MEMORY OC CLARIFICATION

[bww794]

I am sure this has been asked a million times, so I apologize in advance.

In terms of memory speed, when a mb says it supports DDR4 3600(O.C.)/ 3200(O.C.)/ 2800(O.C.)/ 2666/ 2400/ 2133 for a given CPU, does this mean:

A) you buy 2666, 2400 or 2133 and OC it, or
B) you buy the desired speed (we'll say 3200 for this example) and the mb runs it at 2666 until you tell it to run at 3200 in the BIOS?

Thanks!

 

[Alaric]

B), mostly. You set the memory to the XMP profile in the BIOS, if it doesn't do that automatically. 3200-3600 with a CAS latency of 14-16 is still the "sweet spot" for DDR4. DDR4 3000 C14 can usually be overclocked to 3200 with no issues, and 3466-3600 should be fairly easy to achieve. So if you're looking to save a few bucks that's one thing to consider.

 

[bww794]

B), mostly. You set the memory to the XMP profile in the BIOS, if it doesn't do that automatically. 3200-3600 with a CAS latency of 14-16 is still the "sweet spot" for DDR4. DDR4 3000 C14 can usually be overclocked to 3200 with no issues, and 3466-3600 should be fairly easy to achieve. So if you're looking to save a few bucks that's one thing to consider.

Ok, thanks! So the safest thing to do, all other considerations aside, would just be to buy a kit of 3600 Trident Z?

 

[Alaric]

Yup. Also the easiest.

 

[EarthDog]

TITLE IN CAPS?

That depends...... what system do you have? Please create a signature with your system specs so we can see it (and it will post everytime). If you are on a modern intel platform, that is nothing. AMD Ryzen/TRipper, that may take some work to reach those speeds.

3200 seems to be a sweet spot for AMD.

 

[Alaric]

I had a paragraph on the Intel vs. Ryzen/Infinity Fabric RAM speed thing and said "Nahhh. You're over thinking a simple question" and left it out. LOL

 

[bww794]

TITLE IN CAPS?

That depends...... what system do you have? Please create a signature with your system specs so we can see it (and it will post everytime). If you are on a modern intel platform, that is nothing. AMD Ryzen/TRipper, that may take some work to reach those speeds.

3200 seems to be a sweet spot for AMD.

Sorry, force of habit. I do the same thing with subject lines in work emails lol. Signature added. obviously looking to do something with the RAM situation, hence this thread.

 

[EarthDog]

I'm not entirely sure there is a huge issue. Is it worth it for a few % gain to go 32GB 3200 MHz? That's a lot of RAM and costly. If time is money though.........

 

[bww794]

I'm not entirely sure there is a huge issue. Is it worth it for a few % gain to go 32GB 3200 MHz? That's a lot of RAM and costly. If time is money though.........

also added storage to sig.

right now I'm running 2 sticks of 16gb in a board that supports quad channel... you really think I should just leave it be? or fix it? It's pretty damn fast as is but... could it be faster?

 

[Alaric]

If you aren't regularly using 14 GB, or even 16 GB, then more RAM won't offer any improvement. The benefits of quad channel over dual channel are minimal in most cases.

 

[EarthDog]

What do you do with the PC? Gaming it won't improve much, but for some memory bandwidth starved applications it can...just not many.

 

[bww794]

What do you do with the PC? Gaming it won't improve much, but for some memory bandwidth starved applications it can...just not many.

definitely don't think i need MORE memory, was just considering faster. But, alas, I think i will just leave it be and revisit it if memory prices drop or year 2023, which ever comes first lol. Thanks everyone!

 

[Woomack]

If you want faster then check your memory at more relaxed timings like CL18 or CL20. Some new Microns will let you set 3600 20-23-23 1.35V ... main timings don't look really good but because of Ryzen design it will still run fast. I'm not sure if it's worth for 24/7 work but there is a chance you can set higher clock than you expect. If you want to play then you can try. Again... I'm not sure if it's worth the time