EXPO suddenly failed

[HippoPCBuilder]

Since the day I built my PC, I’ve had trouble with my RAM and getting it to reach EXPO speeds. (see 

) 

However, the RAM has been stable at DDR5-5200 for several months at this point, despite being rated for DDR5-5600. 

 

But recently, i’ve been getting BSODs again at DDR5-5200. Now I can only run stable with dual-channel DDR5-4800 or single-channel DDR5-5200. Any ideas?

 

UPDATE: Using the most recent BIOS (3222), I've been able to achieve stable dual-channel DDR5-5200.

Edited March 12, 2025 by HippoPCBuilder
UPDATE: Using the most recent BIOS (3222), I've been able to achieve stable dual-channel DDR5-5200.

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, HippoPCBuilder said:

Since the day I built my PC, I’ve had trouble with my RAM and getting it to reach EXPO speeds. (see 

) 

However, the RAM has been stable at DDR5-5200 for several months at this point, despite being rated for DDR5-5600. 

 

But recently, i’ve been getting BSODs again at DDR5-5200. Now I can only run stable with dual-channel DDR5-4800 or single-channel DDR5-5200. Any ideas?

I'd just suspect the RAM to be faulty. Find a new better kit, 6000MT/sec or 6400MT/sec and see if that works. Worst case, get it from a retailer that will let you return it.

 

 

[Hinjima]

8 minutes ago, HippoPCBuilder said:

Since the day I built my PC, I’ve had trouble with my RAM and getting it to reach EXPO speeds. (see 

) 

However, the RAM has been stable at DDR5-5200 for several months at this point, despite being rated for DDR5-5600. 

 

But recently, i’ve been getting BSODs again at DDR5-5200. Now I can only run stable with dual-channel DDR5-4800 or single-channel DDR5-5200. Any ideas?

Have you updated the BIOS on your ASUS PRIME B650M-R?
New BIOS versions improve stability and compatability for RAM:

[HippoPCBuilder]

9 minutes ago, Agall said:

I'd just suspect the RAM to be faulty. Find a new better kit, 6000MT/sec or 6400MT/sec and see if that works. Worst case, get it from a retailer that will let you return it.

 

 

As was said in the linked post, this is after I spent ~6 weeks ordering various RAM kits at various speeds and timings from Amazon and returning them when they inevitably didn’t work. (From memory, these were: DDR5-6000 CL40, DDR5-6000 CL30 and DDR5-5600 CL36.) They were all from the same manufacturer (Kingston), but they are the only manufacturer on my motherboard’s QVL that sold 2x8GB kits in the speeds I wanted (5600 and 6000). I am currently running the 5600 kit because they were the most stable, and if I remember correctly actually held 5600 for a week or two. Then I had to go down to 5200, and now 4800. So unless I have been incredibly unlucky, the RAM probably isn’t faulty. 

However, if I can’t find another fix, I’ll try purchasing RAM from a different brand.

14 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

Have you updated the BIOS on your ASUS PRIME B650M-R?
New BIOS versions improve stability and compatability for RAM:

Yes. I’ve always updated BIOS around 2 weeks after it comes out. I’m currently running the latest (3222) and 5600 is still out of reach. However, I am right now running a memtest86 on dual-channel 5200 and it hasn’t errored yet, so 5200 might work again on the latest BIOS. 
Obviously, I’d still quite like to have the fastest RAM possible, especially as I am running an iGPU and have experienced drops of ~20 FPS on some games.

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, HippoPCBuilder said:

As was said in the linked post, this is after I spent ~6 weeks ordering various RAM kits at various speeds and timings from Amazon and returning them when they inevitably didn’t work. (From memory, these were: DDR5-6000 CL40, DDR5-6000 CL30 and DDR5-5600 CL36.) They were all from the same manufacturer (Kingston), but they are the only manufacturer on my motherboard’s QVL that sold 2x8GB kits in the speeds I wanted (5600 and 6000). I am currently running the 5600 kit because they were the most stable, and if I remember correctly actually held 5600 for a week or two. Then I had to go down to 5200, and now 4800. So unless I have been incredibly unlucky, the RAM probably isn’t faulty. 

However, if I can’t find another fix, I’ll try purchasing RAM from a different brand.

Yes. I’ve always updated BIOS around 2 weeks after it comes out. I’m currently running the latest (3222) and 5600 is still out of reach. However, I am right now running a memtest86 on dual-channel 5200 and it hasn’t errored yet, so 5200 might work again on the latest BIOS. 
Obviously, I’d still quite like to have the fastest RAM possible, especially as I am running an iGPU and have experienced drops of ~20 FPS on some games.

I personally don't have a lot of confidence in 2x8GB kits and would just go with a trusted 2x16GB 6000MT/sec CL30/32 kit from G.skill. I've had a few kits of DDR5 from them and Corsair, think I'm at like a dozen at this point, between a few 7600, 8600G, 8700G, 7950x, 7950x3D, 9800x3D on a variety of motherboards.

[HippoPCBuilder]

31 minutes ago, Agall said:

I personally don't have a lot of confidence in 2x8GB kits and would just go with a trusted 2x16GB 6000MT/sec CL30/32 kit from G.skill. I've had a few kits of DDR5 from them and Corsair, think I'm at like a dozen at this point, between a few 7600, 8600G, 8700G, 7950x, 7950x3D, 9800x3D on a variety of motherboards.

Of course, the reason I didn't want to go that route was the increased cost (about £40 more) and the fact that I don't actually need 32GB of RAM. However, do you think it would be more likely to work than a similar 2x8GB kit?

[HippoPCBuilder]

UPDATE: Using the most recent BIOS (3222), I've been able to achieve stable dual-channel DDR5-5200.

[Agall]

1 minute ago, HippoPCBuilder said:

Of course, the reason I didn't want to go that route was the increased cost (about £40 more) and the fact that I don't actually need 32GB of RAM. However, do you think it would be more likely to work than a similar 2x8GB kit?

DDR5 was sort of based on 16GB DIMMs, even when it first released, 8GB DIMMs weren't common, so their quality/compatibility to me has always been dubious.

 

I wouldn't focus on QVL, only time I've done it is when building a server that needs 100% reliability. Every other 100 or so times I've bought a kit of RAM, I go with what's the best performance or value.

 

On an APU system like that, 16GB is cutting it tight. 24GB would be my recommendation, but 2x16GB of DDR5 DIMMs are so inexpensive relatively speaking.

 

If you get a mainstream 2x16GB DDR5 kit and its still an issue, I'd suspect a socket issue before a CPU or other motherboard issues. Inspect the back of the CPU and the socket for any abnormalities, same with the RAM slots.

[HippoPCBuilder]

3 minutes ago, Agall said:

DDR5 was sort of based on 16GB DIMMs, even when it first released, 8GB DIMMs weren't common, so their quality/compatibility to me has always been dubious.

 

I wouldn't focus on QVL, only time I've done it is when building a server that needs 100% reliability. Every other 100 or so times I've bought a kit of RAM, I go with what's the best performance or value.

 

On an APU system like that, 16GB is cutting it tight. 24GB would be my recommendation, but 2x16GB of DDR5 DIMMs are so inexpensive relatively speaking.

 

If you get a mainstream 2x16GB DDR5 kit and its still an issue, I'd suspect a socket issue before a CPU or other motherboard issues. Inspect the back of the CPU and the socket for any abnormalities, same with the RAM slots.

Thanks for your advice - I'm currently buying a set of Corsair DDR5-6000 CL30 2x16GB. I'll see how it goes - hopefully I can attempt to convince Kingston customer service that the amount of time I've spent buying memory from them and wasting time is a good enough reason for them to refund me (although I'm not optimistic about this as it's basically impossible).

[HippoPCBuilder]

I did just check and the Corsair RAM I'm buying happens to be on the QVL anyway.