Can I Use Higher Speed RAM than My Processor Says it Will Support?

[D4NGERD4D]

I apologize if this has been asked before, but on a quick search of the forum, I was unable to find it and I've been unable to find a satisfactory answer online as well.

 

I built and even sold many PCs as a teenager, but I have done little to no PC building in the 20 or so years since, so things have changed quite a bit since then. Lol.

 

I'm collecting the components for a PC build and I'm using the Intel Core i5-10400 processor. Intel shows that this processor can handle RAM speeds up to 2666MHz. My motherboard (MSI B460M-PRO-VDH-WIFI) says it can handle up to 2933MHz RAM speeds. However, I've seen many PC build videos online recently by LTT and others which use Intel i5 CPU's and similar B-series motherboards with much faster RAM than either can support (3200MHz and higher). Will my CPU bottleneck the RAM speed if I get faster RAM, or is there something the pros know that I don't in this case? Are there other PC components that will be able to somehow utilize the higher speed RAM to the point where it will be beneficial to go with, say 3200MHz instead of the i5 "maximum" of 2666?

 

Any help on this topic would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[AndreiArgeanu]

On a B or H series motherboard to my knowledge you are limited to the max speed listed on Intel's website, that being 2666mhz in this case. If you have Z series board then you can use higher speed ram than your processor has listed.

[Semper]

Before you commit to your purchase, you may want to give this whole video a watch

 

[D4NGERD4D]

17 minutes ago, Semper said:

Before you commit to your purchase, you may want to give this whole video a watch

 

Thank you, this actually did explain things quite nicely. I already knew this processor could not be overclocked and thus a Z-series board would essentially be useless, but I didn't know how all that tied into RAM speeds. I'm not trying to build a top-of-the-line gaming system (most of the PC games I play are 10-20 years old and thus don't demand high performance) and I'm looking to keep prices down so I think I'll stick with the 10400, but now I know not to worry about buying RAM any faster than 2666MHz. Thanks again!