3600mhz RAM default to 2666mhz. is that normal?

[thefunkygibbon]

I bought some Corsair CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18 VENGEANCE LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 DRAM 3600MHz C18​

a year or so ago, and its just dawned on me that they are running at 2666mhz not the 3600mhz as advertised. I've enabled XMB and now its 3600. But should i even had to have done that? Isn't the fact that its advertised as 3600mhz mean it should run at default as 3600 and the XMB should be there to run alternative timings/speeds?
(hands in the air.. its been a fair few years since i've been into this sort of thing so i've forgotten about how it all works)

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Thanks.. i figured that the board would have recognised that it was a specific speed/timings and set to that. I'm assuming that the XMB profiles are what are built into the ram rather than what my board has defined on it?

in fairness (to me) I did enable XMB when i first got it, i guess the bios must have defaulted at some point though.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Sorry if I sound thick? If the ram is 3600mhz then why doesn't it run at the right speed when plugged in?
Also why is it considered an overclock if you're just running it at the correct speed it's meant to? Or do you simply mean XMP is the name of the ram overclocking section on a motherboard?

Yes exactly. This is what I'm confused about. I think they are implying that all memory is 2666mhz out of the factory.. but the ones sold as higher are just because they have been tested in the factory as running fine at higher clocks and therefore sold as such. I'm unsure if this is accurate description and if it is, why is this a thing for this generation of ram but it wasn't in older ddr generations?

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Surprised by now that motherboard manufacturers haven't just bolted on 64mb of ram or something onto the board so that it can always get into the bios for this exact reason