Is 3000mhz DDR4 too much for my build?

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dibSilverBack

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
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I5-6500 skylake
MSI Z170a PC mate
4x4gb 3000mhz corsair vengeance ddr4
MSI GTX 970 gaming 4gb
EVGA 500w white 80+
1tb hard drive

So I currently have 4x4gb 3000mhz ddr4 installed. My question is, Is this unnecessary? Could I achieve same performance with say 2666mhz? I'm having to go into bios and enable XMP and set timings and voltage because my board has a stock speed of 2133mhz that it runs memory at unless you manually set the timings. Also I'm curious if running 2x8gb might be better? Is there any benefit running two eights over four fours?

Thanks guys, any advice is much apreciated. I'm a very new gamer and this is my first build and fort PC. Take it easy on me haha
 
Solution
bailojustin
I would use 2333.

Higher ram clocks are not that great, Higher ram clocks lead to wasted energy, more heat, and higher looser timings.

You can get the same performance from a performance set of 2333 ddr4 ment for skylake, and a speed that will work well with your SSP and MCP

and much tighter timings, which should perform better with faster m.2 drives or NVME drives.
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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Dec 7, 2014
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I would use 2333.

Higher ram clocks are not that great, Higher ram clocks lead to wasted energy, more heat, and higher looser timings.

You can get the same performance from a performance set of 2333 ddr4 ment for skylake, and a speed that will work well with your SSP and MCP

and much tighter timings, which should perform better with faster m.2 drives or NVME drives.
 
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Solution
Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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Dec 22, 2014
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There is no performance advantage to running 4 DIMMS on a Skylake board, it only works in dual channel.

3000mhz is essentially pushing the edge of what a locked CPU can handle. If it runs stable its fine, you're not gonna break anything. Performance wise you will not really notice a difference except in benchmarks.

Me personally I would run 2x8gb, and if you feel compelled to run 3000mhz sure (and it doesn't cost much more if anything). But at least with only 2 dimms it leaves 2 slots open in case you want to add more later.

As an aside you have a real nice setup on a cheapo PSU. If you want to cut a bit out, you should, and replace that PSU with something better (assuming you can return it).
 
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dibSilverBack

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Aug 29, 2016
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Yeah my PSU is going to go. I got it free but it's being replaced soon with a better one.

If I were to get, say, 2666mhz ram, should I be ok enabling XMP and setting the proper timings and uping voltage so that it actually runs at 2666mhz? Because the motherboard runs all ram at 2133mhz by default. So is it safe for my board to do that?
 
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Rogue Leader

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Yes definitely. Just enabling XMP should get the memory stable without needing to fool with any other settings.
 
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Jay_67

Jay_67

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Apr 27, 2016
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Hi I am also thinking about getting the corsair vengeance 3000mhz but with a 6600k, there is evidence higher ram frequency scales very well with CPU intensive games.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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First there is no 2333 DRAM there is 2133 and 2400. If all you do is single tasking then no real need for higher end DRAM. If you multi-task at all and even gaming you'll see nice increases in performance, more and more games are utilizing DRAM better, i.e. Fallout 4 loves faster DRAM. The timings thing is a myth - there are numerous 3000-3200 sets now available with a CL of 14 which is better than the bulk of 2133 sets that come in at CL15
 
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dibSilverBack

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Aug 29, 2016
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Ok, well I think I'm going to exchange the 3000mhz 4x4gb for 2666mhz 2x8gb. Seems like most of you recommend frequencies lower than 3000mhz. I feel like I may of been having stability issues because of my weak PSU. I just ordered a EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2. So do you guys think I should just keep the 3000mhz and see how stable it runs with a better PSU? Or is it smarter to go with lower frequency regardless of PSU?
 
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scuzzycard

scuzzycard

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Feb 26, 2016
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The most scientific way solve any problem is to change one variable at a time, so yes, try it with new PSU first. Granted, I think your memory is the more likely problem, but since you have an opportunity to completely rule out the PSU, you should rule out the PSU first.
 
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