Question ram choice

[Spook672]

hello,

i got 8gb ram 2400mhz. is there a difference between 3000mhz and 2400mhz and should i change it if there is?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Specs?

 

[Spook672]

i7 6700k 1060 6gb 8gb 2400mhz ballistic or some shit idk what its called

 

[Karadjgne]

For a skylake cpu, 2400 is fine you'll really not see any bonus going faster, just costs more.

If anything, I'd bump that 8Gb to 16Gb at 2400-3200, whichever is cheapest (on sale)

 

[Spook672]

For a skylake cpu, 2400 is fine you'll really not see any bonus going faster, just costs more.

If anything, I'd bump that 8Gb to 16Gb at 2400-3200, whichever is cheapest (on sale)

one question, can I buy a 3200 another 8gb stick from a different brand or does that mess things up?

 

[Karadjgne]

Ram will run at the slowest speed. So if you mix a 3200 with a 2400, both will run at 2400.

To be honest, mixing ram that came from 2 different kits is never a good idea. Even if the ram is exactly identical vendor, model, speed, color etc. You only see the primary timings, the 15-16-15-39 etc, what you don't see is the 40+ secondary and tertiary timings. All it takes is one to be slightly off, and the whole thing either requires voltage bumps, loosening timings even dropping speeds to get both sticks to play nice. Sometimes even all that doesn't work and both won't work at all together. So it's always advised to buy all the ram in a single kit, a single package, not seperates, as ram is tested by the factory and have certified the ram works.

If you want 2x8Gb, you should sell the 1x8Gb you own, and buy a 2x8Gb kit in 2400/2666 or whatever you like.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Do you have a Z170 or Z270 motherboard? If not, you won't even be able to run RAM faster than 2133 MHz anyway.

 

[Karadjgne]

Nah, any 200 series can run 2400, the only restriction being with non-z 100 series. With a K cpu, his bios will allow xmp upto 2400 even if default on skylake MC is 2133MHz. On the Z boards, it'll depend on the board as to what's recognized above 2133MHz.

 

[Spook672]

I have a Msi z270 gaming pro carbon. Also thank you Karadjgne for your help I appreciate it.

 

[Karadjgne]

Oh, you are good all day then. I'd not get ram past 3200, the benefits for Intel aren't really there for gaming especially and the prices seem to go nuts after that point..

 

[TJ Hooker]

Nah, any 200 series can run 2400, the only restriction being with non-z 100 series.

It may vary, but for at least some non Z boards you need a 7th gen CPU to run 2400, otherwise you're limited to 2133. I'm inclined to believe that's the case for all non-Z 100/200 series boards.

E.g. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H270-GAMING-M3/Specification

GA-B250-HD3P (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

 

[Karadjgne]

You might be right. Never actually run into this exact situation. Usually ram speeds are dictated by the cpu, skylake is 2133 and kabylake is 2400 default. But thats default, xmp/manual oc will change that upto the board allowed speeds and ram speed. The board will recognise 2400 or 2133.

* To support 2400 MHz or XMP memory, you must install a 7th generation processor.

That would make sense on a non-K, but a Kcpu can support higher speeds in the mc.

Not sure. Kinda perplexing.