what does effective memory clock mean?

[Lilninjsways]

I'm curious.... I'm looking at two cards one has a 6000 MHz boost.... which sounds ALOT better.... is that tru how big is the boost actually?

[79wjd]

No GPU has a 6000mhz memory boost. 

 

Most GDDR5 runs at 6000-8000mhz (7000-8000 on more recent cards). GDDR5 is quad pumped, so GDDR5 at 8000mhz technically runs at 2000mhz. 

[Godlygamer23]

Effective memory clock speeds in this case refer to the idea that the device is able to achieve more than one data transfers per cycle. 

 

So in the case of DDR(the technology), you might see memory modules advertised as "3200" with no unit attached. This is because they're advertising the effective frequency. DDR is double-pumped which means that for every clock cycle, it is able to achieve two data transfers. GDDR is quad-pumped so it will achieve four data transfers per cycle. To put that into perspective, you can use the equation xy=z where x is the base frequency, y is the number of "pumps", and z would be the final product. Or you can use Z/Y=X which will give the actual frequency.

 

If you have memory modules advertised as 3200 like above, you will take 3200, and divide it by 2(double-pumped), which will give you 1600MHz. That is the actual frequency.

[Lilninjsways]

1 hour ago, djdwosk97 said:

No GPU has a 6000mhz memory boost. 

 

Most GDDR5 runs at 6000-8000mhz (7000-8000 on more recent cards). GDDR5 is quad pumped, so GDDR5 at 8000mhz technically runs at 2000mhz. 

well between a rx 560 and a gtx 1050 ti theres a huge difference

Effective Memory Clock	rx 560   1750 MHz (7.0 Gbps)	gtx 1050 ti                7010 MHz

[79wjd]

1 hour ago, Lilninjsways said:

well between a rx 560 and a gtx 1050 ti theres a huge difference

Effective Memory Clock	rx 560   1750 MHz (7.0 Gbps)	gtx 1050 ti                7010 MHz

They're both the same 7ghz/7gbps. One of them is just listing the actual rate that the memory runs at along with the effective rate and the other just lists the effective rate. 7000mhz/Gbps gddr5 runs at 7000/4=1750mhz/Gbps. 

[Glenwing]

3 hours ago, Lilninjsways said:

well between a rx 560 and a gtx 1050 ti theres a huge difference

Effective Memory Clock	rx 560   1750 MHz (7.0 Gbps)	gtx 1050 ti                7010 MHz

They are the same, the "7.0 Gbps" in parentheses is the effective memory clock, it is the same as the 7000 MHz (7 GHz or "7 Gbps") on the 1050 Ti. They just also list the actual memory clock (1750 MHz) alongside it on the AMD card. The GTX 1050 Ti's actual memory clock is also 1750 MHz, they just don't list it.

[typographie]

6 hours ago, Lilninjsways said:

I'm curious.... I'm looking at two cards one has a 6000 MHz boost.... which sounds ALOT better.... is that tru how big is the boost actually?

If you're weighing two different products to decide which one to buy, you don't want to base that decision on something like this. This is a really abstract way to look at performance. Stuff like clock frequencies, shader counts, memory bandwidth, and so forth only matter as they relate to performance in a real-world application. The whole point of all of this is the framerate and frame consistency they result in you getting in the games you care about. So when possible, that's what you should look for.

 

If you're just asking this for your own curiosity and/or education, that's cool. The others have already given very good answers from that perspective.