Question Crucial Ballistix Sport wrong memory speed

[Reonardo]

Hello!

I have a Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR4-3000 Module (BLS8G4D30AESEK).

Today I opened CPU-Z to see the frequency that it was running, and, for my surprise, it was at 2400MHz (1200 * 2).

I know that my motherboard (Gigabyte H310 M2) and my CPU (i5 9400f) only support up to 2666MHz of speed.

Then, I activated de XMP profile to go up to 2666, and now it shows it on CPU-Z.

My question is: on the SPD tab, is says that my memory module is DDR4-2400 while, in fact, it is DDR4-3000 (as it is specified on manufacturer's site). Any ideas for why this happens? Even if my MOBO and CPU limit the speed at 2666MHz (and now it's running at that frequency) shouldn't it show DDR4-3000 as it's the real memory module spec?

 

[rgd1101]

the motherboard can run slower, not faster speed

 

[Reonardo]

the motherboard can run slower, not faster speed

Now it's running on 2666, which is the MOBO maximum (as said in MOBO box specs).

 

[EndEffeKt_24]

The specs of the micron E die chips on the modules is not 3000 mhz. Those 3000 mhz are the overclocked xmp speeds the ram manufacturer rates the dimms for.

 

[Reonardo]

The specs of the micron E die chips on the modules is not 3000 mhz. Those 3000 mhz are the overclocked xmp speeds the ram manufacturer rates the dimms for.

So the "base frequency" is 2400MHz but it's tested and "approved" for 3000MHz with XMP OC?

 

[Nemesia]

Running only 1 memory stick in single channel reduce the memory bandwidth by 50%. Always buy 2 sticks making them run in Dual Channel. In some games I saw a difference of 30% in FPS between single and dual channel.

Did you try manually setting the memory timing etc instead of using XMP?

 

[EndEffeKt_24]

So the "base frequency" is 2400MHz but it's tested and "approved" for 3000MHz with XMP OC?

Exactly. But the stability of a RAM overclock depends not only on the module itself but on a number of factors like mainboard chipset, number of dimms, mainboard topology and the memory controller of the cpu. Thats why xmp profiles do not work out of the box in every case .

 

[Reonardo]

Running only 1 memory stick in single channel reduce the memory bandwidth by 50%. Always buy 2 sticks making them run in Dual Channel. In some games I saw a difference of 30% in FPS between single and dual channel.

Did you try manually setting the memory timing etc instead of using XMP?

With XMP the memory is running at 2666MHz (which is my motherboard's memory speed limit), I'm not aiming for 3000MHz. I only felt that showing that the module is DDR4-2400 was very strange as the module is DDR4-3000 and I thought that it should show DDR4-3000 even if it is running on a lower speed, as it is chip's info and not the current speed.