Why is bios slowing my ram

[nick.lidgett]

hi guys this is the memory i have;

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit .

just a few questions,

why when i go into my bios does it show the speed as 1333mhz and not 1600mhz?
is this normal?

any help much appreciated.

thanks in advance.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Because 1600mhz is beyond that of JDEC specifications which is set to 1333MHz. You need to either set the speed and timings yourself or use the XMP.

The specifications are listed below:

http://www.corsair.com/vengeance-16gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz16gx3m4a1600c9.html

Notice the SPD (default) speed is set to 1333MHz but the RAM has been tested and approved to run at the higher speed. Enabling the XMP will set the memory to run at the higher speed.