Question Question about memory specs for B650E AORUS MASTER motherboard

[richdmccarty]

I haven't built a PC in a while and am a bit confused about the memory specs on the motherboard I plan on purchasing. I'm thinking of buying the B650E AORUS MASTER and under the memory section it lists these numbers but I'm not sure what they mean.

"Support for DDR5 8000(OC)/ 7800(OC)/ 7600(OC)/ 7200(OC)/ 7000(OC)/ 6800(OC)/ 6666(OC)/ 6600(OC)/6400(OC)/ 6200(OC)/ 6000(OC)/ 5600(OC)/ 5200/ 4800/ 4400 MT/s memory modules."

I'm planning on buying Kingston Fury Beast 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MT/s DDR5 CL30. I checked the motherboard website to make sure its compatible but just wanted to understand what those numbers mean.

1. Does OC stand for overclock?

2. Do the numbers represent the memory speed of the RAM that the motherboard is compatible with?

3. I've seen MT/s and MHz when shopping for RAM. Is that a distinction that matters when looking at the motherboard specs?

 

[JayGau]

Yes, OC means overclock, but any DDR5 ram that runs at higher speed than its default (DDR5 standard is 4800 MT/s) is actually overclocked. So when you get your 6000 MT/s RAM and enable EXPO, you basically auto-overclock it to 6000 MT/s.

And the numbers you found mean that the motherboard officially supports those values (so if you get a 7200 MT/s kit it should support it). But it doesn't guarantee it will be stable or even POST in any circumstances. That depends on other factors like the CPU and the RAM timing. What CPU do you plan to buy? Most Zen 5 CPUs are running great at 6000 MT/s CL30.

MT/s stands for megatransfers per seconds, which is pretty much the equivalent of MHz but it's more adequate in the RAM context and less confusing, so manufacturers adopted this units instead. The MHz represents the clock speed but with the double data rate (DDR), people were confused ("why does my RAM run at half the speed" was a very common question on forums). Since double data rate can transfer twice the amount of data per clock cycle, MT/s is a better unit since it takes that into account.

 

[CountMike]

When MB manufacturer states RAM (memory) frequency it's mainly what it's BIOS would allow but it's only part of equation, the other part is CPU, actually memory controller in it and it's limits.

 

[richdmccarty]

Yes, OC means overclock, but any DDR5 ram that runs at higher speed than its default (DDR5 standard is 4800 MT/s) is actually overclocked. So when you get your 6000 MT/s RAM and enable EXPO, you basically auto-overclock it to 6000 MT/s.

And the numbers you found mean that the motherboard officially supports those values (so if you get a 7200 MT/s kit it should support it). But it doesn't guarantee it will be stable or even POST in any circumstances. That depends on other factors like the CPU and the RAM timing. What CPU do you plan to buy? Most Zen 5 CPUs are running great at 6000 MT/s CL30.

MT/s stands for megatransfers per seconds, which is pretty much the equivalent of MHz but it's more adequate in the RAM context and less confusing, so manufacturers adopted this units instead. The MHz represents the clock speed but with the double data rate (DDR), people were confused ("why does my RAM run at half the speed" was a very common question on forums). Since double data rate can transfer twice the amount of data per clock cycle, MT/s is a better unit since it takes that into account.

Thanks for the great information. As for my CPU, I'm most likely going to get a Ryzen 5 9600X.

 

[richdmccarty]

When MB manufacturer states RAM (memory) frequency it's mainly what it's BIOS would allow but it's only part of equation, the other part is CPU, actually memory controller in it and it's limits.

Thank you for the reply and the great info.

 

[JayGau]

As for my CPU, I'm most likely going to get a Ryzen 5 9600X.

Then the Kingston 6000 MT/s CL30 kit should run just fine.