DDR5 won't boot when clocked faster than 4200MHz

[patric]

I just built a new i7 13700K system with an ASUS Tuf Gaming z690 motherboard and my RAM won't run anywhere close to its rated speed.

The RAM is Kingston Fury Beast 5200 RAM that a friend gave me and I'm using 4x16GB.

Is the RAM just bad or is it because I'm using all 4 slots?

I've tried increasing the voltage to both the RAM and memory controller, loosening all the timings slower than JEDEC specs and also tried booting with only 32GB installed. Using just 2 slots allowed me to boot at 4400MHz but that's it. My BIOS is also the latest version available.

Any other things I can try or should I just go buy new RAM and see if 2 sticks of 32GB each would work better?

 

[pendragon1]

it may be that it doesnt like to clock that high with 4 sticks. you can try bumping the ram voltage more, they can take 10% extra. BUT if your only losing 200mt, you probably wont even notice the difference unless looking for it.

 

[patric]

it may be that it doesnt like to clock that high with 4 sticks. you can try bumping the ram voltage more, they can take 10% extra. BUT if your only losing 200mt, you probably wont even notice the difference unless looking for it.

I was hoping to at least get it running at stock speeds of 4800MHz. I do a lot of 4K video editing plus importing and batch editing of large amounts of 45mp images all the time so any extra speed helps.

 

[pendragon1]

I was hoping to at least get it running at stock speeds of 4800MHz. I do a lot of 4K video editing plus importing and batch editing of large amounts of 45mp images all the time so any extra speed helps.

get faster storage for that. you have to benchmark to see the difference in ram speeds.

 

[patric]

get faster storage for that. you have to benchmark to see the difference in ram speeds.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if 4200 vs 4800 would make a big difference. As far as faster storage I'm already using 3 NVME drives for programs, input and output and an Optane drive for cache.

 

[Dan_D]

I just built a new i7 13700K system with an ASUS Tuf Gaming z690 motherboard and my RAM won't run anywhere close to its rated speed.

The RAM is Kingston Fury Beast 5200 RAM that a friend gave me and I'm using 4x16GB.

Is the RAM just bad or is it because I'm using all 4 slots?

I've tried increasing the voltage to both the RAM and memory controller, loosening all the timings slower than JEDEC specs and also tried booting with only 32GB installed. Using just 2 slots allowed me to boot at 4400MHz but that's it. My BIOS is also the latest version available.

Any other things I can try or should I just go buy new RAM and see if 2 sticks of 32GB each would work better?

You aren't going to be able to clock the RAM that high using four sticks. The main issue is that each module is effectively dual-channel on its own. Using four modules is like running 8-channel DDR4 DIMMs. I wouldn't expect anything over 4400MHz using 4 modules. That being said, I'd increase your voltage at the very least and see what you get. A lot of boards running early DDR5 kits are very fickle. You might try turning off XMP and dialing everything in manually.

If you need more RAM, it's really best to run larger DIMMs and run two sticks instead of four when possible if you want the most out of the platform.

it may be that it doesnt like to clock that high with 4 sticks. you can try bumping the ram voltage more, they can take 10% extra. BUT if your only losing 200mt, you probably wont even notice the difference unless looking for it.

No Z690 board does.

 

[pendragon1]

No Z690 board does.

ah i see, ive only built 3-4 of them with 2x16.

 

[patric]

Thanks for the replies guys. And yeah, this is an older CL40 kit. If it doesn't make a huge performance difference I guess I'll stick with what I have for now and maybe keep an eye out for used 2x32 kits.

 

[Legendary Gamer]

I just built a new i7 13700K system with an ASUS Tuf Gaming z690 motherboard and my RAM won't run anywhere close to its rated speed.

The RAM is Kingston Fury Beast 5200 RAM that a friend gave me and I'm using 4x16GB.

Is the RAM just bad or is it because I'm using all 4 slots?

I've tried increasing the voltage to both the RAM and memory controller, loosening all the timings slower than JEDEC specs and also tried booting with only 32GB installed. Using just 2 slots allowed me to boot at 4400MHz but that's it. My BIOS is also the latest version available.

Any other things I can try or should I just go buy new RAM and see if 2 sticks of 32GB each would work better?

I don't know if someone already mentioned this but if you're in Gear 1, that's why. Technically, optimal settings for intel are at Gear 1 around 4200 Mhz. Doesn't matter if you're on DDR4 or 5.

You will see a number of high end gaming systems shipping with DDR5 configured around 4000 Mhz, in Gear 1. 4K is easy to do stable anything past that is touchy. Most of the time you can't breach the 4133 barrier. I am sitting at 4355 (or so) and that was touch and go to get stable in gear 1 and I'm not 100% certain it's always 100% stable.

 

[dasa]

As far as I can see DDR5 can't be set to gear 1, do you have any links to proof that it can?
The memory controller and MB traces are simply not good enough for 4 sticks of RAM. If there was a 10 layer T topology MB with two RAM sticks on the front of the PCB and two on the back it would do a bit better but having 4 slots on current gaming MB is counter productive.

 

[patric]

As far as I can see DDR5 can't be set to gear 1, do you have any links to proof that it can?
The memory controller and MB traces are simply not good enough for 4 sticks of RAM. If there was a 10 layer T topology MB with two RAM sticks on the front of the PCB and two on the back it would do a bit better but having 4 slots on current gaming MB is counter productive.

So, I'm still looking up the info regarding gears and BIOS settings since it's been a while since I've built a new system.

My memory controller to DRAM ratio is set at 1:1 so does this mean I'm in gear 1? And is this the setting in BIOS where I choose it?

The 2nd screenshot shows my available options.

 

[Legendary Gamer]

So, I'm still looking up the info regarding gears and BIOS settings since it's been a while since I've built a new system.

My memory controller to DRAM ratio is set at 1:1 so does this mean I'm in gear 1? And is this the setting in BIOS where I choose it?

The 2nd screenshot shows my available options.

View attachment 561476
View attachment 561477

Sure looks like Gear 1 to me. You will see diminishing returns in Gear 2 and beyond until you reach like 7200 Mhz RAM. 4200 Mhz in 1:1 is nothing to laugh at. You can probably push it a bit further but you will have to do it all manual.

 

[patric]

Sure looks like Gear 1 to me. You will see diminishing returns in Gear 2 and beyond until you reach like 7200 Mhz RAM. 4200 Mhz in 1:1 is nothing to laugh at. You can probably push it a bit further but you will have to do it all manual.

I had to enter all the timings manually. I could never get it to finish the POST tests with auto or XMP settings enabled. I guess I could play with Gear 2 and see what settings I can get, but if 1:1 and 4200MHz is decent, I'm happy to leave it where it's at until faster memory comes down in price.

 

[Legendary Gamer]

I had to enter all the timings manually. I could never get it to finish the POST tests with auto or XMP settings enabled. I guess I could play with Gear 2 and see what settings I can get, but if 1:1 and 4200MHz is decent, I'm happy to leave it where it's at until faster memory comes down in price.

Think about the Gears like AMD has Fabric Speeds. The difference here is that if you can maintain a 1:1 Gear ratio you can completely ignore high DDR RAM Speeds.

AMD Fabric gives you 1, maybe 2% performance boost.

Intel Gear 1 (1:1 Fabric) gives you more as far as I can tell. My benchmarks that I ran with Gear 1, on a 13900K with my DDR4 at 4355 = Within 1% of all the benchmarks for a 13900KS with DDR5-7400 (in Gear 2). My CPU was running at no more than 5.6-5.8 Ghz whereas the 13900KS was breaching 6 Ghz in short bursts.

You get more out of Intel's Gear 1 (in my opinion) than AMD does out of it's Fabric (granted that was fabric on the 5000 series. Not sure what the gains from the 7000 series are like)

4200 is good. Nothing wrong with that. My ram is running 4355 at loose timings (CL19). If you can tighten your timings below mine to like 17 you might be space Jesus

YMMV

 

[dasa]

It would be interesting to see a AIDA64 latency benchmark at 1:1 / 1:2 / 1:4 with DDR5 at 4200.

 

[patric]

Think about the Gears like AMD has Fabric Speeds. The difference here is that if you can maintain a 1:1 Gear ratio you can completely ignore high DDR RAM Speeds.

AMD Fabric gives you 1, maybe 2% performance boost.

Intel Gear 1 (1:1 Fabric) gives you more as far as I can tell. My benchmarks that I ran with Gear 1, on a 13900K with my DDR4 at 4355 = Within 1% of all the benchmarks for a 13900KS with DDR5-7400 (in Gear 2). My CPU was running at no more than 5.6-5.8 Ghz whereas the 13900KS was breaching 6 Ghz in short bursts.

You get more out of Intel's Gear 1 (in my opinion) than AMD does out of it's Fabric (granted that was fabric on the 5000 series. Not sure what the gains from the 7000 series are like)

4200 is good. Nothing wrong with that. My ram is running 4355 at loose timings (CL19). If you can tighten your timings below mine to like 17 you might be space Jesus

YMMV

I'm running DDR5 so I'm pretty much 100% certain I'm not getting my timings below 17

 

[Legendary Gamer]

I'm running DDR5 so I'm pretty much 100% certain I'm not getting my timings below 17

Yeah, allegedly early articles pointed at DDR5 hitting Cas Latency of 13-16 but that's not what I see on the market. You can get CL30 DDR5 6000, which is about the lowest and likely dial it in from there. Assuming the ram doesn't have rigid timings.