220-1101 Hardware Practice Question
A technician is upgrading the memory in a desktop computer that has a motherboard supporting DDR4 RAM with a maximum speed of 3200MHz. The technician installs two 8GB modules rated at 3600MHz. What will be the effective speed of the memory?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume the RAM will run at its rated speed (3600MHz) or that the system will fail to boot, but the correct behavior is that the memory will downclock to the motherboard's maximum supported speed.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
3200MHz
The motherboard supports a maximum memory speed of 3200MHz, so even though the installed modules are rated at 3600MHz, the system will automatically downclock the memory to the highest supported speed of the motherboard, which is 3200MHz. This is because the memory controller operates at the motherboard's rated speed, and any faster modules will run at that lower speed to ensure stability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
3600MHz
Why it's wrong here
The 3600MHz rating exceeds what this motherboard's memory controller can officially support. When a faster DDR4 module is installed, the BIOS automatically falls back to the highest stable speed the board permits, which is 3200MHz here. Therefore the memory will not run at its intended 3600MHz speed, making this answer incorrect.
- ✓
3200MHz
Why this is correct
The motherboard's chipset and BIOS specify a maximum supported memory speed of 3200MHz, and that is the limit for this system. Although the new modules are rated at 3600MHz, they will downclock through the memory's serial presence detect (SPD) to operate at 3200MHz to match the board's capability. This makes 3200MHz the actual effective speed, so it is the correct choice.
- ✗
2933MHz
Why it's wrong here
2933MHz is a standard DDR4 speed, but it is not the maximum supported speed for this motherboard. The memory controller will run the installed memory at the highest speed it supports, which is 3200MHz, not 2933MHz. Since the board's top supported speed is 3200MHz, selecting 2933MHz underestimates the actual operating frequency and is therefore wrong.
- ✗
The system will not boot due to incompatibility
Why it's wrong here
DDR4 memory is designed for backward compatibility within the same generation, so installing a module rated above the motherboard's maximum supported speed does not prevent the system from booting. The motherboard's firmware will detect the module's capabilities and automatically configure a safe speed (3200MHz) that it can handle. Therefore the system boots normally, and the claim that it will not boot due to incompatibility is false.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
RAM Types and Memory Slots
Key term
Double Data Rate
Double Data Rate (DDR) is a technology that doubles the data transfer rate of a memory or bus by sending data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal, effectively doing twice as much work per clock cycle.
Key term
RAM
RAM (Random-Access Memory) is volatile computer memory that temporarily stores data for quick access by the CPU.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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