Use 6000 Mhz RAM for motherboard that is rated for 5200 Mhz?

[SampledFutureFunk_]

I was looking at motherboards with DDR5 support; most are rated 5200 Mhz as memory speed. It can be OC to 6 400 Mhz but from what I know overclocking shortens the lifespan of components. However, most motherboards for DDR5 are all rated 5 200 Mhz, so is it just assumed that I should overclock to reach 6000 Mhz speeds? going up 800 Mhz maybe doesn't hurt the board that much anyway or am I just completely off on this?

 

Thanks in advance!  

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, SampledFutureFunk_ said:

It can be OC to 6 400 Mhz but from what I know overclocking shortens the lifespan of components.

Not really. Overvolting can shorten the lifespan, sure, but memory kits aren't run at high enough voltages to actually shorten the lifespan of equipment. Running higher speeds at the same voltage shouldn't do anything to the lifespan, it's just that in order to get it stable you might need to increase the voltage slightly (everything there is rated for at minimum 1.35V though, and getting a 6000 CL30 kit rated at 1.35V is pretty standard). 

[mariushm]

If you buy a memory stick advertising a particular frequency, that means the manufacturer has tested the memory chips on the stick extensively and guarantees that frequency can be reached with the memory timings stored in the ram stick.  However, the manufacturer of the ram stick can not guarantee that the ram stick will function on ANY motherboard out there, because the higher frequencies, the more important the motherboard quality is, and the more important is how the traces (the wires) between the cpu socket and ram slots are routed. 

 

On a high end motherboard, it's a good chance you could run 4 memory sticks at the advertised frequency.  On a more mid range motherboard, you may discover you can achieve the advertised frequency with only two sticks, and you may have to lower the ram frequency or loosen the timings to make the motherboard work with 4 memory sticks.  On a more budget motherboard, you may not be able to have the memory sticks stable at the advertised frequency even with only 2 memory sticks, and you may have to lower the frequency.

 

Overclocking doesn't shorten the lifespan SIGNIFICANTLY, unless you're going to extremes like raising voltages by a huge amount.

 

If a motherboard lists only 5200 Mhz, it doesn't mean you'll overclock the ram if you insert a ram advertised as capable of 6000 Mhz.

 

edit: it gets more complex and one could talk about it for half an hour or more if we get into JEDEC and standardized (conservative) frequency+timings combos, ram topologies, motherboard layers,   official memory frequencies listed in the cpu specs versus what the cpu can actually do (ex for a long time intel processors officially supported maximum 2666 Mhz DDR4 but everyone used 3600 Mhz sticks just fine, just because it's the "officially supported" doesn't mean it's the maximum supported)

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

49 minutes ago, SampledFutureFunk_ said:

I was looking at motherboards with DDR5 support; most are rated 5200 Mhz as memory speed. It can be OC to 6 400 Mhz but from what I know overclocking shortens the lifespan of components. However, most motherboards for DDR5 are all rated 5 200 Mhz, so is it just assumed that I should overclock to reach 6000 Mhz speeds? going up 800 Mhz maybe doesn't hurt the board that much anyway or am I just completely off on this?

 

Thanks in advance!  

Not sure what you've been looking at, most boards are rated to handle 6000+ memory from what I've seen.

 

Intel can typically handle higher than AMD, but AMD makes up the difference with the 7800X3D having a huge cache so generally performs as well in gaming, better in some cases.