I recently upgraded my PC from one DDR5 stick to a kit of two DDR5 sticks (Lexar Ares, 6000 CL26), after initially using a single Kingston Fury 6000 CL30 stick. I ran some benchmarks to compare performance, and to my surprise, I'm seeing about 2-4 FPS lower in my usual games, along with lower 1% lows and occasional hitches that I didn't experience before. I play at 4K, so I didn't expect massive improvements, but I definitely didn't anticipate worse performance. Both setups had Expo enabled and were running at their advertised speeds. The RAM is installed in the correct slots (2 and 4) on my ASUS ROG Strix B850-F WiFi motherboard. I'm running a 9800X3D and a Samsung 990 Pro. Could this just be margin of error in my benchmarks, or is there something else going on here?
5 Answers
Make sure your motherboard BIOS is up to date. Sometimes updating the BIOS can resolve memory performance issues. Also, you might want to try disabling Expo, rebooting, and then enabling it again to see if that helps!
Did you check that your memory is installed in the right ports? Generally, they need to be in odd or even slots, like 1-3 or 2-4, and it sounds like you've got that right already.
Yes, I rechecked and they are definitely in slots 2-4!
Try running your benchmarks at 1080p instead of 4K. That might give you clearer results on whether there's an actual issue or if it's just a margin of error. And double-check that your RAM sticks are in the correct slots!
I’ll give 1080p a shot! They are in slots 2 and 4, which should be correct.
Have you tried running Cinebench 2024 for a more standardized benchmark? It could provide some solid insights into your RAM performance!
It might just be margin of error. Sometimes Windows updates or background processes can sneak in and affect performance. What benchmarks did you use? If you just played games, different variables like location or time of day can skew FPS numbers.
Good point! I ran built-in benchmarks from games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk. They were about an hour apart, so who knows if something sneaked in during that time.
I did toggle Expo but haven't updated the BIOS yet. I'll try that next!