Question about RAM speeds when buying RAM.

[Ripull]

For any make of RAM there seems to be many varieties of the same ram with different speeds and CL timings.

Are you meant to pick the slowest speed one, ie 1300mhz and overclock it to the speed you want, or are the higher speed RAM variants being sold more than just a convenience of being pre-overclocked and actually have some physical difference instead?

[Gofspar]

They all perform the same. /thread

[Equilibrium_FOOL]

DDR3 1600mhz is fine.  1333mhz is a little slow and you may not be able to OC to an acceptable speed.

[TheRetiredSlave]

Since RAM speed has almost no effect in any real-world tests (other than gaming on integrated graphics), it basically doesn't matter.

 

 

 

I have 2400 Mhz CL10 memory because I happened to find a promo code (or it was on sale,, I forget), and it was pretty much the same price as any other RAM kit..

[vlkn´]

lower ram frequency + ram overclock=system unstable=crash

high ram frequency + cpu overclock= more stable as with lower ram speeds.

 

The price difference is not that huge, get a 1886mhz with cl8/9 timings or 1600mhz with cl7

[Ripull]

They all perform the same. /thread

It wasnt a question about performance.

[D2ultima]

For any make of RAM there seems to be many varieties of the same ram with different speeds and CL timings.

Are you meant to pick the slowest speed one, ie 1300mhz and overclock it to the speed you want, or are the higher speed RAM variants being sold more than just a convenience of being pre-overclocked and actually have some physical difference instead?

The best RAM is the highest clocked RAM (1866, 2133, etc) at the lowest CL timings. Higher CL timings with higher speeds are similar to lower CL timings with lower speeds.

 

I would suggest avoiding anything below the now-standard 1600MHz RAM speed.

[Cheddle]

For any make of RAM there seems to be many varieties of the same ram with different speeds and CL timings.

Are you meant to pick the slowest speed one, ie 1300mhz and overclock it to the speed you want, or are the higher speed RAM variants being sold more than just a convenience of being pre-overclocked and actually have some physical difference instead?

 

Buying ram is super confusing in my opinion... luckily, as counter intuitive as it may seem all the evidence points to DDR3 1333 MHz being just as useful for gaming/desktop use as DDR4 3200 MHz - there really is a barley measurable difference in performance.

 

The pre overclocked stuff is sorta "guaranteed" to run at certain timings and frequencies, I cannot run my 1333mhz 9-9-9-15 (or whatever timing it has) at 1600mhz unless the timings blow out to 15-15-15-21 (or similar) - and its benchmarked I/O speed is less at 1600 MHz than at 1333mhz.

 

The lower reported CL timings at the higher reported RAM frequency will be the "faster" memory. that is why they sell them at different speeds/timings. if two kits have identical timings and one is 2133 MHz and the other 2800mhz the 2800 is the better ram.

 

 

Trap to fall into is buying something like a 2133mhz kit that has stupid huge timings over a 1600mhz kit with very low and tight timings.

[Blade of Grass]

The pre overclocked stuff is sorta "guaranteed" to run at certain timings and frequencies, I cannot run my 1333mhz 9-9-9-15 (or whatever timing it has) at 1600mhz unless the timings blow out to 15-15-15-21 (or similar) - and its benchmarked I/O speed is less at 1600 MHz than at 1333mhz.

Yeah, that's because it'll take the 1600mhz kit (15/1600*1000) = 9.375ns to fetch form memory whereas it will only take (9/1333*1000) = 6.75ns for the 1333MHz kit to fetch for memory.

[Ripull]

Thanks for the insight guys, which one would you pick?

 

-1866mhz

http://www.hardwareversand.de/1866+Low+Voltage/66609/16GB-Kit+G.Skill+RipJawsX+PC3-14900U+CL10.article?pvid=4nlbewygk_i3vi8w00

 

-1600mhz

http://www.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/66611/16GB-Kit+G.Skill+RipJaws-X+PC3-12800U+CL10.article?pvid=4nlbhaohh_i3vi8w00

 

 

Also I want to run it with a 4790K but the specs on the back of it only says it works with 3rd generation.

[D2ultima]

Thanks for the insight guys, which one would you pick?

 

-1866mhz

http://www.hardwareversand.de/1866+Low+Voltage/66609/16GB-Kit+G.Skill+RipJawsX+PC3-14900U+CL10.article?pvid=4nlbewygk_i3vi8w00

 

-1600mhz

http://www.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/66611/16GB-Kit+G.Skill+RipJaws-X+PC3-12800U+CL10.article?pvid=4nlbhaohh_i3vi8w00

 

 

Also I want to run it with a 4790K but the specs on the back of it only says it works with 3rd generation.

The 1866MHz RAM has almost the same timings as the 1600MHz RAM, so therefore speed is the determining factor, and thus the 1866MHz RAM would be better. About 2% of games might benefit from it too.