New to Overclocking. Trouble using XMP with 3600Hz RAM

GingerSpock · January 19, 2021

20201231_030235224_iOS.heicI recently built my first PC and am hoping to make the most of my RAM. I seem to be having issues with the XMP profiles and am looking for some advice. I am fairly knowledgeable with computers and computer hardware but have never messed with overclocking before.

Here are the specs of my machine:

Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming (was 9001 BIOS; I have since updated to 1003)

CPU: Intel i7 10700K

RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600 (4x8GB) CMK16GX4M2D3600C18

GPU: Asus DUAL-RTX2060-O6G-EVO (It’s just one card. Dual is the fans unfortunately)

SSD: 2X WD Black SN750 NVMe (500GB - OS + 1TB - Storage)

Cooling: Corsair Hydro H100i cooler

PSU: Corsair CX-M 650W 80Plus Bronze

When I first built the PC I manually changed the DRAM frequency to 3600Hz in BIOS but that was causing crashes in Windows and applications so I reverted to 2133 which is stable. I did some research and discovered the XMP profiles in BIOS for the RAM. This article was helpful in understanding the differences between XMP 1 and 2 https://www.pcgamer.com/what-are-xmp-profiles-and-how-do-i-use-them I applied profile 1 and was, upon boot, greeted by a blue screen kernel error. I reverted back to 2133 and am once again stable.

What would be the best process to find a stable overclock for the RAM? I’m going to leave the processor alone (for now) but I would like to get up to 3200Hz or, ideally, 3600. Since the RAM came packaged as 2x8GB would those XMP profiles be tailored for that configuration rather than 4x8GB or did I miss something when I set them up? I have attached an image of the XMP 1 profile.

Thanks for the help!

GingerSpock

20201231_030235224_iOS.heic

DoctorNick · January 19, 2021

Download Aida64. Go to motherboard ->SPD. Here are the XMP profile listed with timings (more than in BIOS SPD), take a picture or write down. Go to bios set frequency to 3600, DRAM voltage 1.35v, manually set all timings listed from aida, everything else on auto.

GingerSpock · January 22, 2021

Thanks DoctorNick.

I went to change the timings in BIOS but for some reason they are all locked to 'auto.' Even the DRAM voltage is locked. I'll keep poking around the BIOS to figure out why. I'm thinking I may have to drop down to a previous BIOS as this latest update seems to be solely to enable resizable BAR. I realized my previous image was in heic and didn't attach right. I'm going to try it in jpeg