z170m extreme 4 and unsupported ram

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   Hello,
I just got a z170m extreme 4 for my new build. 

I had some troubles with system stability after installation, especially blue screens and a couple of corrupted installations. Turned out it was the ram fault, so I got rid of the xpm profile, set them to default clock 2133mhz and now it seems to work. 

Then I tried to raise it to 2666mhz, but I experienced another problem. System could not reboot after being turned off unless I unplugged the psu first (probably needing to discharge something), else I would get no POST. At that time I also had a mild overclock (4200 mhz on a i5 6600k). Again, defaulting to 2133mhz seems to have solved the problem. 

My rams are two  Ripjaws 5 3200 (F4-3200C16D-16GVGB)  and I just noticed in this page (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170M%20Extreme4/?cat=Memory) they are not supported. I also noticed that you suggest for 2pcs (DS) to use A1 and B1 slot, while I use A2 and B2 due to cooler clearance. 

Now, I have two questions:

1- Can I assume the problems I have experienced were caused by the ram only? Could it partly be a motherboard problem or some other component? Should I worry for the future?

2-I don't care about 3200mhz, but I'm a bit unsatisfied with 2133mhz. Can you advice me a BIOS configuration to push them a bit remaining in the motherboard capabilities? Is it ok to keep them in A2/B2 slots? 

Thank you in advance for your help 

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alessiocpt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 20 May 2016 Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote alessiocpt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: z170m extreme 4 and unsupported ram Posted: 20 May 2016 at 2:41am
	Hello, I just got a z170m extreme 4 for my new build. I had some troubles with system stability after installation, especially blue screens and a couple of corrupted installations. Turned out it was the ram fault, so I got rid of the xpm profile, set them to default clock 2133mhz and now it seems to work. Then I tried to raise it to 2666mhz, but I experienced another problem. System could not reboot after being turned off unless I unplugged the psu first (probably needing to discharge something), else I would get no POST. At that time I also had a mild overclock (4200 mhz on a i5 6600k). Again, defaulting to 2133mhz seems to have solved the problem. My rams are two Ripjaws 5 3200 (F4-3200C16D-16GVGB) and I just noticed in this page (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170M%20Extreme4/?cat=Memory) they are not supported. I also noticed that you suggest for 2pcs (DS) to use A1 and B1 slot, while I use A2 and B2 due to cooler clearance. Now, I have two questions: 1- Can I assume the problems I have experienced were caused by the ram only? Could it partly be a motherboard problem or some other component? Should I worry for the future? 2-I don't care about 3200mhz, but I'm a bit unsatisfied with 2133mhz. Can you advice me a BIOS configuration to push them a bit remaining in the motherboard capabilities? Is it ok to keep them in A2/B2 slots? Thank you in advance for your help

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 May 2016 at 1:02pm
	How do you know if your G.SKILL F4-3200C16D-16GVGB memory is the DS (Double Sided) type? It might be, the G.SKILL specs don't say if it is SS or DS. If you look at the sticks and see memory chips equally divided on both sides of the circuit board, then it is DS memory. Chips only on one side, then SS, Single Sided. I would never assume one hardware issue (memory compatibility) is the only cause for any other problem. PCs are too complex to assume anything. In your case, it seems you only have problems when manually over clocking your memory. Only you know if that is true, and only time will tell if you have other problems in the future. If your memory is only partially compatible with your board, you might have memory related issues in the future. XMP profiles don't just change the memory speed. They change memory timings, memory voltage, and memory related voltages. If you just set the memory to 2666 and adjusted nothing else, that would explain your problem. I have seen G.SKILL XMP profiles fail to work on some ASRock Z170 boards. The workaround is to set things manually. This procedure has worked for me: Once in the UEFI/BIOS, if you have non-default settings other than the memory settings that you use, save them in a profile first. That is done in the OC Tweaker screen. We'll try to OC your memory without any CPU OC, if you do that. Next, go to the Exit screen and click on Load UEFI Defaults. If you use any non-default settings that are not related to a CPU OC, like RAID, selecting video card instead of iGPU, etc, set those now. When done Save and Exit the UEFI, and go right back in again. Go to the DRAM Configuration screen. Select the XMP profile in the Load XMP Setting option. I do this even though it does not seem to work completely. Select the memory speed, you can try 3000 if you want to, otherwise choose 2666. In the same screen, click on the DRAM Tweaker option. That lets you select all the timing settings by checking each one, and then click Ok. Choose the 3000 speed timings to click on, it should be the one on the right side. Next go to the Voltage Configuration screen, in the OC Tweaker screen. Set the DRAM Voltage to 1.35V. Set VCCIO Voltage to 1.120V. Set VCCSA Voltage to 1.160V. You might need to increase VCCIO and/or VCCSA a little more if the PC won't boot. Save and exit the UEFI, and see if the PC boots. If so hopefully your stability problems will no longer exist. If the PC fails to boot, reduce the memory speed and/or increase the VCCIO and VCCSA voltages. It won't damage your memory to use them in the A2 and B2 slots, if they are DS type memory. But you can't expect them to OC as well if they are DS and you aren't using the A1 and B1 slots. That warning is not in the Memory Support List for no reason.


alessiocpt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 20 May 2016 Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote alessiocpt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21 May 2016 at 7:00pm
	Hello, thank you for your support. The ram sticks have ICs on one side only but as far as I read online Gskill Ripjaws are DS. Anyway, I followed your instruction and I could not set VCCIO and VCSSA to those exact values because my motherboard only allows me the default values or 1.2v. I thought this value to be a bit high but I read online this is actually used in 3000+ overclocks so i gave it a shot. I had a 50% chance of post both at 3000 and 2800 but I could eventually stabilize at 2666. Then I got a doubt. An awful doubt. As you suggested I didn't change the voltage values because I thought they would be set automatically based on the other setting, as it happens for many others. What if XMP did not change the voltage values? After all, automatically manageable setting usually have an "Auto" entry, but these voltages no, and moreover they have only two values which may be not the one specified in the XMP. RESULT: I run my XMP at 3200mhz on the "wrong" slots and it's perfectly stable at VCSSA/VCCIO 1.2v, DRAM voltage 1.35v . So, as you understood I'm not used with overclocks. I dunno if this XMP behavior is ok, I know my friend with similar sticks and different motherboard did not have to tweak anything. Is it a bug or a feature? Also maybe try it yourself and add these ram sticks to the compatibility list. Thank you very much for your help though, I wouldn't have made it this far without you.