Motherboard recommendations. Stay with DDR4 or go to DDR 5?

[Megaman]

OK so I have had no crashes at all with XMP disabled, safe to say it was that now.

Looking at my motherboard manual for memory compatibility the 3200 and below don't have "OC" next to them which I would assume means no XMP to be supported.

Is this likely to change with a BIOS update? Shall I hold off for one or should I just get a new 16GB kit?

[KAC]

1 don’t buy a 16 GB kit. You need 32 GB for smooth operation these days. Trust me I tried with 16 GB and now with 32 GB, there is a real difference.

It seems to me you can always manually clock your ram to whatever without XMP. The QVL on all Z690 boards is pretty bad. I see most G Skill kits with tight timings being missed on both TUF and Strix A D4 motherboards. You should just try with manual non XMP settings and save it as a profile and hopefully you should be fine.

Otherwise get the cheapest 32 GB kit on the QVL list that is available. Preferably C16 or less as Intel is actually sensitive to C14/C16 unlike AMD. I would go for 3600/3800 as you can still run gear 1.

[Megaman]

I should also mention that I’m now running 1.25 SA and 1.36 DRAM voltage on XMP 2. Too early to tell anything.

[Megaman]

Originally Posted by KAC

The QVL on all Z690 boards is pretty bad. I see most G Skill kits with tight timings being missed on both TUF and Strix A D4 motherboards.

Yeah but is this something that is likely to change over time with new BIOS?

EDIT: The other option is I can replace this RAM kit and have a full system I can build now that the old board can be used with the RAM.

[KAC]

I highly doubt it.

[Megaman]

OK so which 3600mhz kit would be sweet for this setup from this list? I could do 3800mhz. Or perhaps a Dominator kit.


https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/memory/ddr4?page=1

[KAC]

Is is important that you choose the kit listed in the QVL. Go for anything that is 3600 C16 32 GB kit. Everything else is secondary. And yes most 3600 kits will run 3800 on an Intel platform. On AMD it will shite the bed and processor will start throwing up and your AIO coolant will leak. Probably.

[Megaman]

Seems like the Corsair and G skill QVL kits are on the cheap side.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do here. I think I may try Nunz voltage alterations and see how they go and if things are stable I may just not double up on DDR 4.

[KAC]

Definitely don’t try to use 2 different kits (even same brand same everything) on an already finicky board. Better to get a full new kit.

[Megaman]

Originally Posted by KAC

Definitely don’t try to use 2 different kits (even same brand same everything) on an already finicky board. Better to get a full new kit.

I meant dropping cash on DDR 4 for the second time.

WD Legions loves to crash, I'm doing a ran through this again with SA 1.2v, DRAM untouched, XMP 2, Gear 1 and power limits disabled. If this survives the tests I will hold off any purchase.

[12Bass]

FWIW, I've found that having SA too high can cause instability. Maybe try it closer to stock, then bump it up a notch or two from there.

As far as QVL goes, not sure what to make of it, given that there are only few RAM manufacturers, meaning that the modules are more similar than different if they use Samsung B-die or Hynix, or whatever. If there's a very similar kit that meets QVL, then my guess is that it probably isn't the RAM. Could also see if bumping the RAM up to 1.40V makes any difference... should be safe to try.

[Megaman]

I'm in WD ATM, seems OK so far but I need more time to test. If it crashes I'll drop SA down to 1.1 as right now I'm only running SA at 1.2v with DRAM at 1.35v so I have taken a step back from my previous alteration in my last post which I just updated.

I'll see what comes of this, I still think it is weird 3200 with XMP is not supported.


Also, I set SA to "manual", seems my minimum and max values aree constantly on 1.2v I assume this is OK? Not sure if SA volts should drop when not under load.

[KAC]

Gay keep pushing the Gs.

[Nunz]

SA voltage does not drop at idle

[Megaman]

Originally Posted by Nunz

SA voltage does not drop at idle

HWinfo shows a difference of 0.008v for min versus max with an offset of .245 voltage increase



Anyway, 3 hours of WD so far, system running like dope. If this holds off longer I'll send you a love letter Nunz


Thanks for the advice bro

[Nunz]

There is loadline and vDroop, just like any other voltage rail.

No problem dude, hope it works!

[Megaman]

UPDATE:

Finished WD with an extra 5 hours of play, also a few hours of BF 2042 and Resident evil Village, not one crash.

ASUS just released a new BIOS which I have just finished updating to. SA voltage now sits on .958 volts. Seems higher than the last BIOS but most likely not enough juice so will need to bump it back to 1.2 if it plays up.


I'll play around with XMP 2 now with everything else as default, see how she performs.

[Megaman]

Originally Posted by demo

You might be able to use Realtek software.

I found Sonic Studio didn't sound right until I selected Gaming>Smart volume>Extreme. And a little bit of base boost.

Then in Advanced tab, set each game to 'gaming profile'.

I gave up on Sonic Studio. I put the Sound Blaster Z card back in (I honestly forgot that you could use a PCIe X16 slot for the card) so it's in there now away from the GPU.

I missed a sound card. I can’t do onboard.

[Nunz]

That's bc onboard audio is poop

[Megaman]

Yes...yes it is. And that shitty software, what a joke. Such BS settings and to get boosted audio I had to adjust settings per application there was no global setting for applications to use apart from the default config which clearly wasn't enough to make it sound good.

[badsykes]

Usually people use onboard sound, even high end gamers.

[Meteor_of_War]

In my experience onboard audio of today is fine for gaming. But if you are at all passionate about music it just doesn't cut it.

The onboard audio of my motherboard is vastly inferior (to my ears) compared to my Schiit DAC. When I swap my headphones back and forth from onboard to the Schiit, its like I'm swapping to different much higher quality headphones. Much clearer sounding to pick up more detail in the music, and much better soundstage.

[demo]

Originally Posted by Megaman

I gave up on Sonic Studio. I put the Sound Blaster Z card back in (I honestly forgot that you could use a PCIe X16 slot for the card) so it's in there now away from the GPU.

I missed a sound card. I can’t do onboard.

I had something strange happen after win update - sound went extremely dull and muffled. I reinstalled sonic studio and asus sonar or wtf it's called,,but was still broken and clearly wrong.

Uninstalled everything, and from the website only reinstalled base drivers and audio console without the asus bs, and it sounds 100x better, back to normal, and all enhancements/settings are global.

Not saying to change, just putting it out there after my recent experience..

The other thing is you need to select headphones based on your output. High impedance is ultimately better but that entirely depends on output device.. In many cases low impedance headphones can sound better because it matches output.

[badsykes]

Originally Posted by demo

I had something strange happen after win update - sound went extremely dull and muffled. I reinstalled sonic studio and asus sonar or wtf it's called,,but was still broken and clearly wrong.

Uninstalled everything, and from the website only reinstalled base drivers and audio console without the asus bs, and it sounds 100x better, back to normal, and all enhancements/settings are global.

Not saying to change, just putting it out there after my recent experience..

The other thing is you need to select headphones based on your output. High impedance is ultimately better but that entirely depends on output device.. In many cases low impedance headphones can sound better because it matches output.

what sound card you have exactly ?

[demo]

A low impedance POS... on board SupremeFX ALC4082 with Sabre DAC.. however these headphones are great for the output and so incredibly clear. For music there's far better set ups. Tried 770 and 990 Byer Dynamics and they rock for music, but I find these [ATH-A2000Z] so much clearer in game.

[badsykes]

Originally Posted by demo

A low impedance POS... on board SupremeFX ALC4082 with Sabre DAC.. however these headphones are great for the output and so incredibly clear. For music there's far better set ups. Tried 770 and 990 Byer Dynamics and they rock for music, but I find these [ATH-A2000Z] so much clearer in game.

I do recommend try this open headphones Audio Technica Ath AD2000X.They are something special versus the rest of the market.

https://forum.hifiguides.com/t/audio...ath-ad2000x/53

The soundstage is different for an open vs closed headphones.

You don't need an amp for the above.Btw they are not so bassy.The bass is more subtle.

I never tried the A2000z but they are cheaper than Ad2000x

Also i wonder why not buy a truly audiophile soundcard like Creative AE-9 if you already ended up buying expensive headphones.

This company burson Audio is from Aussie.I bought two V6 classics for my Evga Nu Audio and the sound change is spectacular.They extract much more details versus stock opamps.It's not placebo btw.
Is a shame that to not enjoy this mod.You have the money so get yourself something special for your ears.
https://www.bursonaudio.com/creative...6-vivid-opamp/

Until the next gen high end gpu's get some sound card modding to not get borred ... :P

[demo]

I prefer closed back for gaming, but I'm no audiophile.

[badsykes]

Originally Posted by demo

I prefer closed back for gaming, but I'm no audiophile.

If you pay 500$ - 600$ on a pair of headphones and you have 3 what do you think you are ?

Also if you prefer closed back then a pair of ATH-AWKT for only 2000$ would fit you ?
They don't an amp either

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/aud...kutan-ath-awkt

The point they made against this headphones made my day ...


"AGAINST
Sound lacks a touch of drama"

))

[Nunz]

The AD1/2xxx are far too empty. There is zero bass, rather than subtle bass, with Audio Technica cans. I had a pair and got rid of them for that reason. The highs are great but the cans really struggle with low/mid frequencies, though there are benefits from that which are a very open sound-stage. However, having owned a pair, I can say with confidence that my Beyer DT1990s have better sound-stage while handling the lows superbly. This is with both connected to the same amp/dac setup.

[demo]

Yeh that's totally true, they lack natural bass. I need to turn bass frequency up in audio console.. But they are so clear in games. The 'cha-ching's from reloads and 'ting's from ricochets and the like is so clear on these things it's not funny, maybe the titanium backs add to that I don't know. The open air version sounded flat.

Beyerdynamic 1770/1990 are solid and rate them better overall but personally found them not so clear in games, but 100x better for music. It's probably just my damaged ears after years working with machinery and power tools..