AMD RAMP Technology For DDR5 Could Give Intel XMP 3.0 Run For Its Money

Intel may have taken the lead on the DDR5 memory frontier with the launch of its 12th generation Alder Lake CPUs, but that may change once AMD’s Socket AM5, 600 series motherboards, and Ryzen 7000 series CPUs launch later this year. This includes the launch of its Ryzen Accelerated Memory Profile, or RAMP for short.

RAMP is expected to succeed AMD’s A-XMP that currently serves as the default memory-overclocking software for all DDR4-based chipsets right now. RAMP was first listed on HWInfo’s v7.17 beta release notes, in which it says the technology had been added as preliminary support to the software. More to the point, it is highly likely that the software was created by AMD as a response and direct rival to Intel’s 3rd generation Extreme Memory Profile (XMP 3.0) memory overclocking profile when, once again, its Ryzen 7000 “Raphael” CPU series makes it to market.

While brief in its presentation and announcement, AMD’s Socket AM5 is set to be a new milestone for the chipmaker, in more ways than one. Its arrival will mark the second time the tech brand will drop the Pin Grid Array (PGA) CPU layout in favour of the Land Grid Array (LGA) format, the first time it adopted the format having started with its Ryzen Threadripper HEDT CPU lineup. Specifically, the new Socket AM5 will also be based on a new LGA1718 design, as well as be the first AMD chipset to support the DDR5 memory standard PCIe Gen5 standard.

At the time of writing, there is no further information about RAMP but if AMD were to maintain the status quo, the new memory technology could mean that currently existing XMP DDR5 memory will also be compatible with it. At the same time, AMD might just allow manufacturers to make RAM modules that cater to their technology, exclusively. Having said that, do remember that this is all just speculation and as such, do take this news with a grain of salt. 

Overclocker Successfully Pushes Intel Core i9-11900K CPU To Run At 7GHz

Intel’s flagship 11th generation CPU, the Core i9-11900K, is set to launch next week but, unsurprisingly, some overclockers are already in possession of some sample units to poke and prod. In the case of one overclocker, they managed to push the CPU to a whopping 7GHz.

The overclocker, who goes by the name “Rog-Fisher”, posted their achievement on the CPU-Z Validation site, which they clearly and successfully achieved via the use of liquid nitrogen. Specifically, they managed to push the 11900K’s boost clock from 5.3GHz (with Intel’s TVB) to 7047.88MHz or 7GHz as a round-off. To get to that point, Rog-Fisher also had to bump up the voltage to an eye-watering 1.873V.

Additional details show that Rog-Fisher used an ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Apex motherboard, 8GB DDR4 RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 710.

It comes as no surprise that Rog-Fisher isn’t the only one attempting to claim the overclocker’s throne for the 11900K; an Indian YouTube channel, PC Wale, recently posted a video of their own overclocking, but instead of 7GHz. They capped out at 6.5GHz and at a slightly lower voltage of 1.678V. What is interesting to note is that the PC Wale overclockers were using a custom XOC BIOS, which is also used by a prominent South Korean overclocker called SafeDisk.

Unfortunately, because the 11900K was supplied to PC Wale by Intel, they were unable to provide or show any benchmark results along with the LN2-attained frequencies. Guess we’ll just have to wait until 30 March to find out.