XPS 8960, i7-13700: RAM Selection

Question

With my 8930 being demoted in its old age and wear-n-tear, the wifey has given me a green light to bump up to the 8960 (i7-13700). Oh yeeaah.

Question on RAM:

Can the VJFWR i7-13700 processor utilize any speed above the DDR5 4800MT/s? -OR- Is there ANY benefit at all to having slightly faster RAM above that speed? I've read it ONLY depends on the CPU spec, and will just downclock.

I will start with 2x16 (32Gb), and I had ordered the Crucial DDR5 5600MT/s (stated on Crucial website as compatible: (CT32G56C46U5) from a local vendor on a matched price deal that was actually cheaper than the 4800 dual sticks. By the time I had gotten there, the last had been sold so they gave me a free bump up to the Corsair Vengeance. Not sure, but having gotten a little re-assurance from a techy there and the 'lower latency' spec as a selling point on the Corsair, I went ahead and accepted it.

Now that I'm home, I found that the Corsair website says NOTHING about compatibility with the XPS 8960 systems. I want to keep everything correct and not do anything stupid.

Should I just stick with the Crucial DDR5-4800 (CT2K16G48C40U5)

matching dual channel sticks, and not worry about any potential gains (if any) from the 5600MT/s?

Thank you.

KBone · Accepted Answer

@Chino de Oro​  Thank you once again, Chino.As for the 8930 system you ALL gave me endless patience and support on, I've done everything you asked and I keep returning to these weird issues. I gave it a month of devotion with you guys' help, and my wife grew impatient with my efforts, hehe! She's going to use it to do her light stuff and photo stuff so all the fans, new NVMe, and Windows 11 will all be more than sufficient.I'll stick with the DDR5-4800 per your advice! Have you heard anything with respect to Corsair Vengeance working on these systems? I did like the lower latency of their RAM (for whatever it's worth), but again, just want to do it right.

Chino de Oro · Answer

While the Intel i7-13700 can support DDR5 memory with speed up to 5600 MT/s, the Dell XPS 8960 will support DDR5, 4800 MT/s in all memory configurations. Any uses of higher speed memory will be downclocked to 4800 MT/s.

With that said, there is no benefit to use memory at faster speed. Just stick with DDR5 4800.

Chino de Oro · Answer

You are welcome. If you like my post, could have marked as accepted answer ☺

Latest result for your other system can be updated to the correct thread (a very long thread if I remember correctly) and possibly mark it for solution.

As for Corsair Vengeance ram, have not seen any users validated as compatible for the 8960 that I know of.

KBone · Answer

@Chino de Oro​  Then there is still a bug in the Dell system, because I both thumbed up AND Marked as Accepted. At least it shows the green banner on my end. I'll do the same for the other thread now that you remind me. Thanks, man.

Chino de Oro · Answer

Glad to be of help.  Although thread is closed with solution, you can ask any question when needed.  I/we will be glad to answer the questions.

ziangi · Answer

I bought 8960 from Dell with 8GB memory. To add more memory I bought Corsair Vengeance 2x16 from Amazon. It did not work. In boot menu memory was recognized but system would not boot. I replaced the original 1x8 stick and system worked as it should. I then bought Crucial CP2K16G56C46U5 2x16 from Amazon. The first boot after Crucial install the boot menu showed up with message the memory has changed. Boot menu showed 32 GB memory. I just ignored the message and exited the boot menu. System booted and everything works. System info and Task Manager show 32GB of memory. All is fine except when I restart or shutdown and start again it takes long time like 2 -3 minutes to boot. I have 500 GB Dell supplied SSD as C drive and 1 TB Samsung SSD partitioned as D, E, and F drive. I had the same drive setup before adding memory and system booted quickly like 20-30 seconds. Does anybody know why it take longer to boot? What can be done to reboot quickly?

J in OP · Answer

@ziangi​   I also bought the XPS 8960 and also replaced the Dell memory with Crucial CP2K16G56C46U5 2x16.  I also have the 512GB SSD with a 1 TB HDD. I am not having any issues with booting up my computer.    Sorry to hear that you are, and I wish I could help.  The other interesting thing that has occurred is that my memory shows as running at 5200 MHz.  I assumed that the memory would max out at 4800, based on the posts above, but that is not what I am seeing.  I hope you resolve your issue.

XPS Desktops

XPS 8960, i7-13700: RAM Selection

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