Question A couple questions about RAM

Revenant9930

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Aug 14, 2019
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so i recently bought a 16 GB DDR 4 3200 CL 16 RAM and when i installed it it says at the bios that both RAMs are 2133 mhz (intead of 3200) . So i did a bit of a research and did something with XMP . I set it from auto to a Profile (XMP 1) which i set this profile to the 3200 Mhz Speed( There are lots of speed options). And after a restart i opened BIOS setting again and yes it worked, it says that both RAM ( dual Kit 2x8GB ) runs at 3200 mhz) so my question is am i doing the right thing? i dont wanna break my PC. And second question is , i monitored my PC since i install the new RAMs just incase something might happen with the other parts and i noticed that my PC is only using 50 Percent of the RAM the whole time , altough i launched game like GTA V, is it normal here or is there a setting so that i can use more than half like at least 75 - 85 percent of my Total RAM?
 

Endre

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so i recently bought a 16 GB DDR 4 3200 CL 16 RAM and when i installed it it says at the bios that both RAMs are 2133 mhz (intead of 3200) . So i did a bit of a research and did something with XMP . I set it from auto to a Profile (XMP 1) which i set this profile to the 3200 Mhz Speed( There are lots of speed options). And after a restart i opened BIOS setting again and yes it worked, it says that both RAM ( dual Kit 2x8GB ) runs at 3200 mhz) so my question is am i doing the right thing? i dont wanna break my PC. And second question is , i monitored my PC since i install the new RAMs just incase something might happen with the other parts and i noticed that my PC is only using 50 Percent of the RAM the whole time , altough i launched game like GTA V, is it normal here or is there a setting so that i can use more than half like at least 75 - 85 percent of my Total RAM?

DDR4 memory kits are by default at a lower frequency: 2133, 2400 or 2666.
To make the memory run at its advertized speed and timings, you must load an XMP Profile, which will boost the speed and the voltage from 1.2V to 1.35V. That is normal.
Loading XMP profiles is considered”fine”.
It’s still a type of “safe overclock” and it might not work with every motherboard or memory.
But if yours is working, then it’s OK.
 
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PC3200 RAM is nothing more than overclocked 2133MHz RAM using XMP. There is nothing wrong with using that and your computer will be just fine.
Your cannot set your computer to use more RAM. Having 16GB of RAM will make it such that your system won't lag while gaming. If you were to only have 8GB RAM and play GTA V you would be using like 90-95% and the system will start to page swap. Page swapping is taking information in RAM and sending it to the hard drive for storage to free up physical RAM. Page swapping is incredibly slow and can make the computer feel like it is stalling. If you were to open up Task Manager and go to the Performance tab and select your RAM you will see a couple different things. One is RAM in use (just as it sounds that is what the system is actively using at that time), modified (usually reserved for integrated graphics), cached (files/information that the OS is storing in RAM since it will need it as some point just not at that instant), and free (the rest of the RAM that isn't cache, modified, or in use). The more RAM you have the more the system can cache so it doesn't have to send it to the hard drive. This is a good thing to have cache and for the typical gaming PC 16GB is the current sweet spot for RAM amount and cost.
 
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Endre

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so i recently bought a 16 GB DDR 4 3200 CL 16 RAM and when i installed it it says at the bios that both RAMs are 2133 mhz (intead of 3200) . So i did a bit of a research and did something with XMP . I set it from auto to a Profile (XMP 1) which i set this profile to the 3200 Mhz Speed( There are lots of speed options). And after a restart i opened BIOS setting again and yes it worked, it says that both RAM ( dual Kit 2x8GB ) runs at 3200 mhz) so my question is am i doing the right thing? i dont wanna break my PC. And second question is , i monitored my PC since i install the new RAMs just incase something might happen with the other parts and i noticed that my PC is only using 50 Percent of the RAM the whole time , altough i launched game like GTA V, is it normal here or is there a setting so that i can use more than half like at least 75 - 85 percent of my Total RAM?

Your PC uses only 50% of RAM because it doesn’t need more for what you are doing. That is good news! But it will use more if you load a more demanding application.
 

Revenant9930

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Aug 14, 2019
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DDR4 memory kits are by default at a lower frequency: 2133, 2400 or 2666.
To make the memory run at its advertized speed and timings, you must load an XMP Profile, which will boost the speed and the voltage from 1.2V to 1.35V. That is normal.
Loading XMP profiles is considered”fine”.
It’s still a type of “safe overclock” and it might not work with every motherboard or memory.
But if yours is working, then it’s OK.
a question to what u said, just say the Motherboard is capable till 3200 , can i then just simply buy 2133 RAM which is cheaper than the 3200 and overclock it to 3200? or the frequency that is on the packaging is the max frequency it can be overclocked to?
 

Endre

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a question to what u said, just say the Motherboard is capable till 3200 , can i then just simply buy 2133 RAM which is cheaper than the 3200 and overclock it to 3200? or the frequency that is on the packaging is the max frequency it can be overclocked to?

Yes, the frequency that is on the package is the max that it can be overclocked to through XMP Profiles (you can get to higher speeds by manual overclocking, which is less safe).

This memory has been tested to run at these speeds. Don’t simply buy a DDR-2133 to overclock it to 3200!