Edit: 7/25/2023
My apology. Previous Post was in error. My error.
I had not connected one of the 2 leads to the Wifi/Bluetooth antennae.
This caused weird system malfunctions.
Especially my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
Entire Post erased and new data added below.
New results are that 7200 Mhz & 7000 Mhz cause CTDs with FS2020.
6800 Mhz is okay.
FS2020 & DDR 5 Memory, Operation and Load Times.
i5-13600K CPU
GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Elite AX DDR5 motherboard
G-Skill DDR5 7200 Mhz, F5-7200J3445G16GX2-TZ5RK (QVL)
CL 34-45-45-115
Samsung 990 PRO Series NVMe 4.0 Gen 4 - 1TB
Intel A770 16GB GPU
------------------------------------------------------------------
FS2020 1.33.8.0, AAU 2
CJ4
4K, Ultra, TAA, Rendering 100, Vsync=Off, T LoD=400, O LoD=900
------------------------------------------------------------------
Motherboard BIOS with Optomized Defaults are with 3.5 Ghz,
XMP=Off, and 4333 Mhz with CL 40-40-40-116.
Hyperthreading Enabled
XMP = Extreme Memory Profile (specified by the memory vendor for
stated CL).
CL = CAS latency (RAM clock cycles to output data; lower is
better).
------------------------------------------------------------------
Boots:
i5-13600K=5.0 Ghz, XMP=On, DDR5=7200 Mhz, CL 34-45-45-115
Boots to Desktop, Windows 11, and all Windows Apps run okay.
Gotham Knights runs okay.
Call of Duty (Men of War) runs okay.
------------------------------------------------------------------
FS2020
XMP=On (5.0 Ghz)
XMP=On @ 7200 - Boots Okay but FS2020 = CTD
XMP=On @ 7000 - Boots Okay but FS2020 = CTD
XMP=On @ 6800 - Boots Okay & FS2020 = Okay
IFR/ILS - KJFK RW 31R to KEWR RW22R
Each entry done from a Restart with BIOS change to a new frequency.
FS2020
-------------------------------
Desktop Welcome
to to
Welcome Ready
XMP WIN Screen To Fly
Mhz BOOT 11 APPS LOAD Min-Sec Min-Sec Flight
---- - ---- ---- ---- ------ ------- ------- -------
XMP=On
7200 Y Y Y Y CTD
7000 Y Y Y Y CTD
6800 Y Y Y Y 2-14 0-55 Okay
------------------------------------------------------------------
I m not an expert on this matter, but looking at the CPU load required for MSFS vs Gotham Knights or Call of Duty (Men of War) seems to be a gap I guess to simply state that MSFS handle bad high speed memory
imo you should run some a stress test before to be sure your setup handle fine in heavy load with those speed before stating an app issue .
I may be wrong, maybe other people will come to give statement and confirm your thought btw
Check out Buildzoid on youtube. See if he did a video on your particular ram and chipset. If not, look for videos of him reviewing user submitted memory timings, there are often many excellent clues to be had. Maybe not the best answer, but it provides a path forward. Memory overclocking is his thing.
IMH if you bought 7200 MHz memory, the memory should operate at 7200 MHz if that is what is stamped on them without having to mess around with the BIOS or underclocking. If it isnāt working at that speed no matter what application then the memory is defective or the motherboard or something else. Maybe you could return the memory and get it replaced or refunded especially if it is under warranty. Not all memory are created equal.
I would wait for next game client version before drawing conclusions. Current AAU2 patch has introduced several artificial CTDs to many users and it appears to be not very stable in terms of memory management. ItĀ“s not the best version to use for memory tests therefore. I have seen a few posts were users are even reporting BSODs. I face CTDs myself almost everyday but I never had a BSOD using MSFS so far. Prior to AAU2 game was running fine for me and without any CTD.
I upgraded RAM in the past going from DDR4 to DDR5 and I had to use XMP II, as XMP I was not stable for my system even for the same given RAM speed. I didnĀ“t configure CLs manually nor anything else. I just used the XMP II profile defaults and manually changed the speed only. Does your MoBo allow to select that XMP II profile or you just have one XMP profile? Remember that even if vendors claim RAM will work at highest speeds thatĀ“s still an overclock of RAM design speeds.
I also see different results when you disable your CPU E cores, allowing you to go to higher speeds in that case. This could mean you may be facing a power supply constraint. I would not disable the E Cores and sacrify RAM speed if you come to that situation. ItĀ“s still a DDR5 memory, which is very fast. Game will take more benefit from an efficient CPU rather than from an ultrafast RAM. At least I didnĀ“t notice a real relevant improvement after switching from DDR4 to DDR5. Indeed performance tests I made at that time were as good with DDR5 stock speeds as with the higher DDR5 speeds. I mean you wonĀ“t see 10fps more in game by just using 7200MHz and results will be quite similar to the ones you will see by just using 6000Mhz.
DDR 5 high speed timings over 6000 are not Gen13 specific in my opinion, my AMD 7800X3D and X670E+ is a bit wonky and itās not just me, lots of discussion including a bios update for many in the works as AMD released new āinformationā to dumb it down to where I understand it.
Iām running 6600 RAM but the best performance Iām getting is at 6200 ā¦ I hope the bios update improves this
I will wait and see if an update changes anything and will
remain at 6000 Mhz.
I have only 1 XMP profile.
I have used XMP for many, many years and never had a problem.
And I do trust the QVL of the motherboard vendor. If it is listed, I think
that is okay to trust.
Although I had a Z390 motherboard that would not train a
it of 4 DDR4 sticks. The DDR4 had worked fine in a Z370 motherboard.
Z790 is reported to have superior memory management.
The above āRantā answered one main question that I had.
He stated that the main factor in performance, FPS, is having
lower CL and not the speed of the memory.
That it is better to run the memory at a lower CL, the XMP,
even if at a lower speed for FPS.
So, Iāll keep my QVL 7200 CL 34-45-45-115, XMP, memory running
at 6000.
I have HP V10 Samsung B-die DDR4-3600/ CAS14.
If I donāt 'mess around with the BIOS the memory runs @ 2133 MHz.
Perhaps you meant āMess around with the BIOS other than enabling XMP.ā
Because when I enable XMP the RAM runs at the labeled speed of 3600 MHz.
The manufacturer claims it can be OCād to 4000 MHz, but Iām loathe to venture that deep into BIOS RAM timings / voltage settings. I like stability, and when talking about squeezing every drop of RAM speed out of your silicon, the juice usually aināt worth the squeezeā¦
I have recently upgraded to a new DDR5 motherboard and I have 2 cards with 16GB each. The speed is 6000 MHz and I have no problem. But in the shop they have told me that installing 4 cards is currently not a good idea, because many motherboards have problems with handling 4 cards at such an high speed. With BIOS fixes they try to solve it, but it seems that currently there is no general solution yet.
Iāve heard this as well, especially with MOBOās using DDR5.
Of course I heard this AFTER I bought another set of matching DDR4-3600 RAM to bring my AMD B550 total up to 4. I did some testing after I installed them, and fortunately I saw no decrease in clock speed or latency.
I found this explanation online, which helps me understand it better:
On DDR5 the advantage (4 sticks vs. 2 sticks) is extremely minimal, basically only Geekbench scales with dual rank compared to single rank on DDR5, and even then not by all that much. the main advantage of dual rank on DDR4 and earlier was 8 bank groups per channel instead of 4, on DDR5 where you already have 8 bank groups per rank youāre approaching the limits of what the memory controller can interleave anyway the difference is very small. Itās more equivalent to running quad rank DDR4 compared to dual rank DDR4, yeah thereās more ranks to interleave but the memory controller canāt really take advantage of it and you lose out on max frequency since the memory controller canāt keep up.
I see this more as a marketing issue and a contractual issue between the manufacturer and the buyer rather than a technical issue. If memory is sold at an advertised speed and doesnāt work at that speed, then it is a product warranty issue. If memory is sold at an advertised speed but doesnāt work correctly at a higher speed, then it isnāt a warranty issue even if a manufacturer āclaimsā the overclocking should work.
I think over the years āoverclockingā has morphed into something it never was intended for. āOverclockingā used to be a hack, something someone figured out how to get something for nothing. Today if a manufacture sells a product that canāt be overclocked, no one wants to buy it.
The memory is fine the controllers on the main boards are having the issues with DDR5 and mainboards have been smart enough to caveat top speeds forever.
This forum has me so worried about CTDās that I donāt want to mess with ANYTHING that might cause instability.
Having said that, I have mildly OCād my 3090 Ti.
Every time Iāve tried RAM overclocking I end up with instability. So yeah, Iām kind of āOC Afraid.ā
And conversely I believe so many people mess around so much with hardware settings chasing elusive FPS increases that it is no surprise that they have no end of problems with the sim. Note that I am NOT saying OC-ing is the cause of all problems, it is just one of many possibilities.
All this to say: to each his own. I see no shame in not OC-ing everything. My system is not overclocked in any way, I am completely happy with the performance as it is in line with my expectations given the capabilities of the hardware that I consciously decided to purchase. And it has been wonderfully stable right from the start.
