Windows 7: is my ram running at the right speed?

ok, the specs on my motherboard from MSI say this here: MSI Global ? Mainboard - 790FX-GD70
ill attach an image.



the board says DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*/1800*/2133* (OC) DRAM, 16GB Max.

i'm using the program Speccy and it says my ram is PC3-12800j so it should be running at 1600mhz... but its running at 800mhz? even when ive got the power settings on high performance, instead of balanced, the green power settings of the motherboard are all turned off, it still says 800mhz. however, when i go into my BIOS it says both the Current DRAM frequency and the Adjusted DRAM frequency are 1600. but when i go in and look at the individual dimms and/or memory modules they separately say 800.

is my ram running at the proper speed? am i just confused about how it works? or do i need to change things to make it up to full speed? i know my ram is rated at a higher speed than my motherboard is, but the motherboard can do 1600 if its overclocked. at least thats what i gather from the msi website.

any input is appreciated.

Yes, it is running at the correct speed. DDR means double data rate so 1600 ram should show 800. 800 X2 = 1600.

ok, so if i did get 2 4gb sticks of DDR3 1333, which is not starred with the OC speeds as per the motherboard specs, it would run at 1333?

and, since i have 2 PC3-12800J sticks both rated at 1600, could i overclock those to get a faster total ram speed? is that what i'm understanding?

I have my RAM clocked from 1600 to 1680, due to the fact that I've raised my FSB setting. RAM can be overclocked if it's good enough to handle the higher speed. If it's not you will get the good old BSOD on a regular basis.

The confusion (at least mine) is in the dual naming convention used for memory. PC3-12800 is DDR3-1600.

Combined memory modules will run at the speed of any lowest speed modules installed. If you install two DDR-1333 and two DDR3-1600, the memory will run at the 1333 speed. The DDR3-1600 modules cannot be overclocked in this case. If that's what you're asking.

DDR3-1600 memory modules can't normally be overclocked much beyond 1600. That's their rating. The stars or asterisks on MB memory speeds means that overclocking needs to be used if you want to use that speed. The default speeds of the memory will be whatever is installed--1333/1066/800.

ok, so i have 2 sticks of DDR3 1600 each. they are both running at 800mhz to make an adjusted dram speed of 1600mhz total. so it sounds like both memory sticks are running at half speed? in that case, i could overclock them slightly to get better results...meaning a higher adjusted speed, coming from both sticks running faster. (closer to their individually rated speeds at 1600)?

Re-read what essenbe said. The "DDR" in "DDR3 1600" stands for Double Data Rate and means that they run at Double the 800MHz RAM speed. If they are running at 800 now they are already going full blast. DDR 1333 runs at 667, etc.

Here's my DDR 1600 running at 1680. Double the 840 number it shows and you get 1680.

oh! ok. i get it, except, if i were to take out one of the ram sticks, would the other one then run at 1600 all on its own?

and so ur saying it would be slower if i got 2 x4gb DDR3 1333 even tho they are the highest memory standard in the motherboard specs that aren't overclocked?

sorry, i'm just trying to understand all this, so if DDR3 1333 is the highest listed memory standard by the manufacturer specs, and the 1600 is *OC, and my memory right now is running at 1600, then is my memory already overclocked? and if i were to upgrade my ram to say an 8gb (2x4gb) DDR3 2133, would that even work?

If you were to install 2 sticks of DDR3-1333 they would run at 667, 2 stciks of DDR3- 2133 would run at 1066, 2 sticks of DDR3-1866 would run at 933. Again, DDR is Double data rate and the sticks are in dual chanel mode as they should be. Yes, you could probably overclock them, But, I would strongly advise against trying it unless you understand exactly what you are doing. One slight mistake and your computer will BSOD and cause all kind of trouble. It would also depend on the quality of the ram as Profdlp said.