Memory Speed Question

[waytoosmall]

This may be basic but I am a little confused. I have in my A8N-Sli deluxe 2- 512mb corsair xms pc3200. I see that you can get faster memory like pc 4200, 4300 etc.. I cannot find anywhere in my manual that sais my mobo is compatable with this, but it seems people put them into the same mobo as I have and they work. Why are they not listed as compatable with my mobo, and can I but ram at those higher speeds and just put them in without having to change any other componants?

 

[Vybuni]

If you put in faster RAM than your mobo's standard (usually PC3200), then it will downclock it to whatever is the fastest it will support. You can get the RAM to higher speeds if you overclock.

 

[waytoosmall]

So if I buy corsiar 3500 my comp will downclock it, but if I overclock I can get better speeds than the 3200 would be capable of?

 

[Vybuni]

If you get PC3500 RAM and overclock it, you are essentially guaranteed PC3500 speeds. However, if you buy really good PC3200 RAM, you might be able to overclock it past the maximum possible overclock of a PC3500 stick. It really depends on the brand of the RAM, and what kind of chips its made of.

 

[waytoosmall]

Where would you recommend I read to get the best description of how to overclock ram??