What is Xmp? Should i use it?

[MaihoSalat]

I was questioning what xmp is and if i should enable it. Which profile i should chose and which benifits i get over the cost. 

As far as i know it is some kind of overclocking ram.

cpu: i7700k

mobo: Asus Strix 270

Hyper X Ram 3000Mhz

its default is set to 2400mhz

 

curious about your answer and if xmp is worth it.

also heard it may sometimes make your system less stable. But these are just forum rumors.

 

thanks for the replys

[Peskanova]

xmp is an auto overclock of your ram, it's safe but your system can be unstable (blue screens or some game / application crashing) , you can try and if you experience unstability just switch to lower xmp speed/profile or remove it   

[MaihoSalat]

Thx. Just curious. 

Is the benefit even that i or any consumer should even care?

for me it would be 600 mega hertz more.

Would it improve much?

[GekkePietert]

Xmp stands for extreme memory profile. It basically is an "overclocking" profile that has tighter timings and faster clocks than the standard profile. It is almost guaranteed stable on your computer. 

[Peskanova]

some processors like amd benefit more , yours will gain some performance but not too much for gaming (almost 2 fps if so), you will gain more for overclock your 7700k

[MaihoSalat]

Thanks. Will think about using it but for 1-2 fps i might not even care so much.

 

cheers.

 

ps: one more question. Where is the difference between profile 1 and profile 2 in the bios. I can’t really see where it differs.

[Peskanova]

Timings wattage and frequency(mhz) variations

[Kalm_Traveler]

38 minutes ago, MaihoSalat said:

I was questioning what xmp is and if i should enable it. Which profile i should chose and which benifits i get over the cost. 

As far as i know it is some kind of overclocking ram.

cpu: i7700k

mobo: Asus Strix 270

Hyper X Ram 3000Mhz

its default is set to 2400mhz

 

curious about your answer and if xmp is worth it.

also heard it may sometimes make your system less stable. But these are just forum rumors.

 

thanks for the replys

I google'd it for you:

 

[MaihoSalat]

Thanks

[mariushm]

A better explanation would be this.

 

Memory chips can run at various frequencies. Some parameters (like how much time the processor should wait between the moment it gives a command and the moment the data is actually present on the ram stick pins) vary with frequency, so for this reason every ram stick has a tiny memory chip on it that contains some "presets", basically several lists that contains frequency, operating voltage, and a bunch of other parameters.

 

Your motherboard's BIOS reads those presets stored in the memory chip on your RAM and automatically picks the preset that would bring the highest performance but still has a very wide compatibily.

XMP is an extension to those presets... they're a few presets which have tighter parameters, higher frequencies, and sometimes voltages that are a bit higher than the standard voltage for RAM sticks.  The manufacturer of the ram stick tested those parameters and guarantees that the RAM stick is capable of working with those parameters but it can't guarantee that a particular preset would work with any motherboard and under any condition.

 

For example, a cheaper motherboard may not be able to run the RAM stick at 3200 Mhz, but may be able to run the RAM stick just fine using the 3000 Mhz preset.

 

Or, a good motherboard may be able to run with two ram sticks at 3200 Mhz, but if you put 4 ram sticks on the motherboard, because there's twice as much signals going between the processor and the ram slots, the motherboard may no longer be able to run the ram sticks at 3200 Mhz, but if you select a 2933 Mhz or 2666 Mhz preset, then the motherboard would work perfectly fine. 

 

Because of such scenarios, the BIOS usually defaults to a very conservative 2133 Mhz or 2400 Mhz on most motherboards.

 

So enabling XMP is SAFE, you won't damage anything, but with the highest performance presets, depending on your configuration, there may be memory errors... in which case you can always select a lower performance preset and test again.

[Kalm_Traveler]

2 hours ago, mariushm said:

A better explanation would be this.

 

Memory chips can run at various frequencies. Some parameters (like how much time the processor should wait between the moment it gives a command and the moment the data is actually present on the ram stick pins) vary with frequency, so for this reason every ram stick has a tiny memory chip on it that contains some "presets", basically several lists that contains frequency, operating voltage, and a bunch of other parameters.

 

Your motherboard's BIOS reads those presets stored in the memory chip on your RAM and automatically picks the preset that would bring the highest performance but still has a very wide compatibily.

XMP is an extension to those presets... they're a few presets which have tighter parameters, higher frequencies, and sometimes voltages that are a bit higher than the standard voltage for RAM sticks.  The manufacturer of the ram stick tested those parameters and guarantees that the RAM stick is capable of working with those parameters but it can't guarantee that a particular preset would work with any motherboard and under any condition.

 

For example, a cheaper motherboard may not be able to run the RAM stick at 3200 Mhz, but may be able to run the RAM stick just fine using the 3000 Mhz preset.

 

Or, a good motherboard may be able to run with two ram sticks at 3200 Mhz, but if you put 4 ram sticks on the motherboard, because there's twice as much signals going between the processor and the ram slots, the motherboard may no longer be able to run the ram sticks at 3200 Mhz, but if you select a 2933 Mhz or 2666 Mhz preset, then the motherboard would work perfectly fine. 

 

Because of such scenarios, the BIOS usually defaults to a very conservative 2133 Mhz or 2400 Mhz on most motherboards.

 

So enabling XMP is SAFE, you won't damage anything, but with the highest performance presets, depending on your configuration, there may be memory errors... in which case you can always select a lower performance preset and test again.

from my experience XMP stability with multiple DIMMs is more an issue of the memory controller on the CPU rather than something with the motherboard itself.

[mariushm]

7 hours ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

from my experience XMP stability with multiple DIMMs is more an issue of the memory controller on the CPU rather than something with the motherboard itself.

A 6 layer or 8 layer motherboard will route the traces between the memory slots and the cpu socket much better compared to a 4 layer motherboard (cheaper)

There's also two ways of connecting the slots to the socket, T-topology being better for overclocking but harder on the layout compared to the "classic" topology.

Then there's also a question of how much effort the manufacturer made in the bios and the default parameters (for those parameters not in the presets in the ram sticks)

 

and I agree, the actual ddr controller inside the cpu plays a part... it's enough to just look back at how many microcode updates AMD went through, to improve the memory compatibility.

 

[Mantipally Krishna]

On 3/9/2019 at 10:14 PM, mariushm said:

A better explanation would be this.

 

Memory chips can run at various frequencies. Some parameters (like how much time the processor should wait between the moment it gives a command and the moment the data is actually present on the ram stick pins) vary with frequency, so for this reason every ram stick has a tiny memory chip on it that contains some "presets", basically several lists that contains frequency, operating voltage, and a bunch of other parameters.

 

Your motherboard's BIOS reads those presets stored in the memory chip on your RAM and automatically picks the preset that would bring the highest performance but still has a very wide compatibily.

XMP is an extension to those presets... they're a few presets which have tighter parameters, higher frequencies, and sometimes voltages that are a bit higher than the standard voltage for RAM sticks.  The manufacturer of the ram stick tested those parameters and guarantees that the RAM stick is capable of working with those parameters but it can't guarantee that a particular preset would work with any motherboard and under any condition.

 

For example, a cheaper motherboard may not be able to run the RAM stick at 3200 Mhz, but may be able to run the RAM stick just fine using the 3000 Mhz preset.

 

Or, a good motherboard may be able to run with two ram sticks at 3200 Mhz, but if you put 4 ram sticks on the motherboard, because there's twice as much signals going between the processor and the ram slots, the motherboard may no longer be able to run the ram sticks at 3200 Mhz, but if you select a 2933 Mhz or 2666 Mhz preset, then the motherboard would work perfectly fine. 

 

Because of such scenarios, the BIOS usually defaults to a very conservative 2133 Mhz or 2400 Mhz on most motherboards.

 

So enabling XMP is SAFE, you won't damage anything, but with the highest performance presets, depending on your configuration, there may be memory errors... in which case you can always select a lower performance preset and test again.

This is the Best info i have ever read. Thank you Bro.