Can XMP damage my ram?

[MyNameIsNotJeff]

I recently discovered my RAM frequency was operating at 2133 MHz while my RAM is capable of 3000Mhz, at least that's what the specs listed. I went into the BIOS, I think it's called, and changed the frequency and turned on XMP. The auto frequency was like 2968MHz.
Here are my rig specs
Gigabyte Z170P SLI 3466MHz
Intel Core i5 6500 3.2 Ghz CPU
2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance LED 3000MHz RAM
GTX 1070 FE 8GB GPU
Thermaltake 650w 80plus bronze PSU
1TB Toshiba HDD (idk any actual specs on the drive)
I also noticed that my CPU temp had gone from 39°c to 44°c
I just want to make sure I'm not harming any components in my build or at least not in any major way to which I will I'm over stressing anything. Any input will help! Thanks!

 

[Da3m0na]

No it cant. You can damage ram usually by overvoltage, which is not the case. Those cpu tems are safe. Just check the temps while under load. Shoud be under 60.

 

[Jan_26]

It can't damage your RAM as it is built to sustain that XMP profile.
However, in some extreme cases XMP profiles use voltage excessing cpu specifications... and that, in long term, can damage your cpu. Skylake is built for 1,2 - 1,35V RAM... Your Corsair module should be 1,35V one, so that one is safe, but I would strongly suggest not pushing above that. It will run fine for some time (few years), but it's a long time stress.

 

[MyNameIsNotJeff]

I don't plan to run it over the 2968MHz that it's running at, especially if it kills my components faster. I was fine with the 2133MHz but if I could run the actual MHz the specs said it would then I'd like to have it at those speeds. I'm honestly not sure a out voltage or how much my components can handle. I'm still new to PC Mostly. What exact programs or things will the RAM speeds control? To my understanding its the amount of data you can access at an instant depending on the MHz your RAM is running at? But what I don't understand is like what data is that? Is it programs or software or is just like web browsing stuff?

 

[Da3m0na]

Just use software like Aida64, Passmark and stresstest you CPU/RAM and monitor your CPU with HWMonitor(or aida64 again). If the cpu is not overheating and the max voltage does not exceed 1.35V, you are good to go.

 

[Jan_26]

I don't plan to run it over the 2968MHz that it's running at, especially if it kills my components faster. I was fine with the 2133MHz but if I could run the actual MHz the specs said it would then I'd like to have it at those speeds. I'm honestly not sure a out voltage or how much my components can handle. I'm still new to PC Mostly. What exact programs or things will the RAM speeds control? To my understanding its the amount of data you can access at an instant depending on the MHz your RAM is running at? But what I don't understand is like what data is that? Is it programs or software or is just like web browsing stuff?

Frequency won't kill the components faster (in any relevant way). Significantly increased temperatures, voltage/current can. But that is not your case. Frequency "2968" is likely result of the compromise between motherboard capabilities (various ratios) and XMP profile. You have non-overclocker cpu so that 2968 is likely the closest your board could get to. (My board for example pushed a tiny little bit base clock up on i5-6400 to reach 2998).

Everything running in computer sits in your RAM (for example your web browser while you are reading this, but if you shut the browser down, it will be deleted from RAM and the program is only persisted on your HDD)... running programs, their data, various cache systems (what your OS thinks/learns you likely use can get cached so it doesn't waste time loading it from disk when you need it). So the size and performance of your RAM influences everything. Although, majority of programs won't have such needs that would actually stress the RAM enough to show some significant difference between 2133 and 3000 modules. This is very simplified explanation (completely skips cpu instruction/data load, L1-L3 caches, registers, dedicated gpu ram, ssd ram, hdd ram, page file etc.) but you get the idea.

 

[MyNameIsNotJeff]

Ok so I ran the Passmark software and ran the benchmark but completely forgot about HWMonitor to look at me CPU temp. But I got a 3270.7 rating 75th percentile with all tests executed. Now running running the Passmark software and HWMonitor software my CPU, hard drive, and gpu are getting temps of 40.8, 33, and 42°c all in that order, but just before this after running the test it was getting up towards 45, 40, and then the GPU was at 60°C. The HWMonitor is reading TMPIN0 at 39°C (I'm assuming that's CPU) and TMPIN2 at 52°C (I'm assuming that's the GPU). These are the temp readings from both software at the same time, side by side. Also idk if this is to worry about but the CPU VCORE in HWMonitor is reading 1.456V with a min 0.240 and max 1.536. another.

 

[Jan_26]

Vcore voltage seems to be really high to me. Not OCed cpu shouldn't be anywhere close to that. I'll _check_ cpu specs _later_ today, but quickshot guess is about 1.25V should be enough for mild overclocking of i7-6700K, so yours shouldn't get that high. Does cpu-z show same voltage as the hwmonitor?

 

[MyNameIsNotJeff]

I'm checking the VCORE in my BIOS and its reading 1.116V
BCLK 102MHz
CPU Frequency 3650 MHz
Memory Frequency 2992 MHz
Total Memory Size 16384 MB
CPU Temp 43°C
Vcore 1.116
I'm checking my memory settings and it says: profile DDR voltage 1.35
Memory multiplier tweaker 1
Everything this is on auto

 

[Jan_26]

I'm checking the VCORE in my BIOS and its reading 1.116V
BCLK 102MHz
CPU Frequency 3650 MHz
Memory Frequency 2992 MHz
Total Memory Size 16384 MB
CPU Temp 43°C
Vcore 1.116
I'm checking my memory settings and it says: profile DDR voltage 1.35
Memory multiplier tweaker 1
Everything this is on auto

That's 100% healthy 🙂