So I think I've made a mistake I'm not overly familiar with hardware. Specifically "ram + cpu"

[pinball001]

Budget (including currency): NA (No I'm not uber wealthy but the price difference I'm looking at, at this point is like $50)

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: lots of stuff. Games, video editing, 3d model-work(Soon™), printer slicing(Soon™), programming, notepad.

Other details

So I've picked out a: "Intel® Core™ i7-13700KF" Processor paired with a "MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI" and 2 kits of "G.Skill RipJaws S5 Series (Intel XMP) 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin SDRAM DDR5 6000 CL36-36-36-96 1.35V Dual Channel Desktop Memory F5-6000J3636F16GX2-RS5K"

 

My plan was to populate all 4 of the motherboards memory slots with the 4 sticks of ram, they're the same stick didn't think it would be an issue. I made sure the motherboard supported everything but didn't think much about the CPU.

 

But as I eagerly await my new parts since most of my components are 10-12 years old, I am understandably excited. I decided now was the time to look at the product pages. And noticed the CPU's page looks like this.

It feels silly to ask because the writing is right above. But, my understanding is a channel is a slot on the motherboard, so 2 channels is up to 2 slots. should I take this to mean that my CPU won't support all 4 sticks? And they're too fast as it is, which means RAM will just be throttled down? So, if I want to keep 64gb of ram I should buy 2-32gb sticks with 5600 MT/s instead of 6000?

 

But at the same time ram can be overclocked, would this mean overclocking the RAM would be entirely pointless to anything beyond 5600?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

 

[tkitch]

If you want 64GB:  Buy 2x32GB 6000 RAM

 

2 sticks run better than 4 in most situations. 

[YoungBlade]

Channels and slots are different. A motherboard that supports 4 channels actually will have 8 stots.

 

Running RAM in all 4 slots is a bit tougher on the CPU's memory controller, but unless you're pushing things to the edge of stability, it should be fine.

 

As for RAM speed, your motherboard is a Z series, so you'll be able to clock the RAM at 6000 just fine. It's technically considered overclocking, but I'd be shocked if a 13700KF had trouble running DDR5-6000 memory - even with all 4 slots populated.

[Zando_]

16 minutes ago, pinball001 said:

It feels silly to ask because the writing is right above. But, my understanding is a channel is a slot on the motherboard, so 2 channels is up to 2 slots. should I take this to mean that my CPU won't support all 4 sticks? And they're too fast as it is, which means RAM will just be throttled down? So, if I want to keep 64gb of ram I should buy 2-32gb sticks with 5600 MT/s instead of 6000?

It'll run 2 DIMMs per channel, thus 4 slots. As @tkitchsaid though, better to stick with 2 DIMMs anyways. Current IMCs struggle hard with 4 DIMMs, they'll run them but usually at very low clocks. 

13 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

As for RAM speed, your motherboard is a Z series, so you'll be able to clock the RAM at 6000 just fine. It's technically considered overclocking

^^^ B660/B760 also support RAM overclocking, so either type of board will let you run the RAM at higher speeds.

13 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

but I'd be shocked if a 13700KF had trouble running DDR5-6000 memory - even with all 4 slots populated.

It would struggle, and hard. Especially with higher-density DIMMs. Level1Techs and JayzTwoCents have to run their 128GB RAM machines at like 3400-3800MT/s to get them stable. Jay's is a 13900K based machine for his editor, I believe Wendell from L1T was using one of the Ryzens.  Running 4 DIMMs at speed is very tough for current chips/boards, thus the advice to stick with 2 DIMMs always, unless you actually need the capacity in which case 4 DIMMs is the only option and you just deal with the speed drop. 

[YoungBlade]

12 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

^^^ B660/B760 also support RAM overclocking, so either type of board will let you run the RAM at higher speeds.

H670 and H770 do too, but H610 boards do not. There are 4 basic classes of Intel motherboard for their consumer CPUs - HX10, BX60, HX70, and ZX90 - and of those, all but HX10 support memory overclocking, but only since the 500 series. Before that, only ZX90 and ZX70 boards supported overclocking for the CPU or memory. Except when you go all the way back to the 60 series boards, when Intel locked out overclocking for their HX7 boards. Back then, it was the "P" series that gave you overclocking support, with the P67. But then they created the Z68 boards.

[RONOTHAN##]

14 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

It would struggle, and hard. Especially with higher-density DIMMs. Level1Techs and JayzTwoCents have to run their 128GB RAM machines at like 3400-3800MT/s to get them stable. Jay's is a 13900K based machine for his editor, I believe Wendell from L1T was using one of the Ryzens.  Running 4 DIMMs at speed is very tough for current chips/boards, thus the advice to stick with 2 DIMMs always, unless you actually need the capacity in which case 4 DIMMs is the only option and you just deal with the speed drop. 

That's 4 dual rank DIMMs though. 4 single rank DIMMs like these would be is a lot easier, and getting 6000 on either platform isn't really all that difficult (at least on the more recent BIOS updates, not initial 12th gen updates). With good DIMMs and board on LGA 1700, 4x16GB of DDR5 only clocks about 200-400MT/s lower than 2x32GB, and 2x32GB tops out at somewhere between 6600MT/s and 7000MT/s on 13th gen, so getting 6000 CL36 to work on 4 DIMMs shouldn't hopefully be that difficult to do. On AM5 there isn't a difference between them, they both do between 6000 and 6400 depending on IMC quality. 

 

Realistically if you're gonna do 4 DIMMs though, you want to aim for a kit that's easier on the memory controller than Samsung 16Gb B die. You really should aim for a Hynix based kit if that's the plan, they're generally easier to run for the same frequency, so 6000 CL32 should be the plan. Going for a 2x32GB kit is definitely more ideal though. 

[pinball001]

Wow thanks so much everyone for your time and detailed responses. I will return the 4 sticks for 2. Though i'm still somewhat uncertain on what speeds to get. Based on a somewhat recent LTT video 6000 seemed to be great overall. However I'm still a little confused on "Memory Type: Up to 5600 MT/s." Would my CPU be able to make use of anything more than that?

[starsmine]

7 minutes ago, pinball001 said:

Wow thanks so much everyone for your time and detailed responses. I will return the 4 sticks for 2. Though i'm still somewhat uncertain on what speeds to get. Based on a somewhat recent LTT video 6000 seemed to be great overall. However I'm still a little confused on "Memory Type: Up to 5600 MT/s." Would my CPU be able to make use of anything more than that?

5600 is the defined stable spec. But pretty much every intel CPU will benefit from higher speeds. This is why xmp is "technically" overclocking. In the motherboard, just turn on the XMP profile of the ram and it will just work.