Question about RAM latency !!!

Game890

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Don't know much about ram so I'm asking which one is better and gonna give me better FPS in game ?

3000bus-16-18-18-38-2N VS 2400bus-15-15-15-35-2N
 
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Max1s

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May 24, 2011
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I remember spending loads of time researching this stuff when I built my PC. I ended up going with 2x2GB of DDR3 1600mhz CL6 timings, but looking back I should have just got 2x4GB of regular RAM. As mentioned above, it really won't make much of a difference at all, the main importance is how much of it you have.
 

Memento

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I am no expert, but the equation I have learned from a few hours of research is a little different, you should be taking the MHZ and dividing it by two, then dividing the CAS by that number, then times 1000 to get the true latency in Nanoseconds.

3000 divided by 2 = 1500
18/1500 times 1000 = 12ns

15/1200 x 1000 = 12.5ns

Same results but the resulting numbers are in nanoseconds. (According to this article: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-performance-speed-latency)

 
@Memento: you can do the math using the more accurate, you can also do the math using rougher method.
The fastest method, which you can do in your head without much thinking, is simply to divide the frequency with latency.
The bigger the result, the faster the RAM.
Which in the end, using the more accurate calculation, the lower the ns, the faster it will be.

That is a simplified logic, I will use command as term to make it easier:
Frequency, ticks/second. Latency, ticks/command:
(ticks/second)/(ticks/command)=command/second
More command per seconds means it is faster.
I know already that this is afr simplified logic with quite lots of errors but it works for rough estimation.
I did this to make it easier for me to remember.
It is a lot easier that using:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency
or
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-performance-speed-latency
 

Memento

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That's interesting, thanks for the explanation! I wish I knew just how accurate the method I used was, as when I employed it to check the speed if the new G. Skill tridentZ RGB ram, I found that the 3400mhz 14cl was the fastest, and yet it was over $150 cheaper than the highest mhz ram. Probably just for bragging rights.



 




While I appreciate that you are both trying to be helpful, you're both completely wrong.

Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) timings are measured in clock cycles. DDR SDRAM transfers data twice per clock cycle, once on the rising edge of the clock, and once on the falling edge of the clock.

DDR3 and DDR4 both use burst lengths of eight, which means that every read command results in eight words being transferred from the selected SDRAM rank to the memory controller, and that every write command results in eight words being transferred from the memory controller to the selected SDRAM rank.

CAS latency, or Column Address Strobe latency, is more appropriately described as read-to-data-ready delay. It's the amount of time, measured in clock cycles, between a read command being latched on the Command Bus, and the first word of the ensuing burst being strobed onto the IO bus. Subsequent words are strobed every half cycle with the eighth word being strobed 3.5 cycles after the first word has been strobed; it follows logically that the first word of the next read command will be strobed 4 cycles after the first word of the referenced read command. This important timing, called Tburst, is a constant of 4 cycles for DDR3 and DDR4, and a constant of 2 cycles for DDR2.

DDR4-2400 has a reference clock of 1,200Mhz and DDR4-3000 has a reference clock of 1,500Mhz.

The clock period for DDR4-2400 is 1/(1.2E9) = 833 picoseconds

The clock period for DDR4-3000 is 1(1.5E9) = 666 picoseconds.

Time to first word for DDR4-2400 CAS 15
15 * 833 ps = 12.5 ns

Time to first word for DDR4-3000 CAS 18
18 * 666 ps = 12 ns

Time to eighth word for DDR4-2400 CAS 15
(15 * 833 ps) + (3.5 * 833 ps) = 15.41 ns

Time to eighth word for DDR4-3000 CAS 18
(18 * 666 ps) + (3.5 * 666 ps) = 14.3 ns

Time to sixteenth word for DDR4-2400 CAS 15
(15 * 833 ps) + (7.5 * 833 ps) = 18.75 ns

Time to sixteenth word for DDR4-3000 CAS 18
(18 * 666 ps) + (7.5 * 666 ps) = 17 ns

DDR4-3000 CAS 18 not only has 25% more bus bandwidth, but it gets data to and from the ranks noticeably quicker, moreso when the data is pipelined.

At the end of the day, memory controllers are tasked with keeping the SDRAM IO busses busy. As long as they're kept busy, CAS is of very little importance.
 
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