memory support confusion

[Taki12982]

so im building a new desktop the fact my asus gaming laptop is laggy af. so on my list im using 16gb (2 x 8gb) of corsair vegence pro rgb with 3000MHz but the i7-8700k says it can only handle 2666MHz. is that true or is that only when its at base clock and that it can handle 3000MHz or more when the cpu is overclocked?

[Constantin]

It say the same for my 9700k in Intel Site and i run a 3200Mhz

My guess is that it must be the lowest value....

[SpaceGhostC2C]

25 minutes ago, Taki12982 said:

so im building a new desktop the fact my asus gaming laptop is laggy af. so on my list im using 16gb (2 x 8gb) of corsair vegence pro rgb with 3000MHz but the i7-8700k says it can only handle 2666MHz. is that true or is that only when its at base clock and that it can handle 3000MHz or more when the cpu is overclocked?

You don't need to overclock the CPU to use it at 3000MHz.

"Supported" memory speeds are just the speeds the manufacturer is willing to promise you can use in a perfectly stable system. Typically, the memory controller in the CPU can handle higher speeds, how high depends on the model and even the specific unit you get. Memory speeds is often locked by the motherboard's chipset. Intel's "K" edition CPUs paired with an "OC motherboard" (that is, Z chipset motherboards) will let you load whatever memory profile comes with your RAM sticks, or manually tune it if you feel like it. In practice, such CPU-motherboard combinations will only face issues at speeds (timings) way higher (lower) than the officially supported speed. It's just that Intel won't take any responsibility in the (unlikely) event that your particular CPU+motherboard really can't handle more than 2666, but will if it can't do even that.