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Massive XMP/Ram overclocking issues on XI Extreme

lukeyboy89
Level 7
So, this is my third Maximus XI Extreme. I have had to return 2 boards already with a -15% restocking fee because the retailers did not have any ram above 3200Mhz.

These are the kits i have:
F4-4400C18D-16GTRS (This is the new G.Skill Royal so not currently on the QVL)
F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR (This is on the XI Extreme QVL)
F4-4133C19D-16GTZR (Now Sold)

The issue:
I can not for the life of me get either of these kits to boot at any frequency above 3466Mhz, yet i can get them running tight timings at 3200Mhz (14-14-14-28) on both kits.
The bigger issue, is that i upgraded to the XI Extreme from the X Code. My X Code ran both these kits extremely well.

My 8086K's IMC is fine. I purchased a Unicorn chip that runs 5.5 (-2avx) @ 1.462v, 8 hour RealBench and Prime95 stable. This is the same CPU that i ran in my X Code.

Maximus XI Extreme Best Memtest stable:
F4-4400C18D-16GTRS - 3466Mhz 15-15-15-35-T1 @ 1.45v, VCCSA 1.34v, VCCIO 1.34v
F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR - 3200Mhz 14-14-14-28-T1 @ 1.45v, VCCSA 1.34v, VCCIO 1.34v
F4-4133C19D-16GTZR - 3466Mhz, 16-16-16-36-T1 @ 1.4v, VCCSA 1.3v, VCCIO 1.3v

Maximus X Code Best Memtest stable:
F4-4400C18D-16GTRS - 4266Mhz 17-17-17-T1 @ 1.55v, VCCSA 1.15v, VCCIO 1.15v
F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR - XMP Default @ 1.45v, VCCSA 1.1v, VCCIO 1.1v
F4-4133C19D-16GTZR - XMP Profile @ 1.35v, VCCSA 1.0v, VCCIO 1.0v

This should just not be happening. On the X Code i could get them to boot higher than the XMP profiles (but unstable) with T2 timings, but even with T2 timings on the XI Extreme, i simply can't get even a boot at 3600Mhz on either kit, even trying to run them at CL19 and 1.7v. The fact that i have to run the VCCSA and VCCIO so high on the XI Extreme just to get them stable is also crazy.

What's the deal here? I've tried all available BIOS on the support site. I can't imagine 3 boards all having the same issue being a coincidence, and at this point it has caused me to lose some serious $$ as these boards are $800 in Australia.

Unfortunately due to my current setup, i just cant switch back to the X Code as I'm making use of all the header's in this system.

For those who think I'm over exaggerating with purchasing 3 of these boards, here is an RMA request (as the purchase on this site has no date) and 2 purchases from another retailer with dates.

79562
79563
79564
79566

I have been an Asus customer forever. I am lucky enough to be in a financial position that i can spoil myself every time a new generation releases and my card/mobo is always Asus. For instance my recent build (that I'm having issues with) contains the following Asus parts. 1200W Thor, 2xStrix OC 2080 Ti, Ryujin 360 AIO, Maximus XI extreme. I wan't to continue to be a loyal customer but there seems to be some serious quality control issues with the coffee lake refresh boards.

I am happy to provide any debug info to your software engineers if it will assist, as I'm sure not many people purchase ram quite this high end, so not many people would be reporting the issues.
18,160 Views
10 REPLIES 10

Enderwiggin03
Level 7
lukeyboy89 wrote:
So, this is my third Maximus XI Extreme. I have had to return 2 boards already with a -15% restocking fee because the retailers did not have any ram above 3200Mhz.

These are the kits i have:
F4-4400C18D-16GTRS (This is the new G.Skill Royal so not currently on the QVL)
F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR (This is on the XI Extreme QVL)
F4-4133C19D-16GTZR (Now Sold)

The issue:
I can not for the life of me get either of these kits to boot at any frequency above 3466Mhz, yet i can get them running tight timings at 3200Mhz (14-14-14-28) on both kits.
The bigger issue, is that i upgraded to the XI Extreme from the X Code. My X Code ran both these kits extremely well.

My 8086K's IMC is fine. I purchased a Unicorn chip that runs 5.5 (-2avx) @ 1.462v, 8 hour RealBench and Prime95 stable. This is the same CPU that i ran in my X Code.

Maximus XI Extreme Best Memtest stable:
F4-4400C18D-16GTRS - 3466Mhz 15-15-15-35-T1 @ 1.45v, VCCSA 1.34v, VCCIO 1.34v
F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR - 3200Mhz 14-14-14-28-T1 @ 1.45v, VCCSA 1.34v, VCCIO 1.34v
F4-4133C19D-16GTZR - 3466Mhz, 16-16-16-36-T1 @ 1.4v, VCCSA 1.3v, VCCIO 1.3v

Maximus X Code Best Memtest stable:
F4-4400C18D-16GTRS - 4266Mhz 17-17-17-T1 @ 1.55v, VCCSA 1.15v, VCCIO 1.15v
F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR - XMP Default @ 1.45v, VCCSA 1.1v, VCCIO 1.1v
F4-4133C19D-16GTZR - XMP Profile @ 1.35v, VCCSA 1.0v, VCCIO 1.0v

This should just not be happening. On the X Code i could get them to boot higher than the XMP profiles (but unstable) with T2 timings, but even with T2 timings on the XI Extreme, i simply can't get even a boot at 3600Mhz on either kit, even trying to run them at CL19 and 1.7v. The fact that i have to run the VCCSA and VCCIO so high on the XI Extreme just to get them stable is also crazy.

What's the deal here? I've tried all available BIOS on the support site. I can't imagine 3 boards all having the same issue being a coincidence, and at this point it has caused me to lose some serious $$ as these boards are $800 in Australia.

Unfortunately due to my current setup, i just cant switch back to the X Code as I'm making use of all the header's in this system.

For those who think I'm over exaggerating with purchasing 3 of these boards, here is an RMA request (as the purchase on this site has no date) and 2 purchases from another retailer with dates.

79562
79563
79564
79566

I have been an Asus customer forever. I am lucky enough to be in a financial position that i can spoil myself every time a new generation releases and my card/mobo is always Asus. For instance my recent build (that I'm having issues with) contains the following Asus parts. 1200W Thor, 2xStrix OC 2080 Ti, Ryujin 360 AIO, Maximus XI extreme. I wan't to continue to be a loyal customer but there seems to be some serious quality control issues with the coffee lake refresh boards.

I am happy to provide any debug info to your software engineers if it will assist, as I'm sure not many people purchase ram quite this high end, so not many people would be reporting the issues.


I'm sure you'll get some feedback, but I've noticed all of these newer Asus Z390 boards have RAM Issues, I've been lucky to find something that works, but no where near advertised speeds.

Silent_Scone
Super Moderator
I often find each board series is tuned with the CPUs that are released alongside.

1) What memory stressor did you use to verify stability on your Code?

2) Did you tune the sub timings on the Code, or bother to make note of what they were before changing (this is important when wanting to push frequency this high)

3) Try Maximus Tweak Modes 1 and 2

Any reason why you're using so much VCCSA/VCCIO on one board compared to the other? It's likely you're creating a red herring by flooding these rails with too much voltage, which can be just as bad as using too little

Here is the 4 DIMM kit you are using running on the Formula XI on the 9900K.

79571
13900KS / 8000 CAS36 / ROG APEX Z790 / ROG TUF RTX 4090

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
I often find each board series is tuned with the CPUs that are released alongside.

1) What memory stressor did you use to verify stability on your Code?

2) Did you tune the sub timings on the Code, or bother to make note of what they were before changing (this is important when wanting to push frequency this high)

3) Try Maximus Tweak Modes 1 and 2

Any reason why you're using so much VCCSA/VCCIO on one board compared to the other? It's likely you're creating a red herring by flooding these rails with too much voltage, which can be just as bad as using too little

Here is the 4 DIMM kit you are using running on the Formula XI on the 9900K.

79571



Yes, Ive tried mimmicing and even loosening my sub timings from the Code. Even tried just Auto with mode 1 for compatibility.

The voltages are so much higher on the XI because it's what got me no errors on memtest, I'm not really comfortable going over 1.25 on either setting but until I did I was getting errors during the latter parts of memtest.

Also the board is supposed to be backwards compatible, it's the same chip set, not an excuse for it to not work well with 8th gen processors.

lukeyboy89 wrote:

Also the board is supposed to be backwards compatible, it's the same chip set, not an excuse for it to not work well with 8th gen processors.



The boards are ‘backwards compatible’ but ‘optimized’ for the newer CPUs. Thats because there are changes to the memory trace layout. Your CPU is likely better off in a X-series board. For the record, each board series is like this. It’s always best to run a given CPU on the chipset that was ‘current’ when it was released.

Raja@ASUS wrote:
The boards are ‘backwards compatible’ but ‘optimized’ for the newer CPUs. Thats because there are changes to the memory trace layout. Your CPU is likely better off in a X-series board.



That's not true at all unless you're stating that Asus' own marketing is a lie? This was advertised as made for 8th and 9th Gen processors and a direct upgrade to the Z370 boards.

I'm all cool with you guys admittibg you dun goofed as long as you guys email me regarding this issue so that I can return my motherboard and receive my restocking fee's back for the other two.

Nowhere does it state that memory is not optimized for 8th gen and to expect lower performance or compatibility issues.

Your response really seems like a cop out excuse for a product that doesn't meet ROG standards, and it's a massive shame because I have been extremely happy with every board until now. There are plenty of posts on these forums with other's who are having issues with XMP memory settings, so its not exactly exclusive to 8th Gen. I honestly thought Asus had more pride in their products.

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lukeyboy89
Level 7
I've received PM's stating that Asus is deleting threads about bad Z390 boards, as well as banning those who post them. Just in-case you decide to try and silence me i have already cached this page as well as printed a PDF copy.

If these claims are true, that's super sketchy tactics from a company like this, and if it happens to me, you bet i'll be filing a claim through VCAT, i have zero issues wasting corporations time through mediation and have done so with Samsung and Harvey Norman before. Australian Consumer Law is a mighty fine thing.

lukeyboy89 wrote:
I've received PM's stating that Asus is deleting threads about bad Z390 boards, as well as banning those who post them. Just in-case you decide to try and silence me i have already cached this page as well as printed a PDF copy.

If these claims are true, that's super sketchy tactics from a company like this, and if it happens to me, you bet i'll be filing a claim through VCAT, i have zero issues wasting corporations time through mediation and have done so with Samsung and Harvey Norman before. Australian Consumer Law is a mighty fine thing.


As Raja has said, these changes to optimise current gen processors has always been the case as far back as I remember. There are no guarantees with memory overclocking, especially when pushing frequency this far out of spec. It also helps when looking for assistance to answer all the questions asked (doing these things vicariously isn’t easy :D).

If you would like further help dialing in the memory as best possible, post up your current UEFI settings. You can save these as a txt file from within the UEFI.

P.S Threads are only locked or posts removed when they breach forum rules and regulations. For clarity, only two users have been banned recently, one of which was due to promoting dishonest returns on other vendor products.
13900KS / 8000 CAS36 / ROG APEX Z790 / ROG TUF RTX 4090

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
*

As Raja has said, these changes to optimise current gen processors has always been the case as far back as I remember. There are no guarantees with memory overclocking, especially when pushing frequency this far out of spec. It also helps when looking for assistance to answer all the questions asked (doing these things vicariously isn’t easy :D).

If you would like further help dialing in the memory as best possible, post up your current UEFI settings. You can save these as a txt file from within the UEFI.

P.S Threads are only locked or posts removed when they breach forum rules and regulations. For clarity, only two users have been banned recently, one of which was due to promoting dishonest returns on other vendor products.


No tuning is going to be satisfactory considering i can't even get it to run 3600mhz stable with CL19-19-19-39-T2 with secondaries set to auto and voltages cranked way above recommendations, and it still wont boot. Not even with 2 sticks. There is clearly a flaw in this product, intentional or not.

Nowhere on the product page does it warn you that it isn't optimised for 8th Gen, instead it goes out of its way to say it was made for both 8th gen and 9th gen, and suggests its an upgrade by improved memory frequency. Maybe its not false advertising in the US, but it definitely is by Australian Standards.

Consumers aren't supposed to "assume" the opposite of what is written in the description of a product.

Your head of marketing's solution was basically "Go back to Maximus X"...

If you can't see whats wrong with this, i honestly don't know what to tell you.

https://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/ROG-MAXIMUS-XI-EXTREME/ please show me where its even hinted to that there is a performance HIT for using a supported 8th Gen processor with this? Asus clearly wanted people to upgrade their Z370 boards or they would have explicitly clear or made it only compatible with 9th gen processors.

Why can't companies just admit that a product is riddled with quality control issues? All you have to do is google "Maximus XI XMP" and there are endless issues.

lukeyboy89
Level 7
This would have been the perfect place to put "I know we said its designed for 8th/9th Gen CPU's, but we don't actually mean its going to work well with 8th Gen, we'll make it sound like an upgrade so you buy it anyway"

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