Asus Z490 stuff

[BloodBaron]

Hey guys, just trying my luck here before I return my desktop pc. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.


I recently built my PC 6 weeks ago. Everything was initially fine; no crashes, no memtest errors, no blue screens. Not until I upgraded my bios version to 0707(latest version that time). This is when I start getting blue screens, game crashes, random computer freezing that happens quite frequently while gaming. I did memtest86 multiple times, it all show errors when I seat a ram stick on either slot A1 or B1. However when both slot A1 and B1 is empty, my pc works perfectly fine - no errors on memtest, no crashes and no freezing. I have to downgrade my bios version to the first version which is 0403 - This is when everything start working perfectly fine again. I wouldn't mind using this BIOS version, however I have to utilize iGPU multi monitor setting(for rendering purposes) which is not available on this bios version. I tried updating my bios to the latest 0804 - the problem became worse, my computer wouldn't even boot up if using all ram slots. I tried all other available bios versions - same results: no boot up. One work around I found was to only use 2 ram sticks on slot A2 and B2 - however I want to fully utilize all my ram sticks for performance and aesthetic purposes.

To sum it up:
Bios version 0403 - everything works fine
Bios version 0707 - blue screens, freezing and game crashes when using ram slot A1 and B1
Bios version 0607 and 0804(latest) - no boot up when using ram slot A1 and B1

Mobo: ASUS ROG STRIX z490-A Gaming
RAM: Gskill Trident Z Royal Silver 8gb x 4 pcs 3600mhz


I have already told the store where I bought this I'm going to return my whole ASUS ROG pc set next week because of this problem. He told me he's gonna lose a lot of money. But I have to do what I have to do.. Am planning to buy from another brand..

Have you tried all slots populated but without XMP enabled to see if that makes a difference (not ideal, i know, just a troubleshooting step)? Also can you check what voltage your VCCSA and VCCIO voltage is running at using hwinfo64? for 4 sticks i those it should be set to around 1.25 vccsa and 1.2 vccio

I know i've had issues running my ram kit at stock xmp 4000cl17 so i had to clock it down to 3800c16 before i got rid of crashes and error free memtestpro

[martine-dee]

Fwiw, my PC is just completing a successful memtest run with 3733 MHz, CL14. That is almost at the latency of 4000 MHz CL15, so I would conclude that the RAM frequency is the barrier. Iirc, even relaxing the timing to CL16 didn't make 4000 MHz work. And latency-wise that is way behind 3700 MHz CL14.

Anyway... 3733 MHz CL14 ftw! I will publish the full bios setup in this post later.

Edit, time to add the stuff here.

BIOS: 0901 M12E
Optimized Defaults Loaded.
Settings:

Ai Overclock Tuner [Auto] -> [Manual]
ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Auto - Let BIOS Optimize] -> [Enabled - Remove All limits]
CPU Core Ratio [Auto] -> [Sync All Cores]
DRAM Odd Ration Mode [Disabled] -> [Enabled]
DRAM Frequency [Auto] -> [DDR4-3733MHz]
Xtreme Tweaking [Disabled] -> [Enabled]
DRAM CAS# Latency [Auto] -> [14]
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay [Auto] -> [15]
DRAM RAS# ACT Time [Auto] -> [35]
CPU Load-line Calibratrion [Auto] -> [Level 8]
Maximum CPU Core Temperature [Auto] -> [90]
CPU Core/Cache Current Limit Max. [Auto] -> [255.75]
Long Duration Package Power Limit [Auto] -> [4095]
Package Power Time Window [Auto] -> [448]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [Auto] -> [4095]
DRAM VTT Voltage [Auto] -> [0.73125]
Cooler Re-evaluation Algorithm [Normal] -> [Very inclined to update]
CPU Core/Cache Voltage [Auto] -> [Manual Mode]
DRAM Voltage [Auto] -> [1.46000]
CPU VCCIO Voltage [Auto] -> [1.20000]
CPU System Agent Voltage [Auto] -> [1.25000]
Intel(R) Speed Shift Technology [Auto] -> [Enabled]
Dual Tau Boost [Disabled] -> [Enabled]
USB power delivery in Soft Off state (S5) [Enabled] -> [Disabled]
When system in sleep, hibernate or soft off states [All On] -> [Aura Only]
ErP Ready [Disabled] -> [Enable(S4+S5)]

The strangest thing, the diff doesn't show my CPU settings (which are overridden anyway by the XTU):
- All-Core Ratio Limit: 52
- CPU Core Voltage Override: 1.340

[viper2440880]

Have you tried all slots populated but without XMP enabled to see if that makes a difference (not ideal, i know, just a troubleshooting step)? Also can you check what voltage your VCCSA and VCCIO voltage is running at using hwinfo64? for 4 sticks i those it should be set to around 1.25 vccsa and 1.2 vccio

I know i've had issues running my ram kit at stock xmp 4000cl17 so i had to clock it down to 3800c16 before i got rid of crashes and error free memtestpro

Sorry for the late reply man. Tbh, wasn’t expecting any reply. Anyway, the problem is only when XMP profile is on. When XMP is off, PC works normally.

Bios version: 0403 works perfectly fine both XMP on or off.
Bios 0607,0807,0907: no boot only when XMP is on. XMP off = pc works normally
Bios version 0707: XMP on = pc boots up but BSOD when playing intensive games, XMP off = pc works normally.

[kvarq]

I see they finally loaded two bios files for the Hero XXII today, 0804 AND 0901, but I notice 0804 has "Update ME firmware to 14.0.45" & "Improve Intel thunderbolt device compatibility". Is this also included in 0901? Went from 0704 to 0901 last night night as 0804 was never showing on the Asus site up till now.

installed 0901, firmware did not change
14.0.45 is security oriented, during time noticed these kind of "fixes" drive to slight loss of performance... so from now on I'm trying to avoid as much as I can the security firmware...
hopefully the other bios stuff is cumulative, although compared to 0707 my 2x16 4000MHz @C17 was fine with VRAM 1.37V, VCCSA 1.245V, VCCIO 1.24V set in bios, after 0901 just ran for fun a quick prime95 test and rounding errors occurred, so it seems that some mV are lost compared to previous versions

Fwiw, my PC is just completing a successful memtest run with 3733 MHz, CL14. That is almost at the latency of 4000 MHz CL15, so I would conclude that the RAM frequency is the barrier. Iirc, even relaxing the timing to CL16 didn't make 4000 MHz work. And latency-wise that is way behind 3700 MHz CL14.

Anyway... 3733 MHz CL14 ftw! I will publish the full bios setup in this post later.

see that you're struggling with that 4000C15 kit for a while
4000C15 is nice, but tricky, especially for 4x8
most likely the processor does not help you, IMC not that strong, or simply cannot handle RAM and OC to 5.0 or whatever simultaneously
you could try get another copy, in general the first 1-2 months batches are not that good, noticed this over time
could be also that one of your sticks is compromised as well

you can try leave processor stock frequency and play with ram first
so stock processor, enable XMP and see if it works with 4 sticks, if not, try with just two...
the idea is to see how much VCORE, SA and IO voltages are required for this RAM to work properly

try to play switching Mode 1 and Mode 2 under the RAM settings, although under Mode 2 some benchmark results would be lower

if XMP1/2 voltages do not work, you could start tweaking them a bit

first, bump a bit the VRAM to 1.52-ish to see if it's better
then leave processor stock frequency and start also play with the VCore, set it manually, start with 1.28-1.30 V and then increasing 0.02V steps if needed
you might find a sweetspot in the end
if you reach 1.35-1.37VCore and your RAM works, clearly your processor cannot handle RAM and 5.0-5.+ GHz simultaneously

then play with the SA and IO next, unfortunately Asus's default voltages for SA and IO are pretty high, but most of the time work if left alone

VCCSA helps with frequency, VCCIO can help with timings and/or high capacity, in general it's supposed to be 50-100mV less, but for this latency IO voltage could be a little bit higher than the SA
try to run 1.25 SA and IO, maybe start increasing IO with 0.02V steps, until 1.32-1.35

if not, switch to manual, set frequency and latencies manually according to the XMP profile and retry playing with VCore, VRAM IO and SA voltages...

[martine-dee]

@kvarq The RAM fails on memtest when the CPU is on the stock clock. If I test it 2 by 2 sticks, that works fine on 4000 MHz CL15, no matter what I do to the CPU.
So, it is about the stick count. It is very possible that 2x 16GB modules would be fine at 4000 MHz CL15. Why have 4 slots then, and advertise F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR in the QVL? I went through a lot of waiting to get particularly the F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR.

The 3733 MHz CL14 is blistering close by the latency to 4000 MHz CL15. No need for further experimenting.

[BloodBaron]

@kvarq The RAM fails on memtest when the CPU is on the stock clock. If I test it 2 by 2 sticks, that works fine on 4000 MHz CL15, no matter what I do to the CPU.
So, it is about the stick count. It is very possible that 2x 16GB modules would be fine at 4000 MHz CL15. Why have 4 slots then, and advertise F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR in the QVL? I went through a lot of waiting to get particularly the F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR.

The 3733 MHz CL14 is blistering close by the latency to 4000 MHz CL15. No need for further experimenting.

What was/is your Dram voltage for those speeds?

[kokotas]

Anyone on apex xii facing an issue with front panel usb-c port? It causes I/O errors for me on Lian li o11 XL.

[KotOr368]

Anyone on apex xii facing an issue with front panel usb-c port? It causes I/O errors for me on Lian li o11 XL.

Well next week will arrive my new case that has front usb-c so we will see

[kokotas]

Oh great! Please let me know.

[gooper23]

Anybody know what changed from 0901 to 1002 beta?