Intel I9 9900k and memory type DDR4-2666

[mcbain35]

Hi Folks,

Looking for a little assistance here. I plan on buying a Intel I9 9900k and pairing it with some ram. I see that the cpu has a memory type of DDR4 2666. The motherboard manufacturer states that the memory speed will be dictated by the cpu. That being said, if the board can run 4400 Mhz memory, when the cpu is installed, will it cap out at 2666 Mhz?

 

So that any ram with a speed over 2666 would be wasted? I guess that perhaps the lower speed might have lower CAS timings so maybe it might not be that bad?

 

Thoughts?

[Shimejii]

I would not suggest you buy that CPU unless you are actually going to benefit from the 8 cores 16 threads There will be little benefit if your just gaming over a 8700k, and 3000 mhz ram for the vastly increased price. There is no point in getting memory above 3200 mhz as there is little to no performance gains in most programs and games, compared to the price you have to pay. The super fast ram tends to be for World record Becnhmarkers and such, Day to day activity there really is no point.

 

 

[TheKDub]

11 minutes ago, mcbain35 said:

Hi Folks,

Looking for a little assistance here. I plan on buying a Intel I9 9900k and pairing it with some ram. I see that the cpu has a memory type of DDR4 2666. The motherboard manufacturer states that the memory speed will be dictated by the cpu. That being said, if the board can run 4400 Mhz memory, when the cpu is installed, will it cap out at 2666 Mhz?

 

So that any ram with a speed over 2666 would be wasted? I guess that perhaps the lower speed might have lower CAS timings so maybe it might not be that bad?

 

Thoughts?

A couple suggestions....

 

1. Go with 3000MHz RAM, it does make a difference in performance. Past that will still improve performance, just not as much.

 

2. Don't get the i9 9900K unless you absolutely need it. (Unless you're running many virtual machines, doing heavy video editing, CAD, 3D Rendering, or things of that sort, I highly doubt you actually need it.) Save your wallet and go with something like a Ryzen 7 2700X or i7 8700K instead if you want a powerful chip.

[mcbain35]

Thanks for the replies!

1 - I will use my PC for work as well and yes I plan on running at least 1 Virtual Machine when I do.

 

2 - And based on the above it looks like your suggesting that I go with memory at 3000 Mhz? Is this to allow for some headroom?

 

Again, thanks for you input

[Cereal5]

To answer your question, 2666 MHz is the fastest any RAM will run STOCK. If your kit is rated for higher speeds, you can go into the BIOS and overclock your RAM to it's rated speed (and beyond if you care). But like they said, above 3200 MHz, the price goes up wayyy too much to justify the virtually non-existent difference in performance.

[TahoeDust]

If you are into value, do what those guys say.  If you are into having the best performance out there, buy the 9900k, and pair it with the fastest memory your wallet can handle.  They're right, there is a point of deminishing returns, but faster is faster.

 

To answer your original question, if the board says it will support the speed, the CPU's IMC should be able to keep up.

[Imbellis]

I'd strongly recommend you not getting the 9900k until proper benchmarks are out. You may be better off going with a workstation chip rather than a consumer.

 

Regarding RAM, bumping up the frequency from 2666 to 3200 could give you a percent or two of bonus speed, but it won't greatly improve performance.

When attempting to run RAM at a higher frequency, both the motherboard and the sticks matter. If the motherboard is poorly built, you won't be able to hit high frequencies with tight timings. The same goes for the sticks of RAM.

[EOZ]

Do not buy i9-9900k it's just not worth it! 

 

Ryzen 7 2700X or used i7-8700k is miles better deal not even close. 

[EOZ]

i9-9900k is like RTX 2080Ti (piece of shit) at least for that price.

[TahoeDust]

10 hours ago, EOZ said:

i9-9900k is like RTX 2080Ti (piece of shit) at least for that price.

RTX 2080ti is expensive, but a piece of shit?...lol

 

[nick name]

The board h

20 hours ago, mcbain35 said:

Hi Folks,

Looking for a little assistance here. I plan on buying a Intel I9 9900k and pairing it with some ram. I see that the cpu has a memory type of DDR4 2666. The motherboard manufacturer states that the memory speed will be dictated by the cpu. That being said, if the board can run 4400 Mhz memory, when the cpu is installed, will it cap out at 2666 Mhz?

 

So that any ram with a speed over 2666 would be wasted? I guess that perhaps the lower speed might have lower CAS timings so maybe it might not be that bad?

 

Thoughts?

If the board says 4400MHz RAM speed then at some point the manufacturer was successful in achieving and stabilizing that speed and most likely with a 9900K.  You can check the manufacturers site for the specifics.  

 

So if you buy RAM faster than 2666MHz then you simply activate XMP and the speed the kit is rated for will be set in BIOS.  If it's a super high speed then you may not be successful, but you probably won't be very far off.  And then you can always try to overclock a kit and try to get it to run at speeds faster than its rated for.  That is also going to be done in BIOS.  

[Parptarf]

On 10/10/2018 at 10:22 AM, EOZ said:

i9-9900k is like RTX 2080Ti (piece of shit) at least for that price.

Why am I not surprised your avatar is a Ryzen chip?  

 

 

To the OP:

 

The 9900k supports 2666 stock speeds as stated by others. If your ram is rated higher, you just need to enable XMP in your bios and it it will run at it's rated speed.

 

The smart thing to do is to get an 8700K and call it a day. Nothing wrong with the 9900k though, I'll most likely get one myself. But there's really no point unless you are doing extensive and really heavy CPU work. Or if you just like computer parts a lot.

 

[mcbain35]

I read that you're suggesting the 8700K , I see that there are the following;

16 - PCIE Express lanes

2 - Number of memory channels

 

1st concern, if I get a GPU, won't it use all 16 lanes. I was also thinking of putting in 2 x m.2 cards. Will I be limited / bottle necked after that?

2nd concern - I read that even though 2 memory lanes is ...ok, it might be better to have 4 for the quad core memory. 

 

I've never considered Ryzen and have read that they are pretty good. Only a few Intel CPU's surpass them, price aside... Can't say that I am ready for AMD but you never know...

 

Again, Thank you for your time and suggestions.

[danrey84]

For a start 9900k doesn't support quad channel memory just dual channel exactly like the 8700k

Also the PCH has PCI-E lanes not just the cpu so running a couple of m.2 drives will be no problem but you probably will lose some sata ports in the process.

Also Intel tends to prefer tighter timings on the RAM rather than out right speed. Where as Ryzen likes a nice balance of both. However RAM speeds all depend on if the CPU memory controller can handle it.