Question Should I get 6400MHz DDR5 RAM If I don't plan on overclocking?

[HungryHamster]

I was planning on getting Corsair DOMINATOR® PLATINUM RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6400MHz C38 for a Z790 Asus Maximus Hero mobo, but I just heard something about the new Z790 mobos only being able to run up to 5600MHz RAM without overclocking.

Is overclocking something that the mobo does automatically? ASUS website advertises something about ASUS Enhanced Memory Profile II (AEMP II) and boosting to higher speeds, but I don't really understand how that gets enabled or if it's even worth it. I just read another old thread where someone said overclocking memory is much more dangerous.

If I got the 6400MHz C38 DDR5 RAM and did nothing, would it just run at 5600MHz?

 

[tennis2]

The 5600MHz is the "stock" frequency of the integrated memory controller on the CPU. Anything above that is considered "overclocking" and is typically done by enabling XMP. XMP memory overclocking is probably the most common user-enabled overclock out there. Looks like Toms was able to run DDR5-6800 on their 13th gen review.

I haven't seen any "memory scaling" articles for 13th gen yet. Those will likely trickle out over the next week.