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Stabelinzing DDR4 with Infinity Fabric banner

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This is a short How-To fix AMD Ryzen with RAM issues on X370 that results in memory errors that will either prevent a PC from booting, the orange light blinking on the motherboard, the memory error Q-Codes. This works for Ryzen 1000 and 2000 series on X370 and B350 motherboards. Some QVL and none QVL RAM kits for a motherboard might have an issue with running the rated speed. This is the result of the Infinity Fabric not being stable, but the memory can run the rated speed. In the case of high-frequency kits over 3600 MHz running at a lower frequency with tighter timings is the only option but also improves performance over just running a higher frequency.

Buying DDR4 RAM kit(s) for Ryzen.

In short when looking to buy a RAM kit you want DDR4 memory kits that are 3200 MHz with C14, 3600 MHz with C15 or C16 and 4000 MHz with C17. In the case of buying a 4000 MHz kit for Ryzen, you only want to consider that if you intend to lower the frequency and tighten the timings. But this article is for those who already bought a memory kit but can not run it at the rated speed.

Where to start?

First, it is important to establish the quality of your RAM kit. Using Thaiphoon Burner to read on of your memory sticks. Important that QVL or none QVL is only important with Samsung B-die, Micron E-die and Hynix C-die. And then second the quality of those ICs this is translated into a low tCL speed in combination with higher frequency. First, start with reading one of the memory sticks with Thaiphoon burner.

  1. Show the number of ranks.
  2. Shows the PCB quality.
  3. The manufacture of the IC modules.
  4. Die version and stick capacity.
  5. IC size.

The information established here is when the RAM kit is not QVL you want to make sure under one is that you have one rank of modules, under two that the PCB quality is A0 or A1 with 8 or 10 layers on the PCB for signal integrity. That under 3 and 4 you have either have Samsung B-die, Micron E-die or Hynix C-die(CJR) and that under five it is confirmed single rank. This should make for a Ryzen friendly RAM kit even though it might not be on the QVL list of your motherboard. As an example below is a G.Skill RAM kit that is not on the QVL for my ASUS X370-F motherboard but with a bit of work it will run the rated 3466MHz speed with the XMP timings.

How does it work?

To have this kit run the rated speed and be stable by passing a Linpack Xtreme 10 run stress test involves four settings that have to be adjusted in the BIOS. The reason the PC is unstable is not so much the RAM kit is the Infinity Fabric that is unstable. 

  1. SoC Voltage.
  2. ProcODT.
  3. Gear Down Mode.
  4. CLDO VDDP Voltage.

Starting with the important note that these settings are for XMP profiles if you want to overclock these settings will still apply; however, in different values.

  • Start with SoC voltage you want to be in the 1.1v to 1.15v range for XMP.
  • The next setting is ProcODT you want to be in the 48 ohms to 53 ohms range.
  • Gear Down Mode will need to be enabled.
  • And finally, CLDO VDDP voltage needs to be in the 850mv ~ 950mv range this value is in mv.

Important to note that no RAM kit is the same so you will need to tinker with the ProcODT and CLDO VDDP Voltage. The above none QVL kit from G.Skill with Hynix C-die was stable with 1.1v SoC, 53.3 ohms ProcODT, 905mv CLDO VDDP voltage and Gear Down Mode enabled. No timings were changed nor was DRAM voltage increased this would leave room for overclocking the frequency or timings or even both. However, this would require more work and is not for everyone but is covered in separate articles linked at the top of this page.

MaxxMem2 infinity fabric stabilized DDR4 benchmark G.Skill Hynix C-die

And here is another none QVL kit this time from Corsair with Hynix A-die. To run the XMP profile stable 1.1v SOC, 53.3 ohms ProcODT, 920mv CLDO VDDP voltage and Gear Down Mode enabled. With this DDR4 kit, it is essential to illustrate that 5mv was the difference in being stable or unstable and how sensitive CLDO VDDP voltage is.

MaxxMem2 infinity fabric stabilized DDR4 benchmark Corsair Hynix A-die

Troubleshooting.

In some cases, random shutdowns might occur. This can be in combination with a CPU overclock. There are several issues related to unexpected shutdowns, PSU might be broken or of low quality, C-States of the CPU, ProcODT is too high or too low, and CLDO VDDP is too high to low. Take the following steps to troubleshoot.

  1. Check the 12v rail of your PSU with HWiNFO64. The 12V rail needs to be 12V or more. If it is below 12V at any point in time, this could be the cause of the random shutdowns.
  2. Check the Windows Event Viewer, go to System and looks for Errors on hardware to get an indication.
  3. Reset your PC to default settings in the BIOS. Then either the CPU or Memory/Infinity Fabric was unstable. Run the CPU stock with the memory settings applied and visa versa.
  4. Under AMD CBS set Global C-States On or OFF. 
  5. Set ProcODT 1 step below or above the value previously used.
  6. Adjust CLDO VDDP 25mv up or down. When being able to pass 1 Linpack Xtreme but fail the next one or in between a hardware failure occurs, adjust with 5mv up or down.

It could be a combination of settings with my test rig it was a bad PSU that has less than 12 volts on the 12-volt rail for the CPU. 

- Paul "HisEvilness" Ripmeester


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