2
When shopping, it's common for RAM manufacturers to list the frequency, timings, and voltage that RAM has been tested to run stable at. For example, the Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK32GX4M4B3000C15 has been tested by Corsair to run at 3000MHz with 15-17-17-35 timings at 1.35V, assuming there is adequate cooling.
But when shopping for motherboards, it seems to be common to only list compatible memory frequencies, and NOT voltage or timings.
For the sake of this question and my personal shopping I will assume that a high-end overclockable motherboard with adequate cooling will be able to support the tested voltage of whatever RAM I purchase, such as the 1.35V required by the CMK32GX4M4B3000C15.
...But what about the timings? How can I tell if my motherboard will support the timings that are tested to be stable for a given RAM kit?
For example, the ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ supports up to 3600MHz DDR4. I need to assume that this frequency is supported when all 4 DIMMs are in use (but really, I'm just guessing at this). I also assume it can handle the 1.35V that the RAM requires to run at its 3000MHz frequency. But nowhere in the spec does it say what timings RAM can safely run at! How can I know if the RAM will run at 3000MHz with 15-17-17-35 on this motherboard?
To further my understanding of this, let's say I found a hypothetical ultra-low-latency RAM that was tested and advertised to be stable at 3000MHz with 1.35V with timings of 1-2-2-4. I understand that this is impossible with current technology, but let's say it existed. Because the motherboard says it is compatible with RAM up to speeds of 3000MHz, do I know that it will support these ultra-low latencies without any problems? If it did, then this would mean that timings are not relevant to the motherboard's capabilities, but are only relevant to the RAM's capabilities.
Hopefully my questions make sense -- Please let me know if I wasn't clear about any of this.
Thanks! Allen
the big number ram, also can run at normal speeds, but has profiles possible for the big numbers, usually with diff latency, sometimes much tweaking is needed to be 110% stable with these high faluting OC numbers, a bit more voltage and going off of auto(SPD) and tweaking it a tiny bit. Also very important they often get way more pickey when there is 4 huge ram modules. Because a OCing designed motherboard allows for much adjustments (voltage and timing) you might not know :-) but chances are good that some minor tweaking i can get almost anything to run at various numbers. normal is easy – Psycogeek – 2015-10-19T04:34:01.547
I am saying that most of the stuff that is compatable will "work" at normal type of speeds, that with a Tweakable board you and some effort and testing (much testing) you could insure getting the big number speeds, even with many large modules . . . because your linked board allows for tweaking. – Psycogeek – 2015-10-19T04:41:10.640