Motherboard Doesn't Explicitly Support RAM Speed

[partyHat2424]

Hey guys,

N00bie here to the forums. Looking at building a computer and I've been seeing where I can cut back on costs, etc. The one motherboard I'm looking at downgrading to doesn't explicitly support [only 2933(O.C.)/1600/1333] the speed of the RAM I've chosen, which runs at 1866MHz.

So I'd assume the mobo would just run it at 1600MHz if I don't touch anything – will it automatically adjust the timings down correctly? How could make the mobo support this RAM speed?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128618
I'm trying to build a Hackintosh.

Thanks!

 

[barto]

From Gigabyte's website:
4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4489#sp

It will work. Just like you said, it will by default clock to 1600MHz. You will have to overclock to 1866.

 

[gregbattis]

Hey welcome!
Yes the 1866 will work.
Here is the link to the manufacture site showing the compatible ram.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4489#sp

 

[Calvin7]

Memory usually runs at conservative SPD (Serial Presence Detect) settings. Serial presence detect (SPD) refers to a standardized way to automatically access information about a computer memory module.

Your memory may have XMP (eXxtreme Memory Profile). eXtreme Memory Profile (XMP) enables enthusiast performance extensions to the traditional JEDEC SPD specifications for DDR3 SDRAM. This is normally [disabled] by default in the BIOS.

 

[partyHat2424]

From Gigabyte's website:
4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4489#sp

It will work. Just like you said, it will by default clock to 1600MHz. You will have to overclock to 1866.

Ah – I was looking at Newegg for the specs. Oh, well. So the mobo will underclock and I'll just have to bump up manually from the UEFI or whatever? Thanks!


EDIT: off-topic, but I'm building a fairly high-end system and although you don't know the specs I'd assume as long as the mobo has the ports I want/need I'm golden?

 

[gregbattis]

It is a easy fix to do in the bios it is almost an in your face fix.

 

[barto]

Technically yes. If you have the compatible parts, everything would be good to go. For selecting the components, I suggest you use http://pcpartpicker.com/ It's a really good site for selecting hardware as it automatically make sure parts are compatible and finds the cheapest price for each component.

Now don't think I'm not suggesting not to overclock RAM, but I want to highlight that for gaming, there won't be any performance benefit from faster RAM. It's a common practice to overclock RAM for benchmarking but that's about it.