DDR4 memory frecuency for gaming

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
E

Exeonx

Honorable
Jul 5, 2015
220
4
10,715
I'm currently putting the pieces together doing research and whatnot to get the right set of components for my PC, but a recent question during a review of the 6700K popped up, how important is the frecuency for RAM memory when it comes to only gaming and preformance.

To be honest here I have no clue if 2133Mhz vs say 3000Mhz makes any real difference in graphic-heavy titles like the Witcher 3 as far as framerate goes.

So the main question is, how important is it, and what's the best price-quality you can get?(honestly paying an extra 100€ for 1-2 frames isn't what I'm looking for)
 
Solution
Tradesman1
Regardless, more DRAM and faster DRAM can still improve gaming up to 10% or better and that will grow, the more DRAM can 'hold' repetitive data longer and the higher data rates feed it to the GPU faster to refresh the VRAM....game makers are continually utilyzing DRAM more and more in their games
Sort by date Sort by votes
MarkW

MarkW

Judicious
Dec 7, 2009
6,308
0
32,960
DDR4 is still a new technology to most of us. It looks a lot like DDR3, but the speeds and capacities can be higher than DDR3. Right now, I think 2133 or even 2400 is about where the sweet spot is. There will always be companies trying to sell faster memory, but most of the time, the games cannot make use of it.

With a few rare exceptions, the I7-6700K isn't even being sold yet. It should be everywhere in a week or so though. After that, it shouldn't be long before we find out more about which speed memory and everything is best.

One last point. Memory also has a latency number. Normally, its either listed as a CL or C number. As is 2133 CL11 or 2133 C11. If the speeds are identical, and one set has a lower CL than the other, the one with the lower CL is faster. When speeds are different, 2133 CL11 vs 2400 CL11, the 2400 is faster. But lets say the comparison is 2133 CL11 vs 2400 CL14, in this case because the CL went up by 3 over the 2133 CL, the 2133 should actually be the faster memory. If instead the CL had gone up by only 2, they would be almost identical in performance. So factor in the speed, the CL, and the price to get yourself the best deal on memory.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MarkW

MarkW

Judicious
Dec 7, 2009
6,308
0
32,960


But you are using DDR3, on a CPU that is not a Skylake CPU on a Z170 motherboard... Big difference. DDR4 is designed to be faster with more capacity per memory stick.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

martinch

Distinguished
Mar 21, 2014
837
26
19,640
Generally, RAM speed is irrelevant for the performance of graphics in games, as textures, etc, should be stored in the memory on the GPU. Where memory speed (frequency & timings) comes in is more on memory-sensitive productivity tasks (compression, image editing, etc).

The general rule of thumb is just get the right amount, and maybe spend slightly more of a faster (MHz) kit, but it's generally not worth spending much extra - 2133MHz is only marginally cheaper than 2400MHz and 2666MHz, so I'd look at those two - 2800Mhz and up starts getting more expensive.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

Exeonx

Honorable
Jul 5, 2015
220
4
10,715


This part is some fairly usefull information.
See the main reason I made this post is because I started comparing the price of DDR4 Corsair RAM on a local store.

The price differences and latencies as well as frecuencies change, to sum it up:

Corsair 16GB DDR4-2133-CL13 Kit @ 128€
Corsair 16 GB DDR4-2400-CL14 Kit @ 133€
Corsair 16 GB DDR4-2666-CL16 Kit @ 153€

So basically on each of them both frecuencies as well as Latencies and price increase.
I also have no clue what the sweet spot it for latency on DDR4 RAM, then again as you mentioned we may need to see Testing on it.

As far as 6700K availability in EU they are pretty widely available already, both online and locally, dunno why for once US seems behind for some reason, but indeed a couple of weeks should do it, which is when I'll upgrade my CPU/Mobo/RAM hence this thread and info hoarding on everything
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
Regardless, more DRAM and faster DRAM can still improve gaming up to 10% or better and that will grow, the more DRAM can 'hold' repetitive data longer and the higher data rates feed it to the GPU faster to refresh the VRAM....game makers are continually utilyzing DRAM more and more in their games
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
MarkW

MarkW

Judicious
Dec 7, 2009
6,308
0
32,960
Between these two, the 2400 would perform just a tiny bit faster in synthetic benchmarks? But in games, you probably would not be able to tell the difference. And I am certain that someone will show up and say "Game xycxzra plays 2% faster with the 2400 kit". So I hedge my bet and say "probably".

Corsair 16GB DDR4-2133-CL13 Kit @ 128€
Corsair 16GB DDR4-2400-CL14 Kit @ 133€
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom