XMP causing CTDs. Also new microstutters have appeared

[109Sqn 1,557]

Specific issues to MSFS, hence not posted in the Hardware forum.

After solving this issue, Lost all aircraft sounds but ATC sounds unaffected. HELP! I have a new problem. Or problems.

Firstly, enabling XMP in my BIOS results in CTDs every time I start a flight, every one of them (bar one) between roll out and the wheels leaving the ground. The other time was when the sim had been sitting on the home menu for 5 minutes or so. As my sig shows, my RAM is 3600MHz, not officially supported by the mobo.

The BIOS sets it to 2133MHz and XMP sets it to 3600MHz (there's only one XMP profile). Manually setting the frequency, 2700MHz seems to be the highest for stability in the sim. Nothing else seems to have been unable to function at 3600MHz (e.g. Forza 7,Forza Horizon 4).

 

Secondly, Since solving the sound issue, I now have microstutters and a significant loss of FPS. Previously, I had 40+fps most of the time. Now I have low 20s, improving to 34fps on my most recent flight until I neared the runway when it dropped to 16-20 again.

 

I am running the latest BIOS as of today (0807), but other than the RAM frequency, I've made no BIOS changes. As I said in the previous thread:

Quote

Bearing in mind I've so far left everything else at default in the BIOS since I got this mobo, what is the current thinking on Hyperthreading - on or off? Just trying to think what might have changed between my previous (MSI X570 Tomahawk/AMD Ryzen 5 3600) setup and this. And, when should I cave and get Win11, seeing as the Alder Lake CPUs are supposed to get improved performance with it? ("after I have things more stable in MSFS" is probably the first part of that answer!).

 Suggestions welcome.

[NismoRR 191]

Now you got me all nervous! I’m building a new PC next week with the same memory, 32GB {2x16}, with a 12700KF. I’m using an MSI Edge motherboard and now I have to check if it’s supported by MSI. Surprised it isn’t supported by ASUS. You may want to try 32 GB in slots two and four and see if you get better luck that way. 

[737_800 434]

At my system XMP leads to crashes either therefore I disabled it and set the frequenzy manually. I still could work with the timings, but I haven't understand yet how they work. I would recommand you do disable XMP and try some frequencies out your system can handle.

[AnkH 2,262]

3200MHz with CL14 here, never had a single CTD in MSFS. Additionally, my CPU is oced to 5.0GHz and I run a factory overclocked GPU. Never had a single issue due to my OC. Neither in MSFS nor in other games like BF...

[rka 916]

Your RAM should be able to do 3200 with a sensible CL (try 16) if its rated for 3600. I wouldn't fiddle around with HT. Just leave it on. MSFS is contemporary software and not from 1995 🙂

[blueshark747 1,843]

I've been running 3000MHz XMP on my 32GB of CL16-20-20 since MSFS was released I've never had crash or any issues.

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by blueshark747

[iwebber 207]

Check your RAM voltage, over the years I've noticed XMP doesn't always set the voltage correctly (if at all), it ups the frequency and tightens the timings but leaves the voltage 🙄.

I don't know exactly what memory kit you have but check the specs for the highest voltage supported then set that as the memory voltage in the BIOS.

No promises but I've never had any memory problems doing that and what you're seeing isn't right...

[rayharris108 259]

43 minutes ago, AnkH said:

3200MHz with CL14 here, never had a single CTD in MSFS. Additionally, my CPU is oced to 5.0GHz and I run a factory overclocked GPU. Never had a single issue due to my OC. Neither in MSFS nor in other games like BF...

2 x 16Gb DDR4 3000MHz CL16 20-20 RAM, XMP level I, CPU i7 11700k overclocked to 5GHz, GTX 1080 ti FTW3 factory overclock up to 2000MHz. Not a single CTD in MSFS. HT on (16 cores)

[bobcat999 8,477]

I wonder if you have had a RAM module go bad.  It can happen.  Have you tried running a RAM checker? Some motherboards even have one built into the BIOS now.   

Voltage is normally set by the board automatically on XMP.  I have run XMP1 (3600) on my old PC for 3 and a half years now and no problems in MSFS.

What I will say however is there is barely any measurable difference in performance between say 3200 and 3600.  So if your RAM can't take 3600, try 3400 or 3200 set manually with an appropriate voltage looked up on the internet.

This is with an 8086K (basically a special edition 8700k).  I don't know about Alder Lake - I am building mine today and have 4400Mhz D4 RAM for that, so things could go interesting!  

PS.  Not sure about W11 helping you RAM problem, but I would definitely consider it when running Alder Lake chips.  I have run a W11 over install for a few months now, no problems, and MSFS runs just fine.  Exactly the same actually.

Edited January 22, 2022 by bobcat999

[teletom 98]

10 hours ago, 109Sqn said:

Secondly, Since solving the sound issue, I now have microstutters and a significant loss of FPS. Previously, I had 40+fps most of the time. Now I have low 20s, improving to 34fps on my most recent flight until I neared the runway when it dropped to 16-20 again.

Maybe worth a try (helped me a lot in the past):

Go to https://www.resplendence.com/downloads and download "LatencyMon 7.20".
Run MSFS and check if any of your drivers slows the system down.

Let us know.

[109Sqn 1,557]

 

Thanks for all the responses so far. I'll try to respond to individual points soon. But the first thing I'm going to try is updating the AMD Adrenaline drivers as I've been running version 20.8.3 (from October 2020 if I remember) ever since: 

CTD with Radeon 5700 XT, becoming more frequent - Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) - The AVSIM Community in January 2021. If that immediately stops the microstutters, I'll stick with it whilst addressing the other problems. If not, I'll revert to 20.8.3 to concentrate on the RAM issues first.

Maybe not the most logical way to tackle things but it might help decide if the microstutters and RAM are separate or connected problems.

 

 

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[109Sqn 1,557]

18 hours ago, 109Sqn said:

Specific issues to MSFS, hence not posted in the Hardware forum.

...

Nothing else seems to have been unable to function at 3600MHz (e.g. Forza 7,Forza Horizon 4).

Someone didn't agree.😶

[Bob Scott 7,720]

It sometimes helps to bump up the voltage a bit when XMP settings aren't stable--motherboards often do not set/report voltages precisely, so the reported voltage may look OK, but actually be somewhat below that used to test the RAM during production.  If the RAM works most of the time, you may only need to add a few hundrendths of a volt to make a difference and get up out of the ragged gray area near the edge of stability.

[Paul J 349]

I may be wrong here, (someone PLEASE correct me if I am) but your siggy shows an Intel i5-12400 - I don't think it's overclockable (it's a locked chip) and and Intel shows max turbo as 4.4-gig. I might suggest manually setting it, but not XMP. I've always found that will cause "issues".
Shoving the memory timing up will be ok. If you really want to clock it - go and get an i7-x. They can be pushed.

Edited January 22, 2022 by Paul J

[109Sqn 1,557]

14 minutes ago, Paul J said:

an Intel i5-12400 - I don't think it's overclockable

You're correct, it's non-K, therefore not recommended to try OCing, and I've seen it switching smoothly between 2.2 and 4.2MHz in NZCT Cam depending on what I'm doing. As such, I have no plans to mess with that. I don't think I've seen it go above 34% utilization in MSFS (using Xbox Game Bar to monitor it), so I don't see a benefit to OCing it anyway.

Lots of mentions of checking the RAM voltage is correct, and that's one thing I'll look into for sure.