Can memory bottleneck i7 CPU?

Retroys · Apr 27, 2017

I was wondering if my memory could be impacting the CPU or even the GPU performance of my PC? Thinking of both stuttering in games and also FPS in-game. Because if that is the case, I am thinking of upgrading to DDR4 3200Mhz ram.

My specs are:
My system is:
i7 4790K
MSI Armor GTX 1080
Z97 Gigabyte Motherboard
Corsair CX750 PSU
2 x Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB
1 x Toshiba P300 3TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA
24 GB Ram ( 2 x HyperX FURY Series 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz + 2 x G-Skill 4GB Ripjaws X DDR3 2133)

Sakkura · Apr 27, 2017

Yes, it can reduce performance.

The Core i7-4790K is not compatible with DDR4 memory though, and its performance wouldn't scale all the way to 3200 RAM anyway. DDR3-2133 is a pretty reasonable choice for that CPU.

Slumy__57 · Apr 27, 2017

Could be related to RAM, I don't think it would be your RAM under-performing though. I would try a couple of different things in your situation. First off, make sure that you are running your RAM in the correct channels, I am running a similar setup to yours (2x8gb+2x4gb of Hyperx and Viper RAM), and mine was underperforming until I realized I didn't have them running in dual-channel.

If you don't know how to do this, your RAM slots on your motherboard should be color-coded. Make sure similar RAM sticks are in similar colored slots. (HyperX FURY series in the black slots, G-Skill Ripjaws in the blue slots or whatever color the other ones are.) This will definitely help your performance if you haven't done it already.

If this doesn't solve it, my guess would be that your mobo doesn't like the fact that you're mixing RAM modules and using different speeds, so I would try removing the Ripjaws RAM from the equation, and see if that helps at all. Sometimes a motherboard won't like mixing certain RAM sets, and can either under-perform, or not work at all.

You can't upgrade to DDR4 on your current motherboard, btw. You would have to go Skylake, Kabylake, or Ryzen to get DDR4 support. Honestly though, you shouldn't need to upgrade your ram, DDR3 is plenty fast for your setup.

Retroys · Apr 28, 2017

Sakkura :

Thank you! I was a bit fast on the trigger I realised, I should have looked that bit up

I read somewhere some time ago that the CPU cannot properly utilise the faster rams when they are above 1600mhz, do you know anything about that? Is that just rubbish?

Retroys · Apr 28, 2017

Slumy__57 :

Could be related to RAM, I don't think it would be your RAM under-performing though. I would try a couple of different things in your situation. First off, make sure that you are running your RAM in the correct channels, I am running a similar setup to yours (2x8gb+2x4gb of Hyperx and Viper RAM), and mine was underperforming until I realized I didn't have them running in dual-channel.

If you don't know how to do this, your RAM slots on your motherboard should be color-coded. Make sure similar RAM sticks are in similar colored slots. (HyperX FURY series in the black slots, G-Skill Ripjaws in the blue slots or whatever color the other ones are.) This will definitely help your performance if you haven't done it already.

If this doesn't solve it, my guess would be that your mobo doesn't like the fact that you're mixing RAM modules and using different speeds, so I would try removing the Ripjaws RAM from the equation, and see if that helps at all. Sometimes a motherboard won't like mixing certain RAM sets, and can either under-perform, or not work at all.

You can't upgrade to DDR4 on your current motherboard, btw. You would have to go Skylake, Kabylake, or Ryzen to get DDR4 support. Honestly though, you shouldn't need to upgrade your ram, DDR3 is plenty fast for your setup.

Thank you! They were dual channel, but switching the two types or ram around actually improved the system performance significantly. I used to get choppy gameplay before in CSGO, and that is now resolved. I have no idea how that could impact it, but it seems it did.

Sakkura · Apr 28, 2017

Retroys :

It's rubbish.

If you look at Intel's product page, it does say it officially only supports up to DDR3-1600, but that's just what Intel guarantees will work. In practice, it works fine with much faster memory. The performance benefits do level off eventually, but 2133 is worth it with your CPU.

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