10th Gen CPUs RAM compatibility

[Dikaiakos]

Hello everyone,

I am wondering if a 10th gen core processor would be compatible with DDR4 memory with a lower frequency than the one indicated at the processor's spec sheet. To be specific, I am wondering if a i3 10100 would function well along with 4x 4GB sticks of DDR4 2400mhz memory on a motherboard supporting this ram frequency (e.g. the MSI b460m bazooka)?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

[McCalpinJohn · Accepted solution]

Most systems will automatically detect the slower RAM and configure the processor to work at the DRAM's maximum frequency.   DDR4/2400 has an 18% lower peak transfer rate than the fastest supported DRAM (DDR4/2933), but the maximum sustainable transfer rate is probably only about 15% lower.  Most of the time your system will not be limited by memory bandwidth, so in practice you will see very little difference.  Overall, performance with 16GiB of DDR4/2400 is likely to be better than with 8GiB of DDR4/2933 memory.