Z890 RAM errors with XMP on

[Silveredge]

RAM: GSKILL 9600 Trident CK5 (F5-9600C4658H24GX2-TZ5CRK)
Motherboard: ASUS Z890 APEX
BIOS: 1501

I have been dealing with GSKILL and ASUS support for a month. I thought I would post on these forums to make sure there isn’t an issue with testing new CUDIMM RAM.

When running the RAM in XMP it has tons of errors (180+). The odd thing about these errors is that they are in the exact same digit, which seems weird. With XMP off there are no errors. It runs at 6400 with XMP off. I RMA’d the RAM and the replacement ram is having exactly the same errors in exactly the same spot. I tested other RAM which doesn’t have errors with XMP on or off, but it only goes up to 6000 and is not CUDIMM ram.

This seems like either a BIOS issue that needs to be fixed by ASUS, a Motherboard issue (memory controller?), or a Memtest86 issue with CUDIMM Ram at high speeds? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[David (PassMark)]

This seems like either a BIOS issue that needs to be fixed by ASUS, a Motherboard issue (memory controller?), or a Memtest86 issue with CUDIMM Ram at high speeds?

There is another possibility.
The problem is in the marketing department of these companies.
Desperate for sales, increased margins, and the need to have product differentiation in a market of with standardized commodity products, they make claims that they can't deliver on.
(or can only deliver on in a very narrow set of circumstances).

In the log you are seeing single bit flips. This is the most common type of memory error.

9598MT/sec is insanely fast, compared to memory speeds over the last few years. CUDIMMs are also very new. You are on the bleeding edge.

[Silveredge]

Thank you for the response David! I have also found two threads on the Z890 motherboards thread on the ASUS forums with people having the same issue with high speed (8000+) CUDIMM Ram. I’ll see what ASUS and GSKILL come back with. Not being able to hit the advertised rates without errors is definitely frustrating. I can definitely see your point with the marketing.

[Roxxors]

I have GSkill 9000 42CL. It will only run at 8400. I think it's the Asus MEFW that's the issue. May just have to chill and let Asus update it on a future update. Mine fails big tine on XMP2, but runs fine at 8400 on XMP Tweaked... Go figure...

[David (PassMark)]

Unfortunately this is becoming very common in the industry (advertising features, or speeds, which can only be used in a very narrow set of circumstances, or not at all).

[Roxxors]

Yep. Just be aware that if you see something like brand ZZZ CL38 9600 (OC) that (OC) means that it won't run at that speed using XMP/XMP2, you have to manually OverClock it to get it to run at that marketed 9600 speed, and you have to know just what voltages and timings to change to get it to do that... If you just select XMP in the BIOS and leave the speed at 9600, you will most likely fail big time and have to back that speed down to get it to work.

I also noticed the ram speed is 9600 and the Z890 chipset only supports (officialy) up to 9200...

And another thing to take into account when Overclocking is if you won the silicon lottery or not...