Corsair DDR-4 RAM XMP profile doesn't work, but can OC way beyond its rated frequency

[sillycornlotty]

Bought a pair (8Gb*2) Corsair 16Gb VengeanceLPX (CMK16GX4M2A2666C16R) DDR4 RAM for my budget gaming rig running on MSI Z-170 A-Pro two weeks ago. After activating XMP profile (which is CL 16-18-18-35@1.200V, 2666MHz) in BIOS, the rig failed to boot up and I was prompt to restore default value soon after.

 

Frustrated and disappointed, as this is the first time I built a desktop PC. Then I recalled the fact that some RAMs may work stable under higher voltage, so I tweaked DRAM voltage to 1.35V for the same XMP profile, and it finally boots!!:bigeyes:

 

However, this doesn't stop me from going further....

Upon closer investigation to the problem, I found something rather interesting on web related to RAM binning. To examine the quality of my chips I then tweaked the ram speed from 2666 to 2800, from 2800 to 2930, from 2930 to 3200 and at last from 3200 to 3333 using MSI DDR4 boost. So perhaps the RAM is not as low binned as seems?? I wonder...

 

The sand castle collapses at 3333Mz (Memory Try it!: Hynix3333CL16) after booting into Windows and freezes 8:o:

BIOS then failed to boot and I was forced to clear CMOS to restore default settings.

 

The system remains stable @ 1.350V 3200MHz, CL16-18-18-36-380, with no file corruption occurring. While it can also run DDR4 3200MHz @ 1.350V, CL 14-17-17-35-350 at best, but system is fragile enough that a simple Google Chrome install takes >5 minutes and contains corrupted files. I'm happy with the extra bandwidth I have got but still it would be great if I can simply run that XMP profile.

 

Anyone know what triggers the XMP failure?

BTW, how much RAM OC could you get for your RAM kits, share them here!!

[worf105]

Hi sillycornlotty

 

I have in my system just now, some Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 which I have running at 3200MHz 16 18 18 36 1T @ 1.35v

 

System very stable at those settings.