Bad Memory on Z170/Skylake build?

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nbuubu

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
216
So I just upgraded my motherboard (Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7), CPU (Core i7 6700K) and Memory (CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB 2x8GB DDR4 3000).

I've been experiencing freezes at stock speeds.

When I build a new PC I always just install the components and leave everything at default just to make sure everything's stable before I overclock. But this time I started experiencing freezes (during Windows install and when fully booted).

Suspecting the ram, I went in and bumped up the voltage to 1.3, while keeping at stock speed, and everything stabilized. No problems at all, no crashes.

But when I activate Corsair's XMP profile (which bumps the voltage to 1.35), I either crash while loading windows or soon after booting in.

Since the platform is so new I guess it could be a motherboard bios issue (already updated to the most recent from Gigabyte), but what is your gut reaction to ram not being stable even at stock speed/voltage? I'm guessing I'll need to order some new ram and try that out.

Would "overclocking" ram ever be unstable at stock voltage and speed? Seems like a bad sign.

Would love to try another brand but thanks to my Noctua D15's clearance issues I have to go with low profile ram.
 
I'd probably get new ram. I quit buying corsair ram a few builds ago due to constant problems. I've had zero issues with gskill.

Sucks you'll have to pull the cooler but I'd do it if you can easily return the ram.
 
I have seen a couple of reports that clocked memory may require a tweak on some CPUs .
I think it was an Asus report that said System Agent can be used up to 1.3V, 1.25V is recommended.
IO voltage up to 1.25V, recommended 1.2V
 
Thanks for the replies. I actually just RMA'd the Corsair ram and ordered a set of G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200.

Figured that if I'm having freezes at stock voltage and speed, there's more than likely something wrong with the ram. The Gigabyte and i7 6700K seem great otherwise.

Even though the Ripjaws V heatspreader is slightly taller, it shouldn't be a problem since my case can accomodate lifting the Noctua second fan to compensate. Once I installed the cooler I realized I could just clip the fans a little higher to make room for the ram beneath.
 
I had to modify the System agent and IO to get stable with 3000mhz Gskills, I didnt go as high as you have listed, well not yet anyway have not completed my CPU overclock testing yet.
 
I don't mind ram being slightly lower than their rated overclock, it's when the ram can't even run stably at stock speed and voltage (looking at these Corsairs) that I start to worry.
 
Its a known issue, the resolution has been posted.
 
nbuubu said:
I don't mind ram being slightly lower than their rated overclock, it's when the ram can't even run stably at stock speed and voltage (looking at these Corsairs) that I start to worry.
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Agree 100%. FWIW I've never had a dead or defective gskill dimm. I've been using them exclusively for some time. One of these builds I'm going to try Mushkin though just for the heck of it.
 
He was fine until he used the XMP profile
Suspecting the ram, I went in and bumped up the voltage to 1.3, while keeping at stock speed, and everything stabilized. No problems at all, no crashes.

But when I activate Corsair's XMP profile (which bumps the voltage to 1.35), I either crash while loading windows or soon after booting in.
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btw, oc'd means at its rated speed.
Not clocked any higher.
All ram is initially 2100MHz, higher speeds are a manufacturer overclock.

He might have another issue, but its a good idea to cover the bases of the known issues.
If its still unstable, work from there.
 
Actually, I wasn't fine even before using XMP. The Corsair kit is unstable at stock clocks and stock volts, no overclocking at all, that's the second line in my post.

When I activate the XMP profile the ram fails on boot. When I run at stock, it freezes intermittently anywhere from 2-10 minutes in to load (and while doing nothing ... not even a web page). Just mentioned that activating XMP made it crash instantly, is what convinced me the issue is ram. The only way to get it to run stable is to up the voltage to 1.3 while leaving the speed and timings at stock ... I'm pretty sure that's a sign of bad ram (and my first bad ram from Corsair).

Already RMA'd and waiting for some G.Skills.
 
Ran Memtest from USB, and my system froze in the middle of the first test. Didn't get an error, just a full freeze.

Hopefully the new G.Skill ram arriving Monday will solve all this.
 
nbuubu said:
Ran Memtest from USB, and my system froze in the middle of the first test. Didn't get an error, just a full freeze.

Hopefully the new G.Skill ram arriving Monday will solve all this.
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I'd RMA any RAM that caused any issues at all with Memtest when using stock RAM settings.
 
I tried running each stick of the Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3000C15R kit individually, and while occasionally they can run ~two hours at stock voltages and speeds before freezing Windows, sometimes my system freezes within a minute of booting.

This specific ram is listed as compatible on the Gigabyte docs for the Z170 Gaming 7, so I'm really hoping it's the ram and not some other issue. The fact it can freeze while running memtest from USB makes me think it's the ram, but you never know. This is my first crack at a Gigabyte board in many years and I'm hoping I don't have to RMA it.

All my temps for CPU at stock are low (20s while idle, 40s while gaming) and aren't suddenly spiking during a freeze.
 
You guys are right, I terribly misread the op in my post #13.
It looks like there is a serious issue, most likely with the memory.
If not that, possibly the CPU or mobo.

Op have you reset your CMOS in case it has something not so good set or has corrupted?
 
I'm running the exact same stuff Corsair LPX 3000MHZ 2x8GB sticks. I have an Asus Z170 Pro Gaming and I am getting freezes as soon as I enable the XMP profile. I am starting to see many bad reviews pop up on newegg and amazon for this Corsair LPX, as well as many other motherboards being unable to activate the XMP profile. I think there is something bigger going on...
 
Thanks for the suggestion ... I did try clearing the CMOS but the problem persists.

Experienced my first freeze in the BIOS screen late last night and again today. And now, no matter what dram/system agent/VCCIO voltage I set, my system will eventually freeze. Might take 10 minutes or 3 hours but it eventually hangs and needs a hard reset.

So now my best hope is that it's a memory problem and not the board or cpu itself. I thought the system was stable with more dram voltage but sadly that was just a lucky stretch of a few hours.

I rewired everything from my Corsair AX850 and reseated power cables ... they were all fine with my old x58 system. I tried removing all non-essential USB devices and all HDDs besides my boot SSD. No dice.

Been reading that a bios freeze could be bad ram, power supply, cpu or board. Hoping it's the ram.
 
nbuubu said:
I don't mind ram being slightly lower than their rated overclock, it's when the ram can't even run stably at stock speed and voltage (looking at these Corsairs) that I start to worry.
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Well, enabling XMP = overclocking it... It seemed (I think?) you started off at totally stock speeds tho (2133?) and were having issues from the start, that would indeed be a bad sign. Shouldn't need extra voltage at stock...

Just not sure why you enabled XMP if it wasn't stable at stock. Did you check the timings being used tho? They're not always set right even on stock/auto, ditto for voltage.

It's odd that it'll freeze consistently instead of erroring out on Memtest86 but the could just be a be platform oddity (in the way bad RAM manifests). Could try that Linpack test ASUS suggests but swapping in different RAM will be the quickest/surest diagnosis.
 
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I just enabled XMP as a troubleshooting measure. Figured why not push the memory to see if it fails faster, given that the system seems to freeze randomly otherwise. And with XMP enabled it wouldn't boot, even with dram voltage at 1.35 to spec, and system agent and VCCIO at the recommended bumps (but the CPU never overclocked).

I just finished pulling out every component, blasting everything with air, and reapplying the thermal grease (Gelid Extreme, hasn't done me wrong yet and I'm getting idle CPU temps in the high teens). Even reseated the CPU. First guess is bad ram, but if I have to RMA the board and CPU I can, thankfully. It's early enough in the build.
 
nbuubu said:
I just enabled XMP as a troubleshooting measure. Figured why not push the memory to see if it fails faster, given that the system seems to freeze randomly otherwise. And with XMP enabled it wouldn't boot, even with dram voltage at 1.35 to spec, and system agent and VCCIO at the recommended bumps (but the CPU never overclocked).

I just finished pulling out every component, blasting everything with air, and reapplying the thermal grease (Gelid Extreme, hasn't done me wrong yet and I'm getting idle CPU temps in the high teens). Even reseated the CPU. First guess is bad ram, but if I have to RMA the board and CPU I can, thankfully. It's early enough in the build.
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I just bought Gelid Extreme for my Skylake build. This will be the first time I've used it.
 
As an update to this sad upgrade, I got a pair of G.Skill 3200 sticks to try out tonight, and the freezing issue persisted. Installed them, cleared CMOS, booted into bios, and was just changing a setting when the board froze again.

Booted into Windows, froze within five minutes.

Boxed both the CPU and Motherboard back up for replacement. Though at this point, given the wonky state of Gigabyte's bios updates, I'm considering switching to a different board entirely.

Tonight it froze with a monitor connected via integrated graphics to rule out my graphics card, with no hard drives or any peripherals besides mouse and keyboard connected, and powered only by my Corsair AX850 which has been solid for years and had no problems with my X58 system.

So unless the Gigabyte somehow hates my power supply, it's either the CPU or the board.
 
nbuubu said:
As an update to this sad upgrade, I got a pair of G.Skill 3200 sticks to try out tonight, and the freezing issue persisted. Installed them, cleared CMOS, booted into bios, and was just changing a setting when the board froze again.

Booted into Windows, froze within five minutes.

Boxed both the CPU and Motherboard back up for replacement. Though at this point, given the wonky state of Gigabyte's bios updates, I'm considering switching to a different board entirely.

Tonight it froze with a monitor connected via integrated graphics to rule out my graphics card, with no hard drives or any peripherals besides mouse and keyboard connected, and powered only by my Corsair AX850 which has been solid for years and had no problems with my X58 system.

So unless the Gigabyte somehow hates my power supply, it's either the CPU or the board.
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Bummer. Yeah, I'd be blaming the mobo at this point. Best of luck sorting it out.
 
Crap, this is the memory I have in my system. Still waiting on a CPU, though.

It's funny how times change, no single manufacturer ever seems to maintain a solid track record in the memory game. The only company I've ever just completely given up on was Crucial. I purchased 4 different sets of Ballistix memory from them over the span of about 8 years. Every single DIMM I purchased failed, as well as multiple RMA replacement sets. That was absolutely the worst experience I've ever had with a product.

Since then I've been using Corsair and I've never had any issue.
 
Pyrex238 said:
Crap, this is the memory I have in my system. Still waiting on a CPU, though.

It's funny how times change, no single manufacturer ever seems to maintain a solid track record in the memory game. The only company I've ever just completely given up on was Crucial. I purchased 4 different sets of Ballistix memory from them over the span of about 8 years. Every single DIMM I purchased failed, as well as multiple RMA replacement sets. That was absolutely the worst experience I've ever had with a product.

Since then I've been using Corsair and I've never had any issue.
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I gave up on Corsair. I've used gskill for 3 builds in a row with no duds. I'm building a new rig this week, I'll let you guys know if I have problems with gskill ddr4 and the Asus rog max gene board. Crossing my fingers here. Board comes today, ram comes tomorrow.
 
mls1995 said:
I gave up on Corsair. I've used gskill for 3 builds in a row with no duds. I'm building a new rig this week, I'll let you guys know if I have problems with gskill ddr4 and the Asus rog max gene board. Crossing my fingers here. Board comes today, ram comes tomorrow.
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same mobo I have. Let me know if you get a chrome IO panel. I was under the presumption they were supposed to be black.
 
Pyrex238 said:
same mobo I have. Let me know if you get a chrome IO panel. I was under the presumption they were supposed to be black.
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my z77 gene had a black io panel. I certainly hope for the same, it's a little thing but it makes the build look cleaner
 
What, they don't cover them up with a hunk of plastic like they do with most of the ATX boards? :p
 
But XMP isn't stock speed. For DDR4, 2133 MHz, 1.2V, and clock 15 are stock settings because those are the ratings of the chips used by all the DDR4 modules.
 
I'd love to hear how this turned out for the OP, if it ended up being a mobo issue or what. I'm seriously looking at the Z170X Gaming 7, like a lot of others, and still debating on the RAM choice.
 
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