MSI Gaming Pro Carbon x370 - cannot set RAM voltage

L

lopoetve

Extremely [H]
Joined
Oct 11, 2001
Messages
33,890
Older board, I know - totally stumped. Need to manually set memory voltage to 1.3V, as it defaults to 1.2 and the RAM I have says it needs 1.3V.

Honestly don't know anything about this XMP crap I keep reading about; not trying to overclock, just trying to get it stable at stock speeds (1700X / RX580). Crashes on any slightly complex game, but perfectly stable in windows or anything else.

Memory voltage is set and won't let me change in BIOS. Bit baffled. Will replace the board if I have to, but would rather not right now.
 
IMG_7219.jpg
IMG_7220.jpg
IMG_7221.jpg
 
Ok. Looks like maybe this is some kind of factory overclocked ram (wtf? it doesn't matter that much, it's DDR4 for christ sake). Apparently setting XMP profile 2 sets it to the right voltage. I'd rather run it at the stock speed and the higher voltage though. Anyone know how to manually set DDR voltage on this board?
 
"Stock" RAM is always JEDEC standard (2133/2400/2666 at very loose/slow timings). Anything faster (MHZwise or timingswise) is always considered "factory overclocked", which is why you need to enable XMP or DOCP or whatever your board calls it. DDR4 stock voltage is also 1.2V.

Set your RAM to XMP Profile 1/2 should set the RAM Speed, Primary Timings (2800/2933 MHZ, 15-17-17-35), and its XMP voltage, which is usually 1.35V but may be higher depending on your memory kit. With an updated BIOS you may be able to force it higher. I vaguely recall first gen Ryzens like your 1700X seem to have a memory "hole" between 2933 and 3000 where 3000MHz RAM would only run at 2933 but may run at higher speed than 3000 if you want to dabble in manual overclocking (DEEP DEEP RABBIT HOLE)

If you want to manually up the voltage, change DRAM Voltage from AUTO to whatever you want (you have this highlighted already in your BIOS screenshot). Reasonable values will be between 1.2 and 1.4V. 1.35V is standard on most overclocked RAM kits like yours.

Looks like you've been running your RAM at 2133 for the most part. Ryzen loves fast RAM and going from 2133 to 2933 and above will help a lot for CPU intensive tasks including some gaming.

Also, you may want to update your BIOS BEFORE doing much tweaking since newer versions of the BIOS greatly helps RAM stability.

I also don't think you'll need to replace that board. I've seen people getting very good memory speeds from B350s... so a midrange X370 like yours should do fine. I do think first gen Ryzen memory controllers top out at near 3200 RAM speed with some very good samples getting to 3600.
 
Last edited:
1). Update the bios to the most recent
2). Load the XMP profile for your memory
3). Manually adjust the timings to whatever you like. You could loosen the CAS from 15 to 16 since Ryzen tends to like even numbers.
4). Set the memory speed from 3000Mhz to 2933Mhz. 1st gen Ryzen doesn't always like 3000Mhz on the number but works fine with 2933Mhz for some reason.
5). Run memtest86+ a few loops to double check your settings.

Bonus: Run Taiphoon Burner to see what kind of ICCs you have on the RAM and then plug them into the Ryzen Memory Calculator. You can tweak them using that as a guide to as fast or as "slow" as you want.
 
Easiest thing to do with MSI board is to click on “Try it” under memory settings.

from the list that pops up look for:

2933 at 16.16.18.40 at 1.35v.

save and reboot. Most first gen Ryzen CPUs I’ve built with will these timings on 3000 or 3200 rated memory.

the key is 1.35-1.4v. 2933 speed and try it feature makes it easy to try presets with timings if you are not sure or new at messing with ram settings.
 
So this is the latest BIOS listed (that isn’t beta; they didn’t release that many for this board). Thank you for explaining the speed differences; I haven’t paid attention to the consumer side in quite a few years (threw this together to replace a bulldozer system a couple of years ago right when they came out, suddenly found a need to play games as well as be a workstation).

It won’t let me edit the memory voltage directly; all those settings are locked even setting XMP profiles. I’ll try the “try it” and a few others. Also tried two sticks, still crashes in anything more complex than a basic game. Thinking it’s either the video card or the whole setup, not the ram.
 
Generally, 1st Gen Ryzen issues were memory related so I wouldn't rule out the memory. It's not that the board/CPU/memory is bad individually, it's just the intercompatibility needs tweaking with the settings.
 
TheHig said:
Easiest thing to do with MSI board is to click on “Try it” under memory settings.

from the list that pops up look for:

2933 at 16.16.18.40 at 1.35v.

save and reboot. Most first gen Ryzen CPUs I’ve built with will these timings on 3000 or 3200 rated memory.

the key is 1.35-1.4v. 2933 speed and try it feature makes it easy to try presets with timings if you are not sure or new at messing with ram settings.
Click to expand...

Ok. That option doesn’t exist.

I’m trying 2667-16-18-18-18-36
 

Attachments

  • AF74841E-19D8-4CAE-9787-97C61330B5AB.jpeg
    AF74841E-19D8-4CAE-9787-97C61330B5AB.jpeg
    97.4 KB · Views: 0
Still crashing. Even with only 16G in too.

I’m starting to lean towards it being the ati drivers or cars.
 
reset bios to default get into windows. Shut down. Restart. Get to bios only change ram via try it feature.

Can any of the 2933 mhz options with looser timings. 18 etc.

If bios isn’t updated to latest then can set bios default and get the machine stable to update bios.
If all that is still a no go then that particular ram kit with your CPU and board just may not play nice together at higher speeds.
 
I might have just figured it out. Applied the same theories to the 580. Disabled the speed controls and locked it to full speed on memory and cores full time; just played subnautica for 20 minutes no crashes. Prior record was 3.
 
What speed do you have your 1700 set to? I think those can comfortably overclock to about 3.9~ baseline?
 
I've had nothing but constant issues with my launch x370 board, 1700 and RAM timings. They got better with later AGESA updates, but it's still not great.

I eventually just downclocked it from 3200 to 2800, and its stable so I left it. For my personal use case, having 48GB ram at 2800 speed is more useful than 32GB at 3000. (Never got ram stable at 3200, ever.)

the ONLY way I can get stable ram is to set XMP default (3200mhz) and then manually lower the speed settings while not touching any other settings.

I've attempted to use the RAM timing utility to make things a little tighter, but it hasn't been perfectly stable.

I also could probably push the clock a tiny bit higher than 3870~mhz, but for me stability is more necessary than the potential of a few frames here and there.
 
Last edited:
mda said:
What speed do you have your 1700 set to? I think those can comfortably overclock to about 3.9~ baseline?
Click to expand...

Stock. I stopped overclocking in the Athlon 64 days; haven’t had a need since. I want stable and quiet now; if I need faster, I just pay for faster.
 
What CPU do you have? If it's Zen (1600, 1700, 1800X, etc...) the IMC on the CPU is pretty not great. You might be able to run 2 x 8GB 3000MHz but unless you hit the lottery and have a golden chip unlikely you're going to get 3000MHz on 4 DIMMs. CPU memory controller is much more important than motherboard.

Flash BIOS on motherboard to one that has AGESA 1.0.0.6... Don't go any further unless you're on Zen 2, for Zen+/Zen that's probably the best AGESA. Up your SOC voltage in BIOS to 1.15v - 1.2v max (wouldn't go over 1.2v for 24/7 usage)- simple way of explaining this is voltage to the memory controller and other misc stuff that isn't the actual CPU core- often helps with RAM clocks. Try to load XMP, but if it doesn't work you'll probably be able to get 2666MHz with tight timings. Use Ryzen DRAM Calculator to get optimized settings that will usually work if you're not good at setting optimal timings (I know I'm definitely not...) You should definitely be able to adjust voltages, check manual.
 
It is Zen - good ol 1700. Since the IMC is, well, integrated, if I keep having problems I guess I could upgrade. Meh. For the moment it seems stable.
 
Yeah. Still no joy. Only stable with 16G. Can't get it stable with 32G. Also have to manually force the RX580 to full voltage and speed at all times instead of letting it throttle down. Even tried 32G @ 2333 / 22 for timings.

Debating on replacing the video card to see if it’s the lousy power regulation there or just ditching the entire setup for Intel. 32G isn't negotiable from my perspective, and while this diversion to the AMD side has been amusing, I need this thing to work - not be a project.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like you may have a bad board. My CPU and GPU regulate temps and power like normal, my only issue was with ram.
 
TheSlySyl said:
Sounds like you may have a bad board. My CPU and GPU regulate temps and power like normal, my only issue was with ram.
Click to expand...

You have Nvidia. Apparently this is a sometimes-issue with the RX series of cards (400-500 ones at least); since I have Nvidia in every other system around, and a set of nice freesync monitors, I figured I'd go with ATI for this one.
 
edit: Also, any time something crashes, the radeon control panel is unusable until reboot as a result (and if it was open, say, to show performance graphs/temps/etc, it crashes).

Video card first. Then comes the motherboard and CPU - I'll switch back to Intel.
 
These are my settings. Also I have only 16GB not 32GB.

20200504_065436.jpg20200504_065410.jpg
 
Change the tCL from 15 to 16 and the DRAM frequency to 2933 from 3000.

Edit: Nevermind. I'm looking at scojer's pictures, not yours. Also, try swapping in one of the Nvidia cards to see. What drivers are you running on the video card?
 
kirbyrj said:
Change the tCL from 15 to 16 and the DRAM frequency to 2933 from 3000.

Edit: Nevermind. I'm looking at scojer's pictures, not yours. Also, try swapping in one of the Nvidia cards to see. What drivers are you running on the video card?
Click to expand...

Latest optional Adrenalin 2020. On the list is an install without the AMD software; that’s something for a bit later today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top