How to OC RAM

[anandsap123]

Recently, G.Skill Ripjaws X Series RAM went on sale at newegg. The 2400 speed RAM is now almost as cheap as 1600...so why not? I checked if my motherboard (Gigabyte z97x-Gaming 3) can handle this speed and here is what the specifications said:

1. Support for DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules

I am assuming the "(O.C.)" means that even if you have RAM rated for that speed, you must overclock it to get that speed otherwise the RAM will just run at 1600.

How do I do this?

 

[sneekypeet]

Not familiar with your specific bios, but in the main clocking section look for the ram speed settings and enable XMP.

 

[erocker]

You should have an XMP profile in the BIOS for 2400mhz. Select that and you should be good to go as it sets timings and voltage appropriately.... most of the time anyways.

Look at page 43 of your manual here: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z97x-gaming3_e.pdf

 

[anandsap123]

thank you!!!!!

 

[anandsap123]

So I should click on Profile 1 and set it to 2400? And that's it?

 

[anandsap123]

Also I am going to run everything in PC at stock for a couple days so what programs can I install to test for the difference in CPU, GPU, and RAM speeds? (I plan on OC'ing them all)

 

[sneekypeet]

canned benchmarks like 3DMark will show CPU and GPU increases. Something like AIDA64 has a test suite with ram speed numbers displayed to see its difference (also is a good all around test suite).

Also please use the Edit feature found at the bottom left corner of your posts, double or triple posting is frowned upon

 

[anandsap123]

but just to make sure, the only thing I need to do to OC the ram is to simply set an XMP profile to whatever speed my RAM is rated for?

 

[cadaveca]

but just to make sure, the only thing I need to do to OC the ram is to simply set an XMP profile to whatever speed my RAM is rated for?

Yes. That is EXACTLY what XMP is supposed to provide - that simple ease of use.

Go in BIOS, enable XMP, save and exit, done. If you want to OC CPU, that takes more work.


Not all CPUs are capable of running XMP-rated speeds, hence the "OC" added. 1600 MHz is what each CPU for that platform is guaranteed to work with. If that doesn't provide stability, it's more likely to be a CPU/motherboard problem than the memory.

 

[hat]

Yes, you can just enable XMP.

As for where it say OC, I believe the reason for that being there is because the board/chipset will run these speeds, but the integrated memory controller in the CPU does not officially support such a high speed. Even Haswell chips only officially support up to 1600MHz DDR3. So you could technically say you're overclocking the system somehow (the memory controller?) by running memory with higher than officially supported speed.