> not sure why somebody buys an X5xx mainboard and uses 3200mhz memory Because of the assumption that expensive is better. For those who don't know: X5xx boar

> not sure why somebody buys an X5xx mainboard and uses 3200mhz memory Because of the assumption that expensive is better. For those who don't know: X5xx boards are better for overclocking as they typically have better VRMs (stable on-board power supply). In addition those boards have better memory traces, increasing the chances that you can overclock memory (beyond XMP) and tighten memory timings. On my 3950x this all resulted in about a 15% performance uplift (compared to XMP enabled alone). If Apple were to ever use AMD hardware, they would likely use a B450 - it is perfectly capable of running all the components to spec.