Motherboard and RAM build compatibility advice needed! :)

RaymondL · April 20, 2022

Hey guys!

So I've been out the loop of PC hardware for a while so would love some assistance on this matter!

I have decided to opt for an i9 12900k for my next upgrade and I have memory on hand which is a kit of GSkill Trident Z RGB 32GB 4 x 8GB DDR4 4266MHZ CL19 kit (F4-4266C19D-16GTZR) my question is there a board you guys suggest I go for? I am from the UK and i am ideally looking to spend no more than £300 on the board itself I want to ensure ideally my memory will be able to run at its max frequency.

This is a balls to the walls productivity/gaming build if that gives any context I have a 1080TI that I will be changing out later this year. Primarily looking for board advice alongside ram compatibility but feel free to chuck in any more information or queries!

I understand the official supported max memory speed supported DDR4 for this chip my question is will I have any compatibility issues whereby my memory does not run at its full speed? Is it as simple as enabling an XMP profile to fix this? I have heard talks of gear 1 and gear 2 and frankly I'm slightly clueless aha and would love some help on this matter, how do you switch between these gears and what are they? 0.o

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to hear from you guys I love y'all!