Overclocking (Main Thread)

Kevin Newman6 said:Everyone’s placing bulk orders through some warehouse in the Netherlands because there’s some loophole—not sure what it is—that lets them dodge customs. They get a 25% net discount that you pay upfront, then you just claim it back at the end of the year during tax season. If you buy locally, you have to deal with the IRS right away, but buying from overseas avoids it. We've got great laws, I guess, but whatever. By my math, it's actually cheaper $267 even if they give him that 25% discount. Even if I order here and deal with all the customs, the IRS, and all that nonsense, it still works out to be $133 less

1) So you think the gross price is slashed by 20% or something?

2) When you buy stuff locally through a business, you pay the sales tax immediately, then you write it off on next month's filing.

3) Either way, sounds like too much of a headache for $133. Now, ordering a few thousand bucks worth would be interesting.

4) Your alternative is either buying domestically and writing off the tax immediately, or ordering via one of those European Amazons that ships to an American company with an EU tax ID at the net price. Then you just handle the tax deduction like any other local purchase. Honestly, I doubt there's much difference between the net price on Amazon.com versus the US price plus shipping and all the extra hassle.

BTW, how does that stuff even get from the Netherlands to you? Free shipping?

By the time your parts actually show up at your door, the next generation of Ryzen will probably already be hitting the shelves.

Kevin Newman6, what happens if you actually need to use the warranty? If you buy it in the States, service centers here in the US are just going to turn you away, with the possible exception of EVGA. And trying to ship stuff back to the States is either a massive expense, a total headache, or it’ll take forever to get anything done.

So, I was staring at my RAM settings the other day. Right now, I’m rocking an 8GB stick running at 2133 MHz. My plan was to grab two more sticks to bump things up to 16GB, since my motherboard can handle up to 2666 MHz.
I pull up Task Manager, right? And what do I see? It’s showing me something way lower than a thousand—like 800 or 900. So, if you double that, does that mean my memory is actually running at 1600 or 1800 MHz?!
I start digging through forums, and apparently, it's totally normal for the RAM to show a lower clock speed. You supposedly get the full frequency once you go into the BIOS and toggle that XMP option.
So, I dive into the BIOS and hit A-XMP. But there’s nothing to tweak—no voltage settings, no nothing, just a simple on/off switch.
Now it’s telling me 1200 MHz. Which means the RAM is actually hitting 2400.
Is this just how it works, or did I seriously screw something up?

If everything’s running stable, I guess you're fine. It’s pretty obvious that memory is faster than those 2133MHz sticks anyway.

Yeah. Only problem is, it looks like it’s been overclocked. I’m not even feeling a massive jump in speed, and now I'm just sitting here worrying I might've shaved years off its lifespan.

Jacob Alvarez said:Yeah, but it turns out it's actually overclocked. I'm not exactly seeing a massive jump in speed, and honestly, I'm just a little worried that I might be cutting its lifespan short.

It’s basically overclocked according to the RAM manufacturer's own standards. You aren't shortening its life, and certainly nothing significant. As they say, "stop worrying and love the bomb." 😬

Alright then.
Next week, I've got two 8GB sticks of 2666MHz RAM headed my way, so we'll see if there's actually any noticeable difference.

you’ve gotta actually feel the difference