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RAM Upgrade questions

Singrimoire
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20 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Would it even make sense to use any of these RAMs with the CPU spec? I read just enough to confuse myself. I assume(d) simply enabling XMP would enable higher frequency ops up to mobo supported MHz.

Definitely not the 4600 CL19 kit, the odds of that XMP actually working out of the box is pretty low. The advertised memory speed a motherboard can support is usually with a golden sample CPU, so while the best of the best chips can do 4666 on this board, if you have a more average chip you might be limited to 4200 or even lower. Also, there are other memory timings that affect performance more than CAS latency, and so while that kit might have a rather low CL value, the other timings like tRCD might be something like 26 and therefore not actually be better for total memory latency than a 3200 CL16 kit, for instance. 3600 CL16 and 3200 CL14 are reasonable enough that they should just work, though practically whether they justify their price is a different story. 

 

26 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Would any of the 3 RAM options benefit my setup more then the rest compared to the other two?

Not really. Personally I'd save your money and just go for a 3200 CL16 or 3600 CL18 kit, 10th gen didn't scale that much with memory speed to justify spending the premium that these kits usually demand. 

 

27 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Would be there any point going 64GiB? I'm already doubling capacity and everything runs great as long as Ray Tracing is not involved.

Technically, there is the whole memory ranks argument, where 64GB will be guaranteed dual rank while something like a cheap 2x16GB 3200 CL16 kit will probably be single rank, with dual rank usually giving a ~400MT/s performance improvement at the same timings. That said, the 3200 CL14 kit if bought in 2x16GB will be dual rank, and as I eluded to above, there just isn't that much memory scaling that happens with 10th gen and games to justify spending the money on these high end kits. The actual capacity will not help at all, the only advantage comes from the nuances in how the kits are built. 

 

30 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Is there an alternative I didn't consider but would make more sense? (eg I dropped the quad channel idea because I would lose more than gain).

Some sort of cheap 3200 CL16 or 3600 CL18 kit is probably for the best. It just doesn't make sense to spend the $100+ that one of these kits usually demand when you get most of the performance for ~$40 with one of these lower end kits. 

 

Another option is to attempt to overclock your current memory kit. This is a fair bit of work so I understand not wanting to go down this route, but odds are your current kit is capable of 3200 CL16 or higher, and if you don't need 32GB this is a free thing to attempt.

Posted

Hi Folks!

TL;DR
Which of these:

  • CL19 / 4600MHz - 8.26ns

  • CL16 / 3600MHz - 8.89ns

  • CL14 / 3200MHz - 8.75ns

Is best for gaming on my setup?

  • Asrock H570 Phantom Gaming 4

  • i5-10600K (running at 4.5GHz)

  • 2x 8GiB CL13 / 2666 <current>

  • 3060Ti (w/ 1440p screen)

DETAILS
I'm mostly comfortable with my setup, but would like to upgrade for texture/memory heavier games. I want to spend at most $150 -ish to upgrade.
I was playing with the idea of 64GiB but it feels like an overkill, as I have an understanding that RAM can complement VRAM.

Originally I've choosen the 2666MHz sticks because the native support from the CPU, but the MB says:
"10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors support DDR4 non-ECC, un-buffered memory up to 4666+(OC)" which made me reconsider this decision.

CL16/3600 is so much cheaper, that I could actually go for the 64GiB, although I'm not 100% sure I would feel the difference, BUT I remember when I updated my last tower to 32GiB+, I turned off the page file and it ran like a dream.

Games are mostly action/adventure/rpgs, 4x games and I do some amateur 2D/3D art.

QUESTIONS

  1. Would it even make sense to use any of these RAMs with the CPU spec? I read just enough to confuse myself. I assume(d) simply enabling XMP would enable higher frequency ops up to mobo supported MHz.

  2. Would any of the 3 RAM options benefit my setup more then the rest compared to the other two?

  3. Would be there any point going 64GiB? I'm already doubling capacity and everything runs great as long as Ray Tracing is not involved.

  4. Is there an alternative I didn't consider but would make more sense? (eg I dropped the quad channel idea because I would lose more than gain).

Correcting anything I'm incorrect about is highly encouraged and I thank you for it.
THANK YOU for any and all advice in advance.

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20 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Would it even make sense to use any of these RAMs with the CPU spec? I read just enough to confuse myself. I assume(d) simply enabling XMP would enable higher frequency ops up to mobo supported MHz.

Definitely not the 4600 CL19 kit, the odds of that XMP actually working out of the box is pretty low. The advertised memory speed a motherboard can support is usually with a golden sample CPU, so while the best of the best chips can do 4666 on this board, if you have a more average chip you might be limited to 4200 or even lower. Also, there are other memory timings that affect performance more than CAS latency, and so while that kit might have a rather low CL value, the other timings like tRCD might be something like 26 and therefore not actually be better for total memory latency than a 3200 CL16 kit, for instance. 3600 CL16 and 3200 CL14 are reasonable enough that they should just work, though practically whether they justify their price is a different story. 

 

26 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Would any of the 3 RAM options benefit my setup more then the rest compared to the other two?

Not really. Personally I'd save your money and just go for a 3200 CL16 or 3600 CL18 kit, 10th gen didn't scale that much with memory speed to justify spending the premium that these kits usually demand. 

 

27 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Would be there any point going 64GiB? I'm already doubling capacity and everything runs great as long as Ray Tracing is not involved.

Technically, there is the whole memory ranks argument, where 64GB will be guaranteed dual rank while something like a cheap 2x16GB 3200 CL16 kit will probably be single rank, with dual rank usually giving a ~400MT/s performance improvement at the same timings. That said, the 3200 CL14 kit if bought in 2x16GB will be dual rank, and as I eluded to above, there just isn't that much memory scaling that happens with 10th gen and games to justify spending the money on these high end kits. The actual capacity will not help at all, the only advantage comes from the nuances in how the kits are built. 

 

30 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

Is there an alternative I didn't consider but would make more sense? (eg I dropped the quad channel idea because I would lose more than gain).

Some sort of cheap 3200 CL16 or 3600 CL18 kit is probably for the best. It just doesn't make sense to spend the $100+ that one of these kits usually demand when you get most of the performance for ~$40 with one of these lower end kits. 

 

Another option is to attempt to overclock your current memory kit. This is a fair bit of work so I understand not wanting to go down this route, but odds are your current kit is capable of 3200 CL16 or higher, and if you don't need 32GB this is a free thing to attempt.

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Thank you for the detailed answer.

I found something that might be the reason behind the 3600 CL16 being literally <50% in price.
I compared the cheapest CL16 / 3600MHz's CL Table to a 1,5x priced CL16 / 3600MHz and:
16-19-19-36
16-18-19-20
I understand that the CPU I have does not benefit much from minor differences, just mentioning it to be sure it's still minor.
I read something about a convoluted compatibility thing and how based on CPU the RAM might "not run in 1st gear without meddling"
(Also, just confirmed that the CL16 / 3600MHz kit is Dual Rank, all kits I mentioned initially are.)

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17 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

I read something about a convoluted compatibility thing and how based on CPU the RAM might "not run in 1st gear without meddling"

That's with 11th gen, 10th gen doesn't have gear modes and therefore isn't a factor. 

 

17 minutes ago, Singrimoire said:

16-18-19-20

I think this might be a typo. I'm not aware of any DDR4 kits that have different tRCD and tRP (2nd and 3rd timings) and tRAS is not physically able to be set below 28 on Intel CPUs.

 

 

Also be sure to quote so we get a notification. 

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6 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

That's with 11th gen, 10th gen doesn't have gear modes and therefore isn't a factor. 

Got it, thank you for clarifying

 

6 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I think this might be a typo. I'm not aware of any DDR4 kits that have different tRCD and tRP (2nd and 3rd timings) and tRAS is not physically able to be set below 28 on Intel CPUs.

This is also correct. I misinterpreted the manufacturer's display. They listed the primary CL for multiple Speeds, but it seemed like a possible table one after the other as I did not know when would the 2nd/3rd/4th numbers be relevant, so didn't catch the 4th number being impossibly low either. Thank you for pointing out.

 

I'll go with the Corsair 32GB KIT DDR4 3600MHz CL16 Vengeance LPX Black at the end of the day based on your advice.
Thank you once more.

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