Should you switch off XMP before installing new/additional RAM?

8BitLife

8BitLife

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The answer to this is probably no, but I am curious.

My mobo has 2 slots for RAM. When I built it, I only installed 1 stick of RAM with the intention of adding another one later. Well, I bought another stick of RAM which is the same brand, model, capacity and speed as the one I already have installed.

But as soon as I installed the new stick, the PC switched on but did not boot up. On the mobo the error light kept switching between CPU and DRAM. I take out the new stick, and everything is fine again. So I took out the original stick and installed the new one in the slot where the original one was. Same issue - PC won't boot up and mobo error light flashes between CPU and DRAM. Try it in different slot, same issue.

Take it out and test original stick in both slots, no problem. PC boots up fine.

So I returned the stick to the seller so they can test it. Still waiting on a response.

Nevertheless, one week before I got the new RAM, I enabled XMP. So now I am wondering if you should switch off XMP before you install new RAM and switch it on after it has been installed. Anyone know the answer to that?
 
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ponder

ponder

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I would switch it off as it's using an OC profile. Get both sticks working normally and then enable xmp again so it can go through the motions again.
 
CataclysmZA

CataclysmZA

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If this is DDR3, then yes. Disable XMP, undo any overclocks, and reboot. Then shut off, put in the other DIMM, and boot it up.

If this is DDR4, then no. Adding in extra RAM would enable the same XMP profile if the sticks are the same, but the CPU has to retrain the memory controllers. You'll see this commonly as three reboots over the course of a minute on AMD systems, and 1-2 reboots on Intel systems. If the second stick isn't compatible with the XMP profile in use, it will revert to stock settings (at least it did for me) after the memory retraining fails and tells you that the BIOS has undone an overclock.

However, it sounds like your new module may be faulty.
 
8BitLife

8BitLife

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CataclysmZA said:
If this is DDR3, then yes. Disable XMP, undo any overclocks, and reboot. Then shut off, put in the other DIMM, and boot it up.

If this is DDR4, then no. Adding in extra RAM would enable the same XMP profile if the sticks are the same, but the CPU has to retrain the memory controllers. You'll see this commonly as three reboots over the course of a minute on AMD systems, and 1-2 reboots on Intel systems. If the second stick isn't compatible with the XMP profile in use, it will revert to stock settings (at least it did for me) after the memory retraining fails and tells you that the BIOS has undone an overclock.

However, it sounds like your new module may be faulty.
Click to expand...

DDR4 and yeah, I also think the new stick is faulty. I mean if the old stick works fine in both slots and the new one doesn't work in either, the issue has to be with the new one.
 
|tera|

|tera|

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8BitLife said:
DDR4 and yeah, I also think the new stick is faulty. I mean if the old stick works fine in both slots and the new one doesn't work in either, the issue has to be with the new one.
Click to expand...
Same make, model, speed, your logic.
 
ponder

ponder

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8BitLife said:
DDR4 and yeah, I also think the new stick is faulty. I mean if the old stick works fine in both slots and the new one doesn't work in either, the issue has to be with the new one.
Click to expand...

The same make & model could use chips from different manufacturers. We've seen this with user created ryzen ram databases where people submit their thaiphoon burner details and for the exact same model number some people had samsung chips while the others had hynix...
 
|tera|

|tera|

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ponder said:
The same make & model could use chips from different manufacturers. We've seen this with user created ryzen ram databases where people submit their thaiphoon burner details and for the exact same model number some people had samsung chips while the others had hynix...
Click to expand...
He could just read on the RAM stick whether it's the same chip manufacturer.
Most sticks I've used/installed show it either on a sticker, or "print" on the memory chips.
 
8BitLife

8BitLife

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|tera| said:
He could just read on the RAM stick whether it's the same chip manufacturer.
Most sticks I've used/installed show it either on a sticker, or "print" on the memory chips.
Click to expand...
I could. But I don't have the first stick's packaging anymore so wouldn't be able to compare.
 
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