GSkill TridentZ RGB 320CL14 Issues

[tuskenraider]

Hello!

Only been 8 years since I last built a new PC and moved back to AMD since Tbird days. NVMe, no more optical drives in the cool cases, aRGB fan lighting, can't install Win7 cause no drivers for X570, gotta make bootable thumb drives for every OS, testing software, UEFI bios, buying a portable optical drive anyway, USB 3.1/3.2, and on and on.....what a pain in the *** this is all become, all for glorified web browsing, lol. Anyway, I bought the memory noted in the title, paid a premium for CL14, and after four days of trying to get it to just BOOT above 3066mhz, I've about given up. Used the DRAM calculator, D.O.C.P., manual timings and these sticks just won't boot at advertised settings. Separately or together. Relaxing timings to something like 16,16,16,16,38 with no luck. I finally succeeded to boot at 3200 mhz by giving the sticks 1.39V, but fails stress testing with Prime95 within minutes. I just want a stable stock machine for now. Being Samsung B-die, I hear how much room they have, but I've not experienced that. I'm about the return these and maybe give the Neo 3600 CL16 sticks a try, as I like the RGB design. Any thoughts or advice before I make the trip to Micro Center?

 

[Johan45]

That is strange that you're having such issues with these sticks. Have you tried updating the BIOS? Typically they work right out of the box.
What kit is it that you have?

 

[maxfly]

if they are the GTZRX (ryzen specific) modules and they are still giving you that much trouble id say they must be borked. even if they arent they shouldnt be giving you any trouble(the intel b die kit should still fire right up). if the replacements dont fire right up then theres something mb going on.

 

[tuskenraider]

BIOS was updated to the latest after the second boot, which the memory defaulted to 2133 mhz. I have G.SKILL Trident Z RGB (For AMD) Model F4-3200C14D-16GTZRX modules. I went to Micro Center to pick up another set of RAM, but of course, they just sold out of the NEO model I wanted, so I ordered online. Guess I can't make any conclusions until I have another set to test with, thanks.

 

[wingman99]

If they don't work, I would try F4-3200C14D-16GFX LINK: https://www.gskill.com/product/165/...XDDR4-3200MHz-CL14-14-14-34-1.35V16GB-(2x8GB)

 

[Woomack]

I would check any other, higher clocked memory before purchasing (if you can). I had a situation when memory couldn't pass 3200, asked ASRock about it as they are always helpful and they confirmed that some Ryzen CPUs don't want to work above some memory clock (like in my case above 3200). It actually happened on one mobo and works fine on others. It may not be the case with your rig but I'm just saying it doesn't have to be a memory issue.

As long as memory passes stability test at the lower clock then it shouldn't be broken. You can still replace it with something else as incompatibility happens.
Btw. if you want Samsung based G.Skill Neo then search for 3600 16-16-16 as 3600 16-19-19 is Hynix. The price difference is quite high between these two kits.

 

[tuskenraider]

Woomack, thanks. I bought the Neo 3600 16-19-19-19-39 sticks since they were a reasonable price and I could get them next day shipped. I threw the sticks in really quick last night as I was heading out to a concert, and they wouldn't boot at D.O.C.P. settings. A couple of quick reboots and the best I could do was 3200mhz. I let prime95 run and came home to find it passed fine. So maybe my CPU? Or you had this issue on a CPU and then switched mobos?

Update: After playing a bit today with the 3600 mhz RAM, best I can do to boot is 3200 mhz. Best stable timings of 16-18-18-18-38. I see a pattern, maybe 4000 mhz RAM gets me to 3400 mhz and 4400 mhz RAM gets me to 3600 mhz, .

 

[tuskenraider]

Well boys and girls, apparently using memory slots A1 and B1 is the wrong thing to do with this board. A2 and B2 are what's supposed to be used first. Guess I should have looked at the picture better, because they don't actually print this recommendation in text. The 3200 kit is running at 3400 mhz right now with it's nice, tight timings........live and learn the hard way. Thanks for everyone's advice.

 

[Woomack]

On X570 it still should work at 3600 and ASUS mobo will probably set it to 1:1 with IF divider (so optimal). Your memory is capable of 3800 CL16-19-19 1.35-1.45V. Just saying that on Ryzen 3k it will perform about as good as Samsung which is highly overpriced in these new memory kits ... +/- 1% in most benchmarks/games.

If you still have that 3200 CL14 kit then I would check it at 3600 16-16-16 1.35-1.40V. The same the Neo at 3600 16-19-19 and maybe 16-18-18 1.35-1.40V. ASUS should set all other settings/voltages automatically.

 

[tuskenraider]

I'm sending the 3600 kit back, and will work on overclocking the 3200 kit, which passed Prime95 overnight at 3400mhz 14-14-14-34 at 1.36V. Feels like I will get it to 3600mhz no problem now they're in the proper slots.