RAM issue: upgraded to a new ram stick, pc won't post at correct speeds.

[IbadImp]

I previously owned a 1x8 gb stick of 2666 mhz RAM and bought a new 1x16 gb stick of 3600 mhz RAM. I took out the previous stick and installed the new one, then proceeded to BIOS to validate the speeds. I noticed it was on auto but had still defaulted to the same speed as before, being 2666 mhz. After several attempts, it would not boot into windows at 3600, but it booted just fine right after I brought it down to 2666. I have a ryzen 5 3600 and an ASrock b450 pro4.   

[Dedayog]

5 minutes ago, IbadImp said:

I previously owned a 1x8 gb stick of 2666 mhz RAM and bought a new 1x16 gb stick of 3600 mhz RAM. I took out the previous stick and installed the new one, then proceeded to BIOS to validate the speeds. I noticed it was on auto but had still defaulted to the same speed as before, being 2666 mhz. After several attempts, it would not boot into windows at 3600, but it booted just fine right after I brought it down to 2666. I have a ryzen 5 3600 and an ASrock b450 pro4.   

Return it and buy a 2x8GB kit.  We do not use single sticks of RAM like that.  Dual Channel is the proper way, single channel is less performance for the same money.

 

https://gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel

 

 

 

 

[jaslion]

Return it. Ryzen needs dual channel ram to work properly and this single stick of ram whilst more won't fix any performance issues you are having.

 

Get a 2x8gb kit.

 

As for your troubles. What stick is it? Brand n model please. Could be you bought a cruddy one or one that has weird timings.

 

Either way get a 2x8gb kit you are literally losing up to 50% cpu performance by having a single stick and the cost for a kit is in the single digits more

[IbadImp]

returning it is not an option as i bought this on a 50% deal from an online seller, and I live in a country where purchaser laws are as well enforced as speed limits on empty highways in western countries. If my current stick simply cannot reach its advertised speeds with the current setup and needs another stick, then i'll be stuck with my current setup of a 1x16 stick.

[problemsolver]

3 hours ago, IbadImp said:

returning it is not an option as i bought this on a 50% deal from an online seller, and I live in a country where purchaser laws are as well enforced as speed limits on empty highways in western countries. If my current stick simply cannot reach its advertised speeds with the current setup and needs another stick, then i'll be stuck with my current setup of a 1x16 stick.

The other posters are correct. But sounds like you're kinda stuck with it. You could try 3000 Mhz or 3200 Mhz and see if that works. Both of which are still overclocking the RAM. You can probably get the RAM to run at 3600 Mhz, but it's a rather tedious process and Zen 2 is more finicky about it than Zen 3.

[jaslion]

Then in your case run BOTH the 16gb and 8gb srick in there at 2666mhz. It will go into a pseudo dual channel mode for 16gb of ram and 8 that isnt.

[Guest]

Next time, do some basic research and yes, you can return it I bet.

[Whatisthis]

5 hours ago, jaslion said:

Then in your case run BOTH the 16gb and 8gb srick in there at 2666mhz. It will go into a pseudo dual channel mode for 16gb of ram and 8 that isnt.

This is correct. Dual channel at 2666 is way faster than single at 3600. So just do this, plus you’ll have 24gb of ram.

[problemsolver]

If you can get both sticks of RAM to boot together (not guaranteed) than you could run both.

However:

1. Put the smaller RAM module in the first slot
2. In the best-case scenario, you'll have 8 GB + 8GB in dual-channel mode, and half of the 16 GB DIMM in single-channel mode
3. One stick may be dual-rank and one stick may be single-rank which will add another layer of potential performance/compatibility issues
4. You may have to manual set RAM timings & frequency manually to get it to POST
5. I would recommend benchmarking the performance of applications you use to determine what the best setup is

[IbadImp]

stop being a know it all, try come here to indonesia and explain to an online seller that barely understands enough about the product itself that I made a mistake with it. and yes i failed to do research, but i think it's still a good upgrade over the severely lacking single channel 8 gb stick i was running

[IbadImp]

On 1/21/2024 at 5:16 AM, problemsolver said:

If you can get both sticks of RAM to boot together (not guaranteed) than you could run both.

However:

1. Put the smaller RAM module in the first slot
2. In the best-case scenario, you'll have 8 GB + 8GB in dual-channel mode, and half of the 16 GB DIMM in single-channel mode
3. One stick may be dual-rank and one stick may be single-rank which will add another layer of potential performance/compatibility issues
4. You may have to manual set RAM timings & frequency manually to get it to POST
5. I would recommend benchmarking the performance of applications you use to determine what the best setup is

thanks for the response, i could do this or I could also run the ram at a speed of 3200 mhz (which is apparently what my motherboard maxes out at). I will run both scenarios with benchmarks and used what's most applicable to me

[Mark Kaine]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:32 AM, IbadImp said:

returning it is not an option as i bought this on a 50% deal from an online seller, and I live in a country where purchaser laws are as well enforced as speed limits on empty highways in western countries. If my current stick simply cannot reach its advertised speeds with the current setup and needs another stick, then i'll be stuck with my current setup of a 1x16 stick.

the other problem is r5 3600 hates everything above 2933mhz.

 

so that's the speed you'll likely have to run.