Buying advice on DDR4 RAM running in gear 1 (Alderlake)

[Fredrikmikael]

Hi! I am finally upgrading from my wrinkly 5820k to a 12600k which of course means a new MB and RAM, though I am having some difficulties coming to a conclusion on my own for which kit I should opt for.

As I haven't paid to much attention to the market for a couple generations I hadn't even heard about gear1/gear2 until last week when I was starting the research for new my parts.

 

As I will be going for the mature DDR4 platform it seems like running in gear 1 generally provides a not insignificant perfomance fps boost and 1% lows, the timestamped video below is a reference on this.

 

Finally to my question(s), and what i'm struggling with. Is there a correct answer on which combinations of frequency and CL timings will without any doubt be able to run at gear 1?

Currently , I have been looking at two different kits which I would assume are able to run at gear 1 with their very tight timings:(1) F4-3600C14D-32GVK & (2) F4-3200C14D-32GTZR.

Is there any performance improvement with 3600mhz-Cl16 be over 3200mhz-CL14 for games, if any?

Is there something else I should be focusing or, or not focusing on, such as this "samsung b die" which i have been reading about being good for overclocking, or will there be insignificant gains to be found with overclocking?

 

New components below.

CPU: Intel i5-12600k
MB: Gigabyte Z690 GAMING X DDR4

RAM: ??? TBD

 

Any and all advice, comments, and questions are appreciated regardless if it is related to the subject. Thanks!

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

2 minutes ago, Fredrikmikael said:

Hi! I am finally upgrading from my wrinkly 5820k to a 12600k which of course means a new MB and RAM, though I am having some difficulties coming to a conclusion on my own for which kit I should opt for.

As I haven't paid to much attention to the market for a couple generations I hadn't even heard about gear1/gear2 until last week when I was starting the research for new my parts.

 

As I will be going for the mature DDR4 platform it seems like running in gear 1 generally provides a not insignificant perfomance fps boost and 1% lows, the timestamped video below is a reference on this.

 

Finally to my question(s), and what i'm struggling with. Is there a correct answer on which combinations of frequency and CL timings will without any doubt be able to run at gear 1?

Currently , I have been looking at two different kits which I would assume are able to run at gear 1 with their very tight timings:(1) F4-3600C14D-32GVK & (2) F4-3200C14D-32GTZR.

Is there any performance improvement with 3600mhz-Cl16 be over 3200mhz-CL14 for games, if any?

Is there something else I should be focusing or, or not focusing on, such as this "samsung b die" which i have been reading about being good for overclocking, or will there be insignificant gains to be found with overclocking?

 

New components below.

CPU: Intel i5-12600k
MB: Gigabyte Z690 GAMING X DDR4

RAM: ??? TBD

 

Any and all advice, comments, and questions are appreciated regardless if it is related to the subject. Thanks!

Don't overthink your ram with Alder Lake. It's not like Ryzen where it's super important. Just grab any reputable brand 2x16gb 3200 cl16 kit. Anything more than 3200 won't make much of a difference on this platform.

[freeagent]

3200C16 is shit, 3200C14 is good. 3200C14 should be able to run pretty much any speed bin with a little tuning.

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

The relevant question here seems to be this. Have you ever overclocked/tuned your RAM? Do you like to, or do you think you will like to and want to try getting into it?

 

If not, then just grab the cheapest 3600 CL16 kit. That'll be fine.

 

If so, then both of those kits you picked are B die, so either will be good for tuning, with the 3600 kit being a better bin (and so will probably but not definitely achieve higher clocks at the same timings and/or voltage or the same clocks at better timings and/or voltage).

 

IMO there is no point buying fancy RAM if you aren't going to tune it yourself. There is hardly any performance advantage, so the real benefit of more expensive RAM is the experience of playing with it.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Dont waste your money on a ludicrously expensive b die kit and just buy some cheap crucial ballistix since most of the time theyll demolish the crappier b die rams and still be cheaper, good b die is expensive so not worth it

 

Ballistix does 4000 cl16 with ease, all the way to 4500+ cl18 if you wanna tune it that far

 

If you really want b die then buy used and run it at full potential (1.6v+) to really get its performance benifit but ofc with a fan over it, just dont go dailying with volts over 1.7v

[freeagent]

25 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Ballistix does 4000 cl16 with ease, all the way to 4500+ cl18 if you wanna tune it that far

My 3200C14 does 4000 C16 with ease, 4000 C14 too. Been to 4400C15 as well. If you aren’t going to tune but still want top performance, grab some 3600C14. Same shit as 3200C14 but with a higher price tag.

 

Or if you don’t care, go with whatever, because as a regular Joe, probably won’t notice the difference.

[Fredrikmikael]

Thank you all for your valuable inputs and perspectives which definately has given some clarity. I think I will end up following my gut and go for one of the two kits I was looking at, likely F4-3200C14D-32GTZR aware that it definately is not the best value, but as I am not that budget constrained and will likely stay on Alder Lake for a long while,(I did manage 7 years on 5820k) it might end up justifying staying on Alder Lake for an additional generation before upgrading...

I will definately attempt to take advantage of the "b die" and see what I will be able to squeeze out of them with overclocking upon arrival.

 

Thanks again all, especially @freeagent@Hairless Monkey Boy!

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 hours ago, Fredrikmikael said:

I will definately attempt to take advantage of the "b die" and see what I will be able to squeeze out of them with overclocking upon arrival

Well i guess its better than wasting on rgb rams ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

 

If you wanna utilize it fully run active cooling with volts ~1.6-1.7v since b die scales all the way to 2.05v (deathzone), ofc it usually doesnt justify the price but if you can run the timings low enough or low timings at a decent speed then maybe itll be somewhat worth it

[freeagent]

That’s probably not a good plan