DDR3-1600 Memory Overclocking

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Graham Seyffert

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Apr 29, 2013
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With the release of Haswell, the MC has been posting some way impressive memory clocks. However, memory speeds have reportedly been effecting the ability to overclock the processor. What I'm wondering is, should I buy 1600 MHz RAM with tight timings, and try to overclock it? Or spend a little extra for 1866/2133/2400 MHz RAM? Also, I have little to no experience overclocking memory, and if I DO buy 1600 MHz RAM, what kind of overclocking can I expect with that? I'm planning on buying G.Skill Ripjaws or Ares to match my color scheme.
 
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ihsaan96

ihsaan96

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Dec 1, 2012
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Just spend that extra bit of money and get 1866Mhz ram...or 2133Mhz max. So you have that comfort of everything working fine when you buy it rather than trying it yourself and breaking it haha
 
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HEXiT

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Mar 13, 2011
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you wont see any real world improvements 1s you get to the max speed the cpu handles natively.
ivy and sandy and haswell all handle ddr3 1600 natively (nativley in that its the ram speed the cpu can handle regardless of how fast the ram spec for the motherboard is, they are different.). 1s you go over the native speed you will see zero performance gains as far as cpu performance goes. i dont think it has any impact on the onboard gpu either.
in reality the only place you will see any bump in numbers is with synthetic benches. you will get a lot more bandwidth but like i say the cpu cant use it. it really is a con that has been perpetuated by all the ram manufacturers as far as ram speeds = more performance.

when a cpu can handle 3200mhz ram natively then it will have a use but until then its sales marketing.
anyhoo.
1s your at the max speed your cpu can handle but you have a lot of headroom on your ram. then drop the latency timings instead of cranking the ram speed up. this will give a performance bump. it may only be 2-3% but at least its a real bump and not a perceived 1.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
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As far as DRAM goes, there is no set answer as to what you might be able to do on an OC, it all depends on the set you have (in hand) - not all sets will OC equally. Your CPU will also play in, i.e. you basically need a K model CPU to run the higher freqs, and then it still depends, i.e. some 3570Ks can carry 32GB of 2400 others can't and then again have seen a few 3770Ks that can't carry the 32GB/2400.
I generally suggest on deciding how much DRAM you want (I'd say a min of 8GB), then decide on a budget and then compare and select a set that has the best freq to CL combo. I.E. I generally look for 2600/CL11 - 2400/CL10 - 2133/CL9 - 1866/CL8 and could throw in 1600/CL7. So if say you find a 2133/9 set and a 2400/9 set at the same price the 2400 set is definitely the better buy and will provide a bigger difference, opposed to a 2133/9 and a 2400/9.

In general with most any decent sticks the above scale is what you can see as far as OCing or even underclocking for overall performance most any 1866/8 set can OC to 2133/9 or underclock to 1600/7 - the biggest thing with the freq is it will provide for more theoretical bandwidth (which is just that - theoretical - you won't maximize bandwidth, so ideally you want the best freq to CL you can get
 
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