RAM, Amount vs. MHz

[Coal Dust XIII]

So i was looking at AMD RAM. then I had to ask. is there any difference between the amount of RAM or the MHz level of RAM. for example: 16GB of 2133MHz RAM all dim slots filled (4 x 4GB). vs. 32GB of 1333MHz RAM all dim slots filled (4 x 8GB). And I know many people will be asking why have that much RAM or what are you going to use it mostly on? I just want to know, that's all. full load.

[79wjd]

So i was looking at AMD RAM. then I had to ask. is there any difference between the amount of RAM or the MHz level of RAM. for example: 16GB of 2133MHz RAM all dim slots filled (4 x 4GB). vs. 32GB of 1333MHz RAM all dim slots filled (4 x 8GB). And I know many people will be asking why have that much RAM or what are you going to use it mostly on? I just want to know, that's all. full load.

32gb is much better. 

[AlwaysFSX]

More ram means you can store more shit on it. So if you have more, even though it's slightly slower, it doesn't need to switch to the hdd.

[Rheinwasser]

32gb is much better. 

what? no.

depends on the workload.

2133 will be better, unless you really need 32gb.

[SpecTre12345]

32gb is much better. 

 

I hope you're joking. 

[79wjd]

what? no.

depends on the workload.

2133 will be better, unless you really need 32gb.

I hope you're joking. 

The fact that the op knows people are going to ask why he has so much ram, indicates he understands that 8gb is more than enough for most applications. As such, its safe to assume he actually needs a lot of ram. In which case, 32gb is no question better than 16gb.

[Rheinwasser]

The fact that the op knows people are going to ask why he has so much ram, indicates he understands that 8gb is more than enough for most applications. As such, its safe to assume he actually needs a lot of ram. In which case, 32gb is no question better than 16gb.

why not ask op why he needs that much ram?

[Lioncat55]

At this point I would not look for any thing less then 1600. The hit you take at 1333 over 1600 is just not worth it. As a general rule 1866 is going to be the best mid point for speed. The amount of RAM you need will depend on your usage. I would also not look at any thing less than 8GB for general rule. For Photo, Video and 3D rendering you will want more ram.

 

You can find a great read here on how the speed of RAM effects performance under different workloads.

[Briggsy]

go for as fast as you can imo. latency is a non-issue really, and unless you want tighter timings or lower voltages, cheaper 2400Mhz ram will cost the same as 1333.

 

even though its evident that increased ram frequency is often offset by increased latency, it begs the question, why not just buy faster ram if it costs the same?

(I am not at all referring to high frequency, low timing, low voltage stuff at all in this post).

[Jey R.]

That's the whole point here... If you are going to have a lot of things active on your computer with incredible amount of workload being active and assuming you have a good cpu to handle all those task as well. Then I would go with 32gb. But even 32gb is a lot. It is More likely welcomed for servers and enterprise work fields.

However if you are a regular consumer and that system it's going to be your daily everyday use with gaming mild editing and whatnot then the faster ram will be better. It all depends really.

I would go by this order by determine what I would be doing.

1. How much ram I would need ( amount of programs and workload I would be doing at MOST, it's nice to leave at least 20% ram free so it doesn't slow down )

2. The speed of ram, basically anything about 16000mhz would be good.

3. And then try to find a nice combination of timings with at least 16000mhz being the lowest frequency.

4. Reasonable price

5. Good branding with good guaranteed warranties.

This for me would be order of priorities. Of course if you can afford, you can just get whatever you like. But as rational user it's good to make sense on what we buy.