does xmp profile affect the cpu?

[jamesa82]

I set my memory to the xmp profile because i didn't want to go through the hassle of setting all the timings myself. I already had an overclocked cpu beforehand i don't want anything messing with it. I thought xmp just affected the memory yet after watching this video by jayztwocents ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4RKTFTzLqY ) it seems like setting the xmp profile does affect the cpu. Yet after reading some other threads many say it does not so I'm a bit confused. does the xmp profile affect my cpu or not. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[CircuitDaemon]

I don't know what he meant by that on the video, but it doesn't affect the CPU. If you are overclocking the entire system by also adjusting the base clock speed, then you should disable XMP and setup everything manually, but that's only to make sure you can adjust memory on a stable setting. Nothing to do with the CPU.

 

[Tradesman1]

The actual XMP profile on the SPD of the DRAM itself won't affect the CPU, No. What can affect things though is the BIOS and what it does with the profile. The BIOS reads the info in from the SPD and then adjust the system settings to run the DRAM at it's correct settings (profile). Some BIOSs have been reported to take things to extremes and in some cases actually increase the CPU multiplier and the CPUs MC (memory controller) voltage. I haven't gotten hands on with any boards doing this but have seen threads and reports of it happening. If it does happen, then the best bet is as mentioned above - disable XMP and set the timings and voltage up yourself manually - if any problems give a shout as you may need to adjust secondary or even tertiary timings in addition to the 4 base timings

 

[jamesa82]

Thanks at the moment i just have the xmp selected and it seems to be working. In my bios it reports the timings of both sets of ram to be the same and at what was advertised (11-11-11-30 at 2133mhz) so that's good and thankfully the cpu seems unaltered and is running at the 4.3 ghz overclock that was previously set up. If i do encounter any issues ill disable the xmp. Thankfully i have quite a standard motherboard ( gigabyte z87 hd3 ) and the ram is some solid corsair ram but i don't think the ram or the motherboard have an xmp that affects the cpu i think it's just have the standard xmp profile that affects just the memory alone.
Thanks for all your help.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds like things are well, if any problems give a shout, from the sounds of it if you do experience problems a small change to the MC (memory controller) voltage would be a simple fix 😉

 

[Shawn855]

I'm here to report that enabling XMP on certain motherboards does in fact change your cpu values. For instance, on my Gigabyte Z170X gaming 3 motherboard paired with an i5 6600K processor, if I enabled XMP on my DDR4 ram (increasing the frequency from 2133mhz to 2400mhz) the motherboard REDUCES my CPU turbo speed from 3.9ghz to 3.6ghz. It's odd to me, but if I had to venture a guess I would say it does this to scale back the temps from OCing the RAM. Once again, that's just a guess. My main concern was raising awareness about this since I've only found this forum and 1 other forum that mentions XMP reducing CPU speeds.

 

[wonderin]

in my case with 6850k and strix x99 gaming, xmp profile for my hyperx predator 2x16@3000mhz overclockes my cpu to 4000 mhz changing the bclk to 125. so YES it adjusts your CPU for a proper RAM work

i'm new to cpu overclocking, and now in search of an advice on overclocking it a bit more over my xmp profile.