Corsair Memory Frequency Issues

Joined
May 6, 2013
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10
Hey Everyone!

I recently upgraded my computer with some new parts, and the memory that I put in is an 8GB kit of Corsair Vengeance that is supposed to be rated for 2133mhz. I am incredibly confused about memory profiles, XMP vs AMP, and configuring the correct speed in the BIOS.

After I installed the memory, it is defaulting to 1333mhz in the BIOS and reporting in AMD Overdrive / CPU-Z as such. When I tried to change the configuration to Manual in the BIOS and move the speed up to 2133mhz, once I restarted from the BIOS the computer would not boot, giving me an error once going back into the BIOS that the overclock failed. From what I understand, this seems to be a common issue, but I'm not sure how to fix it!

I'm not too clear on why this would even be considered an overclock since I am just trying to configure the memory to its rated speed. The voltage is set to 1.50 which is the recommended voltage for this memory at the 2133mhz speed. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong here; doing some research online I keep seeing things like SPD and XMP / AMP profiles, which I'm not clear on what those are for and how that can help me.

I thought it was just as simple as put the memory in, and it'll be rated at its correct speed. If anyone could help me here that would be amazing, I've contacted Corsair support as well and am waiting on a response just in case the memory itself is somehow defective.

My system is as follows so you know what I am working with:
- AMD FX8320 @ 4.0 ghz
- Asus M5A97 Rev 2.0 motherboard with 970 chipset (can run up to 2400mhz memory according to spec)

Thanks again for the help, hopefully someone can help me get this configured correctly or at least understand what I'm doing wrong and how to configure this properly.

UPDATE: I was able to get the computer to boot and run games / applications without any issues @ 1600mhz configured for the RAM, so I can get it to at least that point, and I did actually get the computer to boot once @ 2133 mhz, but it crashed after a few minutes; could this just be a voltage issue? I tried increasing the DRAM voltage to 1.55 but still had the same issue.
 
Last edited:
You need to do auto, then activate XMP profile.

What is most likely happening is that the RAM runs at lower timings (like CAS 7) at the 1333 speed. When you set it to manual and changed the speed to 2133 mhz, it probably left the timings at CAS 7 instead of switching them to CAS 9, which would be faster than what it's rated for and causing your instability.

If you can't do XMP profile, you need to go in there and change each timing manually to match what its rated at.
 
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