KurtHansen1988
n00b
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2015
- Messages
- 55
I have a bunch of questions here and will probably be all over the place as I'm researching...
I'm trying to figure out the sweet spot for memory speed for a Skylake build with the i7-6700k. I didn't think the i7-6700k would benefit at all from a higher memory speed than rated (2133Mhz) but it looks like it does make a difference especially if overclocking. From what I've read it looks like for Skylake you should aim for 3600+
For gaming there really isn't much of a reason for more then 16GB of ram so it would make sense to me to go with a higher frequency kit of 8-16GB instead of a lower frequency kit of 32GB+. Also there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in ram speed for gaming besides higher minimum fps and possibly a marginally higher max fps. Where higher speed does seem to make the biggest difference is in read/write memory bandwidth. So what's the importance of memory bandwidth exactly?
On Intel's website it says the 6700k has a max memory bandwidth of 32.1GB/s. I'm fairly novice to overclocking but I'm guessing the your memory bandwidth goes up with a higher clock rate and cache size?
"With the slowest DDR4-2133 dual channel memory kit on the market we were just shy of 32,000 MB/s of read/write memory bandwidth and by the time we got up to DDR4-3866 we were running over 50,000 MB/s! The write memory bandwidth went from 31,923 MB/s to 56,467 MB/s, which is a massive 24,544 MB/s or 76.9% increase in the effective write bandwidth." DDR4 Memory Scaling on Intel Z170 - Finding The Best DDR4 Memory Kit Speed - Page 3 of 6 - Legit Reviews
So far I've narrowed down my search to these kits and trying to decide the best performance and value.
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-2400C15D-32GVR - Newegg.com $120 for 32GB, $240 for 64GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15D-16GVRB - Newegg.com $70 for 16GB, $140 for 32GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15Q-16GVR - Newegg.com $90 for 16GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C14D-16GVR - Newegg.com $100 for 16GB, $200 for 32GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3466 (PC4 27700) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3466C16D-8GVK - Newegg.com $51 for 8GB, $102 for 16GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3466 (PC4 27700) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3466C16Q-16GVK - Newegg.com $109 for 16GB
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C17D-8GTZ - Newegg.com $76 for 8GB, $152 for 16GB
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3866 (PC4 30900) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3866C18Q-16GTZ - Newegg.com $210 for 16GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3866 (PC4 30900) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3866C18D-8GVK - Newegg.com $90 for 8GB, $180 for 16GB
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 4000 (PC4 32000) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-4000C19D-16GTZ - Newegg.com $190 for 16GB, $380 for 32GB
What if I were to buy a higher frequency memory kit and down clock for with tighter timings and a CL1 instead of CL2?
Would I get better performance if I populate all 4 dims instead of 2?
EDIT: It looks like having all 4 dimms populated can put more stress of the memory controller and make it difficult if you're trying to overclock.
Some information on memory speed/timings
Memory - RAM Performance: Speed vs. CAS latency | Crucial.com
DDR4 Memory Scaling on Intel Z170 - Finding The Best DDR4 Memory Kit Speed - Legit Reviews
"Optimize your system by installing as much memory as possible, using the latest memory technology, and choosing modules with as much speed as is cost-effective and/or relevant for the applications you're using."
I'm trying to figure out the sweet spot for memory speed for a Skylake build with the i7-6700k. I didn't think the i7-6700k would benefit at all from a higher memory speed than rated (2133Mhz) but it looks like it does make a difference especially if overclocking. From what I've read it looks like for Skylake you should aim for 3600+
For gaming there really isn't much of a reason for more then 16GB of ram so it would make sense to me to go with a higher frequency kit of 8-16GB instead of a lower frequency kit of 32GB+. Also there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in ram speed for gaming besides higher minimum fps and possibly a marginally higher max fps. Where higher speed does seem to make the biggest difference is in read/write memory bandwidth. So what's the importance of memory bandwidth exactly?
On Intel's website it says the 6700k has a max memory bandwidth of 32.1GB/s. I'm fairly novice to overclocking but I'm guessing the your memory bandwidth goes up with a higher clock rate and cache size?
"With the slowest DDR4-2133 dual channel memory kit on the market we were just shy of 32,000 MB/s of read/write memory bandwidth and by the time we got up to DDR4-3866 we were running over 50,000 MB/s! The write memory bandwidth went from 31,923 MB/s to 56,467 MB/s, which is a massive 24,544 MB/s or 76.9% increase in the effective write bandwidth." DDR4 Memory Scaling on Intel Z170 - Finding The Best DDR4 Memory Kit Speed - Page 3 of 6 - Legit Reviews
So far I've narrowed down my search to these kits and trying to decide the best performance and value.
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-2400C15D-32GVR - Newegg.com $120 for 32GB, $240 for 64GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15D-16GVRB - Newegg.com $70 for 16GB, $140 for 32GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15Q-16GVR - Newegg.com $90 for 16GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C14D-16GVR - Newegg.com $100 for 16GB, $200 for 32GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3466 (PC4 27700) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3466C16D-8GVK - Newegg.com $51 for 8GB, $102 for 16GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3466 (PC4 27700) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3466C16Q-16GVK - Newegg.com $109 for 16GB
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C17D-8GTZ - Newegg.com $76 for 8GB, $152 for 16GB
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3866 (PC4 30900) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3866C18Q-16GTZ - Newegg.com $210 for 16GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3866 (PC4 30900) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3866C18D-8GVK - Newegg.com $90 for 8GB, $180 for 16GB
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 4000 (PC4 32000) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-4000C19D-16GTZ - Newegg.com $190 for 16GB, $380 for 32GB
What if I were to buy a higher frequency memory kit and down clock for with tighter timings and a CL1 instead of CL2?
Would I get better performance if I populate all 4 dims instead of 2?
EDIT: It looks like having all 4 dimms populated can put more stress of the memory controller and make it difficult if you're trying to overclock.
Some information on memory speed/timings
Memory - RAM Performance: Speed vs. CAS latency | Crucial.com
DDR4 Memory Scaling on Intel Z170 - Finding The Best DDR4 Memory Kit Speed - Legit Reviews
"Optimize your system by installing as much memory as possible, using the latest memory technology, and choosing modules with as much speed as is cost-effective and/or relevant for the applications you're using."
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