Memory Speed Worth It?

[Euno]

In my new build I plan to fill the slots with one of the following. I want your opinions on RAM speed vs size. Personally I'm leaning towards size so that I can run some VMs or Docker containers while doing other stuff and not have to worry about throwing a few gigs at each, however the most important thing for me is performance. With that in mind will I see much value in having half of the memory capacity but a 20% increase in speed?

 

Here are the modules I'm comparing.

G.Skill Trident Z Royal 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4800 Memory

VS.

G.Skill Trident Z Royal 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-4000 Memory

[Applefreak]

Neither, going above 3600 makes very little sense, if at all. Most boards won't even run more than 3466 and even then they may not be stable enough for day to day use. Faster memory means nothing if the memory controller cannot utilize it.

[Bombastinator]

18 minutes ago, Euno said:

In my new build I plan to fill the slots with one of the following. I want your opinions on RAM speed vs size. Personally I'm leaning towards size so that I can run some VMs or Docker containers while doing other stuff and not have to worry about throwing a few gigs at each, however the most important thing for me is performance. With that in mind will I see much value in having half of the memory capacity but a 20% increase in speed?

 

Here are the modules I'm comparing.

G.Skill Trident Z Royal 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4800 Memory

VS.

G.Skill Trident Z Royal 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-4000 Memory

either way I’m thinking “no”

 

If it’s a ryzen system hard no.

Anything above 37xx MHz and below a really high number (4800 MHz might not be enough) should not be used on ryzen because of the way infinity fabric works.  If memory of that speed is used it will actually make the machine a good bit slower.   If 4000+MHz memory is already in place slowing it down and tightening the timings manually will actually speed the machine up.

 

If intel still kind of no.  The issue is intel doesn’t gain a lot from Faster memory, or at least not like ryzen does.  Less faster memory will gain a little bit, but if one runs something that runs OUT of system memory it will go to swap on the hard drive and that is super super slow.

 

 

[maartendc]

if you have a use for it, definitely go for more capacity here. 

 

Like others have said, anything over 3600 or so is seeing diminishing returns / no difference.   

[Euno]

With that in mind this is what I would lean towards for mobo, CPU, and memory combo.