Question about Memory CL

[apie172]

I am building a gaming pc and I am trying to decide on Memory (as for MoBo I am between gigabyte x58 sabertooth, asus x58 sabertooth and the evga sli3). For memory, I am wondering is there a noticeable difference between CL7 and CL9 timing? I am looking at two G Skill 6GB kits.

G Skill 6GB (3x2Gb) 1600 PC3 12800 CL9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225


G Skill 6GB (3x2Gb) 1600 PC3 12800 CL7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-231-335&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

There is a price difference of $40, but I do not mind paying the extra $40 if it is worth it. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Antikythera013]

I've always liked tight timing, lower the better imo. There are quite a few articles on the differences,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency#Effect_on_memory_access_speed

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tight-timings-high-clock-frequencies,1236.html

I would personally spend the extra 40$ on tighter RAM times, again that's just my opinion. You can use the articles I linked to come up with your own if you want.

 

[Ubrales]

^1 Antikythera013

 

[Zeh]

Can you spend those 40$ elsewhere and get more performance? Probably.
It's a personal choice. By spending 40$ extra on cpu or gpu, you'll probably get a better system overall.

The difference is smaller when you already have a powerfull cpu+gpu combo, so if you're goind i7 2600k + high end MB + high-end multi gpu (say, 2x6950 or 2x570), going for a CL7 just might be worth it.

Tighter CAS latency seems to help specially on minimum framerates (not a whole lot, but helps!), so if it's a major concern of yours, you should consider it dearly.

I myself, am going with 2500k + 2x6850 + 2x4gb ddr3 1600 cl9, and if i was to spend another 40$ i'd spend switching to double 6870s (even tho i'd have to pay a bit more than 40$ for that).