Dell Precison 5820, Intel Core I9 9820x Ram upgrade failure

Can you confirm that all of the DIMMs are NON-ECC? Also what is the speed of each DIMM?

@JOcean​ Thank you for responding.  The dimms are all non-ECC. The advertized speed is 3200. According to Crucial they are backword compatible to 2666.

256 GB DDR4-3200 works just fine in my 5820 with an Intel Core i9-10980XE (albeit running at the slower DDR4-2933, which is the max supported by the CPU). Are you giving the RAM enough time to train? Mine took a while, thought I don't recall how long. Try leaving it on overnight, as ridiculous as that sounds. Also, make sure you're properly grounded while installing. I've mistakenly fried some stuff before not taking that as seriously as I should have.

@jdrch​ When you say "train" I'm guessing you mean to just let the machine run. When you did that did you also have the fans all running at full blast? This is the part that confuses me.

On past desktops I just put it in and let it rip and it usually powered right up and showed the correct RAM density in the startup screens. UEFI is new to me and I'm not used to a boot with no visible indications on the screen.

@Adam Reizner​ I'm referring to this process, which per Crucial shouldn't take more than 15 min. That post mentions DDR5 but I've seen it happen for other RAM specs.

You may also try disabling the memory integrity check in the BIOS. I have never done that before, but per my reading it's possible.

@jdrch​ thanks for that. That is quite interesting. I'll give that a try even though this system and RAM is DDR4. I'll try anything.

@Adam Reizner​ I know the struggle! Assuming the RAM and motherboard RAM slots are good, if all else fails you can upgrade to my CPU or the i9-10940X. I can confirm both work just fine with 256 GB (8 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 RAM installed. Expensive fix but at least you get a perf upgrade out of it.

@jdrch​ thanks so much for the help. I'm going to head back and give it a try.

No problem. Here's the 256 GB kit that worked for me. Yes, that link says 64 GB; you'll need to buy 4 of them 🙃

I've failed to provide an update. I attempted to just let the system go with the high fans in an attempt to "train" as suggested. I left it overnight and in the morning was still running high fans and no other signs of life.

I spoke to the hardware support guy at my office this morning after getting a new laptop assigned and set up. We are an all Dell shop although we almost strictly use laptops. His suggestion was to go directly to Intel and update the chipset drivers. He prefers that to the Dell assistant. He also suggested using canned air to blow out the slots. I asked about using contact spray but he said that was a bad idea so I didn't take that step.

I thought I had made some progress after doing so but now I'm back at square 1.

I briefly had this system running at 64Gb, all new Crucial 16gb sticks. It took me a lot of shutdowns, remove and replace DIMMs, restart. Fans on high. Shut down. Remove CMOS battery. Remove and reseat ram. Power on. High fans. Swear a lot. Walk away cursing. Return. Rinse. Repeat. 

I decided to install only 16Gb of the OEM installed Hynix memory in slot 1. I put the CMOS battery back in which was removed last night. It booted. Shows 16Gb in the UEFI BIOS and in Windows. I went to Intel and updated the chipset drivers. I powered down, installed the second OEM Hynix stick in slot 2. Booted just fine. Had a BIOS message the system meory has changed. GOOD!

I was feeling frisky. I installed one pair of the Crucial 16Gb DIMMs in slots 3 and 4. Booted no problem. Had a BIOS message on boot telling me the system memory has changed. GOOD! Checked the system information and had 64Gb of RAM. I should have stopped there.

I shut down, installed 2 more Crucial 16Gb sticks in slots 5 and 6. Close up. Plug in and immediately had high fans. I removed just the 2 DIMMs in slots 5 and 6. Plugged in and high fans. Removed the CMOS battery. walked away for 10 minutes. Reinstall battery. Close it up and plug it in and straight back to high fans. I'm frustrated beyond belief right now. Id I can get it back to running at 64GB I'm going to just leave it there and return the other 2 kits to BestBuy. I am thankful they have such a flexible return policy.

Anyone in the community, particularly our resources at DELL, have any suggestions? I would really like to get this system up to the maximum 128Gb of RAM. I'll settle for 64. But right now I can't even get it to run on the single 16Gb Hynix DIMM that allowed me to get it running enough to update the chipset drivers. If I drank that's what I would be doing right now. Since I don't drink I guess I'll go lay in bed and obsess over this until I fall asleep 15 minutes before my dog decides it's time to eat.

Thanks so far and thanks in advance.

Try Intel Driver and Support Assistant. It will check for drivers for all Intel components installed on your system.

Have you considered/tried 4x32 GB RAM? One of your RAM slots may be problematic, and that config might skip it.

I started with using 32gb DIMMs, just 2 of them. The architecture, according to DELL, only supports 16Gb DIMMs with the CORE processor family. When I tried to boot with the 32Gb X 2 I got a lot of beeps along with flash codes telling me their was a memory issue. Tomorrow, if I can get it to boot, I'll try the Intel driver and support assistant.

At the moment I have only the single 16Gb Hynix DIMM in slot 1. The CMOS battery is out. I have a long drive in the morning and I'll get back to it when I'm home.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Another idea: Order a replacement motherboard on Ebay. You can get a used one for $80 (I just did, because I'm attempting the largest 5820 cooler installation in recorded history. Separate story haha). Try booting with the used board and see what happens. You might also try searching for folks running the same RAM config and ask what they're using.

Your cooler project sounds awesome. I'm going to take that suggestion of a spare MB.

Heading out a bit later than expected. I did get it to boot after leaving the battery out over night and putting in just 1 stick. When I get back I'll try to get it back to 64Gb today.

What are the plans for the mini freezer? Heavy gaming, bitcoin mining?

@Adam Reizner​ Believe it or not, I just want to have the highest Precision 5820 0X75JG motherboard XTU2 score. I'm currently #1, but I think I can do better. As to why XTU2: 1) it's quick and easy in Intel XTU 2) Unlike Geekbench, it reports the motherboard model too and allows filtering by that so you can see how fast you are relative to other users with the exact same base hardware. I'm also curious as to the max CPU package TDP the 5820 will support. I'm up to 225 W currently with a Noctua NH-U9DX i4 (the most commonly used 3rd party cooler for the 5820) but hitting that requires running the fans at a 40% offset, which is louder than I'd like.

I think the NH-D12L will allow higher TDP and quieter fans as it's a larger cooler with a higher NSPR rating, but officially per Noctua support it can't be installed on Narrow ILM motherboards because the cooling fins block the ILM bolts. I've figured out a possible way around that by using low profile right angle hex drivers instead. Due to the tight space within the 5820 chassis, I think the best way to install the cooler without doing so blindly is to remove the system board 1st, but of course that requires taking the entire 5820 apart.

From my experience, things have a funny way of not working when you put them back together the exact same way they were before, I figured I'd try my idea on a spare board and CPU 1st (hence the Ebay purchases) so that just in case it doesn't work, I wouldn't have taken the 5820 apart for nothing.

Long explanation, sorry.