[SOLVED] I9 9900K memory

[woba10]

It says that the i9-9900k supports DDR4-2666. So what's the point in buying 3200 memory? If i buy 3200 memory must i activate the XMP profile in bios to work at that speed?

Motherboard does support up to 4000 speed-

 

[MadsModsat]

Yes, for anything above 2666MHz you must either activate the XMP profile, which is the easiest by far, or manually dial in all the correct settings for your RAM to run at the advertised max frequency.

EDIT:

The XMP profile is actually a factory overclock, and it will have an impact on the IMC as well, so you will gain more performance from using high frequency RAM.


But at some point the gain will have less of an percievable impact, the higher frequency you go, and it will be more difficult to make the PC run those speeds, without a lot of fiddling with settings in BIOS

 

[rickypicky5]

I don't know what specific motherboard you have but in general the answer is 'yes', if you buy 3200 memory (assuming the specific memory you purchase is on your motherboard's QVL) you will need to activate the XMP profile in the BIOS.

 

[woba10]

Thanks for the fast answers. The mobo is: AS Rock z390 phantom gaming.

Also, if you would know, which quad channel mobo is available for 1151 socket?

 

[MadsModsat]

None, you can only run dual channel with that chipset, as well as the 9900K

 

[woba10]

Ah that's what i thought. RAM i'm gonna use is:
Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz. Heard it's good. So all i do is activate XMP after installation, even if my mobo does support higher MHzs? It's more bound to CPU speeds right?

 

[MadsModsat]

Not so much CPU frequency, but rather the maximum RAM frequency that the integrated memory controller can handle. It is only guaranteed to handle 2666MHz as per Intel specifications, anything above that, requires overclocking and is not guaranteed.

XMP is actually a factory overclocking preset, as mentioned earlier.

If you get a 9900K with a poor IMC, you may struggle to run particularly high RAM frequencies, while a different 9900K may allow you to run speeds above 4000MHz - this is just an example, there are tonnes of variables, but you get the idea.

But anything above 3600MHz and you might need to fiddle with RAM settings eventhough there's an XMP profile for them.

But the RAM you mention, should not require anything other than activating the XMP profile in BIOS.

I run a similar set, only 2x16GB 3333MHz, and there hasn't been any issues at all.

 

[woba10]

Got it. Thanks for explaining