Main problem/TLDR:
- System unresponsive after playing with RAM settings--even after reset to last known good settings where system was perfectly responsive. How to fix?
- I think it's mostly likely a RAM or SSD issue. I haven't ruled out a defective motherboard, or software issues as a possibility yet.
- Windows 10 Pro, x64, 1803
- Ryzen 1950x, non-OC
- Liqtech 360 cooller
- G.skill flare 64GB
- nVidia 1080GTX Sea Hawk
- Samsung 960 Pro 512GB (m.2)
- MSI x399 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard (MSI MS-7B09)
- Components are 7ish months old.
- Tried setting RAM to advertised (supported) speeds (2933). Games perform much better, but slowly degrade to unplayable framerates. Example: Overwatch will start at an average of almost 300fps, then slowly degrade below 160, then down to 100 fps.
- System responsiveness is poor, even when reverting to the last known good setting of 2133 with the timings that are supposed to be supported for that speed (according to hwinfo.)
- Context menus can take up to 10 seconds to pop-up. Firefox takes far longer to load than it should. Attempting to switch tabs results in "Firefox (Not Responding)". Opening images with very lightweight image-viewers takes anywhere from 5 seconds to tens of seconds. Opening explorer also takes significantly longer than it should, 5-10 seconds or so.
- When I have task manager open, and I do something that results in unresponsiveness, I don't notice any spikes on any graphs. CPU, RAM, GPU, and SSD utilization are all low, probably <1%.
- I have very few background services/apps running. Issue persists even a few minutes after a fresh boot without starting other applications.
- Using the two included XMP profiles.
- Using MSI's "Memory Try It!" profiles.
- Manual configuration, tried higher clocks with both supported timings, and looser than supported timings.
- Resetting RAM to last known good settings in bios--which for me is just "auto" on everything. This RAM clocks to 2133.
- Checking thermals. They seem good. CPU is under 70 under load, idles between 55 and 60ish.
- GPU thermals are similar.
- Tried using legacy compatibility mode (8-core mode)
- Using Ryzen Master to change memory modes from distributed to local, and back.
- Rebooting
- Cinebench r15 gives me a score of 1487 or so.
- Clearing hard drive space, not sure if having 100GB of 512GB free is an issue.
- Checking SSD health, Samsung Magician says it's all good.
- Updating both SSD and motherboard firmware.
- Virus scan.
- Reseating RAM
- Reseat SSD, maybe move it to another m.2 slot.
- Memtest86 (which tests should I run?)
- Cloning my m.2 drive, and reinstall win10 to see if issue persists.
- DDU my GPU drivers and update them again.