Any reason to upgrade my RAM, other than "more of it"?

I

iroc409

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I recently did a fairly cheap Z97/4790k upgrade, and just swapped my old RAM into the new board. The old RAM is from 2011 (2 kits--4x4):

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

I see I can get 2x8GB Ripjaws fairly cheap, I think I found some for $70 from Newegg. The intent of the build was to avoid new RAM, but I'm wondering if I would see a performance increase. I am not currently overclocking, but may try it after I get everything stable.

I suppose my other concern is running out of RAM if I get more into 3D CAD and heavier into photography, I just kind of play right now. I do some virtualization on the machine, but not a lot.
 
Overclocking RAM yields zero gains especially on a Z97. You've already got 16gb (4x4gb). If you're going to buy new ram and need more, then go for 4x8Gb instead. 2133 @ cas9/10 and you'll be set.
 
^ This. Unless you are utilizing programs that can benefit from > 16GB, then don't even bother. 16GB is a pretty stout amount of RAM for a home/gaming PC as it is...Most folks would be fine with 4GB min, and 8GB nominal.
 
No, not really. Might as well keep it unless your overclock is being limited by the fact that you have 4 sticks of RAM and you need to go down to 2 (which happens).
 
OK, good to know, thanks! I think I will stick with what I have unless I have issues. Haven't overclocked anything yet, but I figured I should probably try it out.

It is *possible* I will need more RAM in the future, but not currently a need.
 
iroc409 said:
OK, good to know, thanks! I think I will stick with what I have unless I have issues. Haven't overclocked anything yet, but I figured I should probably try it out.

It is *possible* I will need more RAM in the future, but not currently a need.
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When 16GB becomes a bottleneck, then it will be at a time when a new processor with more cores, MoBo, and newer DDR revision is also needed. ;)
 
I could be mistaken, but I think RAM speed will really only affect your loadtimes. Like in Skyrim when you walk into a building, or when you first launch a game. Basically, how long it takes to copy data off your HD to memory.

I went with 32 GB of fast ram recently at $250, which I thought was reasonable, since I compile code a lot, and test games/mods and such. Chances are the ram is too fast for the processor, but for me, it's futureproofing a bit as well.
 
Dont forget you have to take into account latency and not just raw mhz for RAM.

It appears, for most people "speedy" RAM is kinda moot beyond a certain speed dependent on the type of processor. Im not sure what's a happy medium for Skylake, but if I recall correct, Sandy Bridge was more than happy with just 1600mhz and anything faster was negligible unless benchmarking.

So OP, to the point, I feel that 16GB is a very happy place to sit right now w/room to grow. I think even 8GB is pretty good for most people.
 
The only reason I went with a 32gb kit was
1) It was dirt cheap
2) It was dirt cheap

DDR3-2400 but moving between DDR3-1333 stock and saw no noticeable gains besides higher IMC voltage. Why bother stressing the IMC, when the system runs happy at 1333.

Plus if I do need the extra ram, in the future prices will be cost prohibitive. Buy now, regret never

But again. With DDR3 prices so low, I would go as much as possible
 
Instead of 4x4 2x8 would not stress the subsystem as much for the same amount.
 
I could be mistaken, but I think RAM speed will really only affect your loadtimes. Like in Skyrim when you walk into a building, or when you first launch a game. Basically, how long it takes to copy data off your HD to memory.
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Remember that RAM operates several orders of magnitude faster than a hard drive. Its the memory waiting for the hard drive to transfer data not the other way around.
 
drescherjm said:
Remember that RAM operates several orders of magnitude faster than a hard drive. Its the memory waiting for the hard drive to transfer data not the other way around.
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Even Sata 3 ssd with said RAM only reduced load times of video games a sec couple seconds I think. A RAM disk or pcie 4x ssd, I'm not sure.
 
16GB is either too much or not near enough.

If you want to see a real world benefit, pick up color grading as a hobby. Then 16GB will the the absolute lowest RAM floor you can stomach. /sigh

xD
 
moving from 1333c9 to 2400c10 can improve cpu performance in games by about 20% with sandy\ivy\haswell\skylake
1600c9 to 2400c10 is ~10%
it depends on the program and how much it overflows the cpu cache as to how much faster ram improves the efficiency of the cpu
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37837493&postcount=14

the gains are not huge a bit like the step from sandy to haswell but as far as games go faster ram provides bigger gains that moving from i5 to i7 for ht
for multithreaded work like rendering then ht is of much more benefit than ram

if you already have 1600c9 then as far as im concerned buying new ram just for increased speed is bad value but if you need new ram anyway and your wanting to oc i wouldnt go below 2133c9\2400c11 preferably 2400c10 if you can find it at a good price

so why is there so many tests out there showing no performance difference?
any programs that fit what they need neatly inside the cpu cache will see no benefit
as for games many tests are gpu bottlnecked so it wouldnt mater if they doubled the speed of the ram or the cpu the fps would remain the same
 
dasa said:
moving from 1333c9 to 2400c10 can improve cpu performance in games by about 20% with sandy\ivy\haswell\skylake
1600c9 to 2400c10 is ~10%
it depends on the program and how much it overflows the cpu cache as to how much faster ram improves the efficiency of the cpu
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37837493&postcount=14

the gains are not huge a bit like the step from sandy to haswell but as far as games go faster ram provides bigger gains that moving from i5 to i7 for ht
for multithreaded work like rendering then ht is of much more benefit than ram

if you already have 1600c9 then as far as im concerned buying new ram just for increased speed is bad value but if you need new ram anyway and your wanting to oc i wouldnt go below 2133c9\2400c11 preferably 2400c10 if you can find it at a good price

so why is there so many tests out there showing no performance difference?
any programs that fit what they need neatly inside the cpu cache will see no benefit
as for games many tests are gpu bottlnecked so it wouldnt mater if they doubled the speed of the ram or the cpu the fps would remain the same
Click to expand...

And again the 20% efficency at the cost of higher Voltage shortned CPU lifespan

I think the ideal case, if you really need to purchase the best ram, is Highest Frequency with the lowest amount of voltage and lowest latency kits. I know G skills sells em, but they have rarely gone below $180 for 32gb

Unless your usage entails lots of 7 zip (which is really the only program journos use to demonstrate the amazingness of RAM speeds and amount), I would save my money and use it for some other area of improvement.
 
samm said:
And again the 20% efficency at the cost of higher Voltage shortned CPU lifespan.
Click to expand...

same with any overclocking
its extremely unlikely to make a noticeable difference to the lifespan of the cpu as it will be too slow to keep using before it dies or the mb will die for some other reason
faster ram and overclocked cpu will extend the usable life of the system 20% performance from ram and 30% from cpu oc gives you about 50% when in the last 5 years cpu have only moved ~25% since sandy (rough figures give or take at least 5%)

if somebody is happy to oc they should get faster ram if not overclocking the cpu then dont oc the ram
 
dasa said:
same with any overclocking
its extremely unlikely to make a noticeable difference to the lifespan of the cpu as it will be too slow to keep using before it dies or the mb will die for some other reason
faster ram and overclocked cpu will extend the usable life of the system 20% performance from ram and 30% from cpu oc gives you about 50% when in the last 5 years cpu have only moved ~25% since sandy (rough figures give or take at least 5%)

if somebody is happy to oc they should get faster ram if not overclocking the cpu then dont oc the ram
Click to expand...

Where are you pulling 20% more RAM and 30% from the CPU? Give me an example of where of real world #s.

Faster ram does not provide a noticeable difference, unless the applications you are using respond to them. I`d invest in more ram due cheaper costs, and maybe a better cooling setup then claim a 20% improvement on ram
 
Yeah 8-16 is pretty common for gaming machines, only reason I have more is because my computer is mostly a workstation and less of a gaming machine (not that the watercooling or GTX 980 would convince anyone otherwise). I do a lot of multiple virtual machine at-a-time work and the extra RAM gave me a lot of leeway in spinning them up without even thinking about it.
 
samm said:
Where are you pulling 20% more RAM and 30% from the CPU? Give me an example of where of real world #s.
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arma 20% is a extreme example 10-20% would be common in cpu limited games
armastratisramtimmings_zpsd0398bf9.png

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/1...mance-comparison-1600-2133-up-to-15-fps-gain/
most reviews dont bother with 1333

the link i provided in the first post above shows lots of real world (game) examples
unfortunately there is little testing done on other real world applications like photoshop\premier to see what gains there are if any
most work related benchmarks are just synthetics

same goes for 30% from the cpu not all models can reach that kinda oc ~20% would be more common
but here is the i5 6400 getting about 40% performance increase from being overclcoked
a3.png

http://pclab.pl/art67575-4.html

often the price difference with ram is only $20 between 1333 and 2400 or 2133 and 3000 depending on quantity 32g kits are a bit different if its really needed then 1600c9 may be better value but i wouldn't go below that personally
 
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I tried recently the SavageX 16gb kit 2133mhz. In most of games I used it on - Tomb Raider, AC:Unity, Hitman:Absolution and Valley/Heaven benchmarks the differences between min/max/average between that kit and my 1600/cl9 8gb kit was about 1-2 fps.
 
MorgothPl said:
I tried recently the SavageX 16gb kit 2133mhz. In most of games I used it on - Tomb Raider, AC:Unity, Hitman:Absolution and Valley/Heaven benchmarks the differences between min/max/average between that kit and my 1600/cl9 8gb kit was about 1-2 fps.
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11-13-14 are some fairly slack timings i wouldnt expect the gains to be that great vs 1600c9 maybe 5% tops
those benchmarks are typically gpu bottlnecked you may find if you oc the cpu 500mhz it wont make more than 1-2fps difference

edit
going by anandtech performance index http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7364/Performance Index.png
2133c11 is slower than 1866c9 and 1600c8 that may not translate exactly into the real world but its a good guideline for where frequency metes latency performance
 
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DejaWiz said:
When 16GB becomes a bottleneck, then it will be at a time when a new processor with more cores, MoBo, and newer DDR revision is also needed. ;)
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I agree with him but just to be baller status amongst my co workers I got 32GB :p
 
Defiantly will increase you "e-member" lol, but remember and ram load more than 6 hours you should consult a physician. But seriously you could run some other fancy stuff in the background in vm's and the like that will gobble up ram quick.
 
More RAM is always better than faster RAM. If you aren't able to saturate your current RAM amount, more RAM probably won't help and a speedier kit won't satisfy your upgrade urge.
 
your best bet is 2400 CL 9 RAM. Thats one of the best DDR3s you can get. It has lower latency than even the best DDR4 and is got solid bandwidth.

will it benefit you? *shrugs* but its the best you can get.

i just bought these. I had to send them back because the package was destroyed and they didn't work but i blame newegg for that and not the RAM. Waiting for my replacement :/

G.SKILL Trident X Series 32GB Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C10Q-32GTX - Newegg.com

32GB of RAM can be helpful but it depends on what you do. I personally benefit from 32GBs but some don't. I wager 16GB is absolute min now these days. I run into RAM issue with just 16GB with just basic windows stuff.

2133 CL11 vs 1600 CL9 are not a great deal better


1600 CL 9 vs 2133 CL11 vs 2400 CL9

1st word 11.25 vs 10.31 vs 7.5
4th word 13.12 vs 11.72 vs 8.75
8th word 15.62 vs 13.59 vs 10.41

One of the best DDR4s 3200 CL 14

1st word 8.75
4th word 9.68
8th word 10.93


dasa from those results it looks as if latency is the bigger impact and not bandwidth especially when you look at the difference between 2133 CL9 vs CL11...assuming the difference isn't due to some marginal error, which it might be.
 
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dasa said:
moving from 1333c9 to 2400c10 can improve cpu performance in games by about 20% with sandy\ivy\haswell\skylake
1600c9 to 2400c10 is ~10%
it depends on the program and how much it overflows the cpu cache as to how much faster ram improves the efficiency of the cpu
AnandTech Forums - View Single Post - 1600 CAS 9 -- vs -- 1866 CAS 10

the gains are not huge a bit like the step from sandy to haswell but as far as games go faster ram provides bigger gains that moving from i5 to i7 for ht
for multithreaded work like rendering then ht is of much more benefit than ram

if you already have 1600c9 then as far as im concerned buying new ram just for increased speed is bad value but if you need new ram anyway and your wanting to oc i wouldnt go below 2133c9\2400c11 preferably 2400c10 if you can find it at a good price

so why is there so many tests out there showing no performance difference?
any programs that fit what they need neatly inside the cpu cache will see no benefit
as for games many tests are gpu bottlnecked so it wouldnt mater if they doubled the speed of the ram or the cpu the fps would remain the same
Click to expand...

I agree.

I'm limited at 1333 on my board.

Was using CL9-9-9-24 and upgraded to O/C CL6-7-6-19 and it improved my Fallout 4 performance a lot, and also eliminated the mouse lag i was having in Tomb Raider.
 
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