DDR5 Gigabyte 7/22-25/2022 Bios Updates Supports G.Skill at 6000 Mhz

[wdseith]

As of 7/25/2022, Gigabyte has released bios updates for all their DDR5 motherboards that "supports and powers up Intel next generation processor." I'm guessing this verbiage is referring to the upcoming 13th gen Intel Core processors. There is no mention of any tweaks to memory support, but when I installed bios version F20a on my Gigabyte Aorus Master, my computer booted right up with 4 sticks of F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK, 6000 Mhz, CL36, 1.35v without a hitch. I was even able to dial down the CL to 30 and have the system pass an Aida64 stress test. I also tried pushing the RAM speed to 6200 Mhz, but that wouldn't boot. So with the new bios, I'm now able to run my four 6000 Mhz sticks at their rated speed, and even be stable at a CL of 30.

BTW, the success here was without Dynamic Memory Boost on. Perhaps with that on, I could push the speed past 6000 Mhz. I may try that for curiosity sake, but I'm satisfied at the moment just getting the rated speed out of the 4 sticks I have and have them be rock solid stable with a CL of 30.

Many thanks to the G.Skill tech team for working with Gigabyte and other motherboard manufactures to help make combinations like mine work like a charm.

[Wrayths]

So you can't even overclock as promoted by marketing?

[wdseith]

Wrayths, please read my earlier posts here. The issue is related to Intel's 12th gen limitations more than anything else. I'm running 4 sticks of DDR5 RAM rather than 2. As a consequence, Intel only officially supports a RAM speed of up to 4000 Mhz for DDR5. Anything over that is considered "overclocked". So yes, the marketing can be a bit misleading unless you read the fine print. This is also a brand new RAM implementation that is still going through growing pains. As an early adopter, I expected issues like this would come up when I jumped in. Nevertheless, I am a very experienced builder who's been doing cutting edge builds since the 1970's when I was in high school. I've learned though my experience to be tenacious and patient all at the same time. Tenacious in my efforts to try every possible combination to maximize performance with what I have, but also patient enough to wait for others in the field to catch up.

The post above was intended to put other users who have had similar issues with getting their DDR5 to post at the rated speed on the package, at ease that progress is being made. The recent bios tweaks that all motherboard manufacturers have been making to support Intel's 13th gen processors (due out in the fall of this year) is having a positive impact on DDR5 support. Interestingly, there have also been some indications that Intel's 13th gen will officially support 5600 Mhz DDR5 rather than 12th gen's 4800 Mhz. Again, however, this is only with 2 sticks of RAM, so with 4 sticks or for RAM speeds above that, we're again overclocking.

Finally, for whatever its worth, here's my experience to date with my G.Skill kits that are rated at 6000 Mhz, CL36, 1.35v, on a Gigabyte Aorus Master motherboard PRIOR to the most recent bios update--With all 4 sticks installed, they would post at 5800 Mhz with no issues. At 6000 Mhz, they would post with Dynamic Memory Boost turned on after about 10 minutes of training, but would occasionally be unstable. At 5800 Mhz, I was able to dial down the CL to 30 and have the system remain stable. Exhaustive bench testing with this setup showed good results that were comparable to running the RAM at 6000 Mhz with a CL of 36.

With the new bios release from Gigabyte mentioned in my OP, all 4 sticks now post at 6000 Mhz and a CL of 36 within seconds rather than tens of minutes. And that's with Dynamic Memory Boost turned off. Because of that success, I decided to also try dialing down the CL to 30 again as I did at 5800 Mhz. Again, the system posted with that setup within seconds. So now, I have a rock-solid stable system running at the advertised package RAM speed and a CL that is a bit better than advertised. Again, all of this with 4 sticks of RAM rather than 2. Exhaustive bench testing with this setup showed processor and memory performance improvements in the single digits over my 5800 Mhz setup. Not a huge change, but enough to be noticeable on bench tests. In real-world desktop usage or in gaming, this improvement is not really noticeable at all, but I at least know I now have the system maxed out.

I would have to go back and look at your earlier posts to remember what setup you have, but if your motherboard manufacturer has a bios update that was released recently, I highly recommend you download it and give it a try to see how you fair. You may have better success than I have.

[Wrayths]

Now that you mentioned 13gen Intel I might wait since it's Oct17 release.

I'm more interested in the Royal ram style going on DDR5 at the beginning so people can actually get it rather than at the end. They can simply insert the DDR5 into the DDR4 Royal elite chassis, but they seem to not care if people need it. I want to know the exact excuse of marketing to see if it's a bs excuse. I'm not getting gskill racing stripe ddr5.

[Wrayths]

https://www.gskill.us/forum/forum/pr...dr5#post168398

[wdseith]

If you wait until the fall when Intel's 13th gen is released, you'll probably be in good shape. Releasing the highest end version of new products first before releasing lower cost and less capable versions is nothing new. That includes all tech products that I can think of. Been done that way for decades.

[Wrayths]

that doesn't help with royal elite on ddr5

[wdseith]

Just found a new bios update on the Gigabyte support site for the Aorus Master Z690. Curiously, Gigabyte went from version F20a released the third week of July to version F8 supposedly released on August 12 (though I've been monitoring site for updates and just saw it there today). F8 contains notes about improvements to DDR5 support, so it sounded promising. I've tried it, and it's a regression rather than an improvement for G.Skill 6000 Mhz chips. Stick with version F20a for now. I have rock solid stability with 4 sticks at 6000 Mhz and a CL of 30 with bios version F20a.

Given the version number, my best guess is that version F8 is a spin-off of F8e (the most recent version prior to the F20a release) and thus does not include the improvements baked into F20a. While F8 will allow me to boot consistently with all 4 sticks running at stock specs (6000 Mhz, CL36), the system is not even remotely stable after it boots. So rolled back/up to F20a and all is well again.

[wdseith]

Welp, Gigabyte has done it again with the recent release of bios version F20b. I am now able to run all 4 sticks of my 6000 Mhz G.Skill RAM at 6400 Mhz with excellent stability. I left all the timing and voltages stock and simply upped the speed. The system booted right up and passed all of my tests with flying colors.

EDIT 1: The stability lasted with stock timings and voltages until the RAM temps got into the upper 50's C after several hours of gaming. After a fair amount of experimenting, I found improved stability at high RAM temps with the following: 6400 Mhz, 36-40-40-102, 1.40v. These timings decrease the RAM performance almost imperceptibly in benchmarks and not at all in gaming.

EDIT 2: Spent some more time tweaking settings and got the following to be completely stable: 6400 Mhz, 32-42-42-102, 1.40v. For grins and giggles I tried various timings at both 6600 Mhz and 6800 Mhz. Got both to post and launch the desktop, but neither was stable for long. With the current bios, it looks like I'm at my limit at 6400 Mhz. We'll see what happens when the next one comes out. :-)