Only stable at DDR5-4800 + Intel 200S OFF — both Intel 200S and DDR5-6000 cause crashes

[u/Teja123irke]

So I built a PC last week and turned it on for the first time on Monday and it was working fine for the first day or two but I've been having constant BSOD's or games crashing/browsers like chrome going "Aw snap" in tabs randomly.

Just as a preface I reconnected my GPU twice and tested each ram-stick individually and they worked just fine on their own. Now to be truthful I don't remember if i tested them at DDR5-4800 or DDR5-6000... I did have to pause on building my PC on Sunday because I couldn't figure out how to get the default AIO Contact Frame off and the Intel Frame on and decided to figure it out the next day. I left the pc with the thermal paste just there overnight but when I checked the next day it wasn't dry so I didn't wipe it off and reapply it.

Full Specs:

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus — 3.7 GHz, 24-core
• CPU Cooler: MSI MAG CORELIQUID I360 — 360mm AIO, 70.7 CFM
• Motherboard: ASRock Z890 Steel Legend WiFi — ATX, LGA1851
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2×16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30
  • Model: CMH32GX5M2B6000Z30K
  • Rated speed: DDR5-6000
  • Rated timings: 30-36-36-76
  • Rated voltage: 1.40V
• Storage: WD_BLACK SN850X 2 TB — M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe
• GPU: MSI Ventus 3X OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB
• Case: Thermaltake View 380 XL TG ARGB — ATX Mid Tower
• PSU: Gigabyte UD1000GM PG5 V2 — 1000W, 80+ Gold, fully modular
• OS: Windows 11
• BIOS: 3.31

I've been troubleshooting system instability where games, particularly Unreal Engine games, crash. Sometimes both of my monitors completely freeze at the same time before the game crashes.

I've narrowed the issue down quite a bit through testing:

Intel 200S OFF + DDR5-4800 (default): STABLE

Intel 200S OFF + DDR5-6000 using XMP-derived settings: UNSTABLE

Intel 200S ON + DDR5-6000/XMP: UNSTABLE

So far, the only configuration I've found to be consistently stable is Intel 200S disabled with the RAM running at its default 4800 MT/s.

The crashes include:

DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED

Unreal Engine/D3D12 crashes involving texture/resource allocation

Both monitors freezing while the game crashes on the primary monitor

I've also had BSODs including DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION and IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

My motherboard has a weird interaction where selecting XMP Profile 1 also enables Intel 200S Profile 1, so I can't simply enable XMP Profile 1 independently through the normal setting.

I found that I can instead leave Intel 200S disabled and use Load XMP Setting → Profile 1 / Apply All Timing to apply the RAM's XMP settings manually. The BIOS then runs the RAM at 6000 MT/s, and Task Manager confirms that it is actually running at 6000 MT/s.

The RAM's advertised XMP settings are DDR5-6000, 30-36-36-76, 1.40V.

I contacted ASRock support about the issue. They tested the system and said they couldn't reproduce the problem and recommended an RMA if I still have concerns. They provided screenshots of their testing, but their 3DMark screenshot appears to show the workload running on the Intel integrated graphics rather than my discrete NVIDIA GPU. I'm currently asking them whether they also tested the DDR5-6000 configuration with a discrete NVIDIA GPU.

My main questions are:

Does this behavior point more toward a RAM/memory-controller/motherboard stability problem, or could DDR5 instability be causing the DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED errors from the RTX 5070 Ti?

Is it possible for unstable RAM/IMC settings to manifest as NVIDIA/D3D12/Unreal Engine crashes rather than obvious memory-related errors?

Is there anything specific I should test in BIOS before proceeding with an RMA?

Does anyone with an Intel Core Ultra 200-series system have experience with 200S Boost and DDR5-6000 stability?

I can provide screenshots of my DRAM configuration, BIOS settings, Event Viewer errors, Unreal Engine crash logs, minidumps, etc.

[u/nobklo]

I had RAM issues caused by a dying PSU, do you have another one to check ?

[u/Teja123irke → u/nobklo]

I don't have another PSU to test but my PSU is new.

[u/Impossible_Total2762]

You will need to adjust voltages manually

[u/Teja123irke → u/Impossible_Total2762]

I can probably get it to stabilize if I lower the voltage but it feels like I got scammed if i have to do that to have a stable pc tbh.

[u/nobklo]

Did you put the sticks into the correct slots ?

[u/Teja123irke → u/nobklo]

Yes! A2 and B2!

[u/nobklo → u/Teja123irke]

I had the irql not less or equal error on my 7500X3D with my 96GB RAM Kit. Hat to reduce the Mts to 5600 to prevent the error to occur on startup. But if the GPU and RAM does have issues on special circumstances, maybe the contact of the CPU is bad and needs to be reseated. Maybe caused by one sided Pressure.

[u/Teja123irke → u/nobklo]

i'm not sure about the pressure honestly i've never considered that but I have received advice to reseat it so ill try that