Memory requires SPD WRITE DISABLE to be FALSE. What does this mean?

[HungryHamster]

I was reading some reviews for Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR5 6600mHz CL32 and the top review listed the main con as: "On Asus motherboards, requires SPD WRITE DISABLE to be FALSE"

I found this article on how to do it: https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/5718039999117-How-to-Enable-SPD-Write-on-your-ASUS-Z690-motherboard

 

Apparently it is something that is required for the RGB of the memory to work with ASUS  motherboards.

 

Does anyone know how dangerous this is to set SPD write disable to false? Is this still an issue for Z790 ASUS motherboards?

 

[c-attack]

SPD is Serial Presence Detect and in layman's terms this is the switch to allow or not allow a program to alter the SPD information on the module.  In order for the CUE program to access it's own RAM, it must go through the motherboard and by default Asus and a lot of other motherboards block the feature for security reasons.  Effectively, you can't read or write the lighting profile to the RAM if you block the communication pathway.  Asus makes this wonderfully clear with the classic "double negative to enable".  I don't consider this risky unless you handle a lot of strange files of unknown origin and we've been forced to do this for quite a while.  

 

However, as of CUE 4.29 you no longer need to enable SPD write for DDR5 on Asus boards.  Your new kit should be detected on boot regardless of what you choose.  

Edited November 13, 2022 by c-attack

[HungryHamster]

21 minutes ago, c-attack said:

SPD is Serial Presence Detect and in layman's terms this is the switch to allow or not allow a program to alter the SPD information on the module.  In order for the CUE program to access it's own RAM, it must go through the motherboard and by default Asus and a lot of other motherboards block the feature for security reasons.  Effectively, you can't read or write the lighting profile to the RAM if you block the communication pathway.  Asus makes this wonderfully clear with the classic "double negative to enable".  I don't consider this risky unless you handle a lot of strange files of unknown origin and we've been forced to do this for quite a while.  

 

However, as of CUE 4.29 you no longer need to enable SPD write for DDR5 on Asus boards.  Your new kit should be detected on boot regardless of what you choose.  

Thanks for the response. I'm so glad to hear that they finally got that fixed in a new version of iCUE.

[Praths360]

@c-attack

I am using B650E from NZXT it’s basically a Asrock mobo rebranded. After the latest bios update my RAM vengeance DDR5 has never been detected. Can you help me with how to set SPD for asrock bios?

[c-attack]

23 hours ago, Praths360 said:

After the latest bios update my RAM vengeance DDR5 has never been detected.

This should not be a SPD Write issue for DDR5.  Can you clarify if you mean the BIOS does not properly detect RAM is installed or CUE does not properly detect the RAM?  IS the Vengeance DDR5 listed in the software/firmware module lists?

[Praths360]

@c-attack 

The RAM works perfectly with XMP at 5600 speed. Its never detected in iCUE to set colours or RGB profile. Please see image attached. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Praths360

[c-attack]

OK, so CUE detection issue.  I also notice you have the "mixed memory" problem with CUE falsely believing there are both Vengeance and Vengeance Pro SL sticks in the system.  That problem has been around since CUE launched and has not completely fizzled out yet.  Unfortunately, the only real remedy for that is to do a full clean install.  See the link below.  Make sure you export any valuable profiles before you start the process.  Everything gets erased with this and you will need to reconfigure the CUE Link Hub on the new install.  

 

https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025166712-Perform-a-clean-reinstallation-of-the-Corsair-Utility-Engine-iCUE-

 

[Praths360]

46 minutes ago, c-attack said:

OK, so CUE detection issue.  I also notice you have the "mixed memory" problem with CUE falsely believing there are both Vengeance and Vengeance Pro SL sticks in the system.  That problem has been around since CUE launched and has not completely fizzled out yet.  Unfortunately, the only real remedy for that is to do a full clean install.  See the link below.  Make sure you export any valuable profiles before you start the process.  Everything gets erased with this and you will need to reconfigure the CUE Link Hub on the new install.  

 

https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025166712-Perform-a-clean-reinstallation-of-the-Corsair-Utility-Engine-iCUE-

 

Actually I don’t have mixed memory I got 2 identical kits.

I uninstalled/deleted both RAM from software updates in iCUE now it’s saying detected new hardware and only installed “Vengeance RGB DDR5” this time. Can change RGB colours now 😀. Hope it stays this way after multiple reboots.

Thanks for helping me!!!

I was runnings circles after reading about SPD write, I got NZXT mobo so that I don’t have to install any mobo software on PC so iCUE can run without any conflict. I think iCUE 5.0 is a buggy mess. iCUE link system in iCUE software also keeps showing over-current warring even when I have

controller 1

Port 1 3 fans and AIO 

Port 2 has only 2 fans

Control 2

Port 1 3 fans

Port 2 has 3 fans again

Still the error comes on all 4 ports for both controllers. It’s way below the 7 parts promised by Corsair on each port.

[c-attack]

26 minutes ago, Praths360 said:

Actually I don’t have mixed memory I got 2 identical kits.

I know.  That's the error.  Usually it does not affect RGB performance and I think it was symptomatic of the module corruption rather than dual modules.  So it's working now after deleting both modules?  That's good news and also an improvement.  Prior versions required the full clean install to stop it from occurring again.  

 

The CUE Link Hub 'false overcurrent protection' problem is a known issue.  Unfortunately, I don't know of a user side remedy for it.  It's been lingering for the last two versions.  What's odd is that not everyone is affected and some users like you have a very low per port device count while others are right at the limit and don't get it.  I suspect the underlying problem is going to be some type of 12v ripple variance, much like we saw early on when the product launched and put the Hub into protection mode.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by c-attack

[Praths360]

9 minutes ago, c-attack said:

I know.  That's the error.  Usually it does not affect RGB performance and I think it was symptomatic of the module corruption rather than dual modules.  So it's working now after deleting both modules?  That's good news and also an improvement.  Prior versions required the full clean install to stop it from occurring again.  

 

The CUE Link Hub 'false overcurrent protection' problem is a known issue.  Unfortunately, I don't know of a user side remedy for it.  It's been lingering for the last two versions.  What's odd is that not everyone is affected and some users like you have a very low per port device count while others are right at the limit and don't get it.  I suspect the underlying problem is going to be some type of 12v ripple variance, much like we saw early on when the product launched and put the Hub into protection mode.  

Yup after the RAM uninstalling iCUE restarted and detected the RAM and asked for a restart again finally when iCUE opened again all 4 RAMs are working fine.

Yeah I hope the overcurrent issue is fixed soon. Even I was thinking it’s my PSU and not Corsair as my PSU is coolermaster PCIE 5.0 version but the initial version. I have zero power related issue other than this controller error. I think the love for Corsair makes users like me blind trying to find issues with other brand products.😅 

[Praths360]

20 minutes ago, c-attack said:

I know.  That's the error.  Usually it does not affect RGB performance and I think it was symptomatic of the module corruption rather than dual modules.  So it's working now after deleting both modules?  That's good news and also an improvement.  Prior versions required the full clean install to stop it from occurring again.  

 

The CUE Link Hub 'false overcurrent protection' problem is a known issue.  Unfortunately, I don't know of a user side remedy for it.  It's been lingering for the last two versions.  What's odd is that not everyone is affected and some users like you have a very low per port device count while others are right at the limit and don't get it.  I suspect the underlying problem is going to be some type of 12v ripple variance, much like we saw early on when the product launched and put the Hub into protection mode.  

BTW is there a way to stop iCUE from detecting new hardware all the time? Any switch I can turn on only when I plug-in a new product?

[c-attack]

Well, on some level this may trace back to PSU 12v integrity.  Not necessarily below spec PSUs, but it was evident on the first go round that users with high end Platinum/Titanium PSUs were not often affected and those with lower watt, lower tier PSUs were largely affected.  We'll have to see.  

 

Can you be more specific about what product it is detecting all the time?  The modular nature of CUE 5 will mandate it does a check every time you connect, but it should only download a module on the first connect.  Every subsequent new connection should simply pop up as a device with the pre-existing module.  

[Praths360]

5 hours ago, c-attack said:

Well, on some level this may trace back to PSU 12v integrity.  Not necessarily below spec PSUs, but it was evident on the first go round that users with high end Platinum/Titanium PSUs were not often affected and those with lower watt, lower tier PSUs were largely affected.  We'll have to see.  

 

Can you be more specific about what product it is detecting all the time?  The modular nature of CUE 5 will mandate it does a check every time you connect, but it should only download a module on the first connect.  Every subsequent new connection should simply pop up as a device with the pre-existing module.  

Alright my PSU it’s a 1250W so I don’t capacity should be an issue but about high-end I don’t know as it’s cooler master but have paid lot for this PSU at launch.

Nothing in particular is popping up but to stop iCUE from installing “Vengeance RGB PRO SL” which a DDR4 RAM just had look online.

 

[c-attack]

4 hours ago, Praths360 said:

Nothing in particular is popping up but to stop iCUE from installing “Vengeance RGB PRO SL” which a DDR4 RAM just had look online.

No, that is the error. It’s not suppose to do that and it’s some mis-identification error in that part of the program. It’s been around since launch but the frequency has diminished considerably. It seems to only happen with RAM. If does it again, you’ll want to do the full clean install to get rid of the remnants. 

[Praths360]

2 hours ago, c-attack said:

No, that is the error. It’s not suppose to do that and it’s some mis-identification error in that part of the program. It’s been around since launch but the frequency has diminished considerably. It seems to only happen with RAM. If does it again, you’ll want to do the full clean install to get rid of the remnants. 

Alright thank you