Is there a way to unlock RAM speeds?

[vexxeddragon]

My motherboard says it can support speeds at 1333 Mhz and I'm trying to buy sticks at 2400 Mhz. Is there a way to unlock those speeds or am I stuck with 1333 Mhz?

[minibois]

are you trying to buy DDR4 memory for a DDR3 motherboard...?

[Mephi00]

What motherboard do you have? 
If it‘s older this might just be a DDR3 board whereas that 2400 stick is most likely DDR4

[Mira Yurizaki]

5 minutes ago, vexxeddragon said:

My motherboard says it can support speeds at 1333 Mhz and I'm trying to buy sticks at 2400 Mhz. Is there a way to unlock those speeds or am I stuck with 1333 Mhz?

You'd have to go into BIOS/UEFI and adjust the settings so that it configures the RAM to a faster speed. However, this does not guarantee that the RAM will be able to run at that speed. If the board says it's compatible only up to 1333, then it likely won't like anything higher.

[Arrogath]

22 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

You'd have to go into BIOS/UEFI and adjust the settings so that it configures the RAM to a faster speed. However, this does not guarantee that the RAM will be able to run at that speed. If the board says it's compatible only up to 1333, then it likely won't like anything higher.

this is also assuming that the UEFI even gives robust memory options in the first place. So little information here to go by

[Beerzerker]

There are a few sets of DDR3 that goes to and above 2400, I have a set that's rated at 2800 for example BUT, depending on the board and chip it may not be possible anyway.

 

AMD's with DDR3 will top out around the 1600-1866 mark on average, Intel's can typically go higher so it depends on exactly what hardware you have to run it with.