Noob question re: OC ram speeds

acheron · 5 Feb 2015 at 16:44

Hi all
Forgive my green behind the ears status, but was contemplating a new home build based around Micro or Mini ITX as there are some really killer components now at the SFF sizes.
My confusion though was when I checked out a mobo and against the supported Ram it listed various speeds up to 1866 and then loads more speeds right up to 3000 with (OC) in brackets next to them.
Does this mean:
That if I was to buy ram rated at those higher speeds the mobo would recognise them, or
That if I bought that mobo it *might* allow the supported 1866 ram to overclock up to those speeds?
or
Neither and I have missed the point completely

Thanks - be patient with an overclocking noob please

A

MrMD · 5 Feb 2015 at 17:04

Any ram speed is over 1600mhz is considered overclocked.Your mobo can support Overclocked ram,its in brackets as they cant really guarantee it would be 100% stable for end users due to variables shared between the cpu/ram on the chipset.You only run into these issues when overclocking your cpu tho tbh

Basically you will be fine,you shouldnt run in to any issues with high speed ram unless you begin heavily Overclocking your CPU.

acheron · 5 Feb 2015 at 20:10

Hi - and thanks for your reply. I am not going to overclock to any extreme - far from it in fact - so given that the specs of the mobo say this:

4 x DIMM, max. 32GB, DDR3 3200(O.C.)*/3100(O.C.)*/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, non-ECC, un-buffered memory

What memory do you think I should be buying? The fastest I can find within sensible budget or go the other way, buy slower speed and just save the dosh and spend it elsewhere?
Aside from running some occasional VMs in Workstation 11, the only fairly intensive tasks this machine will ever be likely to do is some Bluray to MKV transcoding.

Thanks
A

mhvcbv · 5 Feb 2015 at 20:17

hi
You will not see any gains from the 1600-3000 in normal use.
just get any thats in your budget.

MrMD · 5 Feb 2015 at 20:23

Honestly higher ram speeds are barely noticeable in most situations.

Your best bet is just to find a kit of ram that is the amount you need and on deal.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18653734

^Plenty of excellent deals on ram kits their. The difference between 1600mhz kit and a 2133/2400mhz kit is as little as only £2/3.At such a price difference its worth grabbing higher speed ram.