Overclocking on our APEX Z790:
Choosing your DDR5 kit based on memory chips:
As was already the case for DDR4, if you want to clock your memory, certain brands will benefit from better potential. At present, the kits announced by the various brands benefit from either Micron, Hynix or Samsung chips. The latter two brands will be the most interesting. As you can see, our Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 kit, clocked at 8200 MT/s CL38, is equipped with Hynix chips. Unlike our last kits, these are not Hynix A-die chips, but the new Hynix M-die chips. These have the particularity of rising more easily in frequency, but being more complicated to tighten in terms of timing.
To take advantage of high-frequency kits, it’s best to be equipped with a motherboard dedicated to this type of kit, and in this game, the ROG APEX Z790 is certainly the best. It features two memory slots to facilitate memory overclocking. You’ll also need a processor with an excellent IMC (Integred Memory Controller). Beware: a processor may have excellent overclocking potential but, on the other hand, a disappointing IMC. These two factors are independent of each other.
Key DDR5 voltages :
For memory overclocking, there are 5 key voltages. These are the voltages that will have an impact on overclocking and therefore on frequency rise or timing tightness. These are the CPU System Agent Voltage (SA), the DRAM VVD Voltage, the DRAM VVDQ Voltage, the Memory Controller Voltage and the IVR Transmitter VVDQ Voltage. Here’s where you’ll find these voltages in the BIOS of our ROG Maximus Z690/Z790 APEX.
Please note that, depending on the type of memory chip (Micron, Hynix and Samsung), the balance between these different voltages is different. If your PMIC module is not locked, by activating ” High DRAM Voltage Mode “, you’ll have access to voltages up to 2.00 volts. Now it’s time to overclock this Patriot DDR5.
Step 1: use available BIOS profiles
It’s a strange thing to say, but a few months ago, we were happy to have the BIOS profiles available as a good basis for our work. However, since the arrival of the Hynix A-die and now the new Hynix M-die chips, the frequency of kits has exploded, and in the end, the profiles in the BIOS are lower than the current frequency of our kit. There’s a 7600 MT/s CL36 profile and an 8800 MT/s profile for Hynix A-die chips, so we’ll have to build our own profiles.
Step 2: 8800 MT/s CL38 target
This is our first objective, to reach the 8800 MT/s CL38 frequency, as this type of chip should be able to do this quite easily. We set up the BIOS, modify voltages, timings and subtimings, and off we go.
The good news is that it starts without a hitch, and our two benchmarks go straight through. We’ve run several in a row, and there’s no worry about stability. Finally, I thought the IMC of my i9-13900KS was limited to 8700 MT/s, but that’s not the case. In fact, this is the first time I’ve reached 8800 MT/s. As you’d expect, throughput in AIDA64 is through the roof, with read speeds of 136,620 MB/s and a Geekbench3 memory score of 16,307 points.
Step 3: creating new profiles
At the start of 2024, we’d like to develop our overclocking tests for DDR5 memory kits, whether Hynix A-die or Hynix M-die. We’re busy preparing test profiles that will enable us to evaluate the overclocking capabilities of the kits by checking their stability. As January is a busy month for hardware launches, we’ll be starting these new tests in February.
