Memory 1066Mhz shown instead of 1333Mhz on HP PC

friend_matthew

Honorable
Jul 14, 2012
2
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10,510
I own a HP HPE-560z that was custom ordered.

It came with 8GB of RAM that was 2GB x 4.

I just upgraded the RAM to two packs of Corsair Vengeance for a total of 4GB x 4.

According to what I have been able to find to hardware specifications for my PC, it does support 1333Mhz RAM. Unfortunately, I found that when I go from three sticks to four, it automatically drops the RAM speed to 1066Mhz.

Sadly, I have also found out the hard way, that HP seems to only care about a new PC so long as it is still in production and on the market. None of the included software, drivers, or firmware have had any released updates in a very long time.

My question being as far as the RAM goes, is there anything at all that I can do in order to make it still run at 1333Mhz, or am I stuck between a rock and a hard place, i.e. the choice of 3 sticks at a max of 12GB of running at 1333Mhz, or use 16GB at a max but only at 1066Mhz? I honestly wouldn't care about the limitation if I could put 8GB in each memory slot. I am unsure if this is just because of a limitation based on using a AMD Phenom II x6 3.2Ghz processor, or if it is a limitation because of the H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) motherboard, or some combination of both?

Would there be something I could do in the BIOS to force it to run the RAM at 1333Mhz? If not, would there be a update to the motherboard firmware that I've been unable to find?
 
From HP's own H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) motherboard specifications:

• Supports up to 16 GB on 64-bit PCs (DIMMs run at DDR3-1066)

*DDR3-1333 modules run at 1066 MHz if three or more modules are installed.

Your PC appears to be running exactly as it was designed to. You're imagining a problem where there isn't one.

Consumer PCs come with a locked down BIOS so you can't make memory speed changes like you can with a DIY PC that you build yourself or one built by a boutique system vendor.