Overclocking ram or not

[Hotkiker]

So there are some very exciting ( ) events happening in my life for example right now i am very close to building my gaming pc. I have selected all my parts and am on phase # 2 which is to order them of course after a little research done. Ok forget about that now i am a little confused. Ram is something that is really cheap as of right now and there are 2 types of ram that i am keeping an eye out for. 1333 ram and 1600 ram both will be 16 gb in total. So what i dont get is why should i buy 1600 when i can just overclock a pair of 1333 to 1600. Is that possible? Are there any risk? Does it matter? Does it decrease the life span of the ram?

OK thanks for reading, writing <----- ( wow i feel as i am back in school)

 

[amuffin]

Buy the 1600mhz, it's roughly the same price as the 1333mhz.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Overclocking RAM is almost pointless, and buying RAM that is faster for more money is a waste of money unless you do photo/video work or other RAM intensive tasks. If its the same price, and from a good company go for it. In gaming scenarios, the difference between RAM speeds and generations (but don't buy anything but DDR3 at this point :lol means very little unless you are an enthusiast.

I find OC'ing RAM a pain in the butt (much more so than the CPU/GPU) with little gain in most circumstances, even though I do a lot of photo and some video work. Just not worth the hassle as RAM is very finicky: feed it too much voltage and it goes up in smoke or lasts just outside your return policy or you feed it too little voltage and your OC is unstable and you try again with the risk of frying it.

People may say the same thing about the CPU, but I find it is much easier to fry the RAM than the CPU when OCing for your first time. RAM is very...touchy.

Anyways: if its the same price get it, if not don't worry about it and don't OC it unless you know what you are doing.

 

[abekl]

As others have said, overclocking ram is not worth the risk. Just buy the 1600 MHz ram from the get go.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

As others have said, overclocking ram is not worth the risk. Just buy the 1600 MHz ram from the get go.

Just to reinforce that: we are talking the difference with 1333 vs 1600=2-4FPS difference MAX. I think there was a toms on this some time ago... Anyone else remember the article?

 

[dudewitbow]

the speed will be tiny, the largest gap would be between 1066 to 1333 ram change. even so its pretty minute, 1333 to 1600 will do 1 or 2 frames most maybe? anything past 1600 has almost no influence on speed because its too minute.

this page explains performance a tiny bit

 

[Hotkiker]

OK so overclocking ram is a big NO NO- i understand

OK i guess i might pick up some 1600 ram in fact newegg has a sale going on does anyone recommend me this ram. But before going on the link just to let u know its 16 gb ram. I just wanna stay as future proof as possible( i know there's no such thing as future proof)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429

i will be mostly gaming on my PC. But i have also heard that extra ram can help ur graphic card ( sounds weird and i don't know how much that's true) can anyone confirm this of being either true or false.


That's all thanks you everybody for all the replies u have given they were quite helpful and i appreciate your help.

 

[jeffreymilner1]

The primary reason for buying RAM that is 1600 MHZ rather than getting ram of a lower speed and relying on OCing is because in order to OC to 1600 MHZ you will have to sacrifice some of the 1333's performance capability elsewhere. RAM is measured primarily by its speed and its timing. The timing of the RAM has to do with latency. Without going into any extreme details that you probably don't care about it, simply put, in order to OC 1333 MHZ ram to 1600 MHZ would require a higher timing more than likely. If you buy RAM that has speed of 1600 MHZ and a timing of X, the company guarantees that the timing will not have to be compromised in anyway in order to have the product run at the advertised speed. Increasing the RAM's timing will have a negative effect on latency

Also just another point. Some people will say this doesn't matter but I think it is always better to tread on the side of caution: try and download a copy of the manual for whatever motherboard you plan on acquiring. In the manual, there should be a section that outlines all of the qualified RAM vendors that are deemed compatible with that particular motherboard. It will also tell you if the RAM that you are trying to acquire is capable of being loaded into all, or just some of the DIMM slots on the motherboard. The majority of the time, it shouldn't make a difference what it says, but since there are usually so many different options on the list, to me it doesn't make any sense to go with something that the company does not suggest. For all you know, this could someone void the warranty, should you mention that you were using "incompatible RAM" while receiving any technical advice from the motherboard manufacturer.

As many other people have already stated, OCing is probably more painful than what it is usually worth in terms of performance. Unless you do things slowly and carefully, you can very easily fry your hardware. It can get very frustrating. However, when you do finally get the computer running smoothly, it will feel pretty awesome.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Haha I totally spaced timings when I was explaining the difficulty. Can't believe I forgot it.

 

[jeffreymilner1]

No biggie, that's why multiple responses to a question is usually better than one.

Bottom line is that it sounds like OCing RAM in this case is most definitely unnecessary, unless of course you simply want to try and push your system to its maximum potential or if you are just trying to learn something new.

 

[nikorr]

Small gain. Get the best RAM with the best price.

RAM speed comparison - We're looking at a less than 2% difference from the fastest to the slowest.

 

[nikorr]

1600MHz is the sweet spot @ 1.5V

 

[nikorr]

I recommend CORSAIR Vengeance 99% of the time, quality RAM and low profile with XMP profile.
And if u will get an aftermarket CPU cooler, low profile is the worry free remedy with perfect fit with any large cooler.
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198
Vengeance Low Profile heat spreaders have a reduced height of 1.03" (26.25mm). They're designed for high-performance systems with extra-large CPU coolers, small form factor system builds, or any other space-constrained application where standard Vengeance memory might not fit.