2400mhz RAM in 1600mhz motherboard?

Xenone

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May 19, 2016
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My RAM has died and I wanted to get a new one, my motherboard is ASUS B75M-A and apprently it can accept DDR3 1600mhz. I have found some cheap HyperX Beasts 2400mhz for sale, will they work or it has to be 1600 mhz?
 
Solution
The way your question is worded kind of implies that you have only one RAM module or you are considering buying only one RAM module. I recommend you get 2 modules. Otherwise, the dual channel motherboard feature will not be enabled. So If you have 4GB or 8 GB RAM, you will be better off with 2 X 2GB or 2 X 4GB respectively.

Also note that the the RAM must be non-ECC and unbuffered or it will not work in your motherboard. Double check the specifications on the RAM you intend to purchase to ensure that it meets those requirements. Sometimes RAM that does not meet those requirements is sold cheaply because there is not as much demand for it.
 

atomicWAR

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The post said his ram died so I understood him as needing all new ram. But yes mixing and matching is generally a bad idea and not worth the hassle and performance issues.
 

Xenone

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I'm planning to replace both of my sticks, they're some cheap unbranded RAM that came with my PC and after a year, my computer wouden't turn on if I didn't switch them around, so I was happy when one of them died since I had a reason to get new ones.

I was just concered that if the motherboard specs says it has DDR3 1600mhz, that it wouden't work with the 2400mhz. I have looked at DDR3 1600mhz RAM's and I would only be saving 20% if I would have not bought the HyperX Beast which I'm fine with, may come useful if I ever decide to upgrade my motherboard to something more quality and that have higher specs, aslong the 2400mhz works in that 1600mhz motherboard, I'm completly fine to pay that little more money.

 

Seanie280672

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Mar 19, 2017
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They will work fine, all ram boots at SPD JEDEC standard, and the SPD of that ram will be 1600mhz, it may even be 1333mhz, I cant remember with DDR3 and you'll need to manually bump it upto 1600mhz.

2400mhz is the XMP overclocked profile programmed into a chip on the RAM modules and needs to be manually applied in the bios by enabling XMP Profile 1, which you can try and reach once you've got it, most boards allow faster memory via overclock.

 

I wouldn't spend extra money on RAM faster than what you need. When you decide to upgrade your motherboard you will most likely get one that uses DDR4 RAM and you won't be able to use the DDR3 RAM in a DDR4 motherboard.
 
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