Worth to upgrade RAM?

[notPotatoe]

Hey, Since I'm planning to upgrade most of my PC, I currently own an i5-9400f in a B360 board, using 2x 8GB DDR4 CL19 2666MHz.
I'm planning to upgrade to i5-11600k and a Z590 board.

Is new and faster RAM an investment to consider doing since I'm already going all-in, or is it not that much of a difference?

Thanks in advance!

[YoungBlade]

What are you planning on doing with your computer? Also, what graphics card do you have?

 

2666 CL19 is very slow RAM, so in memory sensitive applications, you'd see a big uplift by upgrading. However, if you're gaming with a GTX 750 Ti or something, then you're going to be so GPU bound that it wouldn't make a difference.

[notPotatoe]

I'm using it basically only for gaming.

And I only recently got myself a 3060Ti GPU.

[YoungBlade]

2 minutes ago, notPotatoe said:

I'm using it basically only for gaming.

And I only recently got myself a 3060Ti GPU.

In that case, unless you're gaming at 4K, I'd upgrade the RAM. You'll likely notice an improvement by going to 3200+ speeds with tighter timings.

[notPotatoe]

Thank you very much! ^ ^

[dizmo]

10 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

In that case, unless you're gaming at 4K, I'd upgrade the RAM. You'll likely notice an improvement by going to 3200+ speeds with tighter timings.

Really, I probably wouldn't. Cost to performance isn't going to be great by any means; to me, an extra few FPS that won't really be perceivable isn't worth spending that kind of money.

[notPotatoe]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Really, I probably wouldn't. Cost to performance isn't going to be great by any means; to me, an extra few FPS that won't really be perceivable isn't worth spending that kind of money.

How much performance are we approximetly talking about in 1080p gaming?

[xg32]

17 minutes ago, notPotatoe said:

.

i'd throw more money at the gpu before the ram, the efficiency of ram upgrade might not worth it for the 3060ti, unless you are playing 1080p AAA shooters (bf2042, r6, apex), either way i'd try ocing the ram first.

 

assume you get these for 150usd

 

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232907?Description=2x16 3600&cm_re=2x16_3600-_-20-232-907-_-Product

 

fringe case 20%~ but you'd also get more capacity

 

it's not the worst choice if it bothers you.

[notPotatoe]

The GPU is already bought and being used so it's not really about managing the budget that much. Also playing AAA shooters is the exact thing I plan to do. I could try OC'ing the RAM once I have the ability to.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, notPotatoe said:

How much performance are we approximetly talking about in 1080p gaming?

You'd have to look up reviews, with your CPU and the two RAM speeds.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

You should take a shot at overclocking it, but I don't think an upgrade would be a good use of money at this point

[YoungBlade]

7 hours ago, dizmo said:

Really, I probably wouldn't. Cost to performance isn't going to be great by any means; to me, an extra few FPS that won't really be perceivable isn't worth spending that kind of money.

I normally would agree, but we aren't talking about ditching DDR4-3200 for 3600. We're talking about 2666 CL19. That is very slow when you're talking about 1080p gaming on a 3060 Ti. It will absolutely hold a 6c/12t CPU back.

 

Remember all the fuss GN made about the 10400F being locked down to 2666 on B460 boards? And how even tightening timings wasn't enough to help its performance?

 

RAM speeds below 3000 aren't good enough for modern CPUs to keep up with high end cards. You can argue that the 3060 Ti isn't "high end" for this generation, but it's comparable to the 2080 in performance, so in the context of that GN video, it is absolutely relevant.