If you are running an Intel Processor (10th gen Comet Lake, 11th gen Rocket Lake or 12th Gen Alder Lake) with DDR4 RAM and are having stability issues this guide can help.

[NOTE: While Intel “XXX Lake” CPU’s have similarities, this particular guide is for 10th, 11th and 12th gen CPU’s]

While many main boards support the fast, high performance RAM sticks, Intel doesn’t promise stability passed 3200mhz on the 10th Gen for example. When running super fast RAM chips you might not be able to run them at full speed and keep near perfect stability. Below are several tricks that can help.

1 – If your RAM speed is over 3400mhz is to try dropping the speed of the RAM in the BIOS by 100 megahertz – eg so DDR4 3600 RAM would run at 3500.

2 – Disable the XMP profile in the BIOS and the voltage and speed of the RAM manually. Let the AI on the main board pick the RAM timings. On most 10th gen Intel and better main boards the AI works well.

3 – Set the RAM voltage at 1.37v (instead of 1.35v). Just make sure the RAM does not get over 50 degrees Celsius. Below 41c is ideal for everyday use.

[NOTE: Normal non-high performance RAM has a voltage of 1.2v , Make CERTAIN your RAM is certified to use 1.35v.]

4 – One last trick is to set/raise the VCCIO voltage from 1.18v to 1..34v. VCCIO is the voltage for the memory controller (IMC) on your CPU. The faster your RAM the higher you will likely need to go and every processor behaves differently, especially if you did not win the silicon lottery on the quality of your particular processor. The CPU System Agent (VCCSA) can be raised to 1.21v – 1.31v. Just raise these voltages enough to gain the stability you need as more voltage can wear out a processor faster.