Intel Core i5-4690K Processor 3.5 GHz LGA 1150 with Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB 2x8GB DDR3 2400MHz PC3 19200

[George7806]

Although I've found a few threads about this issue, but I have a few questions, I didn't seem to find answer to. So my mb supports memory speeds up to 2600Mhz
(Asus ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150) at 1.65V, but my cpu (Intel Core i5-4690K Processor 3.5 GHz LGA 1150) only supports up to 1600 @1.5V. Someone mentioned setting xmp profile 1 at the BIOS, which as I understand will allow the the memory to run at it's full potential. My questions are, does the voltage difference matters for the cpu 1.5 vs. 1.65? Is there any downfall of this, rather than just getting some Corsair 1600Mhz memory? Will my system be stable, even with overclocking the cpu? My other option would be, to return my i5-4690K Processor 3.5 GHz and order a i7-4790K Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.40 GHz) which could run the memory at 2400Mhz without overclocking anything. Any advice is greatly appriciated! Thanks

 

[Tradesman1]

Your CPU can and will run faster, 1600 is but the base spec for the CPU. You may need a bit of an OC for 2400, but first simply go into the BIOS and enable XMP, select profile 1 and give it a try. If no joy, OC the CPU a bit, maybe to 4 GHz, then try with XMP again

 

[atomicWAR]

you may have to manually set your ram speed if XMP doesn't work/work properly. Personally have had mixed luck with it over the years and now just always set my ram speeds and timings manually. As mentioned above the 1600mhz speed is the default spec and the CPU is not guaranteed to crank out 2400mhz speeds but likely will or close. I run DDR3 2400mhz at 2133 mhz speeds as my CPU isn't stable at the faster speed regardless of how i get there (xmp vs manual). Point being if XMP doesn't cut it look up your rams specs for voltages, timings, etc and set them up manually in your bios/uefi. You may even get lucky and be able to set your timings lower the spec 😉 1.65 volts is ok for OC ram voltage but nothing higher on intel builds or you risk damaging your CPU's memory controller. once your all set you may want to run memtest to ensure your RAM is stable at the speed you set it to.

 

[George7806]

Thank you both, for your responses, I've ended up, doing a return on the i5-4690, and going with the i7-4790K, which was my first choice anyways. It might handle the faster speed memory better. Thanks for the tips on the manual settings atomicWAR, I might get back to this thread, if I can't get everything set up properly, but it seems like a straightforward procedure.