What does and doesn't effect everyday/gaming performance?

[johngabrieluk]

Hello all,

First time poster, came here from /r/buildapc and PCMR. I've been getting into theoretical builds and I wanted to get a couple of things confirmed so I'm not giving out bad advice. The following is what I've been led to believe from some Googling/Redditing.

1) Adding memory beyond 3GB has no effect on frame rate.

2) Memory speeds have no effect on framerate when using a dedicated video card.

3) Dual-channeling memory has little effect on performance.

Thanks in advance.

[wtfxmitchell]

Hello all,

First time poster, came here from /r/buildapc and PCMR. I've been getting into theoretical builds and I wanted to get a couple of things confirmed so I'm not giving out bad advice. The following is what I've been led to believe from some Googling/Redditing.

1) Adding memory beyond 3GB has no effect on frame rate.

2) Memory speeds have no effect on framerate when using a dedicated video card.

3) Dual-channeling memory has little effect on performance.

Thanks in advance.

1) bf4 easily uses 5Gb of memory

2) speed does effect perofrmance in some games

3) i dunno

[madscientist56]

That's kind of true however I would recommend to have a minimum of two 4gb sticks of ram running at at least 1600 speed

[jmaster299]

1) bf4 easily uses 5Gb of memory

2) speed does effect perofrmance in some games

 

3) i dunno

Where is that chart from and what game is it for? Even Linus has done benchmarking for RAM speeds, and there is no tangible benefit to using higher frequency RAM for gaming.

OP, your third statement "Dual-channeling memory has little effect on performance" makes no sense. Some motherboards are Dual-channel, some are quad-channel, and yes you should always be using RAM in quantities that match what your motherboard natively supports. As in sets of 2 for dual-channel and sets of 4 for quad-channel. Using just 1 stick or 3 sticks on a dual-channel motherboard can absolutely affect performance, especially when overclocking the CPU.

[ShadowCaptain]

Hello all,

First time poster, came here from /r/buildapc and PCMR. I've been getting into theoretical builds and I wanted to get a couple of things confirmed so I'm not giving out bad advice. The following is what I've been led to believe from some Googling/Redditing.

1) Adding memory beyond 3GB has no effect on frame rate.

2) Memory speeds have no effect on framerate when using a dedicated video card.

3) Dual-channeling memory has little effect on performance.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

1) performance will be effected if the computer runs out of ram. Just sittle at idle on the desktop can use 1-2gb of ram and some games can user 3 or 4 gb. General consensus is 8gb is right for gaming 16gb+ for video editing/rendering work

 

2) Ram speed has more effect than ram latency these days. Faster ram CAN affect performance up to about 10%

 

3) Dual channel has an effect to, but again less than 10% difference

 

 

Where is that chart from and what game is it for? Even Linus has done benchmarking for RAM speeds, and there is no tangible benefit to using higher frequency RAM for gaming.

 

Its true, though for most games there isnt much difference, this is specifically BF4 as that is one of the few games affected by this, however going forward some games may take advantage of memory speed

 

This is from corsair

http://www.corsair.com/en/blog/2013/october/battlefield-4-loves-high-speed-memory

 

This from guru3d

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=383555

[johngabrieluk]

I meant using 2*4GB vs 1*8GB.

[jmaster299]

1) performance will be effected if the computer runs out of ram. Just sittle at idle on the desktop can use 1-2gb of ram and some games can user 3 or 4 gb. General consensus is 8gb is right for gaming 16gb+ for video editing/rendering work

 

2) Ram speed has more effect than ram latency these days. Faster ram CAN affect performance up to about 10%

 

3) Dual channel has an effect to, but again less than 10% difference

 

 

 

Its true, though for most games there isnt much difference, this is specifically BF4 as that is one of the few games affected by this, however going forward some games may take advantage of memory speed

 

This is from corsair

http://www.corsair.com/en/blog/2013/october/battlefield-4-loves-high-speed-memory

 

This from guru3d

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=383555

That's 1 single game, that's it. Until more games work that way, the statement is not an accurate one. No one should be spending money on higher frequency RAM just because 1 game benefits from it. That's more of a sign of poor optimization than anything else.

Don't go making claims like "it makes a 10% difference" just because of a single game.

 

 

I meant using 2*4GB vs 1*8GB.

As for memory, where does having eight gigs give a benefit over four?

 

Yes, there is absolutely a performance loss if you don't RAM in the intended configuration of your motherboard. Don't think of 2x4GB being a performance gain on a dual-channel board, instead think of 1x8GB as being a performance loss. The motherboard is designed to be using RAM in sets of 2 sticks at a time. It's not a performance issue that you can measure strictly on game performance. Your system will execute all tasks more efficiently, and quicker, when you are using the proper RAM configuration for your motherboard.

As far as 8GB over 4GB, when playing current games you can and will exceed 4GB of system RAM usage. Right now, with 9 browser tabs open and just some basic background programs, I am using 38% of my 8GB of system RAM. That's 3GB and I don't even have a game running.

[ShadowCaptain]

That's 1 single game, that's it. Until more games work that way, the statement is not an accurate one. No one should be spending money on higher frequency RAM just because 1 game benefits from it. That's more of a sign of poor optimization than anything else.

Don't go making claims like "it makes a 10% difference" just because of a single game.

 

I said it "CAN" make a difference, I even put it in all caps, COD Ghosts also shows an improvement. These are 2 Very popular games on PC.

 

Also it can make a difference in video editing programs and I know more and more people these days are recording and editing gameplay with programs like shadowplay being so accessible, and twitch and youtube being such popular platforms. Also it doesn't necessarily mean poorly optimised, if it is possible to have faster ram, then every % of performance should be sqeezed out of them

 

 

 

Also it doesnt always cost more to get faster frequency ram. 

 

here is an example from ebuyer

 

8GB Corsair Vengence Pro 1600 mhz - £71.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/509513-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-kit-intel-haswell-cmy8gx3m2a1600c9b?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CI_uwPCvuL4CFSGWtAod_yYAVw

 

8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133 mhz - £69.70

http://www.ebuyer.com/509505-corsair-8gb-ddr3-2133mhz-vengeance-kit-intell-haswell-cmy8gx3m2b2133c9r

[jmaster299]

I said it "CAN" make a difference, I even put it in all caps, COD Ghosts also shows an improvement. These are 2 Very popular games on PC.

 

Also it can make a difference in video editing programs and I know more and more people these days are recording and editing gameplay with programs like shadowplay being so accessible, and twitch and youtube being such popular platforms. Also it doesn't necessarily mean poorly optimised, if it is possible to have faster ram, then every % of performance should be sqeezed out of them

 

 

 

Also it doesnt always cost more to get faster frequency ram. 

 

here is an example from ebuyer

 

8GB Corsair Vengence Pro 1600 mhz - £71.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/509513-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-kit-intel-haswell-cmy8gx3m2a1600c9b?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CI_uwPCvuL4CFSGWtAod_yYAVw

 

8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133 mhz - £69.70

http://www.ebuyer.com/509505-corsair-8gb-ddr3-2133mhz-vengeance-kit-intell-haswell-cmy8gx3m2b2133c9r

Video editing is not gaming. Also, enough of trying to use 1 example to prove something is true. Exceptions don't make the rule. 1 retailer offering higher frequency RAM on bigger sale does make it a better option. Unless you are doing something like video editing, better timings are more useful.

[ShadowCaptain]

Video editing is not gaming. Also, enough of trying to use 1 example to prove something is true. Exceptions don't make the rule. 1 retailer offering higher frequency RAM on bigger sale does make it a better option. Unless you are doing something like video editing, better timings are more useful.

 

Stop quoting me out of context

the OP stated "has NO effect on frame rate"

 

I was merely arguing that it can. If I cannot categorically say it does, then he cannot categorically say it does not. Some programs and games benefit from faster ram. That is all I was saying. I didnt say "omg everybody must buy crazy expensive high freq ram", I was just discussing the facts that it can and does affect performance in certain applications.

 

Ram timings can effect gaming yes, but these days not as much as it used to. A few fps here and there, but its pretty negligible once you get above 1333/1600hz

 

but agian here is one game being effected, and one game not being effected. 

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/memory-bandwidth-latency-gaming,review-32618-4.html

 

It is up to the buyer to find out what kind of games/applications the computer is running, and buy ram that suits accordingly. That said, the difference at the end of the day between cheap decent ram and expensive baller ram, is only a few % and not always wroth the investment unless trying to get every % of performance

 

TL:DR, both are important to balance, not one over the other

[wtfxmitchell]

Where is that chart from and what game is it for? Even Linus has done benchmarking for RAM speeds, and there is no tangible benefit to using higher frequency RAM for gaming.

OP, your third statement "Dual-channeling memory has little effect on performance" makes no sense. Some motherboards are Dual-channel, some are quad-channel, and yes you should always be using RAM in quantities that match what your motherboard natively supports. As in sets of 2 for dual-channel and sets of 4 for quad-channel. Using just 1 stick or 3 sticks on a dual-channel motherboard can absolutely affect performance, especially when overclocking the CPU.

it's bf4, i found it on the oc3d forum but you can find those charts everywhere because it is quite common

[jmaster299]

it's bf4, i found it on the oc3d forum but you can find those charts everywhere because it is quite common

No, it's not common, that's the point. It having an affect in frame rates in BF4 is a fluke and a result of the game being poorly optimized.

[johngabrieluk]

Don't think of 2x4GB being a performance gain on a dual-channel board, instead think of 1x8GB as being a performance loss.

How much of a loss would this be?

Also, you mentioned timings earlier. Is this the same thing as CAS latency? Again, how much of an effect does this have?

[jmaster299]

How much of a loss would this be?

Also, you mentioned timings earlier. Is this the same thing as CAS latency? Again, how much of an effect does this have?

It's not some benchmark where you can give it an exact number. The motherboard is designed to use two sticks of RAM at a time, when you use some other combination like 1 or 3 sticks, your system can and will run into performance issues. Not every single program you use will be affected equally and there are no gaming benchmarks for it because the people who provide benchmarks aren't stupid enough to run their systems with an improper RAM setup.

Yes, CAS latency is timings. Watch the video I linked from Linus, but again it's not going to be a set value that is the same across the board. The short version is the benefit you gain from a higher frequency ends up getting lost or reduced due to poorer latency. You should know what latency is, the time it takes for information to be communicated back and forth between two sources. It's a very basic generalization, but think of it like this, the task gets completed faster, but it takes longer for the exchange of information to occur, which defeats the purpose of the task being completed faster.

Will using higher frequency RAM ruin your game, no, but there is no benefit to using the faster RAM in the first place. Using an improper RAM set up though, as in 1 or 3 sticks, can cause programs to not run correctly. That won't apply to every program, but there is no point to using an incorrect RAM setup in the first place as you gain no benefit from it.

[i_build_nanosuits]

for gaming you want 8gb of DDR3 (2x4gb), speed is not important for gaming unless you are using an APU integrated graphics...1600mhz usualy won't cost more so i'd pick those.