MoBo showing ram speeds with "OC" on it.

Canosgmk · June 16, 2019

Hello,

I have been googling for a few weeks now and this is what I have learn:
the number with (OC) next to it that the MoBo will have to have XMP enable on it to get to that speed, however I can't find solid guidance on the following concerns-

1. Any cons for enabling XMP on a MoBo to get to that speed?
2. Do you need to buy the ram that can support up to that OC Speed to be able to use it? Looks like native speed on that mobo is 2400.

I have a older board Z270GT8 that shows it supports 3600(OC)/ 2400/ 2133/ 1866 MHz. Nothing in between those numbers (odd it think). So, educated guess, if I want to run the ram at 3600, i need to buy the 3600 ram, go in the bios and 'enable XMP'. Looks like most of the ram at the 3600 range has 'intel XMP 2.0' ready, so that shouldn't be an issue now. Just not a lot on the market for this ram. Memory Express, Newegg and Tiger Direct, all has limited options.

Thanks in advance for the help.

https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=860#specification

SkyHound0202 · June 16, 2019

Z270 and Kaby Lake officially supports up to DDR4-2400, thus anything beyond 2400 is considered as (sanctioned) overclocking.

Enable XMP is the easy way to achieve the rated speed of the memory module, but it might not be the optimum of the module. And there's a small chance of compatibility issues.

You can also manually overclock the RAM to higher speed, regardless of its rated speed.