XMP vs. Non-XMP

[JCNiest5]

What's the benefit with one vs. the other? Pros and Cons? Please advise...TIA

 

[lollerskater69]

The shape of the heatspreaders are supposed to aid in dissipating heat. it's nothing special.

Y

 

[Zero82z]

XMP is just a special kind of memory profile used with Intel chipsets, and it supposedly gives a performance increase compared to non-XMP memory running at the same speeds and timings. However, in practice it really doesn't matter. Just get whatever is in your budget. There is no real benefit from getting XMP-compatible memory.

 

[JCNiest5]

XMP is just a special kind of memory profile used with Intel chipsets, and it supposedly gives a performance increase compared to non-XMP memory running at the same speeds and timings. However, in practice it really doesn't matter. Just get whatever is in your budget. There is no real benefit from getting XMP-compatible memory.

The OCZ's XMP and non-XMP memory kits cost within $5 of each other...Should I have gone with XMP instead? I already placed the order for the non-XMP kit. So, either way, it's too late to do anything now.

 

[skyyless]

XMP is OC version i think

 

[Zero82z]

The OCZ's XMP and non-XMP memory kits cost within $5 of each other...Should I have gone with XMP instead? I already placed the order for the non-XMP kit. So, either way, it's too late to do anything now.

For $5, it isn't worth it. Any possible performance benefit you might have gotten would have been so small you wouldn't even notice it anyway.

 

[rosss]

XMP profiles are just hardwired defaults. You must have a motherboard bios that can read XMP.

If you are NOT overclocking, then XMP is convenience (though you pay a little more).

If you ARE overclocking, then you won't be using the XMP anyway. Especially since you have an i7... you are going to overclock... so don't waste money on XMP bling.

 

[Mike Clements]

XMP is just a special kind of memory profile used with Intel chipsets, and it supposedly gives a performance increase compared to non-XMP memory running at the same speeds and timings

I have never seen this stated anywhere. XMP will give the same performance as the identiical manual settings.

Did you see this in print somewhere?

 

[rosss]

XMP ( Intel's eXtended Memory Profile ) are just "registered" or "validated" timings that are hardwired into the ram in an Intel-propreitary format. They are supposed to make it "easier" to overclock by just flicking a switch to use profile 1, 2 or 3, etc. without having to fiddle with all the little BIOS settings.

If you manually set the timings and voltages to be the same numbers as described in an XMP... you will have the same performance. I don't know how an XMP profile would give you INCREASED performance unless you are talking about default BIOS settings versus using an XMP. But this is the [H]ard forum... where we tweak by hand to get better performance. I'm not payin' for no stinkin' XMP !

 

[Mike Clements]

XMP in most cases adds little or no cost to the memory. Same with SLI Ready EPP for Nvidia on DDR2.

 

[Zero82z]

I have never seen this stated anywhere. XMP will give the same performance as the identiical manual settings.

Did you see this in print somewhere?

I believe I read somewhere that the XMP profile tweaks certain settings that are not user-accessible in the BIOS, so that could sometimes provide a small advantage compared to non-XMP memory. I could definitely be wrong though. Either way, I'm sure the real-world effect is negligible, hence why I recommended against going with the XMP sticks for an additional cost.