Poor RAM Performance (Channels)

adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Hi. I just received my new gaming PC from PCS a couple of days ago.

Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
MotherboardASUS® ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs, WIFI - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

I ran a User Benchmark test and my results can be seen at https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/16531642. It scored extremely well, apart from the RAM. That only scored 70.5% whereas most other areas scored over 100%. The benchmark test said the following next to RAM (memory kit):

Corsair CM4X8GD3000C15K4 2x8GB
787 User benchmarks, average bench 90%
2 of 4 slots used
16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz
Performing below potential (10th percentile) - ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled

Any suggestions or guidance on this? I have never dealt with RAM technicalities before apart from plugging modules in and out.
 
M

Mustafo95

Silver Level Poster
I found this on the same website
  • When RAM sticks are plugged into the wrong slots they may operate in single channel mode rather than dual channel mode. (Usually alternate slots should be populated - check your Motherboard's manual)
Click to expand...
  • Also you say ram speed should be 3000 MHz, but the benchmark says it's 2133 MHz. Might wanna take a look at your bios/eufi
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I'd suggest looking at what CPU-Z says. Check the Memory and the SPD tabs.

Userbenchmark is generally as reliable as a broken clock.

If CPU-Z shows frequency not as expected and/or some other issues, as above you may need to go into the BIOS and set the correct XMP profile.

PCS's phone lines are open today if it'd helpful for someone to guide you through the process verbally too :)
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Thanks @Mustafo95

I just checked BIOS/EUFI. It is in Auto mode and not XMP1 or XMPII. I can manually assign Mhz freqency in auto, or XMP seems to do it for me. What should I do?

12907


Thanks, Adam.
 
M

Mustafo95

Silver Level Poster
I'd just let XMP do it for me. It's not like you'd have the expertise to fine-tune all the clock speeds and timings etc. I mean who does.
Most CPUs come with standard speeds like up to 2666 MHz, so if anyone wants to go beyond that, they have to use XMP profiles to unlock the higher speed options. That's why this setting is tucked away inside the UEFI/BIOS.
Do what Oussebon said. Install CPU-Z first, take a screenshot. Then go into bios, try the XMP profile, check CPU-Z again. Take a screenshot.
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Mustafo95 said:
I'd just let XMP do it for me. It's not like you'd have the expertise to fine-tune all the clock speeds and timings etc. I mean who does.
Most CPUs come with standard speeds like up to 2666 MHz, so if anyone wants to go beyond that, they have to use XMP profiles to unlock the higher speed options. That's why this setting is tucked away inside the UEFI/BIOS.
Do what Oussebon said. Install CPU-Z first, take a screenshot. Then go into bios, try the XMP profile, check CPU-Z again. Take a screenshot.
Click to expand...

Thanks @Mustafo95. I also phoned PCS and they also told me to enable XMP1. I looked into XMP2 online but many have reported instability, so I stuck with XMP1. I also pressed 'No' to overall performance enhancement once XMP is selected, meaning the ASUS MultiCore Enhancement (AME) tool is not enabled (retains Intel stock settings, as I am not overclocking). I also understand online that AME causes slightly higher temperatures and power consumption.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Some reading on Asus MCE:
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3389-intel-tdp-investigation-9900k-violating-turbo-duration-z390
(and a bit of context though not so relevant to the Z390s: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3077-explaining-coffee-lake-turbo-8700k-8600k )

I'd probably enable it, even if I weren't overclocking myself. With this iteration of motherboards, I believe it lets the CPU run its boost frequencies indefinitely. This is more or less what we were all used to Intel CPUs doing in the past.

Turning it off makes it adhere to the 95W TDP (i.e. boost clocks reduce after 30 seconds) which does affect performance.

See also: https://www.techspot.com/review/1744-core-i9-9900k-round-two/ The 95W benchmarks being what you might expect with MCE off I believe.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Rather than Userbenchmark, which is garbage and lumps together results from all kinds of systems that might not be behaving properly, I'd suggest something like AIDA maybe for the memory. It's also a synthetic benchmark but at least it's easier to compare results.
For CPU performance, Cinebench, and GPU (and CPU) performance, Firestrike :)
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Oussebon said:
Some reading on Asus MCE:
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3389-intel-tdp-investigation-9900k-violating-turbo-duration-z390
(and a bit of context though not so relevant to the Z390s: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3077-explaining-coffee-lake-turbo-8700k-8600k )

I'd probably enable it, even if I weren't overclocking myself. With this iteration of motherboards, I believe it lets the CPU run its boost frequencies indefinitely. This is more or less what we were all used to Intel CPUs doing in the past.

Turning it off makes it adhere to the 95W TDP (i.e. boost clocks reduce after 30 seconds) which does affect performance.

See also: https://www.techspot.com/review/1744-core-i9-9900k-round-two/ The 95W benchmarks being what you might expect with MCE off I believe.
Click to expand...

Thanks @Oussebon for that. Although from bench-marking, the difference with ASUS MCE on or off is minimal for me. I didn't want to push the system too far, but I guess it is safe as its ASUS certified?
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Just another bit of explanation I am after :unsure: With XMP1 profile enabled in BIOS with 'no' to the enhancement prompt (ASUS MCE off), ROG CPU-Z and Speccy are showing the CPU (i9-9900K 3.6GHz) running at 4.8GHz (like the turbo mode) but all the time? I thought Intel stock settings with ASUS MCE off didn't run the cores at full all the time? Or am I looking at this wrong? Please help :giggle:

12908
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It can run the cores at max frequency without exceeding TDP if they're not under load.

Of course if they're not under load, they shouldn't need to run at max frequency all the time. Not sure why they'd be doing so, power plan settings perhaps.
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Oussebon said:
It can run the cores at max frequency without exceeding TDP if they're not under load.

Of course if they're not under load, they shouldn't need to run at max frequency all the time. Not sure why they'd be doing so, power plan settings perhaps.
Click to expand...

Thanks. When you say power plan, is this Windows 10 power plan or some kind of power plan in the BIOS? The ASUS MCE is off, so it is using Intel's settings for frequencies. The XMP1 profile wouldn't impact CPU max frequencies would it?
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Nevermind. Thanks for this though @Oussebon, you were right. It was the power settings in Windows. It was on high performance so CPU was running 100% at all times. I selected balanced now, so CPU min is 5% and max is 100%.
 
adamwright1989

adamwright1989

Active member
Thanks. That CPU-Z program is handy isn't it? It still reports my DRAM frequency at 1500 MHz but other tools and BIOS say 3000 MHz (since I applied the XMP1 profile. Is this reading per DIMM module? If so, then it would total 3000.

12909
12910
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top