Will my ram work? its not on the QVL

[MedicoreMike]

CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 6400MHz C32 UDIMM Desktop Memory Black CMH64GX5M2Y6400C32 - Best Buy

 

It's not listed on the QVL for Z690 arous elite and I cant use XMP on it.

I just bought a 14900k, and a rog strix z790 gaming-e.  Will I still be SOL on XMP?  its not on their qvl either

[c-attack]

You're saying the Z690 board will not let you engage XMP for that kit?  That is odd.  It's most certainly an Intel kit.  Beyond that whether its on the QVL or even if it's beyond your MB's capabilities it will crash or fail to boot rather than prevent you from engaging the XMP preset in the BIOS.  The Z690 Arous Elite isn't some budget motherboard with a 2 layer PCB.  I would expect it to at least boot, although if you are/were on a Z690 with a 12xxx CPU, 2x32@6400 might not be fully attainable.  

 

The Asus Z790-e + 14900K plus that RAM kit should be no problem.  It terms of functionality, a kit does not need to be on the QVL to work.  The QVL is a list of memory kits the board maker tested.  Which kits they test is often dependent on business relationships and whether the memory manufacturer supplied them with a kit to test --- at the time they were testing.  Some board makers are better than others and keeping the list up to date and continuing to test new kits as they enter the market.  When the Z790 series launched, most 2x32 kits were in the 5200-6000 range and that's were reliable stability topped out.  Now we have pushed 2x32 up to 6600 and that is attainable with upper tier Z790/Z890 and 14xxx or 2xx processors.  I would expect that kit to work with the gear you mentioned and it does not surprise me Asus has not updated the QVL with newer kits.

  

However, the thing to know about going off the QVL and some motherboard makers (your Z790 one in particular) is they sometimes use the QVL aggressively as a way to deny motherboard support and warranty claims.  Plenty of people out there with stories about getting the door slammed in their face the moment they reveal the RAM model and the support agent responds with "your memory is not listed on our QVL, thus we cannot help with your broken M.2 drive cover."  Crashes and blue screens may have a legitimate connection, but unfortunately there are too many instances like the prior statement.  You can avoid this including base information only or being more selective in the kit you list when dealing with a motherboard support issue that cannot possibly be memory related.  

[MedicoreMike]

On 11/13/2024 at 9:41 AM, c-attack said:

You're saying the Z690 board will not let you engage XMP for that kit?  That is odd.  It's most certainly an Intel kit.  Beyond that whether its on the QVL or even if it's beyond your MB's capabilities it will crash or fail to boot rather than prevent you from engaging the XMP preset in the BIOS.  The Z690 Arous Elite isn't some budget motherboard with a 2 layer PCB.  I would expect it to at least boot, although if you are/were on a Z690 with a 12xxx CPU, 2x32@6400 might not be fully attainable.  

 

The Asus Z790-e + 14900K plus that RAM kit should be no problem.  It terms of functionality, a kit does not need to be on the QVL to work.  The QVL is a list of memory kits the board maker tested.  Which kits they test is often dependent on business relationships and whether the memory manufacturer supplied them with a kit to test --- at the time they were testing.  Some board makers are better than others and keeping the list up to date and continuing to test new kits as they enter the market.  When the Z790 series launched, most 2x32 kits were in the 5200-6000 range and that's were reliable stability topped out.  Now we have pushed 2x32 up to 6600 and that is attainable with upper tier Z790/Z890 and 14xxx or 2xx processors.  I would expect that kit to work with the gear you mentioned and it does not surprise me Asus has not updated the QVL with newer kits.

  

However, the thing to know about going off the QVL and some motherboard makers (your Z790 one in particular) is they sometimes use the QVL aggressively as a way to deny motherboard support and warranty claims.  Plenty of people out there with stories about getting the door slammed in their face the moment they reveal the RAM model and the support agent responds with "your memory is not listed on our QVL, thus we cannot help with your broken M.2 drive cover."  Crashes and blue screens may have a legitimate connection, but unfortunately there are too many instances like the prior statement.  You can avoid this including base information only or being more selective in the kit you list when dealing with a motherboard support issue that cannot possibly be memory related.  

 

It might be due to my 13700k having issues, intel is extending warranty and rmaing it.  seems I got a bad one.

I just built a 14900k, havent turned xmp on yet, but its working at base clock.  gonna try xmp in a few.

[MedicoreMike]

Having more issues.  brand new pc, only thing I didnt replace was the ram, because its less than 3 month old.

[c-attack]

That's an unrelated CUE error.  Regardless of whether you have EXPO only, XMP only, or both Intel/AMD presets on the RAM CUE will sometimes throw that error up.  It's annoying to dismiss it each boot, but otherwise harmless.  It does not have an effect on use other than precluding you from using the Performance Manager in CUE to change RAM timings live within Windows.  Don't do that unless you are high in memory training skill and don't mind reinstalling Windows any time it's required.  RAM settings should be changed from the BIOS.  

[MedicoreMike]

2 hours ago, c-attack said:

That's an unrelated CUE error.  Regardless of whether you have EXPO only, XMP only, or both Intel/AMD presets on the RAM CUE will sometimes throw that error up.  It's annoying to dismiss it each boot, but otherwise harmless.  It does not have an effect on use other than precluding you from using the Performance Manager in CUE to change RAM timings live within Windows.  Don't do that unless you are high in memory training skill and don't mind reinstalling Windows any time it's required.  RAM settings should be changed from the BIOS.  

well I just spent the last 4 hours in Q98 hell.

Turned on XMP on my bios, and got stuck with Q98 and Q55  doesnt recongize and reset codes,  I reseated them a dozen times, tried each one single in every slot. Cmos cleared.

In the end, had to yank the ram out my other pc and put it in here to trigger it to reset,

Turning XMP on with this ram will cause my pc to brick.   And this is 2 different pcs.

 

I think I got really bad ram.  Its only a few month old, wasted $235 on this ram that has never been able to be used to its full speed 😞

[c-attack]

This is on the Z790?  Contact Corsair Support snd see what they say. 
 

The other thing you can do is enter manual primary timings and VDD voltage from the XMP values, but drop the frequency to 6200 or 6000. Bad RAM won’t boot there either. However, if it does boot it shows you the hardware limit for this particular combination. 

Edited November 15 by c-attack

[MedicoreMike]

10 hours ago, c-attack said:

This is on the Z790?  Contact Corsair Support snd see what they say. 
 

The other thing you can do is enter manual primary timings and VDD voltage from the XMP values, but drop the frequency to 6200 or 6000. Bad RAM won’t boot there either. However, if it does boot it shows you the hardware limit for this particular combination. 

Yeah both a Gigabyte Z690 Arous Elite with 13700k and a corsair Elite Cappellix & a Asus Rog Strix Z90 Gaming e with 14900k and Corsair Elite LCD XT

I just have to accept I cant XMP it, I cant afford to buy new ram and if I send them myn ram first, I have no working pc to respond to any emals, it sucks, because I bought 2 corsair AIOS, 2 power supplies mouse and keyboard, all seem to work but the ram is foobar and I cant afford to replace it or rma it.

[c-attack]

If you take off XMP and let it boot (should default to JEDEC 4800) does it make it?  If yes, then there is room to work.  If no, then that seems very much like a RAM hardware issue.  

[MedicoreMike]

2 hours ago, c-attack said:

If you take off XMP and let it boot (should default to JEDEC 4800) does it make it?  If yes, then there is room to work.  If no, then that seems very much like a RAM hardware issue.  

When I turned on XMP I had a black screen when I would boot,  Mobo read qcode 98 and 55.  Cmos wouldnt fix.  Changing to 1 stick ram or swapping or removing ram and cmosing.

The only way to reaccess my pc was to take a stick from my other pc and place it in after removing the corsair ram, then it reset the bios.   If I turn xmp on in bios, i black screen,

 

It did this on my gigabyte board too, but after an hour, the pc would come back to life.  Now, it wont come back.  I replaced everything on the pc, new case, new fans, new cpu, new mobo new power supply new cooler.

Only my RTX  4080 and my ram are carried over.  I even bought a new nvme,  Ands I have no issues with my gpu, so all I can think is its the ram, everytime I turn xmp on, its a half day gone, just trying to get my pc to post again.

 

I can take some photos from my bios if you want?

[c-attack]

If you get stuck, hold down the clear CMOS button.  That will reset all BIOS values to default including the RAM frequency to 4800.  That should allow you to boot up and/or access the BIOS screen.  

[MedicoreMike]

1 hour ago, c-attack said:

If you get stuck, hold down the clear CMOS button.  That will reset all BIOS values to default including the RAM frequency to 4800.  That should allow you to boot up and/or access the BIOS screen.  

 

Yeah I did that, not sure if its because I used the BIOS botton on the back of the motherboard, but it didnt work, if I decide to try again Ill record with my phone.  For the moment everything is working and default ram speed is more than enough for me atm for gaming and everything else.  I dont wanna wreck my weekend lol

[MedicoreMike]

On 11/15/2024 at 12:25 PM, c-attack said:

If you get stuck, hold down the clear CMOS button.  That will reset all BIOS values to default including the RAM frequency to 4800.  That should allow you to boot up and/or access the BIOS screen.  

  Proof Cmos doesnt reset it

 

Here is the video, its 33 minutes long and I show that Cmos wont fix the issue.  I have to use a separate stick of ram to even get the pc to return to a bios state.  Issue has happened on both a Gigabyte Z690 Arous Elite, but I can manually get it to 6000mhz but not stable as it crashes hourly and I cant get anything over default with it on a Rog Strix 790 Gaming E.   Gskill ram worked with OC of 6000mhz stable and Patriot ram works without issue

[c-attack]

Not sure what to say.  The entire point of the CMOS button is to correct that.  Occasionally you really get stuck and some people suggest pulling the battery.  On most boards a better first step is to flip the PSU off and hold down the case or motherboard power button for 10-15 seconds to drain all remaining power.  Now hold down clear CMOS and then PSU on and try again.  

 

However, I think we are chasing the wrong end at this point.  While a specific kit might not be fully stable on one board or another for some specific physical characteristic of that material, if you're getting stuck in a boot loop and can't get up at default JEDEC speeds that is something else.  It stands to reason the RAM has some serious flaw.  Contact Corsair Support as means to getting it replaced.  Normally you demonstrate the problem by running a MemTest+ from the BIOS level (your Asus board may have this built in) but you can tell them you can't even get to the BIOS by using clear CMOS with that RAM installed.  

[MedicoreMike]

1 hour ago, c-attack said:

Not sure what to say.  The entire point of the CMOS button is to correct that.  Occasionally you really get stuck and some people suggest pulling the battery.  On most boards a better first step is to flip the PSU off and hold down the case or motherboard power button for 10-15 seconds to drain all remaining power.  Now hold down clear CMOS and then PSU on and try again.  

 

However, I think we are chasing the wrong end at this point.  While a specific kit might not be fully stable on one board or another for some specific physical characteristic of that material, if you're getting stuck in a boot loop and can't get up at default JEDEC speeds that is something else.  It stands to reason the RAM has some serious flaw.  Contact Corsair Support as means to getting it replaced.  Normally you demonstrate the problem by running a MemTest+ from the BIOS level (your Asus board may have this built in) but you can tell them you can't even get to the BIOS by using clear CMOS with that RAM installed.  

Yeah I tried that, I cant get to a live agent to talk to because it demands a serial number which my old eyes can not read.  CPUZ doesnt pick up the serial number either.  I have my proof of purchase invoice, but I cant get through supports AI bot so I am kind of stuck hoping somebody from corsair would read the forums and reply.

 

See?  No serial number posts and I cant read the tiny print on the back of the ram.

 

[c-attack]

Serial number should be on the sticker located on each module.  If you are having trouble reading it, take a picture zoomed in and post that to the agent.  

[MedicoreMike]

53 minutes ago, c-attack said:

Serial number should be on the sticker located on each module.  If you are having trouble reading it, take a picture zoomed in and post that to the agent.  

you cant get past the automated system without the number.

Even using the CMD command doesnt show the serial number.  Ill try and take a photo of the number if I can, really wish there was an easier way to contact support, guessing corsair doesnt read the forums

 

[c-attack]

Need to get you a better RAM reader.  Taiphoon Burner will read the serial number off the internal storage.  It is no longer being serviced and the last version is something v17.4.  Be careful where you download from.  Make sure you quit CUE prior to running TB.  When the small window loads, click on the READ quick button on the app.  This is not in the drop down menus.  That should give you the serial number.  Not a fan of the new chatbot either.  

Edited November 19 by c-attack

[MedicoreMike]

Just now, c-attack said:

Need to get you a better RAM reader.  Taiphoon Burner will read the serial number off the internal storage.  It is no longer being serviced and the last version is something v17.4.  Be careful where you download from.  Make sure you quit CUE prior to running TB.  When the small window loads, click on the READ quick button on the app.  This is not in the drop down menus.  That should give you the serial number.  

Have a link?  I tried using both the cmd command as well as CPU-z  Ill try and find that software you mention

[MedicoreMike]

This is my ram I ran a memtest86 and got no errors, so I dont think Ill qualify for RMA and both motherboards wont rma because ram is not on their(or any) QVL list.  I am pretty much screwed out of $280 dollars

[c-attack]

I am not sure what the issue is here.  It's clearly intended for Intel boards, but if it won't boot at 4800 default on either a Z690 or Z790 then what was it intended for?  Is a 2x32 kit of DDR5.  It can't be meant for anything else except those two boards.  I can see it being difficult on the Z690 with a 12xxx CPU and it's weaker internal memory controller, but this should not be an issue on Z790 with a 14900K.  All I can think is some setting is not getting properly set, but when you have to clear CMOS and reset the BIOS to defaults all RAM settings should go to Auto (not XMP) and it should try to boot at 4800.  That should be attainable.  

[MedicoreMike]

4 hours ago, c-attack said:

I am not sure what the issue is here.  It's clearly intended for Intel boards, but if it won't boot at 4800 default on either a Z690 or Z790 then what was it intended for?  Is a 2x32 kit of DDR5.  It can't be meant for anything else except those two boards.  I can see it being difficult on the Z690 with a 12xxx CPU and it's weaker internal memory controller, but this should not be an issue on Z790 with a 14900K.  All I can think is some setting is not getting properly set, but when you have to clear CMOS and reset the BIOS to defaults all RAM settings should go to Auto (not XMP) and it should try to boot at 4800.  That should be attainable.  

It boots at default 4800.  That isnt the issue.  It wont XMP at all.  It's rated for 6400.  I paid extra for the faster ram.  But I cant use it.  I had slower GSkill ram that XMP hit 6000.

I contacted both Gigabyte and Asus, who both told me that I should return it and buy ram on the QVL.  Sadly I am past the return date and cant seem to get the help from corsair.  So I have some really expensive 4800hz ram by corsair.  It sucks. But crap happens.

[c-attack]

22 hours ago, MedicoreMike said:

I contacted both Gigabyte and Asus, who both told me that I should return it and buy ram on the QVL. 

Unfortunately that is the standard response and how most motherboard manufacturers use their QVL.  Support terminated.

 

22 hours ago, MedicoreMike said:

It boots at default 4800.  That isnt the issue.  It wont XMP at all.  It's rated for 6400.

OK, that makes a difference and gives you something to work with.  XMP is an overclocking preset.  You have a bunch of them buried in your Asus BIOS to make your 14900K run at 5.8x8 all core.  Doesn't mean your specific CPU can do it.  Same thing goes with RAM.  There are three key parts -- the RAM material itself, the motherboard, and the internal memory controller on your CPU.  A weakness in any of those areas will cause you problems.  What you need to do here is manually set your RAM values and it's not as difficult as you might think.  I can help you with Asus BIOS settings.

 

1) Reboot the PC and enter the BIOS.  Press F7 to enter the Advanced BIOS if it defaults to the EZ BIOS with graphs and pictures.

2) The second column from the left with be called AI Tweaker or Extreme Tweaker depending on the Asus board model.  Make sure XMP is OFF at the top of that column.  Asus uses multiple training states in that box.  Anything except XMP is fine.

3) Arrow key over to it and head down about 6-8 rows.  You are looking for the DRAM frequency option.  Set it to 6000.

4) Go down 1-2 more rows looking for DRAM Timing control.  This is a sub-menu within AI Tweaker.

   a) You will enter the XMP primary timing values in the first several boxes going down.

   b)  Enter the XMP values in the primary timings boxes (pic below).  Asus includes an extra RAS to CAS Write box most others don't display, so you will have an extra "40" to duplicate the RAS Read value.

   c) Leave all other settings on Auto.  The BIOS will set conservative values based on DRAM timing rules aimed at letting you boot.

5) Go back to the main AI Tweaker column and go all the way to the bottom.  You are looking for VDD Voltage 1-2 rows from the end.  This is the DRAM main voltage.  Enter 1.35.

6) Save and exit the BIOS from the column on the far right side.  

 

6000 2x32 is a an easier step.   Most boards start to struggle between 6400-6600.  We know yours is struggling at 6400.  

 

Edited November 22 by c-attack

[MedicoreMike]

3 hours ago, c-attack said:

Unfortunately that is the standard response and how most motherboard manufacturers use their QVL.  Support terminated.

 

OK, that makes a difference and gives you something to work with.  XMP is an overclocking preset.  You have a bunch of them buried in your Asus BIOS to make your 14900K run at 5.8x8 all core.  Doesn't mean your specific CPU can do it.  Same thing goes with RAM.  There are three key parts -- the RAM material itself, the motherboard, and the internal memory controller on your CPU.  A weakness in any of those areas will cause you problems.  What you need to do here is manually set your RAM values and it's not as difficult as you might think.  I can help you with Asus BIOS settings.

 

1) Reboot the PC and enter the BIOS.  Press F7 to enter the Advanced BIOS if it defaults to the EZ BIOS with graphs and pictures.

2) The second column from the left with be called AI Tweaker or Extreme Tweaker depending on the Asus board model.  Make sure XMP is OFF at the top of that column.  Asus uses multiple training states in that box.  Anything except XMP is fine.

3) Arrow key over to it and head down about 6-8 rows.  You are looking for the DRAM frequency option.  Set it to 6000.

4) Go down 1-2 more rows looking for DRAM Timing control.  This is a sub-menu within AI Tweaker.

   a) You will enter the XMP primary timing values in the first several boxes going down.

   b)  Enter the XMP values in the first set of boxes (pic below).  Asus includes an extra RAS to CAS Write box most others don't display, so you will have an extra "40" to duplicate the RAS Read value.

   c) Leave all other settings on Auto.  The BIOS will set conservative values based on DRAM timing rules aimed at letting you boot.

5) Go back to the main AI Tweaker column and go all the way to the bottom.  You are looking for VDD Voltage 1-2 rows from the bottom.  This is the DRAM main voltage.  Enter 1.35.

6) Save and exit the BIOS from the column on the far right side.  

 

6000 2x32 is a an easier step.   Most boards start to struggle between 6400-6600.  We know yours is struggling at 6400.  

 

Thanks Ill give this a try over the weekend and report back

[MedicoreMike]

Not had time to test yet due to back issues and the holidays, Ill report back when I test