RAM help!! What should I get? CL and speed explanation!

[leyo96]

Hello,

so I'm building my first pc, this is what i currently bought (I'm going to overclock):
-msi z370 gaming pro carbon
-intel I7 8700k
-RTX 2080 asus dual OC

Everything so far went very smooth but holy f***k if I don't understand anything about RAM.

I know I need and want 16Gb and i know that up to 3000Mhz it's worth to spend the money, but what about CL? Does it matter?

On the cpu specs it says up to DDR4-2666, how can then 3000Mhz ram be faster and better if the cpu specs say up to 2666?

 

Please help me to understand and give me some suggestions on what model to get and more in general what speed and CL.

 

Thank you!!

[gbergeron]

3 minutes ago, leyo96 said:

Hello,

so I'm building my first pc, this is what i currently bought (I'm going to overclock):
-msi z370 gaming pro carbon
-intel I7 8700k
-RTX 2080 asus dual OC

Everything so far went very smooth but holy f***k if I don't understand anything about RAM.

I know I need and want 16Gb and i know that up to 3000Mhz it's worth to spend the money, but what about CL? Does it matter?

On the cpu specs it says up to DDR4-2666, how can then 3000Mhz ram be faster and better if the cpu specs say up to 2666?

 

Please help me to understand and give me some suggestions on what model to get and more in general what speed and CL.

 

Thank you!!

CPU specs is 2666 mhz because this is stock speed

 

Even if you buy a 3000 mhz ram kit, it will run a 2666 mhz if you don't overclock the RAM it or set XMP on in the bios

[Nocte]

1 minute ago, gbergeron said:

Even if you buy a 3000 mhz ram kit, it will run a 2666 mhz if you don't overclock the RAM it or set XMP on in the bios

If you don't set XMP in BIOS it will run at 2133, not 2666.

[Cyracus]

same MHz and lower CL=lower latency ram. Doesn't make a big difference for most things, you can play with the numbers here https://notkyon.moe/ram-latency.htm

[leyo96]

1 minute ago, Cyracus said:

same MHz and lower CL=lower latency ram. Doesn't make a big difference for most things, you can play with the numbers here https://notkyon.moe/ram-latency.htm

So is the price increase between a 3000 mhz cl14 and cl16 ram worth?

[ch3w2oy]

2 minutes ago, leyo96 said:

So is the price increase between a 3000 mhz cl14 and cl16 ram worth?

Not for Intel, not really.

[leyo96]

Just now, ChewToy! said:

Not for Intel, not really.

Thanks