ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING ryzen 5 3600 memory channel issue

[danbromley]

So this is my first forum post so please forgive any errors but i have an interesting issue.

I have a ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING which has been running a ryzen 5 1600 with g-skill trident z 3600 down clocked to 3200
all well and good, no issues and a good overclock on both CPU (3950 from 3600) and timing tweaks on memory (C14 from C16) even up to bios 5220 from september.

I managed to get a deal on a ryzen 5 3600 so i thought i would update and make full use of the ram speed i have.

after resetting the 5220 bios the CPU went in fine and then i get the beeps on post (1 long 2 short) memory issue the memory was still in the dimm slots i had them in originally dimm_a2 and dimm_b2. i removed the memory and reseated and tried again with the same result

i removed the dimm_b2 memory stick leaving the dimm_a2 stick and got into bios and checked all was okay, everything was set to default as expected, so leaving one memory stick in dimm_a2 I booted to windows and all was okay. I rebooted and set XMP for the 1 stick memory and again all was okay. I rebooted and reset the memory speed and tried the other memory stick in the dimm_a2 slot and again all was fine both at 2133 and XMP and booted to windows.

i then tried every possible combination of slots, sticks and speed for 2 sticks of ram and found the memory only work with both sticks in channe A (dimm_a1 and dimm_a2) at 2133/3200/3600 but if i use any stick in channel B at any speed i get beeps on post .

i have logged it support who appear to have done no investigation whatsoever and suggested RMA.

I wondered if anyone else has come across this or heard anything like this, my guess is that its a bios / AGESA compatability bug which may be fixed with AGESA 1.0.0.4 in the near future (next month i hope) but does anyone else have any ideas ?

D.

[RedSector73]

Channel A - (2&4) needing to being populated has been an issue since Ryzen 3 series came out, it was an issue if channel b only were used when Ryzen 1800x came out, as well briefly, and didn't matter for Ryzen 2 (A or B). I own 1800x, 2700x and 3900x. This problem if you can call it that is simply fixed by using Channel A as recommended in the motherboard manual. I would not RMA the board (this is repeatable on all of them) and would not worry about this. When you have Channel A populated and then Channel B as well both will work fine, that said you have 2 sticks and as per the manual should be using Channel A.

This in my mind mind is most certainly to be about/around the implementation of the AGESA code, as you suspect, but I would not expect to see addressed because it's really non-issue once you follow recommended use of the slots and to compare to an Intel system, is exactly the same, you cant place the RAM anywhere and expect it to work optimally or correctly.

Hope you find this help

[danbromley]

thanks for the reply Red , but its curious than my manual shows that for 2 sticks the config is one dimm per channel in the no 2 slot (dimm_a2 and dimm_b2)



i know its a bit of a non-issue for now but its annoying that the memory was working in the original config and is now not.

[RedSector73]

Channel A should be Dimm_A2 and Dimm_B2. (2&4 from the cpu)

If this was presenting issue (may have misread your first post), maybe reflash the bios and/or wait for the new code out next month, before making any decisions about it.

[danbromley]

i think you may need to read up on this as dimm_a2 and dimm_b2 are a dual channel pair not the same channel this is also shown by the colour.

[danbromley]

Its been a while so i thought i would drop in a little update and its not good, there has not been the bios update to AGESA 1.0.0.4 i was hoping for.
after several emails with ASUS tech support there is no release schedule and no future date for a release for my B350-F board that they could offer me.

I get that there are newer products available but its a little frustrating to have hardware working as it should and then update the bios and have it not working as it was especially when there is a solution out there that could be implemented. (i say could, i don't know for a fact it can but as other asus bios of the time have had the update and the latest B350-F bios goes up to 1.0.0.3abba i fully expect a leap to 1.0.0.4 is not a leap too far)

I guess i will be looking to MSI, Gigabyte and others for all future builds.

[Redeemer]

are we even getting 1.0.0.4?

[danbromley]

i have no idea.

Those that i have communicated with either don't know or say that the there is no release schedule for bios updates and that if/when a release is ready it will be posted online.