POTENTIAL CRASH FIX - RAM Voltage

[softsoundd]

TL;DR

Ensure your RAM is being supplied with the recommended rated voltage when XMP is enabled.

Example: A stick of DDR4 RAM is rated at 1.35V when XMP is enabled. If the voltage is lower than 1.35V while XMP is enabled, for instance 1.2V (default SPD voltage), program crashes and BSOD are a common occurrence when you start stressing the system. In the case of DDR4, even going 5-10% higher than 1.35V is favourable, but NO MORE than 1.5V (exact voltage values for your type of RAM can be located on the vendor's website).

Diagnosing the issue:

I have been experiencing constant crashes since launch, and none of the suggested fixes solved anything. I have a 5950X/RTX3080/32GB RAM system - super capable of running this title, so insufficient hardware is not the cause of these crashes. I happened to have a BSOD occur while I was playing the game recently, with the stop code referencing MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. This started to point me in the right direction as to what the source of these crashes may be related to. I left MemTest86 running overnight which detected no errors with my RAM (thankfully), but then left me even more perplexed as to why my memory was causing issues.

Well, turns out for some odd reason my Gigabyte motherboard (X570SI) does not automatically apply the XMP rated voltage (1.35V) when enabling the XMP profile, but instead keeps the default SPD voltage (1.20V). Upon discovering that I had to manually set the correct voltage, MW2/WZ2 now run flawlessly - absolutely zero crashes after hours/days of playtime. For clarity, I set my voltage to 1.4V.

I'm unsure if the lack of automatic voltage adjustment when enabling XMP is a wider vendor issue, or just limited to my specific motherboard. But for anyone who experiences these crashes in MW2/WZ2 and have tried every suggested fix to no avail, I would encourage double checking your BIOS as to whether your RAM voltages are actually running at your RAM's rated XMP voltage.

Again, I can't stress this enough - TRIPLE CHECK your RAM's rated voltages first (available on the vendor's website) and TRIPLE CHECK in your BIOS as to what your current RAM voltage is (if it's already in the accepted XMP range, then this fix isn't for you).

Example of where you can find your RAM's voltage specs (in the case of G.Skill): https://www.gskill.com/specification/165/299/1562743478/F4-3600C16D-32GTZRC-Specification