I'm having an issue with my RAM speed. I purchased Silicon Power Gaming DDR4 2x16GB 3600MHz RAM and enabled the XMP profile in my BIOS, which is set to DDR4-3600 with timings of 18-22-22-42 and 1.35V. However, when I check my BIOS system monitor, it shows that the RAM is only running at 2678.72MHz. I expected that just enabling XMP would fix the speed, but it hasn't changed anything after rebooting the system. My setup includes a Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wifi motherboard. I've also reset the CMOS, and this is a fresh Windows install. Should I look into manually overclocking the RAM? I'm not very familiar with that process but wanted to get some advice first.
5 Answers
Compatibility is key here. Not all RAM works with every motherboard despite being labeled as compatible. Your motherboard needs to have been tested with your specific RAM to guarantee that it will work smoothly at the advertised speeds. It looks like Silicon Power isn’t listed among the compatible memory for your Gigabyte board, which might require you to manually tweak the settings for it to operate at higher speeds.
I’ve had similar experiences! I bought 3200MHz RAM for my first build and it just wouldn't run at that speed without crashing. I ended up sticking to 3000MHz and it worked fine for years. Sometimes, RAM doesn’t reach advertised speeds even with compatibility claims—it's a bit of a gamble!
First, check what BIOS version you’re using. A newer BIOS version can sometimes improve memory compatibility and speeds. Also, since you mentioned you’ve updated to version 40, that should help. Just keep an eye on any documented changes since an update can sometimes introduce new issues too!
Not all XMP profiles are perfectly stable across all setups. You might need to manually adjust the settings to get it to work properly, and also consider increasing the voltage slightly, but remember not to exceed 1.5V! That’s usually the safe maximum for DDR4.
What's the reason for not exceeding 1.5V?
It might take a bit of trial and error to find the right settings that work for your build. If manual adjustments don’t work, you may just have to let it run at a stable speed even if it's not the maximum advertised.
I updated to the latest version, so hopefully that helps!