Unsolved
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
32
July 10th, 2025 14:44
How to Downclock Ram in BIOS
I want to increase the 8gb 2666 ram in Vostro 3671 with Crucial ram to at least 16gb. Crucial offers 2400 and 3200 ram with a limited selection of 2666 ram. In their system scan, Crucial shows that 3200 ram will work. Call to verify; the tech said that the 3200 ram would work at 2666. You can find a larger selection of 2666 ram on Amazon.
It appears that the system BIOS should be modified to downclock 3200 ram to 2666. However, I have spent an hour going through all BIOS settings and find no way to downclock ram. There is no item in BIOS (v. 1.21.0) regarding memory. Making the change is no problem, it is just finding how to make the change in this Dell BIOS.
Maybe if the 3200 ram is added, it will downclock itself. I will remove the existing 2666 ram to eliminate any conflicts.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
ejn63
10 Elder
•
28.6K Posts
0
July 10th, 2025 15:00
There is no manual control over memory speed -- it is set first by the CPU and secondarily, has a default that if RAM requiring XMP support is installed, that it defaults to the lowest speed -- in your case, 2133 MHz.
Crucial's 3200 RAM should automatically downclock to the speed of the existing RAM.
hms46
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
July 10th, 2025 15:33
@ejn63
Thanks for your prompt response. Setting clock speeds looked so easy in my online searches, but suppose my BIOS is different from normal.
I am sorry, but I do not understand 2133mhz; current ram is 2666. The i3 model of this PC (made in 2020) had 2400 ram; the i5 & i7 had 2666 ram.
Do you mean that if I go over 2666, then it will downgrade to 2133? If that is true, suppose I should just install 2400 or find some other brand that sells 2666?
I am going through all of this in preparation of upgrading the Win 11 as Win 10 support is going away this fall.
Thanks
ejn63
10 Elder
•
28.6K Posts
0
July 10th, 2025 15:35
As long as you stick to Crucial's recommended RAM the system will run at 2666.
If you try to install "gaming" or high performance RAM, that's where the issue arises -- do not use that memory type.
hms46
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
July 10th, 2025 17:08
@ejn63 This will be generic 3200 ram. PC is used for word, excel, chrome, and scanning. Runs fine with the 8gb ram under Win10. No games, Photoshop, video editing, and the like.
So I will get the 3200 ram unless I find a decent 2666 ram although it appears to be disappearing from the scene. Crucials 3200 ram is same price as 2400.
Thanks for your time.