RAM Overclocking Ryzen 5000 4 Dimms Problem

[needsomeaim]

Hi everyone,

I am currently trying to overclock my RAM / FCLK and am running into some weird problems.
My system:

 

ASUS Rog Strix X570 E-Gaming

Ryzen 9 5900X with PBO and curve optimizer

MSI Suprim X RTX 3080

2x G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600, CL16 - 16 - 16 - 36, 16 GB (so 32 GB overall with 4 dimms)

 

I wanted to push my FCLK and i have sucessfully tested that i can run 2000 Mhz without issues. I have not tried going further than 2000 Mhz as of now.

This was tested without ocing the ram so no 1:1 ratio between memory clock and FCLK.

 

I continued to tweak my ram, but i am experiencing issues with getting any stable OC no matter what i configure and how loose the timings are.

I tested some settings from the DRAM calculator, but when i configure the "SAFE" numbers for anything above the rated 3600 Mhz i just go into a safe boot loop until i bring down the ram speed again.

I have also tried very loose timings from another guide from git: configuring the main timings to 18-22-22-42 and Cwl to 18 (everything else on AUTO).

With these loose timings i cannot even boot 3800 Mhz on the ram. No matter what the other settings are:

Socket voltage at 1.1V / Ram voltage from 1.4 - 1.5 V and increasing the other voltages as recommended by dram calculator. Trying FCLK at 1:1 ratio or leaving it at 1800 Mhz for testing. Leaving CPU at stock and disabling PBO / curve optimizer. Using DOCP or completely manual adjustements.

It just wont boot at all. No matter on timings or voltage.

 

I am not experienced with ram OC and just read through some guides. So maybe i am missing something important that needs to be configured...

Could it be that 4 dimms at anyhting higher than 3600 Mhz are just not working? I am pretty sure the RAM itself is capable of running higher speeds. If read some reviews and they were even able to push to 4400 Mhz while keeping original timings (B-dies).

 

Also my system is custom watercooled. The DIMM temps are already on the higher side with stock settings hovering around 45- 58 ° when loaded. But i guess these temps should really matter when trying to stabilize the system and it should at least boot?

 

Finally, there are two options to configure ram oc on the asus board. Either by using the AI tweaker -> DRAM timings section or by going to the AMD Overclocking page which also includes settings for RAM overclocking. I was always using the AI tweaker and set the AMD Overclocking to "Auto". Not sure if there is any difference between these two options.

 

Any help or advise is really appreciated.Thanks!

 

[Chris Fortune]

It may be that the silicon lottery just tapped out with using 2 pairs rather than a single set of four, I would try the overclock with a single pair to see if that has any effect.

[xg32]

1.1v soc is the bare minimum of what ur trying to do, , i'd start with 1.15v expecting 1.175v, at the end of the day it's silicon lottery whether ur imc does 2000 with 4sticks, i think the most direct path is dram voltage around 1.45 and see how far you can push 16-16-16, my old sticks did 3866 with room to spare (wouldn't do 4000 though)

 

You need a fan on those dimms, or at least some type of airflow.

[needsomeaim]

6 minutes ago, xg32 said:

1.1v soc is the bare minimum of what ur trying to do, , i'd start with 1.15v expecting 1.175v, at the end of the day it's silicon lottery whether ur imc does 2000 with 4sticks, i think the most direct path is dram voltage around 1.45 and see how far you can push 16-16-16, my old sticks did 3866 with room to spare (wouldn't do 4000 though)

 

You need a fan on those dimms, or at least some type of airflow.

Is anything above 1.1v safe to operate?
What ive read so far was recommending a maximum soc voltage of 1.1v to be safe.
 

I also agree that this would make sense if i try to push the FCLK to 2000 right of the bat, but the problem persist with leaving FCLK at 1800 Mhz which works stable with 3600 on ram.

 

16 minutes ago, Chris Fortune said:

It may be that the silicon lottery just tapped out with using 2 pairs rather than a single set of four, I would try the overclock with a single pair to see if that has any effect.

Thats a good point. If i have some time i might try to run 2 sticks and see if this enables me to run higher speeds.

In the end i would guess running 4 sticks would give me better performance in comparison to two sticks running at higher FCLK?

[xg32]

1.2v is the maximum safe voltage, 1.1v is basically the minimum for 4x8 3600 (some needs 1.18 just for that, though thats the most unlucky guy ive seen so far), but feel free to double check

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=zen+3+max+soc+voltage&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS822US822&oq=zen+3+max+soc+voltage&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i333.3709j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Chris Fortune]

Unless you can maintain the CL16 it may be no better even with FLCK improvement, Jayz2Cents ( I think it was him) did a nice piece explaining how increasing clocks at the expense of CAS wasn't always a performance boost in the real world.

[needsomeaim]

7 minutes ago, xg32 said:

1.2v is the maximum safe voltage, 1.1v is basically the minimum for 4x8 3600 (some needs 1.18 just for that, though thats the most unlucky guy ive seen so far), but feel free to double check

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=zen+3+max+soc+voltage&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS822US822&oq=zen+3+max+soc+voltage&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i333.3709j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

I will check and try pushing soc voltage higher.

4x8 3600 is stable for me at soc voltage 1.0 though

[xg32]

2 minutes ago, needsomeaim said:

 

I will check and try pushing soc voltage higher.

4x8 3600 is stable for me at soc voltage 1.0 though

ur dram voltage will need to be around 1.4v at least, 1.35v cl16 3866 just wouldn't boot on most sticks.

[needsomeaim]

Just now, xg32 said:

ur dram voltage will need to be around 1.4v at least, 1.35v cl16 3866 just wouldn't boot on most sticks.

Ive gone up to 1.5 V for testing with cl16 3866. No sucess.
Will try soc voltage adjustement right now and report back.

[needsomeaim]

Tried 3800 Mhz at following voltages without success (no booting):

 

Soc Voltage :              1.1 - 1.2V (0.05V steps)

VDDG CCD voltage:   Auto and 1.075V

VDDG IOD voltage:    Auto and 1.075V

cLDO VDDP voltage:  Auto and 1.05V

 

1.45V on ram with original timings

[xg32]

11 minutes ago, needsomeaim said:

Tried 3800 Mhz at following voltages without success (no booting):

 

Soc Voltage :              1.1 - 1.2V (0.05V steps)

VDDG CCD voltage:   Auto and 1.075V

VDDG IOD voltage:    Auto and 1.075V

cLDO VDDP voltage:  Auto and 1.05V

 

1.45V on ram with original timings

damn gonna need some1 who knows more about this than i do haha, cause it's just weird how you can boot at 1.0v and doesnt do even a bit more, can't touch the bclk on x570 either 

[needsomeaim]

19 minutes ago, xg32 said:

damn gonna need some1 who knows more about this than i do haha, cause it's just weird how you can boot at 1.0v and doesnt do even a bit more, can't touch the bclk on x570 either 

 

I just checked my QVL for the board and it does not state any memory config above 3600 Mhz that can run 4 dimms. So could it just be a board limitation?

[Chris Fortune]

1 hour ago, needsomeaim said:

 

I just checked my QVL for the board and it does not state any memory config above 3600 Mhz that can run 4 dimms. So could it just be a board limitation?

QVL is not an absolute definitive list but that may well be the case. What does it list as the max clock assuming compatible memory?

[needsomeaim]

22 minutes ago, Chris Fortune said:

QVL is not an absolute definitive list but that may well be the case. What does it list as the max clock assuming compatible memory?

4400 Mhz @ 1.5 V with two dimms installed

[Chris Fortune]

Have you tried 2 dimms? 

 

Just thinking if you fan get the clocks you want with just 2 then maybe swapping out the 4 for a pair of 16 Gb Dimms might be an option although I have seen reports that on some workloads you are better off with 4 sticks.

[needsomeaim]

20 hours ago, Chris Fortune said:

Have you tried 2 dimms? 

 

Just thinking if you fan get the clocks you want with just 2 then maybe swapping out the 4 for a pair of 16 Gb Dimms might be an option although I have seen reports that on some workloads you are better off with 4 sticks.

I just tried 2 dimms - no time yesterday sorry for that.

 

I am currently running stable at 2000 FCLK with 4000 on the ram with 1.1V soc, 1.45V on ram. Original timings and nothing else adapted.

Quickly ran mem bench from dram calculator for a quick 100% scope and no errors.

Obviously - this is working way better than before where i couldnt even boot.

 

Testing with cinebench r23 i am getting worse scores though - originally between 23200 to 23500. Now barely scratching 23000. So it seems the benefit of 4 sticks is larger than 2 sticks at FCLK 2000.

 

Really disappointed though. I guess this pinpoints to the board not handling 4 sticks with higher frequency? Or at least in combination with my limited knowledge on ram overclocking

 

Any ideas if there is a way to push 4 sticks?

[Chris Fortune]

3 hours ago, needsomeaim said:

I just tried 2 dimms - no time yesterday sorry for that.

 

I am currently running stable at 2000 FCLK with 4000 on the ram with 1.1V soc, 1.45V on ram. Original timings and nothing else adapted.

Quickly ran mem bench from dram calculator for a quick 100% scope and no errors.

Obviously - this is working way better than before where i couldnt even boot.

 

Testing with cinebench r23 i am getting worse scores though - originally between 23200 to 23500. Now barely scratching 23000. So it seems the benefit of 4 sticks is larger than 2 sticks at FCLK 2000.

 

Really disappointed though. I guess this pinpoints to the board not handling 4 sticks with higher frequency? Or at least in combination with my limited knowledge on ram overclocking

 

Any ideas if there is a way to push 4 sticks?

Absolutely not anything close to an expert but I strongly suspect your issue may be the 2x2 rather than a 1x4 kit. I doubt that the performance gain will be enough to warrent the cost of switching but I suspect that might be the only real option.

 

As a starting point I would just do a search on YouTube for Memory Overclocking on Ryzen and watch a few videos from people who you have some trust with and see if there is anything you missed