Does RAM with CAS 9 or lower exist in DDR3 1600 *natively?*

Zangmonkey

Zangmonkey

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I see a lot of lower cas ram @1600, but it all appears to be 1333 memory which is clocked at 1600.

Does any RAM exist, in voltage spec (1.5v or lower) which is natively 1600 *and* has cas 9 or lower?
 
This model from Corsair is what I use and runs at 1600 MHz @ 1.5V. The JEDEC profile is always going to run at 1333 MHz on DDR3 modules from my understanding, though, so you'll have to set the speed manually if the XMP profile is out of voltage spec.
 
You can find quite a few 1600 and 1866 kits that run at CL8 and CL9. Typically you if you are running smaller capacity sticks you can find tighter timings. However as Armenius stated due to JEDEC, the organization that determines the specifications for DDR RAM, the max "official" speed of DDR3 is 1333MHz @ 1.5V. That is why Intel developed the XMP so that consumers could plug in a stick and timings would already be determined to work with higher speeds.
 
Yes, my question is whether there are any sticks whose official speed is 1600.
 
I have some CAS6 DDR3 1600, but this speed hasnt been on sale for a long time.
Reason being, you wont tell the difference in performance.
 
Nenu said:
I have some CAS6 DDR3 1600, but this speed hasnt been on sale for a long time.
Reason being, you wont tell the difference in performance.
Click to expand...

What sort of ram is it?
How do you know it's 1600 and not 1333?
 
Zangmonkey said:
Right, so in these cases either I am nearly certain that these are 1333 Mhz chips which have been clocked at 1600.
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I never thought there was an actual, single "speed" for a given memory chip. Just different batches of memory and the batches that tested better at higher frequencies would be sold with those higher frequencies set in their XMP profiles and whatnot.
 
Zangmonkey said:
Right, so in these cases either I am nearly certain that these are 1333 Mhz chips which have been clocked at 1600.
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Quite probable, but does it really matter?
What is your reason for wanting certified 1600MHz low CL ram?
 
Zangmonkey said:
Right, so in these cases either I am nearly certain that these are 1333 Mhz chips which have been clocked at 1600.
Click to expand...

Once you get in to the high-performance DRAM bins, you're probably not going to find publicly-released official datasheets for the parts in question.

The official speed (using your definition) is just whatever the original chip manufacturer guarantees the parts to perform at. Each chip that comes off the line will run at different speeds, so they get binned separately depending on their test results. The fastest chips go to the boutique RAM vendors for a premium price, while the run-of-the-mill chips are sold in large quantities at regular price.

I take it you are looking for RAM where the original chip manufacturer has chosen and guaranteed the high-speed bin as opposed to the OEM of the stick choosing and guaranteeing the high-speed bin? Because really, it doesn't matter who does it as long as everyone is trustworthy. If the chip runs at a certain speed, then that's the speed of the part.
 
AgentQ said:
Once you get in to the high-performance DRAM bins, you're probably not going to find publicly-released official datasheets for the parts in question.

The official speed (using your definition) is just whatever the original chip manufacturer guarantees the parts to perform at. Each chip that comes off the line will run at different speeds, so they get binned separately depending on their test results. The fastest chips go to the boutique RAM vendors for a premium price, while the run-of-the-mill chips are sold in large quantities at regular price.

I take it you are looking for RAM where the original chip manufacturer has chosen and guaranteed the high-speed bin as opposed to the OEM of the stick choosing and guaranteeing the high-speed bin? Because really, it doesn't matter who does it as long as everyone is trustworthy. If the chip runs at a certain speed, then that's the speed of the part.
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The same, or nearly the same is with CPUs as well.
I'm just curious if there is a manufacturing goal or guaranteed spec at 1600

This is merely an academic question.
 
Zangmonkey said:
The same, or nearly the same is with CPUs as well.
I'm just curious if there is a manufacturing goal or guaranteed spec at 1600

This is merely an academic question.
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It's going to be different across manufacturers. If you look at the tech sheet for the RAM I linked earlier in the thread, Corsair guarantees that particular pair of sticks will run at 1600 MHz using 1.5v and 9-9-9-24 timings. I try to look for modules like this that guarantee their speed at the DDR3 spec of 1.5v. But if you look around there are a lot more that won't guarantee those speeds unless you use 1.65v, which is out of DDR3 specifications. When this happens there is less of a guarantee that these modules will work with the memory controller on your motherboard.
 
Zangmonkey said:
I see a lot of lower cas ram @1600, but it all appears to be 1333 memory which is clocked at 1600.

Does any RAM exist, in voltage spec (1.5v or lower) which is natively 1600 *and* has cas 9 or lower?
Click to expand...

yeah I am using it.

corsair vengeance 9-9-9-24 1600
 
Zangmonkey said:
The same, or nearly the same is with CPUs as well.
I'm just curious if there is a manufacturing goal or guaranteed spec at 1600

This is merely an academic question.
Click to expand...

Well then I think the "academic" answer is No, simply because the JEDEC standard is 1333 @ 1.5v. Therefore, any 1600 stick is, by very definition, overclocked and not "native". At some point you're just arguing the semantics of what "native" means simply because they don't make separate designs of, for example, 1333 CAS 11 chips vs 1600 CAS9 chips... all the chips are the same run and binned. AgentQ hit the nail on the head when he said that
AgentQ said:
The official speed (using your definition) is just whatever the original chip manufacturer guarantees the parts to perform at. Each chip that comes off the line will run at different speeds, so they get binned separately depending on their test results. The fastest chips go to the boutique RAM vendors for a premium price, while the run-of-the-mill chips are sold in large quantities at regular price.
Click to expand...
 
Activate: AMD said:
Well then I think the "academic" answer is No, simply because the JEDEC standard is 1333 @ 1.5v.
Click to expand...
The chip makers aren't being academic when they spec chips; rather the module makers are being sloppy by overclocking those chips, not just for XMP profiles but even for JEDEC profiles, and this matters in real life even for retail consumers who always keep their RAM at least 35C below the maximum chip temperature..
 
What about Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP? It's C9 and @1.35V. The reviews I've read is that they are 1600.
 
pavel said:
What about Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP? It's C9 and @1.35V. The reviews I've read is that they are 1600.
Click to expand...

They may be DDR3 1600 but I doubt they are CL9 at that speed. Well that is unless AgentQ is correct and memory manufacturers are selling chips (to some vendors) marked at higher speed grades than the datasheets available at their web sites indicate.
 
Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP is 1600 CL9 at 1.35v with XMP

Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP is 1600 CL8 at 1.35v with XMP
 
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