Troubleshooting AMD 3600X performance with RAM timing adjustments
Troubleshooting AMD 3600X performance with RAM timing adjustments
Hello everyone, sorry for the lengthy update! I wanted to share all the details right away. I've been working on a minor overclock/undervolt adjustment for my Ryzen 5 3600X, aiming to keep temperatures stable as PBO causes erratic behavior during idle (ranging from 32°C to 50°C). I've also adjusted the RAM timings. Here are the specs:
- Specification list attached
- After several hours of stable operation, shutting down for 5-6 hours results in BSOD and boot loops until I enter BIOS. Removing secondary RAM timing fixes the issue and boots into Windows 10.
- Memtest shows no errors on my RAM changes, but I suspect driver conflicts might be causing problems.
- I used Gigabyte Aorus Master B550 Ryzen 5 3600X with MSI MAG Coreliquid 360R V2 paste, Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL 3600CL18 CMH16GX4M2D3600C18W (2x8GB), and Gigabyte 3070 Vision OC (stock) with Seasonic Focus GX-750.
- RAM timings are set to 3600MHz CL16-21-21-42, and I'm seeing stable results in tests.
For the boot loop, I increased the timings to 16-22-22-42 and achieved decent scores on Cinebench R23 (Max 10220). Current temperatures peak at 63°C, with error codes 0xc0000221 and 0xc000009a.
Recent updates include:
- LAN driver from Gigabyte website
- Rolled back a driver update
- AMD chipset driver updated from Gigabyte site
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Could this be leading to problems that look like driver faults? Since you're just starting out, I think it's safe to skip the secondary timings for now and observe. Keeping it at CL16 would be ideal. The issue is that it doesn’t trigger a crash until I attempt to boot after being cold for a while. Error code: 0xc000221 — this means a driver or system DLL is damaged.
I don’t understand why I overlooked it being the second line. This mistake could also stem from bad hardware. Perhaps my OC or Undervolt settings for the CPU are working fine and I can still run.
The Ryzen DRAM calculator provides information about memory capacity, speed, and compatibility based on your system configuration.
I focused on those key moments. You don’t have to check every setting—just the four main tweaks will make it stable.
Samsung B die differs from Samsung B die downbin in key aspects. The original B die typically shows a CAS latency of 14 across most kits above 3000MHz, while yours is likely the latter and unsuitable for serious overclocking. The Ryzen Dram tool won't help much if you're using the downbin version. Your problems seem to stem from overclocking attempts. RDC imposes artificial limits on overclocks; for instance, I can push my Micron B die RAMs to 3800C18-21-21-21, whereas the Ryzen Dram only suggests 3466CL22. I recommend this guide instead of RDC. Good luck with your testing—patience pays off. https://github.com/integralfx/MemTestHel...guide/DDR4 OC Guide.md
I decided to try XMP 3600 CL18 because it’s been working well for a while now. Still, it crashed after rebooting Windows just a short time ago. It might be my CPU settings or the AMD chipset driver from Gigabyte that’s causing the problem. I can’t locate the driver in Device Manager to revert it, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I went back to using stock BIOS files and kept the drivers as they were before any changes. This caused some GPU and driver problems. After running DDU, I’m still using the driver from September 2021. I’ll keep it until I verify if that fixes the crashes. I also saw GeForce updated their driver yesterday, which might explain a lot of the issues. It’s hard to say for sure since so many factors changed at once. For now, I’ll wait and see how things develop before doing more adjustments.