Intel 13th Gen CPU's

...It also has a much stronger IMC: I can finally run my RAM at it's advertised speed of 4400CL17 in Gear 1 mode. Fastest the 12900K could manage in Gear 1 was 4000CL15.
What kit do you have? It sounds like you have the G.Skill 32 GB (2x 16GB) 4400 MHz 17-18-18-38 1.50v (Samsung B-Die, dual-rank) kit, yes?
 
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Yep, that's the one, part number F4-4400C17D-32GVK.
Nice. I can run it at 4200 MHz 16-16-16-32 and 4000 MHz 14-14-14-28 Gear 1 on my 12900KS, that's with tuned subtimings (secondary, tertiary, etc.) @ 1.56v. I can boot 4266 and 4300 MHz but not stable, not even with RAM @ 1.65v and VCCSA and VDDQ in the 1.400v-1.500v range. Not the RAM's fault, it's almost certainly my IMC's.

On your 13th gen, are you running stock XMP DRAM voltage (1.50v)? I'm trying to see how far this kit can go either with improved timings @ 4400 MHz or improved frequency with stock timings or both but I can't because of my 12900KS's IMC being the limiting factor beyond 4200 MHz.

Have you tuned the subtimings? Tuning subtimings, especially on B-die kits, can bring large performance gains.

Although you have the Ripjaws version (I believe not as good heatsink and no temp sensor), there should still be lots of headroom left in that kit.
 
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Nice. I can run it at 4200 MHz 16-16-16-32 and 4000 MHz 14-14-14-28 Gear 1 on my 12900KS, that's with tuned subtimings (secondary, tertiary, etc.) @ 1.56v. I can boot 4266 and 4300 MHz but not stable, not even with RAM @ 1.65v and VCCSA and VDDQ in the 1.400v-1.500v range. Not the RAM's fault, it's almost certainly my IMC's.

4000-14-14-14-28 is pretty impressive :) mine wouldn't run 4000-14-15-15-30, but then again: I didn't raise voltage over stock XMP. On my 12900K I was running VCCSA at 1.25 and VDDQ at 1.30.

On your 13th gen, are you running stock XMP DRAM voltage (1.50v)? I'm trying to see how far this kit can go either with improved timings @ 4400 MHz or improved frequency with stock timings or both but I can't because of my 12900KS's IMC being the limiting factor beyond 4200 MHz.

Yep, stock XMP voltage at 1.50 on the 13900KS as well, although it reads 1.51 in HWInfo64. VCCSA and VDDQ on "Auto" are 1.36 and 1.35 respectively. Any attempt to lower those voltages manually results in instant BSOD's when launching a CPU stress test in OCCT. Guess the KS likes it hot ;)

Have you tuned the subtimings? Tuning subtimings, especially on B-die kits, can bring large performance gains.

Primaries are stock XMP except tRAS, secondaries and tertiaries are tightened up:

20230220_221010.jpg


I could play around a bit more with tREFi but I'm not sure I would gain much from going any higher ? Haven't tried tightening the primaries yet.

Although you have the Ripjaws version (I believe not as good heatsink and no temp sensor), there should still be lots of headroom left in that kit.

The Ripjaws do have temp sensors actually, that's how I know this kit runs hot as hell without active cooling :rolleyes: I picked up a cheap-ish dual-fan RAM cooler on AliExpress and now they max out at around 30c while gaming and 40c under heavy memory testing. Before that, the sticks would easily hit high 40's to low 50's while stress testing...that's why my tREFi is still at 40000. The heatsinks are not that bad either: I've also got a kit of 4x8gb Trident Z RGB 4000CL15 that runs at least as hot. But those sticks were impossible to run at their rated speed in Gear 1 on my daisy-chain topology board (on the 12900K that is, didn't try them on the 13900KS).
 
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Nice! You got some good tiings there. I wasn't sure if you were aware of subtimings and their impact but looks like you know what you're doing.

You can almost certainly raise tREFI to max (65xxx or whatever) but at already 40000, I doubt you'll get any meaningful performance benefits.

B-die is safe daily at 1.60v, probably even 1.62-1.65 but 1.60 almost certainly based on many people running those voltages, daily, for years. I wouldn't worry about raising DRAM voltage to 1.6 or, at least 1.57-ish unless temps become a concern. There are some b-die kits that run 1.55v @ stock XMP such as the 2x 16GB 4000 MHz 14-15-15 kit.

In order to achieve my speeds/timings - 4200 MHz, 16-16-16-32, full timing tuned - I have to run DRAM 1.56v, VCCSA 1.37v, VDDQ 1.40v. Most people say VCCSA is daily-safe up to 1.4v with VDDQ higher at 1.45v-1.50v.

My previous DR B-die kit, the 3600 MHz 16-16-16-36 1.35v kit, could do the exact same speeds & timings as my current kit, the only difference being it needed 1.6v to do so (current kit needs 1.56v). I ran that for a year @ 1.60v, never an issue.

If you like tinkering (for not much performance gain, lol), you should up DRAM voltage to 1.6v and see if you can run 4533 MHz or 4500 MHz @ fully stock XMP timings. Prob need to raise VCCSA & VDDQ - maybe bring them up to 1.4v and 1.4-1.45v respectively. Then, if it works, you can try lowering timings along with primaries. You may even be able to do something like 4500 MHz 16-17-17. If you can't increase frequency, then try lowering primaries to 16-16-16-33 (or 16-16-16-36) or 16-17-17-xx.

Your speeds and timings are good so you'll probably barely get any performance gains, just more for fun tinkering.

What sorts of bandwidth & latency are you getting according to Aida64 and IntelMLC?
 
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Nice! You got some good tiings there. I wasn't sure if you were aware of subtimings and their impact but looks like you know what you're doing.

Thanks ! But I wouldn't go as far as to say I know what I'm doing ;) I mainly watched a lot of Buildzoid's YT videos on DDR4 timings and overclocking, and then used this guide:

If you like tinkering (for not much performance gain, lol), you should up DRAM voltage to 1.6v and see if you can run 4533 MHz or 4500 MHz @ fully stock XMP timings. Prob need to raise VCCSA & VDDQ - maybe bring them up to 1.4v and 1.4-1.45v respectively. Then, if it works, you can try lowering timings along with primaries. You may even be able to do something like 4500 MHz 16-17-17. If you can't increase frequency, then try lowering primaries to 16-16-16-33 (or 16-16-16-36) or 16-17-17-xx.

Your speeds and timings are good so you'll probably barely get any performance gains, just more for fun tinkering.

I might try some day when I find the time, but for now I'm happy with the performance I'm getting. At the moment I'm mostly focussing on configuring all of my sims to run at stable 90fps at all times on my Reverb G2.

What sorts of bandwidth & latency are you getting according to Aida64 and IntelMLC?

My trial version of Aida64 has expired, so I can't check that. But I've ran both Intel MLC v3.9a and v3.10, not sure how to interpret the huge difference in latency between both versions though...especially since the v3.10 results are in the same ballpark (latency wise) as my old 7700K running Corsair Vengeance 2x8gb 3200CL16 at bone stock XMP settings... :cautious:

Intel MLC v3.9a results:

Intel MLC v3.9a Quick.jpg


Intel MLC v3.9a Bandwidth.jpg


Intel MLC v3.9a Latency.jpg


Intel MLC v3.9a Cache.jpg


Intel MLC v3.10 results:

Intel MLC v3.10 Quick.jpg


Intel MLC v3.10 Bandwidth.jpg


Intel MLC v3.10 Latency.jpg


Intel MLC v3.10 Cache.jpg

 
watched a lot of Buildzoid's YT videos on DDR4 timings and overclocking, and then used this guide:
I know veeeery little about RAM overclocking, but that nice guide looks like an excellent primer.

Incidentally, it also basically confirmed my long-held suspicion that my Asus mobo killed my CPU (or at least damaged its IMC), with excessive VCCIO/VCCSA. The galling thing is that I wasn't even attempting a real overclock, but simply selecting the XMP profile for my DIMMs. (As I've said here before, the response from Asus is one of the reasons they are at the back of the queue for all future tech purchases in my family.)
 
I know veeeery little about RAM overclocking, but that nice guide looks like an excellent primer.

It's a pretty good guide yeah, on my last 3 CPUs (9700K, 12900K, 13900KS) I could just put in the tight timings and use the tRFC table to get my memory stable. Except for tREFi, that was always a bit of trial and error depending on temps.

Incidentally, it also basically confirmed my long-held suspicion that my Asus mobo killed my CPU (or at least damaged its IMC), with excessive VCCIO/VCCSA.

What kind of voltages are we talking about here ? VCCIO is no longer a thing on 12th and 13th Gen, but on my 9700K I remember running it at 1.30-1.35v without issues. And VCCSA at 1.25-1.30v as well, depending on the OC.
 
What kind of voltages are we talking about here ? VCCIO is no longer a thing on 12th and 13th Gen, but on my 9700K I remember running it at 1.30-1.35v without issues. And VCCSA at 1.25-1.30v as well, depending on the OC.
It's a few years ago now so I can't remember the numbers (might have 'em written down tho) but one of the two was deeply into the yellow range, maybe one tick away from the red/purple danger zone, and the other was well beyond the threshold for the danger zone.

Ahh, in fact I just found the old pictures: turns out both were purple - IO was set to 1.328 and reading back as 1.3125, SA set to 1.24 and reading back as 1.25. These do sound "small" to me, and are no higher than you mention yourself, but are apparently not advisable for a 7700K...

I didn't notice at first (a week or so) and didn't look at the details in the BIOS until issues surfaced, because I was doing something that should have been a "set and forget" operation, or so I thought. Was pretty cross when I found out, because I had experienced various weird USB issues soon after enabling XMP, which only "mostly" went away when I reverted to the base JEDEC profile on the DIMMs. (So maybe it wasn't the IMC that was damaged but part of the IO circuitry...)
 
Ahh, in fact I just found the old pictures: turns out both were purple - IO was set to 1.328 and reading back as 1.3125, SA set to 1.24 and reading back as 1.25. These do sound "small" to me, and are no higher than you mention yourself, but are apparently not advisable for a 7700K...

Weird, IMHO those voltages shouldn't have been a problem, even if they were in the purple. I ran my 7700K at 4.8-4.9 all-core with similar -if not higher- IO and SA voltages for a couple of years and never had any issues, that was on a Z170 ROG Maximus Ranger and later on a Z270 ROG Maximus Code board . In fact, it's still running strong in my work-from-home PC. Maybe your CPU had an exceptionally weak IMC, or you had a motherboard with a lower quality VRM ? Who knows...anyways, not cool Asus support just blew you off on something that sounds like a genuine problem to me.
 
Maybe your CPU had an exceptionally weak IMC, or you had a motherboard with a lower quality VRM ?
Hard to know, maybe I just got unlucky. (The board wasn't bargain basement - Z170A - but again, maybe bad luck.)
Thinking back though, I reckon the only reason I ended up even looking into the voltages was because after some heavy google sessions to investigate the weird issues I was having (inc. USB and on-board audio problems) I tripped over some threads with other Asus customers discovering that selecting XMP for their RAM had put voltages into the danger zone, which caused a bunch of really odd symptoms and in some cases permanent damage.
 
Hard to know, maybe I just got unlucky. (The board wasn't bargain basement - Z170A - but again, maybe bad luck.)

Z170-A should have been good enough, like you say: probably bad luck...

I must say: that Z270 board I mentioned also gave me problems, blew out the USB3 controller for no apparent reason. Didn't bother to RMA it though 'cos I still had the Z170 lying around, which is still running the 7700K as we speak by the way. But that's been the only problem I've had with Asus out of the last 6 boards I bought from them.
 
I'd say it depends on how heavy your cooler is or rather how much your mobo is flexing right now.
And how often you push the cooling to its Limit.
If you're only simracing with 50-80W and have a light watercooler on the cpu, I don't see a reason to upgrade it.
But if you're rendering a few hours per week and have a Noctua D15 hanging on the mobo, then I'd do the upgrade.
 
I'd say it depends on how heavy your cooler is or rather how much your mobo is flexing right now.
And how often you push the cooling to its Limit.
If you're only simracing with 50-80W and have a light watercooler on the cpu, I don't see a reason to upgrade it.
But if you're rendering a few hours per week and have a Noctua D15 hanging on the mobo, then I'd do the upgrade.
No rendering, but I have a Deepcool AK620 I will be mounting. Should I just order this?

 
I have a Noctua NH-D15S hanging on the side of my mount which is just enough weight that I feel more comfortable with the added support.
 
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If you change the cooler anyway or are just building the system, then I'd definitely get the frame!
Especially with that big fat cooler :D

I thought you might have your system running already and were thinking about taking off the cooler + CPU, putting the frame in place and remounting everything.
 
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