RAM issues... :( 570 STEEL LEGEND / Ryzen 7 3800X

I wish you could edit your own posts here ... anyhoo , it's possible you might have gotten a dud 3800x with a wonky memory controller as it's built in to the cpu.

For example .. on my daughters ASRaock B350 Fatal1ty Gaming itx/ac .. I run 2 old 16GB Team Group PC3000 sticks that I had to dial back to 2866 to run stable with a 2700x ... I just upgraded her to a 3600x and memory can run its XMP profile (PC3000) without issue now

shootermcgavin wrote: Ballistics Sport LT are not on the QVL for the Steel Legend Wifi Ax.... Are these dual rank sticks? https://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/HX432C16PB3K4_64.pdf

Well, the exact 3200 16GB dual-rank modules I have are not on the QVL, but 3000 8GB single-rank modules are listed, and they supposedly use the same Micron e-die chips (the SKU ends with *AES + 2 letters for color code). These IC are known to be overclockable, even though the timings are not as tight as on expensive Samsung b-die sticks. Also, AFAIK those Samsung based sticks are only available in single-rank 8 GB, they don't come in 16 GB per stick. So if you want 64 GB at a good price, Micron e-die is your best bet IMO. Crucial Ballistix is basically Micron's consumer brand. I saw online that some OLOy sticks also Micron e-die based, those are also rated at 3200 16-18-18-38. Other than that, as I mentioned in my previous post, Patriot sticks based on Hynix CJR are cheap, and seem to be clocking well enough for Ryzen (basically, up to 3600 with 1:1 with IF).

All in all, with 4 sticks of dual-rank don't expect to be able to just set XMP and be done, it probably won't work. If you like to tinker, then use Thaiphoon Burner to read the info about your particular memory, then use Ryzen DRAM calculator utility to see what clocks/timings you can set. This will be a starting point, then if the system is not stable, drop the clocks in 66 MHz steps, and/or bump the timings 1-2 ticks, try changing VDDP and SoC voltages within the safe margins, and see if it'll stabilize. Some modules also clock higher with more memory voltage beyond 1.35v set by XMP, and up to 1.45v can be used daily (manufacturers now ship 5000 MT/s DDR4 kits running at 1.5v XMP). If you don't have time or desire for tinkering, then don't stress too much about not being able to reach higher clocks. The difference between 3600 and something like 2933 is single digit %s in most scenarios, the price of the 3800X is 2/3 of 9900K while being basically on par in terms of performance, and on top of that allowing you to use PCIe 4.0 SSD, for example.