ASRock B450 Pro4 Bios update?

[Cosmo X]

I have been messing around with my pc and trying to get it completely up to date.  The B450 Pro4 mobo has had its bios updated to P1.50, 11/5/2018.  I was trying to trouble shoot why my mobo is only showing my ram at 1333 mhz when it is suppose to be 3000 mhz.  So I figured I would check the mobo and see if the Bios needed updating.  I am a little hesitant and confused after going to the ASRock site and seeing that I needed to update the bios to 1.8 before I could update to the newer bios.  I was hoping someone could just take a quick look and reassure me that the steps I need to take to make sure I update to the latest Bios.  From my understanding I can only upgrade to 3.5 bios due to having an AMD Ryzen 7 1700x.  I shouldn't go past that correct?  Sorry just trying to get some outside advice.  Here is a link to the mobo bios https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450 Pro4/#BIOS

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[JoostinOnline]

The memory controller on the 1700x (actually all Zen 1 CPU's) is pretty awful. Your advertised RAM speed usually isn't achievable unless it was already on the manufacturer's QVL.

 

I'd advise against updating your BIOS. Instead, use Ryzen DRAM Calculator and enter the values it generates manually. It will take awhile.

 

[boggy77]

yeah I would go up to 3.50. also, you need to enable xmp to get your ram to work at 3000.

[DailyProcrastinator]

Welcome to the forum!

 

5 minutes ago, Cosmo X said:

-Snip-

I'm assuming you mean 2133MHz, also all DDR4 ram runs as 2133Mhz by default. Have you tried to enable XMP/DOCP or applied a manual OC to your memory?

[Cosmo X]

I went into the bios after seeing windows task manager say that the ram was at 1333.  XMP was set to auto so I set it to XMP Profile and set the speed to 3000.  I was not sure what else I needed to do to help the ram speeds.  First time in bios messing with the ram.

[DailyProcrastinator]

3 minutes ago, Cosmo X said:

I went into the bios after seeing windows task manager say that the ram was at 1333.  XMP was set to auto so I set it to XMP Profile and set the speed to 3000.  I was not sure what else I needed to do to help the ram speeds.  First time in bios messing with the ram.

Well if you enabled XMP and Bios says it is at 3000MHz then it likely is. Windows task manager is a terrible resource. Use something like CPU-Z to check memory speed.

[Cosmo X]

So would upgrading to a different CPU just be better then trying to OC the or dial in the ram to work?  Since the 1700x is Ryzen gen 1 would going to a Ryzen 3000 series just be a better solution?  Sorry just trying to think of how besides tweaking with the ram.

 

And THANK YOU for you help...

[Cosmo X]

5 minutes ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

Well if you enabled XMP and Bios says it is at 3000MHz then it likely is. Windows task manager is a terrible resource. Use something like CPU-Z to check memory speed.

Checked CPU-Z and the DRAM Freq is 1330.2.  I guess I could use the DRAM Calc and change the ram in bios.  It will be my first time doing so and just a little scared messing with the ram and all.  In the bios the default ram XMP speed is at 2666 and so I changed it to 3000 but I guess I need to change all the settings that are shown in DRAM Calc for it to change correct?   Sorry I'm just being cautious.

[DailyProcrastinator]

You need to 'Reply' to comments in order for people to see them, this can be done by clicking the arrow icon at the bottom of a comment (Quote).

Just now, Cosmo X said:

So would upgrading to a different CPU just be better then trying to OC the or dial in the ram to work?  Since the 1700x is Ryzen gen 1 would going to a Ryzen 3000 series just be a better solution?  Sorry just trying to think of how besides tweaking with the ram.

 

And THANK YOU for you help...

As for getting a new CPU just to run your memory at 3000MHz that is not going to guarantee your memory will overclock to it's rated speed. Anything past 2666MHz is considered overclocking, so mileage may vary, go back in Bios and see if the XMP profile was set back to default. Also there is no reason not update bios to a more stable/recent version, this could easily solve the issue.

 

45 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

I'd advise against updating your BIOS.

What's the reasoning here?

[Cosmo X]

6 minutes ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

You need to 'Reply' to comments in order for people to see them, this can be done by clicking the arrow icon at the bottom of a comment (Quote).

As for getting a new CPU just to run your memory at 3000MHz that is not going to guarantee your memory will overclock to it's rated speed. Anything past 2666MHz is considered overclocking, so mileage may vary, go back in Bios and see if the XMP profile was set back to default. Also there is no reason not update bios to a more stable/recent version, this could easily solve the issue.

 

What's the reasoning here?

Thank you.  I did go back into bios and it was still set at the 3000.  I will try and take the steps in updating my bios just hoping I do it in the correct order.  I did update it when I completed the pc build so I will just go from there and see what happens.  

 

So I am clear on the steps to update it.  First update to 1.8 and then I can update it 3.5 without having to install each and everyone in between.  I did install the AMD all in one vga just incase of a display problem.

 

And really Thank you for your help.

[DailyProcrastinator]

Just now, Cosmo X said:

Thank you.  I did go back into bios and it was still set at the 3000.  I will try and take the steps in updating my bios just hoping I do it in the correct order.  I did update it when I completed the pc build so I will just go from there and see what happens.  

 

And really Thank you for your help.

TBH resource monitor tools often do not get accurate readouts, even HWinfo says I am running at 1333MHz, I know I am at 3466MHz. If your Bios says 3000MHz I would trust it.

 

An easy way to verify this is run Cinebench R15 and a game bench mark, with XMP on then off, if you have higher scores with it set on you know your memory OC works. If that is the case no need to update bios. 

[Cosmo X]

1 minute ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

TBH resource monitor tools often do not get accurate readouts, even HWinfo says I am running at 1333MHz, I know I am at 3466MHz. If your Bios says 3000MHz I would trust it.

 

An easy way to verify this is run Cinebench R15 and a game bench mark, with XMP on then off, if you have higher scores with it set on you know your memory OC works. If that is the case no need to update bios. 

Ok thank you.  I will get testing and compare the results.

[JoostinOnline]

41 minutes ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

What's the reasoning here?

1. Because you should never update your BIOS unless you need to.  Any power outages during the process and you've got a ruined motherboard.
2. Because it could erase compatibility for his first generation CPU.
3. Because it's unrelated.

[DailyProcrastinator]

25 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

1. Because you should never update your BIOS unless you need to.  Any power outages during the process and you've got a ruined motherboard.
2. Because it could erase compatibility for his first generation CPU.
3. Because it's unrelated.

Memory stability and support has improved with Bios updates though, so it is not totally unrelated/non-required. It really depends which version OP is running. And yes of course check what the latest update entails and improves on, does not need to be the latest version either. 

 

Regardless I recommended verifying the memory OC before doing so. 

[JoostinOnline]

1 minute ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

Memory stability and support has improved with Bios updates though, so it is not totally unrelated/non-required. It really depends which version OP is running. And yes of course check what the latest update entails and improves on, does not need to be the latest version either. 

 

Regardless I recommended verifying the memory OC before doing so. 

If it was a B350 board I would agree with you, but it's not. If RDC doesn't work then trying a BIOS update may be worth it, but it shouldn't be the go-to.

[DailyProcrastinator]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

If it was a B350 board I would agree with you, but it's not. If RDC doesn't work then trying a BIOS update may be worth it, but it shouldn't be the go-to.

Well I'd personally manually OC over a bios update as well, I agree it is not the go too, but after attempting other potential 'fixes' it would eventually be worth a try. Really depends on peoples comfort levels I guess, if XMP was on and the system was not stable it would be very unlikely that a Bios update would solve the issue. But not totally impossible, again assuming a newer version of bios has added memory compatibly/stability improvements.