still high but not as extreme as before. Even though they’re within what’s considered normal, this has never happened recently since I upgraded my cooler to liquid cooling.
I also replaced the thermal paste to rule out that issue, but it didn’t help. No clear cause so far. Could you have any suggestions? My setup includes:
- 2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM (Intel I7-12700)
- MSI GeForce 4080
- 850W liquid cooler
- ASUS PRIME Z690M PLUS D4 Mobo
- H100x Elite Liquid Cooling
- No airflow problems or room temperature issues
The problem started suddenly and hasn’t changed much since. I’m really puzzled and worried about something being wrong. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Your setup probably linked XMP for certain CPU performance settings. If you hadn’t performed a benchmark prior to and after, I suspect the CPU power rating might have improved. I’m not noticing an issue, but it would help to examine more than just temperature readings. Heat output is tied to power consumption, which we can track. Obtaining a Cinebench multicore score before and after would likely indicate a rise, wouldn’t it? Avoid doing that. The manual for your board, like most, lists A2 and B2 specifications. (Reference the screenshot from your device manual)
Thanks for your response @GuiltySpark_. The situation is clear—I appreciate the explanation. Before this adjustment to slots 2 and 4, XMP was active at 2666MHz, and temperatures were much lower. Now that it's changed, I'm worried something might be wrong. After turning it off, the temps stayed high, which is concerning. At 84 degrees it feels too high for some games, even those that don’t need much heat like Schedule 1. Last year I rarely saw temps hit 70 degrees, let alone 66. I suspect a change has occurred negatively. I also reset the default settings on the motherboard, but it didn’t help. By the way, I followed the manual and left them on slots 2 and 4. Thanks again!
I think so, particularly for a 12700 (non-K). But since we don't have details on how the chip behaved before and after the change, it's mostly based on assumptions. If I were sitting at the PC, I'd run something like Cinebench R23's multicore test, monitor HWiNFO for temperature, clock speed, and power usage, and record the final score after one execution. Then I'd repeat with XMP enabled. Also, boards usually show a summary of changes when you press F10 to save and reboot. This all depends on the AIO being correctly mounted.
Yes, stick with slots 2 and 4 only. The rise in CPU temperatures aligns with what you expect from increased load. Turning on XMP boosts memory controller demands, leading to more heat. Higher performance usually pushes more frames per second, which also generates extra warmth due to power consumption. Running RAM at full speeds in slots 1 and 3 when using the wrong ports can cause instability. The higher temperatures you're seeing might be due to incorrect settings. After updating BIOS, consider enabling Intel default configurations if needed.
Thanks a lot for your help! I'll keep testing to avoid closing the thread. After disabling xmp and setting the RAM speed to 2666MHz, I'm seeing at least a 15-degree improvement compared to before. This feels like some Harry Potter nonsense since I've tested similar things before. I'll also look into the BIOS settings for Intel, but I reset the BIOS back to defaults and cleared the CMOS just in case.
Hello! I’m still in the process of testing. It looks like things are improving a bit, though it’s not fully confirmed yet. The setting I discovered for Intel is SVID Behavior configured to Intel’s Fail Safe mode. Should this be the case? I’ve read that other configurations might result in lower temperatures, but these options are new territory for me, so I’m holding off until I better understand them.
Hello everyone, at the end it turned out the liquid cooler was malfunctioning. The motherboard also had problems, which happened to occur right after I adjusted the BIOS settings. That’s why I decided to replace the cooler, mainly because it was only been used for about a year. Appreciate the help!