XMP profile won't stick on certain motherboard slots

[ToTouchAnEmu]

CPU - 5950X
Motherboard - X570 Aorus Elite Wifi Version 1.0
Memory - Corsair Vengeance RGB 64GB (4x16) (CMW64GX4M4D3600C18) ver 4.33
GPU - 2080 Super
PSU - Corsair 750 Watt
Storage - Samsung 970 Pro 1TB

I upgraded to this AMD system a month ago and I've had random BSOD issues since the upgrade. After installing a clean OS the issue still occasionally happens. I ran a windows memory diagnostic and it returned errors. I ran the same windows memory diagnostic with one DIMM at a time (in the A2 slot), and no errors popped up.

However, if the DIMM was in slot A1, the system seems to struggle to POST, powercycling several times before finally booting. But opening up Task Manager shows the memory running at the stock 2133Mhz speed instead of the 3600 in the XMP profile. Going back to the BIOS, it will still show the XMP as enabled, but then the powercycling happens again and then once again, task manager shows it's at 2133Mhz.

So I moved the DIMM back to A2, double checked the XMP was enabled, and now there was no powercycling, and task manager shows 3600Mhz.

Skipping ahead, slot B1 had the same problem has A1. And slot B2 also worked fine, just like A2.

The manual does show that when occupying the slots with two DIMMS, that slots A2 and B2 are preferable for better performance. Next I tried putting two DIMMs into slots A1 and A2, to see if it would still power cycle and default to 2133Mhz. It did not, the memory was still running at full speed. All four slots occupied also result in full speed. Only when both slots A2 and B2 are empty, does the system powercycle.

My theory is that the something is wrong with slots A1/B1 or maybe the power delivery for them or something.
 

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

[seban]

6 minutes ago, ToTouchAnEmu said:

CPU - 5950X
Motherboard - X570 Aorus Elite Wifi Version 1.0
Memory - Corsair Vengeance RGB 64GB (4x16) (CMW64GX4M4D3600C18)
GPU - 2080 Super
PSU - Corsair 750 Watt
Storage - Samsung 970 Pro 1TB

I upgraded to this AMD system a month ago and I've had random BSOD issues since the upgrade. After installing a clean OS the issue still occasionally happens. I ran a windows memory diagnostic and it returned errors. I ran the same windows memory diagnostic with one DIMM at a time (in the A2 slot), and no errors popped up.
 

have you tried playing around with voltages yet?

[ToTouchAnEmu]

1 minute ago, Seban said:

have you tried playing around with voltages yet?

Hey sorry I accidentally posted this incomplete so I was editing it and finishing. I have updated it with all the steps I took.

[seban]

1 minute ago, ToTouchAnEmu said:

Hey sorry I accidentally posted this incomplete so I was editing it and finishing. I have updated it with all the steps I took.

no you're fine i might've been too fast lol

[ToTouchAnEmu]

Just now, Seban said:

no you're fine i might've been too fast lol

lol so okay no I haven't played around with voltages, I'm not really an overclocker. I just enable XMP to get the advertised speeds and walk away!

however I will say that the DIMMS are all working fine. One at a time, I put them into slot A2 and ran the mem diagnostic, with no errors returned. However, if I use slot A1 or B1, I can't get XMP working, it always defaults to 2133Mhz.

[seban]

2 minutes ago, ToTouchAnEmu said:

However, if I use slot A1 or B1, I can't get XMP working, it always defaults to 2133Mhz.

thats strange, not really familiar with that and haven't seen that here yet either. 

 

have you checked for any settings that could maybe mess around with that? i mean i doubt you'll find anything like that, but i can't really think of anything else. 

[Chris Pratt]

So, to summarize: it works fine, unless you use only 1 stick in slots that the board specifically tells you not to use with only 1 stick? I'm not really understanding the issue here. It tells you to use A2 and B2 for a reason. It's not always as severe on every board, but failure to boot is a possible and *expected* side effect of not using the correct slots.

[ToTouchAnEmu]

20 hours ago, Chris Pratt said:

So, to summarize: it works fine, unless you use only 1 stick in slots that the board specifically tells you not to use with only 1 stick? I'm not really understanding the issue here. It tells you to use A2 and B2 for a reason. It's not always as severe on every board, but failure to boot is a possible and *expected* side effect of not using the correct slots.

The board recommends using A2 and B2 first for faster speeds, but nowhere does it say it simply won't work in the other slots. Using one stick at a time in those other two slots was part of my troubleshooting to narrow down where the issue was.

The main issue is that I have a 4 stick kit and if all 4 slots are occupied I get memory errors with XMP enabled. The RAM is rated for the XMP speeds and the board says it supports those speeds.

[Heliian]

In the support list for your board, the corsair 3600 16gb sticks have only been validated in 2 slots.  

 

Im guessing that kit just won't work with all 4 sticks. 

[Chris Pratt]

3 hours ago, ToTouchAnEmu said:

The board recommends using A2 and B2 first for faster speeds, but nowhere does it say it simply won't work in the other slots. Using one stick at a time in those other two slots was part of my troubleshooting to narrow down where the issue was.

The main issue is that I have a 4 stick kit and if all 4 slots are occupied I get memory errors with XMP enabled. The RAM is rated for the XMP speeds and the board says it supports those speeds.

I don't know where you heard that, but the slots have nothing to do with performance, aside from populating both channels. With just one stick, you'd get the same theoretical performance regardless what slot you stuck it in.

 

What does matter is the memory topology of the board and the stress you put on the IMC. The A1 and B1 slots are secondary. Not every board handles it the same. Some won't boot at all with the wrong slots populated. Some could care less.

 

Populating all four slots puts way more stress on the IMC. I'm not sure what rank your kits are, but if they're dual rank, 8 total ranks also puts a ton of stress on the IMC.