how much mhz speed of ram do i really need for gaming?

[Mr Fister]

hi guys im buying a new gaming rig, so far my specs are: i7 8700k, asus rog strix z390-f, asus rtx 2080.

now i dont really know how much memory should i take, 16 of how much memory speed? 2666? 2400? do i need to go overkill and go 3000 and above? aslo should i consider CL as a factor for choosing?

[Morgan MLGman]

I'd recommend going 16GB capacity and at least 2666MHz in terms of speed. This should be optimal. I wouldn't pay for more than 3000MHz, especially that you can overclock the memory and there's little-to-no benefit with faster memory on Coffee Lake.

[Spotty]

If you're going with an 8700k and RTX2080, I see no reason to cheap out when it comes to memory. Get 2x8GB (16GB) 3000MHz memory.

[Mr Fister]

Just now, Morgan MLGman said:

I'd recommend going 16GB capacity and at least 2666MHz in terms of speed. This should be optimal. I wouldn't pay for more than 3000MHz, especially that you can overclock the memory and there's little-to-no benefit with faster memory on Coffee Lake.

should i consider Cas Latency as factor here?

[Spotty]

2 minutes ago, Mr Fister said:

should i consider Cas Latency as factor here?

Decent kits will be 15 for 3000MHz, but it won't matter much if you go with one that has 16 CAS latency.

Pretty much any kit off this list should be fine.
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#s=403000&Z=16384002&L=100,150&sort=price&page=1

[WereCat]

You are limited to 2666MHz with i7 8700. You would need 8700k to be able to use higher speed RAM.

[Mr Fister]

8 minutes ago, WereCat said:

You are limited to 2666MHz with i7 8700. You would need 8700k to be able to use higher speed RAM.

im using the i7 8700k

 

19 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Decent kits will be 15 for 3000MHz, but it won't matter much if you go with one that has 16 CAS latency.

Pretty much any kit off this list should be fine.
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#s=403000&Z=16384002&L=100,150&sort=price&page=1

is it matter if i buy hyperx or corsair? and 2666mhz is cheaper for me so i think il go with that

[WereCat]

4 minutes ago, Mr Fister said:

im using the i7 8700k

 

Well, if you are overclocking then something like 3000MHz to 3200MHz would be nice to have but above 3200MHz you are starting to hit diminishing returns where you wont really be able to see the differencess outside of benchmarks.

Obviously, the lower the CL, the better as well. 3200MHz CL14 kits are awesome if you can afford it but its not really necessary.

[Jurrunio]

Having dual channel memory on Coffee Lake (more than 1 stick) is more important than frequency/timings imo.

 

13 minutes ago, WereCat said:

You are limited to 2666MHz with i7 8700. You would need 8700k to be able to use higher speed RAM.

actually memory oc depends on the motherboard only, not the CPU. You can run 4266MHz memory on 8700 and waste money that way

[Mr Fister]

2 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Well, if you are overclocking then something like 3000MHz to 3200MHz would be nice to have but above 3200MHz you are starting to hit diminishing returns where you wont really be able to see the differencess outside of benchmarks.

Obviously, the lower the CL, the better as well. 3200MHz CL14 kits are awesome if you can afford it but its not really necessary.

i wont go over 3000 and CL 14 is to expensive for small performance boost 2666 and CL 15/16 is the sweet spot, plus i can OC it

 

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Having dual channel memory on Coffee Lake (more than 1 stick) is more important than frequency/timings imo.

 

actually memory oc depends on the motherboard only, not the CPU. You can run 4266MHz memory on 8700 and waste money that way

yes im going 8x2 of 16gb

[WereCat]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

Having dual channel memory on Coffee Lake (more than 1 stick) is more important than frequency/timings imo.

 

yes

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

actually memory oc depends on the motherboard only, not the CPU. You can run 4266MHz memory on 8700 and waste money that way

I have never tested this for myself and I have seen so many people claiming otherwise that I dont know anymore... but anyway, if you are runing i7 8700 then you shouldnt really bother with anything faster than 2666MHz RAM anyway. And you should not have an expensive motherboard that can run it because you are obviously on a "lower" budget.

[Mr Fister]

guys i need help choosing: should i take 2400 CL14 or 2666 CL16 for the same price the both of them

[Mr Fister]

2 hours ago, WereCat said:

yes

I have never tested this for myself and I have seen so many people claiming otherwise that I dont know anymore... but anyway, if you are runing i7 8700 then you shouldnt really bother with anything faster than 2666MHz RAM anyway. And you should not have an expensive motherboard that can run it because you are obviously on a "lower" budget.

 

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Having dual channel memory on Coffee Lake (more than 1 stick) is more important than frequency/timings imo.

 

actually memory oc depends on the motherboard only, not the CPU. You can run 4266MHz memory on 8700 and waste money that way

 

2 hours ago, WereCat said:

Well, if you are overclocking then something like 3000MHz to 3200MHz would be nice to have but above 3200MHz you are starting to hit diminishing returns where you wont really be able to see the differencess outside of benchmarks.

Obviously, the lower the CL, the better as well. 3200MHz CL14 kits are awesome if you can afford it but its not really necessary.

guys i need help choosing: should i take 2400 CL14 or 2666 CL16 for the same price the both of them

[Jurrunio]

5 minutes ago, Mr Fister said:

 

 

guys i need help choosing: should i take 2400 CL14 or 2666 CL16 for the same price the both of them

2400 CL14

[Mr Fister]

7 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

2400 CL14

cool

[xg32]

8 hours ago, Mr Fister said:

 

 

.

pairing 2400 or 2666 with a 8700k is such a tragedy, unless you simply don't overclock and don't care, even on intel a bump from 2400 to 3600 is about a 15% boost to the cpu, unless you cheaped out on literally everything else to aim for a budget build.

 

That said if you are only gaming on 60hz, then it doesn't matter. As your build would do perfectly fine on 4k/60