possible ram upgrade

[App4that]

I'm stuck on if I should upgrade my RAM to faster RAM or not. Right now I have 16g of Gskill RipjawsX running at 1600MHZ. I'm seeing that RAM speed can help in games like Fallout 4 and GTA V, I'm just not sure it's cost effective. I would be giving the RAM I have now to my wife for her build, and she's already using my 290 so the colors would match for her. But if I got the faster RAM it would pigeon hole me into getting a 4790k as an upgrade to my 4690k at some point verses holding out for a Skylake jump once the really good CPU for that platform release. Not sure at 1080p that would mean much though so the jump to a 4790k might be a smarter move and make the faster RAM a good upgrade. 

 

If I got the RAM it would be the first week or so in December, budget reasons.

[JebKerman]

well you could try OCing it  to a higher frequency, see how that goes, (more side-clocking it really as you'll need to increase CAS latency)

[Guest]

you could, but consider overclocking 

[AresKrieger]

Idk, I would try to give you feedback on how my 1866 ram (8 cas) stacks up in fallout for example, but none of our parts match up

[App4that]

well you could try OCing it  to a higher frequency, see how that goes, (more side-clocking it really as you'll need to increase CAS latency)

 

you could, but consider overclocking 

I thought about that. Not sure I want to risk it, not even sure of the risks.

 

 

Idk, I would try to give you feedback on how my 1866 ram (8 cas) stacks up in fallout for example, but none of our parts match up

From what I've seen the RAM speed helps everyone. So it would be more informative if you had slower RAM to try and see if your performance suffers. I've sen tests done using my exact set up only a Titan X in place of my 390 and the results were shocking. Digital Foundry got 50fps out of Rise. I honestly don't know how the Titan effects things though.

[MageTank]

I would just overclock. I bought the cheapest DDR4 kit at the time, which was $45. Panram Ninja-V DDR4 2133mhz CL13. I took it to 3200mhz CL15-15-15-30-CR1 by going from 1.2V to 1.37V. If i were you, i would try to see what you could do with that Ripjaws X kit, as those things are 1600 CL8 and only 1.5V. Kick the voltage up to 1.65, and you might even be able to hit 2400mhz CL9/10. Would be quite a nice overclock, and would really help your minimum frame rates out in gaming. Going from 2133mhz to 3200mhz (Technically, 2800mhz was the sweet spot for gaming performance) i was able to improve my minimum FPS in games by about 10% in the games i tested.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/486004-impact-of-memory-speed-on-gaming-performance/

 

That is where i tested my memory.

 

As far as risks goes, as long as you stay modest, you will be fine. 1.65V is perfectly safe for Haswell, and those high clocked kits come in 1.65V out of the box. Just be careful with VCCIO/SA voltages, as those are the ones that will cause damage if you get too crazy with them. There are plenty of guides all over the net that can help. I would say try to get a good clock speed, followed by good primaries. Then i would skip secondary timings, and work on tertiary timings. Once those are nice and tight, then you go back and finish up secondary timings.

 

Good luck on whichever option you choose.

[Guest]

I thought about that. Not sure I want to risk it, not even sure of the risks.

 

 

From what I've seen the RAM speed helps everyone. So it would be more informative if you had slower RAM to try and see if your performance suffers. I've sen tests done using my exact set up only a Titan X in place of my 390 and the results were shocking. Digital Foundry got 50fps out of Rise. I honestly don't know how the Titan effects things though.

not much risk in ocing to 2133MHz 

[App4that]

I would just overclock. I bought the cheapest DDR4 kit at the time, which was $45. Panram Ninja-V DDR4 2133mhz CL13. I took it to 3200mhz CL15-15-15-30-CR1 by going from 1.2V to 1.37V. If i were you, i would try to see what you could do with that Ripjaws X kit, as those things are 1600 CL8 and only 1.5V. Kick the voltage up to 1.65, and you might even be able to hit 2400mhz CL9/10. Would be quite a nice overclock, and would really help your minimum frame rates out in gaming. Going from 2133mhz to 3200mhz (Technically, 2800mhz was the sweet spot for gaming performance) i was able to improve my minimum FPS in games by about 10% in the games i tested.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/486004-impact-of-memory-speed-on-gaming-performance/

 

That is where i tested my memory.

 

As far as risks goes, as long as you stay modest, you will be fine. 1.65V is perfectly safe for Haswell, and those high clocked kits come in 1.65V out of the box. Just be careful with VCCIO/SA voltages, as those are the ones that will cause damage if you get too crazy with them. There are plenty of guides all over the net that can help. I would say try to get a good clock speed, followed by good primaries. Then i would skip secondary timings, and work on tertiary timings. Once those are nice and tight, then you go back and finish up secondary timings.

 

Good luck on whichever option you choose.

I'll give it a shot, thanks for the help!

[App4that]

Overclocking the ram in steps up to 2400MHz at 1.64v ended with a crash at 2400MHz but seems to be holding at 2200MHz. 15fps gain in the spot I found that gave fps dips. Worst dip is at 50fps with everything set to Ultra. GPU usage now hits 100%, and surprisingly CPU usage is the same. Will update if anything changes but wish me luck it doesn't.

[JebKerman]

Overclocking the ram in steps up to 2400MHz at 1.64v ended with a crash at 2400MHz but seems to be holding at 2200MHz. 15fps gain in the spot I found that gave fps dips. Worst dip is at 50fps with everything set to Ultra. GPU usage now hits 100%, and surprisingly CPU usage is the same. Will update if anything changes but wish me luck it doesn't.

that is an impressive gain, I wonder if Ram OCing will become somewhat commonplace.