CAS Latency

[Rokzul]

Hello,

 

I am looking into some different RAM's at the moment and I am focusing in on some Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer that I think I will end up going with. My first question is what is the important of low CAS latency? I have seen Linus' video about RAM and RAM speeds and he used different RAM's with higher and lower latency's and  speeds and the ones with the lower latency's did relatively better. The normal I have seen on newegg is around CAS Latency 9 but the one I want to get is and 8 so what difference will it make with performance and overall will it have any effect on anything I'm doing?

 

My other question is unrelated to CAS latency. I have found the memory I think I will go with but the triple channel version is not in the led configuration I would like. I have found single sticks of it that seem to be the same just not in triple channel packs and I wanted to know whether it was safe to buy 3 single RAM sticks or look for another RAM set altogether. Link's below

 

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148514

this is the link to the single stick

 

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148523

this is the link to the triple channel set *the one I want to avoid

 

the only difference is the LED's ... I would like the Blue ones

 

Thanks!

 

-Nick

 

[Jaybird]

if you dont know, it probably will not be applicable to you. 

[Mao_Zedong]

You can get singles sticks and they will probably work, but aren't guarantied. A lower CAS is slightly better fyi.

[Rokzul]

bump

[TheMcSame]

Unless you're doing memory intensive stuff then it doesn't matter. In the real world, RAM speeds and latency aren't going to make a huge difference unless you're using onboard graphics with an APU. Besides, you're usually looking at a similar sort of performance anyway for normal, everyday tasks.

[Brawhammer]

Seriously just pick up your bog standard Corsair, HyperX OR what ever brand you want. They all pretty much do the same thing.

[runit3]

Are you on X58? There would be no point in the triple channel unless you have a chipset that supports it...you would just be running 2 in dual channel and 1 in single.

[Rokzul]

Are you on X58? There would be no point in the triple channel unless you have a chipset that supports it...you would just be running 2 in dual channel and 1 in single.

Yes, I am using a sabertooth x58 which supports triple channel 

[runit3]

Yes, I am using a sabertooth x58 which supports triple channel 

In theory either Crucial kit should support triple channel, although Crucial obviously designed the triple channel kit to function together that way. Worst case you buy 3 of the single sticks, they don't work, return them and get the triple channel kit.

 

With regards to CL8 vs CL9 you're not going to see any real world difference @1600MHz. Maybe 1 or 2 points in Cinebench, but you can always try tightening down the timings on the CL9 kit.

 

Neither Crucial kit is on ASUS's QVL for the X58 Sabertooth, but I've only ran into a couple cases where non-QVL memory on ASUS boards didn't work, and those were with high frequency kits (2400MHz).