Aurora R5, 2133MHz ram, overclock issues

Forgot to add that I am on Bios version 1.0.22

Did you remember that you need to select one of the two xmp profiles in order for it to load, f2 on startup?

Its not an option for me. I read somewhere on here that It apparently got fixed by a bios update 1.0.3 which I cant download anywhere?!

But the options is not there under Performance Options.

Only option there is overclocking.enabled or disabled.

This is the thread I mentioned above. 

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/R5-Aurora-KB-Memory-May-Not-Operate-2400Mhz-XMP/td-p/5503890

I cant find that download anywhere

@sighting 

I'm going to guess that you have a locked (non-K processor) and that the new RAM is not OEM Dell RAM.  If that is the case, I believe that explains the issues you are experiencing.  

1.  Dell OEM ram is has different XMP profiles than any other retail RAM that you buy from a third party other than Dell.  The BIOs update mentioned would most likely have been specific to Dell's OEM RAM.  Does does not validate any other RAM and it would not make sense for them to make a BIOs fix specific to third party RAM that they do not sell. 

2.  The Bios version you mentioned 1.0.3 is way out of date.  You said you're on 1.0.20.  That is a difference of 17 updates.  1.0.3. is probably from sometime back in 2016.  Since then, serious updates have been issued.  There is the MDS zombieload patch to address an intel security where hackers can steal your personal info from the CPU cache.  That fix came out in May or June of 2019.  So you wouldn't want to flash back before that, and it may be one reason why Dell no longer offers versions as old as 1.0.3 any longer.  1.0.20 would include any of the prior updates anyway. 

3.  Having a locked CPU does not mean XMP profiles are locked.  As you might know, since you have an R7, you can load XMP profiles with a locked CPU.  However, the photos of the BIOs for the R5 reflect that XMP selections are a subset of the overclocking feature in BIOs.  The overclocking feature is unavailable with a locked CPU.  Thus, it appears that if you have an R5, the XMP profiles might be locked out by the BIOs.  Why?  Well, I don't know, but I would mention that the R5/6 motherboard shipped with less features for the non-K vs the K CPUs.  For example, there are no VRM heat sinks on the non-K motherboards. So the locking may be a hardware limitation. 

Perhaps Dell wanted to offer more features to customers who paid a premium for an unlocked system.  I don't know.  Just my observations.  This probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but hopefully the lockout you're experiencing will make more sense. 

@r72019 - Thank you for the reply.

I have an OEM i7-6700k CPU.

I still have access to the OEM ram the machine shipped with and that did not show any new setting under my bios settings.

My mistake it was meant to be 1.0.30 (but that was from memory)

The latest current release of BIOS for my machine is Version 1.0.22, Release Date 06 Apr 2020 and I have that installed.

As per this post from Dell directly:

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln302362/alienware-aurora-r5-owners-may-have-xmp-memory-not-operating-at-2400mhz?lang=en

However there is no such settings for me under advanced.

If you have a 6700k unlocked CPU, then you should definately be able to access the overclocking feature.  The reason you can't is probably the cause of the issue.  Are your AWCC OC features also not working?  The only things I can think of are (1) reset bios to optimized defaults [this sometimes fixes greyed out xmp options, but I haven't heard of it in connection with lost oc options so I'd pribably do #2 first], (2) reflash to the most recent bios [this has worked for others who have lost OC features on unlocked cpus in AWCC, this is actually a common issue recently] and (3) contact Dell for support if under warranty still because overclocking should not be greyed out on a pc that shipped stock with an unlocked cpu.