Memory overclocking:
Of course, our test will focus on memory overclocking, but before we get started, here are the various components used in our test platform. For the publication of these tests, I used the latest BIOS available directly from the MSI Taiwan website.
- Motherboard: MSI Z790 MPOWER (BIOS 7E01vP4)
- Processor: Intel i9-13900KS
- Memory: 32 GB Patriot Viper 5 Gaming 8000 MT/s CL38
- Graphics Card: GALAX GT 710 Fish
- Cooling system : Alphacool Core 1 CPU and Eiszeit 2000 chiller
- SSD: Western Digital SN850 NVMe SSD M.2
- Power supply: be quiet! Dark Power PRO 13 1000w
- Operating system: Windows 11 64-bit
- Screen: ROG XG27U
If you’re a regular overclocker, you’ll know that memory overclocking is the one that requires the most time and patience. The arrival of DDR5 is still very recent and mastering it will require many more hours of testing. Fortunately, you’re in luck and can join our Discord community. Many of our members have DDR5, but they also have very different motherboards, so they’ll be able to answer all your questions.
Choosing your DDR5 kit based on memory chips :
As was already the case for DDR4, if you want to clock your memory, certain chips will have better potential. Currently, the kits announced by the various brands are equipped with Micron chips, Samsung chips or Hynix chips. The last two brands are the most interesting.
We have already had the opportunity to review several DDR5 memory kits and test the potential of these three types of memory chips. We invite you to take a look in the ‘memory’ section of our site.
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 the frequency rise or the tightening of timings. These are the CPU System Agent Voltage (SA), the CPU VVDQ Voltage, the CPU VVDQ2 Voltage, the DRAM Voltage and the DRAM VDDQ Voltage. Here’s where you’ll find these voltages in the BIOS of this MSI Z790 MPOWER.
Note that depending on the type of memory chip (Micron, Hynix and Samsung), the balance between these different voltages is different. We also drew a parallel between the voltages available from ASUS and their equivalents from MSI by following this link. Let’s get to work overclocking this Patriot DDR5.
MSI BIOS profiles for the Z790 MPOWER :
As you saw when we presented the BIOS, there are a series of memory profiles within it. Unfortunately, the most interesting ones for us always refused to start the motherboard. What’s more, there’s no indication of which BIOS profiles or chip types they relate to.
Default XMP and scores obtained :
Our first objective is to test our Patriot Viper 5 Gaming kit at its original frequency, i.e. at 8000 MT/s with timings of 38-49-49-85.
The scores are already very good at this frequency, so let’s see what we can improve!
8400 and 8533 MT/s CL34 :
This seems to be the limit, as it’s impossible at the moment to go beyond 8600 MT/s with our test parameters. Now, reaching a frequency of 8533 MT/s in CL34 is already an excellent result for this Z790 MPOWER!
Compared with the original kit, the results under AIDA64 in read mode go from 123470 to 134240 GB/s, in write mode from 103460 to 132100 GB/s, in copy mode from 107480 to 128970 GB/s and latency from 58 to 49.9 n/s.
The 48 GB Patriot kit at 8400 MT/s CL 38 :
Before taking the motherboard apart, we’ve got another big test in the pipeline. We ran our Patriot Viper 5 Gaming 48 GB 8400 MT/s CL38 kit on the MSI Z790 MPOWER with the same settings as our APEX Encore.
Unfortunately, we can’t go any higher. With the APEX Encore, we reached 8800 MT/s CL38.
