Recall details about the Z270 motherboard's memory capacity and specifications.
Recall details about the Z270 motherboard's memory capacity and specifications.
Hey there! I’m currently working with an MSI Z270-A Pro board. I was thinking about getting a B450 motherboard, but a friend lent me this one and things are really busy right now. I can’t justify buying a new board/CPU since everything works fine with what I have. My setup is an upgrade from my old EVGA X58, which has a Xeon X5675. The CPU is solid, but the 1333MHz bus feels limiting. The board came with a Celeron G3930, which I plan to upgrade to a 15-6600K and then try Coffee Lake. It also includes a single stick of Team Elite Plus 8GB DDR4 2133, so I need to get some memory. My main question is: what’s the ideal balance between memory speed and cost? According to MSI’s specs, it supports quite a few options. They list speeds from 2400 up to 3600MHz. I’m aiming for the fastest RAM possible but keeping prices down. I’m only interested in 8GB or 16GB sticks—no need to splurge on 4GB. Any advice or suggestions would be great! Thanks!
I visited this a couple of days back for my 7700k. I couldn't locate the article, but dual channel (two sticks) at 3200MHz seems ideal. Going higher usually doesn't bring much better value for the price.
You're unlikely to see major speed boosts above 2666 MHz on Intel chips, but you might want to prepare for using Ryzen memory. Aim for around 3000 or 3200 MHz. The 2133 Mhz stick could possibly handle 2400 or even 2666 MHz with a slight voltage adjustment—try 1.35V CL19 settings and see if it stabilizes. If it works, you could upgrade to another 8 GB stick running at those frequencies for better performance.
Here’s a revised version of your message:
Thanks for the guidance. I’m considering adding another 8GB stick of the Team Elite right now and then purchasing two sticks—either 3200 or 3600—at a price difference of $3 on NewEgg. Once I have the funds, I’ll downgrade the higher memory to the 2133 bus speed of the Team Elite and buy additional faster memory later. This way, I can use the better memory for my B450 board while keeping a spare unit. Although DDR5 is expected to launch this year, my plans for the B450 could shift. (sigh) It’s always about the next upgrade, but you can’t keep up!