X670E Ace Bios Problems

[BiscuitBomber]

Hardware:
Processor: 7950X
Motherboard: MSI X670E Ace
GPU: EVGA 3080 TI FTW3
MEMORY: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series AMD EXPO 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000)
PSU: EVGA 1000W P6
Cooler: 360 Phanteks AIO MPH

After updating my BIOS today on my PC. When booting up I was getting BIOS Code A6 and the RAM light was staying Amber. This didn't occur on the previous BIOS 7D69v13. I attempted to clear CMOS but same issue. I ended up downgrading my BIOS back to 7D69v13. I opened a ticket with MSI, but just a heads up in case anyone else runs into this. Before 7D69v142 I had zero issues with RAM and bootup problems.


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EDIT Title
Alan J T

 

[sblantipodi]

AMD Isolates Ryzen 9000 Series Boot Issues to a BIOS Update, ASRock Offers a Fix

A small number of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs have had trouble starting up on some ASRock AM5 motherboards. The issue was first noticed in February 2025, and both AMD and ASRock immediately looked into the problem. The investigation found that the older BIOS versions on specific ASRock boards had...

www.techpowerup.com

where is MSI?

 

[SoniC]

AMD Isolates Ryzen 9000 Series Boot Issues to a BIOS Update, ASRock Offers a Fix

A small number of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs have had trouble starting up on some ASRock AM5 motherboards. The issue was first noticed in February 2025, and both AMD and ASRock immediately looked into the problem. The investigation found that the older BIOS versions on specific ASRock boards had...

www.techpowerup.com

where is MSI?

The BIOS in the article is the 3.20 from beginning of march. I would like to think, that on MSI we are far past that point with the current 1L.

 

[sblantipodi]

Ok the new 9950X3D from RMA boots correctly and it works more or less...
I don't know if it works stable at 6000mt/s C30 like before with the previous 7950X3D
I have 4x16GB SK Hynix b-die

The things I noticed is that 9950X3D has greater latency than 7950X3D with the same settings.
I have 75ns in Aida 64, I had 67ns with same settings with previous CPU

Any idea why?

Same primaries, secondaries and tertiaries. Every single setting entered manually.

The only difference is in the gear down that I need to enable it to make it stable.
But is it possible that gear down adds all that latency?

 

[Michele P]

everything nominal
a higher latency it's expected for the 9xxx cpu
if you don't like the numbers of aida, just disable windows core isolation and activate msi latency killer

regarding the booting problems of 9xxx cpus, it's old news, from mid/late february I think
in that case the cpu didn't boot at all, because early memory incompatibilities
it was fixed very fast, so I susppose msi should have already all the fixes needed

And your experience confirms that there are many 9xxx unlucky batches around
looking at your symptoms, reading similar experiences on reddit, and few other ones that are having gpu troubles, I strongly believe pcie is the culprit there.

 

[sblantipodi]

this was the settings with 7950X3D

this are the ones with 9950X3D

it says that powerdown is disabled even if it's on in BIOS.

the part I highlighted in red is very very different between the old working settings I used on 7950X3D, that part was the default on the old CPU.

should I try to use the same settings there too? I don't even know how to change that settings in BIOS:

 

[xeizoo]

this was the settings with 7950X3D

View attachment 200691

this are the ones with 9950X3D

View attachment 200693
it says that powerdown is disabled even if it's on in BIOS.

the part I highlighted in red is very very different between the old working settings I used on 7950X3D, that part was the default on the old CPU.

should I try to use the same settings there too? I don't even know how to change that settings in BIOS:

No, same settings will not work, it's a different cpu. If you move your old CPU to another board, then the old settings will work as there is much less difference between boards than between CPU:s.

9000-series has worse latency than 7000-series, it's a fact, that's why there's "latency killer" in the bios which is worth trying. If anything so does Intel Core Ultra have even worse latency, but way better bandwidth.

My own 9950X3D using "latency killer"

Settings:

With the 7950X i had 57-60ns with the same motherboard. Now using the 7950X on a B650 and indeed, it's 60ns.

 

[Michele P]

terminations are cpu dependant
so different cpus require different terminations

I can't give you any advice on that matter cause I'm sticking with the 7950x3d

Don't change anything on the terminations unless you read first a lot of experiences with this cpu on other overclocking forums, specifically for ram kits similar to yours.
But I think it's still a bit early.

I can't remember if powerdown has an "enable" setting in bios, isin't that only Auto/Disabled?
It should turn on automatically when MCR is Enabled
But I could be mistaken cause I always put both options on disabled, this improves stability and boot/training consistency.

 

[sblantipodi]

guys I really appreciate your help, really, you rock. thanks for the prompt answer and for the help

 

[sblantipodi]

No, same settings will not work, it's a different cpu. If you move your old CPU to another board, then the old settings will work as there is much less difference between boards than between CPU:s.

9000-series has worse latency than 7000-series, it's a fact, that's why there's "latency killer" in the bios which is worth trying. If anything so does Intel Core Ultra have even worse latency, but way better bandwidth.

My own 9950X3D using "latency killer"

View attachment 200694

Settings:

View attachment 200695

With the 7950X i had 57-60ns with the same motherboard. Now using the 7950X on a B650 and indeed, it's 60ns.

with latency killer I can achieve 65ns that is more than enough for me.
is that settings difficult to stabilize? it seems to work now but I haven't done extensive tests on RAM

 

[Michele P]

and that's pretty normal for a relaxed 6000C30 config
dont think a 7950x3d can do much better
if you don't tune other things (like fclk, gdm, nitro, ecc) usually the old cpu isn't far from 60/62

Of course the latency killer could also impact stability.
You get a better number in AIDA, maybe also in other latency tests, but don't take it as a performance improvement all around.
It could hurt something else, like real world apps/games. Be cautious with this setting,

Most important thing for now is that you have a working CPU on this motherboard
We know for sure the old one was defective

...and it seems there are many around

 

[sblantipodi]

ok understood thanks.
but is memory context restore enabled by default?

I have it on auto and boot is blazing fast :-O

 

[Michele P]

I think it's disabled, cause powerdown is....
unless zentimings is wrong
and in this case I'd force both disabled to see if changes anything in boot times

 

[sblantipodi]

it seems that the 9950X3D is pretty hot...
OCCT AVX stress test immediately puts my CPU t 95°C and I have a custom loop... is this normal?
using -25 PBO

 

[Michele P]

yes, 95 it's the default target temperature
for 7950x3d was 89

 

[sblantipodi]

yes, 95 it's the default target temperature
for 7950x3d was 89

I rarely hit 89°C on 7950X3D,
it's very Easy to hit 95°C on 9950X3D

 

[sblantipodi]

But what about setting boost to +200 and scalar 10x?
Is it useful? I never set that thing on my 7950X3D and I doubt that it made any difference.
The only difference I see is how low I can set the pbo...

Isn't it?

 

[Michele P]

it's all usefull for pretty numbers xD
practical use, almost zero
only a slight pbo helps with a better and more efficient boosting
too much pbo or too much boost can have the opposite effect with boost stretchjing side effect for example

If you want seriously overclocking for performance you should go eclk
slight improvements, but still better than simple PBO+boost

overclock lives only for passion, there's no huge benefits anymore

Sad times for those who lived the mendocino era

 

[SoniC]

I rarely hit 89°C on 7950X3D,
it's very Easy to hit 95°C on 9950X3D

Remember that 7950X3D was a 120W TDP CPU, where 9950X3D is a "normal" 170W TDP CPU.
However --- on my side my 9950X3D with a Corsair H150i Elite (3x120mm) is reaching also 85-90 degrees easily...

 

[sblantipodi]

Remember that 7950X3D was a 120W TDP CPU, where 9950X3D is a "normal" 170W TDP CPU.
However --- on my side my 9950X3D with a Corsair H150i Elite (3x120mm) is reaching also 85-90 degrees easily...

the weird thing is that with loads like Cinebench R23 or R24 temps stays under 80°C,
with AVX loads like OCCT temps sky rocket to 95°C.

I don't know how to test this CPU for stability without cooking it

another thing I noticed is that the boot is incredibly fast even with memory context restore on auto.
there is no waiting on 15 for training on boot or on reboot.

probably now AUTO works as "memory context restore ON".

 

[Michele P]

Dont cook the cpu
Short tests with avx, prime, occt, also multiple Sha3 aida rounds. An obvious instability will trigger pretty soon.
Avx is always pushing higher voltages and temps, it’s the way it works.
But usually pbo instabilities wlll crash the pc on idle anywayy, or very light work conditions. Imho there’s no particular reason to test avx or a other heavy load for long time
Pbo stability is not easy to test fir this.
If it doesnt crash early it’s already a good starting point: but you should look more for boost stretching under heavy load.
Then pray it won’t crash while browsing xD

Same story with the temps on my 7950x3d and AIO: typical stress such cinebench dont go higher than 72/75. Different story with avx stress tests where temps skyrocket around 85. I’ve only seen 89 in summer with my old broken aio (PS: even if in difficulties EK honored their 5y warranty and sent me a brand new elite AIO)

Pls dont use mcr/pd settings on auto, both enabled or both disabled, use auto only if theres no enabled option.