*** The Official Alder Lake owners thread ***

[kindai]

Dropped vcore down to 1.3, took 10 degrees off the temps and running happy at 5.4/4.1

Not really sure where to go on this to be honest, seems the setup im running has plenty of capacity, 28136 on cinebench at these settings. Do I push it to the limit or go for something cooler and more relaxed.

 

[scubes]

Intel showcases PCIe 5.0 SSDs reaching 13.7 GB/s on Alder Lake system, 28.3 GB/s in pair

Source: https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-s...7-gb-s-on-alder-lake-system-28-3-gb-s-in-pair

Looking forward to purchase/install a gen 5 SSD in my system, hopefully we don't have to wait too long. For those interested how, it differs by motherboard manufacuter, though on the ASUS ROG boards you use an included M.2 add in card. Here's an example of mine for scale (I highlighted this in the red box)



Note it's fully metal, looks quite nice when installed too. Will have to run the PCI-Ev5 lanes at x8/x8 for the M.2 to work at gen5 speeds, though as gen5 x8 is the same speed as gen4 x16, which no GPU's saturate, there'll be no performance loss.

ive a new samsung nvme 980 pro im putting into my card along with a 250 gig samsung nvme ..

 

[Dave2150]

ive a new samsung nvme 980 pro im putting into my card along with a 250 gig samsung nvme ..

Would recommend using the three M.2 slots on the actual motherboard, before populating the Hyper m.2 add in card. Save the Hyper M.2 car for when you get a gen 5 SSD later this year

 

[Vimes]

@mrk - FYI I have now tried my Corsair 3600Mhz DDR4 memory in the Gigabyte board since the latest BIOS release. I did not even go into the BIOS after fitting, missed it on first boot, and noted that it picked up the 3600Mhz kit fine in XMP mode, with the correct timings and voltage settings.
However I have a kit of Corsair 4000mhz memory (2 sticks) and all I get from those, they are known working, is four long beeps and a recycle of a boot loop but no POST and no BIOS screen. They simply do not allow the board to boot, even with a CMOS reset.
I have a ticket open with Gigabyte regarding those, they are getting some from Corsair to check them out at their end.

 

[scubes]

Would recommend using the three M.2 slots on the actual motherboard, before populating the Hyper m.2 add in card. Save the Hyper M.2 car for when you get a gen 5 SSD later this year

To long to wait lol. And they will cost the earth also I bet ...

 

[BananaDunka]

@mrk - FYI I have now tried my Corsair 3600Mhz DDR4 memory in the Gigabyte board since the latest BIOS release. I did not even go into the BIOS after fitting, missed it on first boot, and noted that it picked up the 3600Mhz kit fine in XMP mode, with the correct timings and voltage settings.
However I have a kit of Corsair 4000mhz memory (2 sticks) and all I get from those, they are known working, is four long beeps and a recycle of a boot loop but no POST and no BIOS screen. They simply do not allow the board to boot, even with a CMOS reset.
I have a ticket open with Gigabyte regarding those, they are getting some from Corsair to check them out at their end.

Sounds like it is a module compatibility or something in that instance I guess? I have the latest BIOS now but not enabled XMP yet as the manual settings are working fine!

 

[Vimes]

@mrk - could be. All three sets of my memory are 2 sticks of Corsair Vengeance DDR4, the only difference is they are 3200Mhz, 3600Mhz and then the problematic set the 4000Mhz. If you remember the last BIOS update from them improved compatibility of DDR4 between 3200-3600. I am guessing that at this stage there are still issues that need to be addressed at faster memory speeds.

I think that it was a reflection of the maturity of the Z390 BIOS that over time they got those sets to work fine. The fact that they have said they will try and get a set to test from Corsair at least indicates they are willing to try and improve the situation.

Unless a ticket is raised with them tho with specific information of the sticks that are an issue it is less likely that anything will change.

 

[BananaDunka]

Yup people have to raise the tickets so they know about it otherwise they will simply work on the most common reported issues which is understandable. Hopefully good news soon though for those sticking with fast DDR4!

 

[BananaDunka]

Bit of an ADL ownership update, I've just been checking the updated Gigabyte RAM compatibility page and noticed that my current Corsair LPX 64GB 3600MHz kit @ CL18-22-22-42 (‎CMK64GX4M2D3600C18) is not listed and I'm sure it used to be. Also note that they do list a similar module with the exact same timings etc but on Hynix chips whereas mine is on Samsung (not b-die) according to CPU-Z.

It then dawned on me that the random crash to desktop issues I've been seeing in Horizon and Cyberpunk may well be related to this as I've tried everything else short of a new PSU which I don't think is the issue.

The page does list various Kingston modules however so a quick search for similar memory resulted in Kingston Fury kit also 64GB 3600MHz @ 18-22-22-39 (KF436C18BBK2/64) is on the list and conveniently available for delivery same day today.

The only bummer is that the Kingston kit is considerably more expensive at £360 vs the £290 I paid for the Corsair LPX but hey ho. I am still in the full refund window for the Corsair however so I will get that back from Amazon thankfully and just take the difference on the chin.

The Kingston kit is non-RGB too which I prefer and should have temperature sensors on each stick which the Corsair LPX does not so that will be a little bonus I guess.

I've also had the odd BSOD here and there, not often but every once in a while which I chalked up to maybe an application crash or something but again those make more sense now knowing that Gigabyte have not listed any Corsair 3600MHz modules as compatible for this board.

Computering is fun isn't it?!

 

[Vimes]

For me I am able to run my 32GB kit (3200Mhz) with no issues but have now flipped to my 16GB kit (3600Mhz) and again with zero issues. No crashes and never a BSOD, that is with a 5.1Ghz and 4Ghz overclock. I do not see my precise kit noted on their compatibility list, but realise it is not a complete list, as such. It does offer something to consider tho if you are having issues. Perhaps event logs and or BSOD viewers could be a help, albeit difficult at times to trace such random issues. Maybe a slight voltage increase for the RAM could help, assuming the RAM is a cause.

Apart from manual memory timings and voltages you are using is the rest of your BIOS on defaults..?
you are right - it is fun

 

[Robert896r1]

I wouldn’t get too hung up on QVL list esp for mid range ddr4. Set your timings and frequency manually. Start off at 3200 and make sure you’re stable there first and go up in 200mhz increments. This is the safest if you’re not familiar with ram tuning.

 

[Vimes]

^^^^ Agree. I can't even get my 4000Mhz to boot at all, but gigabyte are looking at that. Setting the speed manually to 3200 is a good start and the difference between 3200Mhz and 3600Mhz is nothing in terms of performance, but could help with stability testing...?
I rarely get memory noted on the QVL list, well the precise ones anyway.

 

[BananaDunka]

Oh it can be fine in windows for weeks etc, then out of nowhere a random bsod with an access violation error or a 0x800 code that doesn't really bring about any search results! The Cyberpunk 2077 crashes can be replicated though whilst the Windows bsod is so infrequent that I didn't even think about it really and windows logs don't point to anything specific either. The Cyberpunk crashes have no specific error, again access violation type stuff that doesn't point in any right direction either but at least those game crashes to desktop are directly to desktop and not a bsod so that kinda points to some sort of memory or power related issue with the GPU (hence initial thoughts being PSU related).

I have a couple of paths to trace though as have a new PSU on standby to test with as well tonight so will see what's what!

Yeah the RAM lists are not conclusive but these modules were on the list when I bought them but are no missing, which leads me to believe they were removed for a reason!

 

[Robert896r1]

Have you run actual mem stability tests? "Game stable testing" isn't a thing tbh.

For ADL, Karhu is the most solid at this point for pure mem testing.

 

[BananaDunka]

I have not run any RAM testing really, just been playing games and using apps. Worth noting that I've utilised over 37GB of RAM before when editing photos and videos so stability as far as that goes has been fine although that's hardly stressing the memory bandwidth I guess.

I was able to get Cyberpunk stable for a whole week recently but cannot remember what I did exactly other than adjust the dynamic RAM timing BIOS settings from auto to fixed but after installing a new PSU cable recently from GPU to PSU the Cyberpunk instability returned and I'm certain I did not adjust anything else although I did update to the F6 latest BIOS in between that timeframe too and had not played Cyberpunk for a few days afterwards so cannot rule the BIOS update out either.

Is this the software btw? https://www.karhusoftware.com/ramtest/

 

[Robert896r1]

Yes that one. If your ram was tuned I'd recommend others but that's better for just trying to get it stable.

It's also more user friendly.

 

[BananaDunka]

Cheers running now. FAQ says to run for 30mins to get at least 95% error detection rate so will let it run whilst I browse and stuff.

 

[Robert896r1]

Anytime you're running a stress test you want everything else turned off. The reason being that stress tests are actually weaker when they don't have full resources. Thus turn off background apps running (steam, icue, etc) and leave the PC alone when it's testing.

I'd also run it for a couple of hours which simulates a more sustained running workload/game/etc.

 

[BananaDunka]

Hmm seems it didn't take long, 1 error at 76% - Running again but turning off stop on error to see how many are found at 100%+



This is with the RAM at 3600MHz and its specced timings 18-22-22-42-64. Gear 1 of course too. This is just with Firefox open btw no other apps.

 

[Robert896r1]

ah i see the issue. You're trying to run 64gb. Do me a favor, take out 2 sticks (A1 and A2) and run it again just for testing.

They're the same 4 sticks right? same XMP timings and voltage?