cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Asus Z170 Gene strange memory issues...

sahafiec
Level 10
hi guys,

I have already red other topics about memory issues with this particular motherboard.
but my issue seems a bit different, thus I decided to open a new topic.
I'm using the Asus Z170 Gene (bios 1402), Intel i5 6600K (no OC) and Corsair 4x4GB 2400MHz ram (CMK16GX4M4A2400C14).

the motherboard and the ram are both in each others QVL lists so I expected them to work flawlessly.
the cpu, motherboard and ram combo is about 2 months old and I'm facing some random stability issues.
the range goes from a freeze to a BSOD, always random and not really reproducible.

I've been investigating that together with the great guys over at "tenforums" but was not able to find the real cause.
suspecting a driver issue I performed a clean install of my Windows 10 Pro so drivers should not be a problem anymore.
only a minimum of the only needed driver are cleanly installed: vga, audio and chipset (all up to date).

what I realize is that I never have a BSOD or freeze while running my rams on auto settings.
as soon as switch the rams to XMP and run them on 2400MHZ (instead of 2133MHz) I get random issues.
to be clear I never have issues to boot the system, the issues come later on and are not predictable.

additionally while troubleshooting the BSODs I ran a Memtest on the rams for more than 8 loops with no errors.
so there seems to be no physical issue with the rams but still XMP causes problems.

what's the problem with that motherboard, why is an overclocker motherboard not able to run 2400MHz ram on XMP?

the rams supports even 2666MHz on XMP (second profile) and the motherboard is advertised even with speeds up to 3800MHz.

I just don't get what's the bottleneck here, what's causing the issue?!

I appreciate any help I can get, especially by users of the same motherboard.

note:
for those interested hier is the link to my BSOD troubleshooting.
http://www.tenforums.com/bsod-crashes-debugging/40664-bsod-attempted_write_to_readonly_memory-window...
63,732 Views
156 REPLIES 156

Nate152
Moderator
Hello Sahafiec

I see your ram is the corsair vengeance LPX and in the description it says it's optimized for x99 boards. I know there can be some confusion over DDR4 memory some say compatible with x99, some say compatible with x99 and z170, some say compatible with z170.

I think I would try a ram kit that's specifically designed for z170.

Here is your ram kit:

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-lpx-16gb-4x4gb-ddr4-dram-2400mhz-c14-memory-kit-black-cmk16gx...

sahafiec
Level 10
hi Nate152,

thanks for commenting on the topic.

that was exactly what I thought while I was searching for ram and ended up at Corsair.

just to make sure I checked the Asus Z170 Gene Dram QVL and saw this:





then I started Corsair's official Memory Finder just to find this:





so one of them, Corsair or Asus, is really messing around but which one?!

unfortunately I don't have a spare ram I can play with, neither a friend of mine has one I could borrow.
so I'll have to buy one just to be able to test, additionally there is not much choice at that speed in the motherboard QVL list.

so I'm really a bit frustrated right now...:(

Nate152
Moderator
OK they have listed on there the blue kit and it says for x99 boards too, see what I mean about the confusion? If Asus says it will work then it should work but Corsair says it's for x99, they don't mention z170. When looking at ram always go by the ram manufacturers QVL list.

I still would try another ram kit designed for z170.

Here's the blue kit:

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-lpx-16gb-4x4gb-ddr4-dram-2400mhz-c14-memory-kit-blue-cmk16gx4...

Nate152
Moderator
Use the Corsair memory finder it's basically the same as a QVL list and you'll see what comes up for the maximus viii gene.

Select Motherboard - Asus - Maximus VIII Gene then click Go.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/memory-finder

sahafiec
Level 10
that's what I see as well, the second and third picture are taken from the Corsair Memory Finder.
it suggest for the Z170 Gene exactly the rams that I have isses with: CMK16GX4M4A2400C14

although in the description the ram seems optimized for X99, it's suggested by the Corsair Memory Finder.
so why is Corsair suggesting me a ram that is not ment for my motherboard?!

Nate152
Moderator
I have no idea, I know when I checked your maximus viii gene with the corsair memory finder four ram kits cam up, two were for 100 chipsets (z170) and two were for x99 and 100 chipsets.

None came up that said for just x99.

So what you should have got is one of those four kits that came up using the corsair memory finder.

I think this is where the problem lies with your ram, you were misinformed and got the wrong kit.

sahafiec
Level 10
can you attach a screenshot of your search results please?

I wonder why I'm getting different result for the same search.

choosing 16GB (4x4GB) in the results always leads me to the result I posted as picture nr. 3 previously.
being CMK16GX4M4A2400C14, CMK16GX4M4A2400C14R and CMK16GX4M4A2400C14B.
and all three kits are obviosly X99 only, still being suggested for the Z170 Gene.

but choosing 16GB (2x8GB) leads to kits that are X99 and X100 compatible.

OK

There are actually 18 kits.

56014
56015
56016
56017
56018

Your kit is on the last page so it must be compatible, I don't know why they wouldn't put x99 and 100 chipsets.

I did have CMK16GX4M2A2133C13 before on my Maximus Viii hero motherboard and did have harlocks with that memory.
After i did change to G.skill f4-2400C15D-16GVR there has been no problems.
I think there is a problem with vengeance ram from corsair and the new Z170 from asus.