[SOLVED] DRAM Frequency and specs

KnightsCross

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I have a MSI B450 tomahawk motherboard and corsair 3200Mhz Ram, 2 16Gb sticks for a total of 32 gb. That being said, when I go into BIOS and set default settings it locks my RAM in at 2133Mhz. Why is this? I am a novice when it comes to altering and adjusting clock speeds, voltages, etc. I do not know enough to be comfortable messing with it and potentially damage my hardware. I want to run my pc at its maximum performance w/o overclocking, How can I go about this?
 
Solution
ok. When I go into bios where do I find automatic timings that are compatible with my gear? is that the XMP or whatever it is?
Second question, I thought that if I set it to, for example, 1600 Mhz, it would be working at 3200 Mhz because it doubles or something to that effect. Is that not so?
XMP sets it to the advertised specs of your memory kit assuming you use that setting of the usual two available (one is usually a slower setting.) Manually setting the timings require that you set the memory speed (2933 for your 2x16GB kit) and either leave the memory timings on automatic after setting speed or you can manually input the timings as advertised and then set the voltage 1.35v for 2933 if the mtoherboard didn't already set it...
I have a MSI B450 tomahawk motherboard and corsair 3200Mhz Ram, 2 16Gb sticks for a total of 32 gb. That being said, when I go into BIOS and set default settings it locks my RAM in at 2133Mhz. Why is this? I am a novice when it comes to altering and adjusting clock speeds, voltages, etc. I do not know enough to be comfortable messing with it and potentially damage my hardware. I want to run my pc at its maximum performance w/o overclocking, How can I go about this?
Set your XMP or manually set 2666, 2933 or 3000, because you most likely won't get 3200 to run stable with 2x16GB. It's a limitation of Ryzen 2000 CPUs. Your 2700X may have trouble running even 2933. If your motherboard does not already automatically set voltage to 1.35 when setting 2933 or higher you will have to set it. 2666 should only need 1.2v and you should also try running with automatic timings first to make sure it will even work.
 

KnightsCross

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Set your XMP or manually set 2666, 2933 or 3000, because you most likely won't get 3200 to run stable with 2x16GB. It's a limitation of Ryzen 2000 CPUs. Your 2700X may have trouble running even 2933. If your motherboard does not already automatically set voltage to 1.35 when setting 2933 or higher you will have to set it. 2666 should only need 1.2v and you should also try running with automatic timings first to make sure it will even work.

ok. When I go into bios where do I find automatic timings that are compatible with my gear? is that the XMP or whatever it is?
Second question, I thought that if I set it to, for example, 1600 Mhz, it would be working at 3200 Mhz because it doubles or something to that effect. Is that not so?
 
ok. When I go into bios where do I find automatic timings that are compatible with my gear? is that the XMP or whatever it is?
Second question, I thought that if I set it to, for example, 1600 Mhz, it would be working at 3200 Mhz because it doubles or something to that effect. Is that not so?
XMP sets it to the advertised specs of your memory kit assuming you use that setting of the usual two available (one is usually a slower setting.) Manually setting the timings require that you set the memory speed (2933 for your 2x16GB kit) and either leave the memory timings on automatic after setting speed or you can manually input the timings as advertised and then set the voltage 1.35v for 2933 if the mtoherboard didn't already set it to 1.35v.

If your memory kit has an XMP setting for 2933 or 3000, I would suggest setting that first, instead of manually changing the settings. If it has issues at 2933/3000, you will have to manually set the memory to 2666MT/s

In the bios, the memory is displayed as the effective speed already. So if you set 3200, it actually is 1600, but displayed as 3200 in the bios and 1600 in a program like CPU-Z. If you were to manually set it to 1600 in bios for a 3200 kit, it would actually be 800. 2133 (1066) is the default base speed for DDR4.
 
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Solution

KnightsCross

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Feb 7, 2015
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XMP sets it to the advertised specs of your memory kit assuming you use that setting of the usual two available (one is usually a slower setting.) Manually setting the timings require that you set the memory speed (2933 for your 2x16GB kit) and either leave the memory timings on automatic after setting speed or you can manually input the timings as advertised and then set the voltage 1.35v for 2933 if the mtoherboard didn't already set it to 1.35v.

If your memory kit has an XMP setting for 2933 or 3000, I would suggest setting that first, instead of manually changing the settings. If it has issues at 2933/3000, you will have to manually set the memory to 2666MT/s

In the bios, the memory is displayed as the effective speed already. So if you set 3200, it actually is 1600, but displayed as 3200 in the bios and 1600 in a program like CPU-Z. If you were to manually set it to 1600 in bios for a 3200 kit, it would actually be 800. 2133 (1066) is the default base speed for DDR4.
I apologize for taking so long to reply. I appreciate all your help. I am completely ignorant of voltages, and uefi settings, as well as memory latency stuff. I am just trying to figure out what NOT to do so I don't wreck my system. Another question I have is, if changing the voltage on your memory is so risky, why is it even an option? why didn't the developers just leave it unchangeable?
 
I apologize for taking so long to reply. I appreciate all your help. I am completely ignorant of voltages, and uefi settings, as well as memory latency stuff. I am just trying to figure out what NOT to do so I don't wreck my system. Another question I have is, if changing the voltage on your memory is so risky, why is it even an option? why didn't the developers just leave it unchangeable?
Messing around with memory settings is generally "safe" as long as you don't set voltage too high and don't turn off settings that automatically reset the memory to defaults if settings fail to work. 1.45v is safe for 24/7, but you would usually only need voltage that high if you were running 4133MT/s and higher speeds.

Your MSI motherboard should have a feature called Memory Try It! in the OC menu. It has common memory timings for memory speeds. I suggest that instead of trying to use XMP, you should instead try using one of the 2933-3000MT/s speeds with CL16 timings. The bios will or should automatically set the voltage to 1.35v when using Memory Try It. Just remember that you are unlikely to get 3200 to work without lots of manual timing tweaks. Your CPU has trouble supporting dual rank memory configurations like yours (2x16GB) past 3000MT/s. If you were using a Ryzen 3000 CPU or Intel on a Z series motherboard, you could probably run 3200 with 2x16GB just fine.

If you don't feel comfortable messing with memory settings, stop and stick with memory defaults. Educate yourself first, then again try later.
 

KnightsCross

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Messing around with memory settings is generally "safe" as long as you don't set voltage too high and don't turn off settings that automatically reset the memory to defaults if settings fail to work. 1.45v is safe for 24/7, but you would usually only need voltage that high if you were running 4133MT/s and higher speeds.

Your MSI motherboard should have a feature called Memory Try It! in the OC menu. It has common memory timings for memory speeds. I suggest that instead of trying to use XMP, you should instead try using one of the 2933-3000MT/s speeds with CL16 timings. The bios will or should automatically set the voltage to 1.35v when using Memory Try It. Just remember that you are unlikely to get 3200 to work without lots of manual timing tweaks. Your CPU has trouble supporting dual rank memory configurations like yours (2x16GB) past 3000MT/s. If you were using a Ryzen 3000 CPU or Intel on a Z series motherboard, you could probably run 3200 with 2x16GB just fine.

If you don't feel comfortable messing with memory settings, stop and stick with memory defaults. Educate yourself first, then again try later.
Again I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me this stuff. I have messed around with the function Memory try it! and everything seems to run great at 2933 Mhz so I will probably leave it at that. Is 1.35v a proper voltage setting at all times?