[SOLVED] Faster than 2400MHz DDR Possible?

[xmarine2847]

I've been wanting to upgrade from 16GB (2 x 8) to 32GB RAM and I want to make sure I'm getting some performance gain other than just increased capacity.
I have an ASUS Prime H270 Plus board and the specifications state:

I have an i7-7700 and two identical sticks of 2400MHz RAM currently

The XMP options in the UEFI let me set profiles with speeds past 4000MHz. So despite the board specs I found would I be able to purchase, for example, 3200MHz RAM and have it work fine?

 

[boju]

Difficult to know automatic fall back speed. If knew they would run at 2400, buying faster ram would only make sense if you were to carry them over to a new system eventually because they won't make any difference.

Can you set 2400MHz though with your current ram?

 

[xmarine2847]

Current RAM is actually rated as 2400MHz but without XMP enabled it runs at 2133. I see options to manually set up to 4000 and higher (I don't recall specific speeds without going into the BIOS real quick) so if I purchase RAM that is rated at 3200MHz (for example) and it has one or two XMP profiles I don't know yet if it will be available when I install it or if the board will just down-clock it to 2400MHz. I'm fairly new to XMP and Intel's architecture (I had AMD processors before this build). I've searched around and it seems like the higher speed RAM would work fine but I figured I'd ask before going all out.

This is also assuming that higher timings won't counter-act the increased speeds, anyway. So I have to figure out that balance, as well.

 

[boju]

Z board is required to run over 2400. Anything faster will cap at 2400 regardless what it is set to in the bios. Chipset limitation.

 

[xmarine2847]

Understood. Thank you.

That was all I needed to know. I'm not planning to add it to my existing RAM, I want to replace my current 2x 8GB sticks with 2x 16GB. I'll try to find a kit, even if it's rated at higher speeds, that will at least match or have better timings when running at 2400MHz than what I have now... or, since my wife is complaining that it's her turn to upgrade, I'll just suck it up and stick with what I have since I'm not really having any problems with it.

 

[boju]

Yeah, 16GB is still a good amount and differences between 2400 and say 3200 isn't a great deal. Maybe 2fps extra. Not huge anyway. Ram speed matters more for Ryzen than Intel because of how AMD's internal memory controller works.

 

[Third-Eye]

Yeah, 16GB is still a good amount and differences between 2400 and say 3200 isn't a great deal. Maybe 2fps extra. Not huge anyway. Ram speed matters more for Ryzen than Intel because of how AMD's internal memory controller works.

Going from 2400 to 3200 would actually be more like a 10+fps difference, but buying a Z series motherboard is a waste of money better spend on a new AMD or Intel platform.

I've seen around 10-20fps difference with my Ryzen 5 2600 and 4x8GB DDR4 3000 CL14 compared to my i7-2600K @4.5Ghz and 4770S, both using 2x8GB DDR3 1600 and later 2133. The R5 2600 and 4x8GB is around 7% faster than the 4770S and would account for around 5fps difference.