Upgrading included ram from HyperX 1x8 @ 2666MHz to HyperX 2x8 @ 3200MHz

[Hogue]

I bought the OMEN Obelisk around mid May, and I recently purchased a kit of 2 sticks of 8GB 3200MHz ram from HyperX. I plan on using this to replace the included 1 stick of 8GB 2666MHz ram from HyperX. The sticks should be identical other than the increased MHz that I bought mine at. I am just trying to make sure that the motherboard will be able to handle the 3200MHz ram I bought since the base ram only runs at 2666MHz.

[wb2001 · Accepted solution]

@Hogue,

I can only tell you that Crucial rates performance with 3200 and 3600's. 

You do realize that RAM is specific to a computer model?

[Hogue]

@Wb2001,

So if I were to remove the provided 2666MHz 8GB stick before I booted the pc up, and replace it with my 2 sticks of 3200MHz 8GB RAM, would the pc actually be able to fully utilize the 3200MHz, or would it be bottlenecked by the HP motherboard?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Hogue 

The fastest speed any of the supported processors that come with that model series can run the memory at is limited to 2666 MHz.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06385121

Let's just take the best one for example...the Intel Core i9-9900K.

Here are the specs on the processor from Intel...you can see that the supported memory type is 2666 MHz.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/186605/intel-core-i9-9900k-processor-16m-cache-...

If you install 3200 MHz memory, it will 'downclock' or 'bridge' to 2666 Mhz.

[Hogue]

Thank you for clearing that up for me! I was not previously aware that memory capabilites were limited by the CPU as well.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, the chipset/CPU are equal factors in how fast the memory can run.