Synica1

So I fudged around with this one for a bit... I started off by lowering the VDD & VDDQ voltages back to 1.25, to see if it was the memory controller that resolved the initial errors. Every time a test caught some errors I stopped it early, and bumped up the VDD & VDDQ voltages up by 0.005.... and ended up right back at 1.275 when it finally passed. My hypothesis is either the number of 16 GB DIMMs (4), or the use of two First Edition sets, led to the need for a bit of extra voltage to maintain stability. I did end up skipping the hammer test, because something occurred to me... the OS, apps, and games were installed before I realized memory errors were happening. While I don't really want to, going to go ahead and wipe the drives and do a clean install to avoid any potential issues down the road. And with that, I think our story is pretty much done. Happy building!

Looks like bumping the voltage did the trick! For this test, left it on XMP II, set VDD/VDDQ voltage to 1.275, and the memory controller to 1.25625. I'd noticed that in the Bios Advanced landing page, the memory controller voltage was often running a little below the 1.25 setting. Next up, I'll run the full 13 test cycle and we'll see if it remains stable.

I know iCUE can handle ASUS mobo's with the Aura plugin (see post at Corsair), but I dunno if that also allows you to control an ASUS AiO through iCUE.

Finished up a third test late last night/this morning. Went back to the XMP II profile from the first cycle, and bumped VDD/VDDQ voltage from 2.25 -> 2.265. For the next test, I'm going to bump up the VDD/VDDQ and memory controller voltage by 0.00625.

For the second test, I switched to the XMP I profile, with the same 9 test setup. Definitely a step in the wrong direction, as the system completely halted at 50% of pass #4 with 19 errors; couldn't save the report, so here's a screenshot.

Alrighty, I've started testing. First up, was updating from bios version 0702 to the newly release 0803 (released 12/3/21, https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/BIOS/ROG-STRIX-Z690-E-GAMING-WIFI-ASUS-0803.ZIP) Kept all bios and memory settings the same (XMP II profile), and ran memtest again: Not too bad, but I want to get it to 100% pass, before I run the complete 13 test cycle. Next, I'll swap to the XMP I profile and see what impact that has.

The braided cable splitters could be the highest quality out there - but if they aren't powered, that's where problems can come in. You're probably OK with the two radiator fans on CPU_OPT, since it's got a rated max current of 1A, and the ML140 fan specs show a 0.2A draw. Depending on what kind of fans you're using for intake plugged into CHA_FAN4, and what the rated draw for them is, you may run into issues. Remember, that 1A is the MAX current it's spec'd for, not what you want to pull continuously. I'd keep the total for the fans at 0.7A or lower - probably better to spread them out to a few of the other headers. For potential iCUE performance hits, I'd have to defer that question to someone with more knowledge about it. I remember hearing there was some issues with version 3.X, but I haven't personally noticed any impact and my current version is 4.17.244. However, I predominately play MMOs and adventure type games like Death Stranding, so I'm not as sensitive to frame rates as a FPS or fast-twitch gamer would be.

Yes, 0803 is the bios version that dropped today (ROG STRIX Z690-E GAMING WIFI | ROG Strix | Gaming Motherboards｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG USA (asus.com)). For iCUE, once you have everything set the way you like, make sure to export your profile(s). That way, if you ever reinstall Windows/iCUE you can just import them and be done, instead of setting everything up all over again.

As long as the splitter is a powered hardware board type, I would think it should be OK. Personally, I try to avoid cable based splitters since I've seen so many stories of bad things happening with them. Out of curiosity, any reason you prefer the bios over iCue, or just personal preference? Speaking of, Asus dropped an updated version (0803) earlier today.

I've got 8 fans, and use a Commander Core and Lighting Node Core. I avoid cable based splitters, but if you absolutely have to use one, I'd recommend a powered board-type splitter, like on some mid-high end cases (one came with my Fractal Design Meshify S2, for example). Hope that helps!

I have the same motherboard with an H150i Elite LCD that also has a Commander Core. Pump tach cable is connected the same as yours - for the radiator fans, why use a splitter on the CPU_OPT? I'd recommend plugging the Commander Core in there, and connecting your radiator fans to the Commander Core. Then use iCUE to control your fans however you'd like; I've attached a snip of mine for reference.

Hey everyone, I've seen a couple of threads regarding issues with Dominator DDR5 timings and stability, and thought I'd share my experience in case it may provide some small bit of assistance. First, some background on the system components I'm working with. I pre-ordered an i9-12900K during the Alder Lake launch, and paired it with an Asus ROG Strix Z690-E motherboard. I was fortunate enough to acquire some Dominator First Edition (FE) memory when that launched, along with decent storage and cooling options. There was a minor hiccup with the AiO, but got ironed out fairly quickly. Onto the build! I started off the build by backing up profiles and swapping the previous components into my wife's case as a trickle-down upgrade, and made sure there were no "fit" issues with my Meshify S2 case - I knew the Dominator memory was taller than average and went with a 360mm cooler instead of the 420mm, and everything looked to fit as expected/intended. The biggest issue with assembly was routing the custom sleeved cables I ordered from Titan Rig (ModOne); I used those, because I wanted to upgrade from AWG 18 to AWG 16, and being able to choose the color for each sleeve allowed me to make my own pattern. Measuring ahead of time made the cable routing process much easier (and kept the cost down slightly), especially as I'd expected them to be slightly stiffer due to the sleeving and thicker wires. Finally, it was time to boot this beautiful beast up! And that's where things started to go a little sideways, due to a combination of defective hardware and my own missteps. The motherboard shipped with bios version 0502, which I promptly updated to 0702. I went through and updated various bios settings to what I remembered using from previous builds, and proceeded to the Windows 11 install process.... and the keyboard/mouse locked up almost immediately. I verified XHCI settings, legacy settings, and so forth, and still no luck after multiple reboots and web searches on my tablet. So, it was time to start troubleshooting - I pulled all USB devices except for the keyboard & mouse, and still no luck. Time to go under the hood... decided to run the built in memtest86, and started getting errors almost immediately. Shut everything down, and pulled all but one DIMM - I was still getting memtest errors in slot A2, so I moved it to B2, where it passed the "stock" (tests 1-9) 4-pass check. Tested each DIMM in both of the FE sets in slot B2, one by one. All passed the 4-pass test with the XMP II profile enabled. Next, I used one DIMM to check each slot, and found slots A1 and A2 were bad - A1 was so bad, the bios menu showed up as 1/3 Japanese, 1/3 French, and 1/3 blank - the system completely locked at 27% of test #3 (pass 1), and I shut 'er down after waiting 30 minutes to see if it would move. Reached out to Newegg and got authorization to RMA it, with the replacement arriving earlier this week. Backed up the bios settings to a USB drive and got the replacement motherboard swapped in without too much fuss (extra set of hands helped hold things out of the way). Booted right up with a DIMM in A2, so I updated the bios from 0502 to 0702 again and restored the backed up settings. Restarted, and everything looked to be running smoothly so I shut everything down again and installed the second FE set. Everything still appeared to be working well, except for that li'l voice in the back of my head saying "are you sure....?" Figured I'd do another memtest run on the full 64 GB of RAM while I watched Thursday night football, still using the XMP II settings. First two passes completed without a hitch, but it pulled an error in passes 3 and 4 (one error in each). Compared to what it was pulling on the previous motherboard, that's way better - but it should be zero errors. And that brings us to today. After sleeping on it, the next things I want to try are a slight bump to the voltage (from 1.25v to 1.2625v), and if that doesn't work I'll try dropping the frequency from 5200MHz to 4800MHz. Once I'm done with work I'll give those a shot, and report back on how it went. Lessons learned: With the launch of a new chipset version, processor line, and memory specification, there's going to be some growing pains. Hopefully, future bios updates will smooth this out over time. Using two 32GB sets of Dominator FE may not have been the best idea, but there wasn't a 64GB option available at the time. In hindsight, the 2x32 GB C38 kit might have been the better choice, but I don't remember it being available at the time. Take the time to test each DIMM and memory slot, one at a time, before moving on to OS and software/game installation. This is important for Windows 11, especially if you end up having to replace certain hardware and you have BitLocker enabled! At the least, a motherboard swap (even for the exact same model) will result in a hardware ID mismatch that requires re-activation of Windows, and resetting any Hello authentication methods. Worse case, you'll lose access to a drive with Bitlocker, unless you've got the key backed up/printed out. Be patient, and don't make assumptions. I was leaning towards thinking the memory was bad, based on the POST codes from the original motherboard... until I started testing, and realized my assumptions were incorrect. Start off with the more conservative XMP II settings before pushing it further. I'm not doing a full-on OC build, so can't help much beyond that. Hope that helps! Happy building, and I'll report back on if the voltage tweaks or frequency changes iron out those last, pesky errors!

If the Aorus motherboards use a similar bios to ASUS, you may need to enable SPD Write setting before iCUE will "see" the memory. For my ASUS bios, the setting was in the overclocking (Tweakers Paradise) section - once I changed "SPD Write Disable" to FALSE, iCue picked it up right away.

XMP timings for FE should be 36-38-38-74, at 1.25v for 5200MHz. 4800MHz baseline SPD timings is 40-40-40-77 at 1.1v.

I'd start off with setting it to XMP II, and verify the correct settings are applied after restarting. Next, use memtest to check one stick of RAM at a time, and then check each DIMM slot. If the Z690 Hero is similar to the Strix Z690-E, memory should go into the A2 and/or B2 slots first, then A1 and B1. My original Strix Z690-E board turned out to have two bad DIMM slots (A1 & A2), one of which wouldn't even finish running memtest.