Ram for 10850K 4K gaming. 10 years removed from PC building so I'm clueless

edo101

Limp Gawd
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Jul 16, 2018
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Hi guys, I am wondering how much RAM and speed and timings I need to get my 10850K to 5 to 5.1Ghz or 5.2 if possible. I haven't build a PC in 10 years. I don't want to spend more than I have to. I am looking at 16GB and speed of 3800Mhz. Will this be enough? What else should I consider? I haven't picked up a Z490 mobo yet but I figured most I pick will be okay with any modern DDR4 kit?
 
If you just want something simple that is just going to work, pull the mobo QVL and look at memory that is listed. Find something around 3200 to 3600 MHz that is the most affordable. Just run XMP settings in BIOS. For capacity, if you plan on keeping the system for several years go with 32GB.
 
RAM speed by itself won't affect what kind of CPU overclock you will be getting.

Pick up a cheaper 3200 CAS 16 or a 3600 CAS 16-18 Kit and pocket the difference, 4000mhz memory won't improve performance by much over those kits, and will not justify the enormous price difference.

Also, do 32GB if you want to keep your machine longer. Some games can push 16GB already.

My personal pick would be the Crucial Ballistix 3200 or the 3600 kit.
 
RAM speed by itself won't affect what kind of CPU overclock you will be getting.

Pick up a cheaper 3200 CAS 16 or a 3600 CAS 16-18 Kit and pocket the difference, 4000mhz memory won't improve performance by much over those kits, and will not justify the enormous price difference.

Also, do 32GB if you want to keep your machine longer. Some games can push 16GB already.

My personal pick would be the Crucial Ballistix 3200 or the 3600 kit.
Someone said you can increae the voltage and up the CAS timings on lower clocked RAM to move the speed up?
 
You can, to a certain degree.

I'm running my 3200 CAS 16 sticks at 3600 CAS 16 at the moment.
 
The sets Im talking about are on X470 - 4x16GB of Corsair LPX

Problem with these sticks is you never know which manufacturer of ICs you get.

Out of my 12 sets of LPX, 8 are Hynix AFRs and 4 are from Nanya, and these all behave differently.

On top of that, the different RAM ICs dont play so well with each other.

You dont get that problem with Crucial Ballistix... all of those are Micron E Die which overclock very well and play nicely with even the most difficult setups.
 
Those 3200 ballistix will run 3200 with XMP on, but if you take a day or two to fiddle with the settings will likely run at 3600 easy.
 
Hmm but it says its 3200?
All the 3600 are out of stock unless you get the 32gb kits. They are all essentially the same chips just overclock it to 3600 manually, unless you don't want to then wait for the 3600 sticks to come back in stock.
 
Those 3200 ballistix will run 3200 with XMP on, but if you take a day or two to fiddle with the settings will likely run at 3600 easy.
All the 3600 are out of stock unless you get the 32gb kits. They are all essentially the same chips just overclock it to 3600 manually, unless you don't want to then wait for the 3600 sticks to come back in stock.
Oh. Yeah I don't know what I don't know. Are you guys saying you can buy lower clocked RAM and overclock them to 3600 easy? I don't mind manual OC, it's just been a while and I don't know what I can tune or not.
 
https://www.newegg.com/ballistix-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820164213 Well these 3600 ones are available...but man that red lol. I can see why they are available. I guess i should close my eyes and buy it since I shouldn't be looking at my CPU 90% of the time lol. But I so woulda preferred black to blend in better with everything else

I guess there's always these more expensive sligghtly worse timed ones? https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232898

PS: I don't care about RGB on my RAM btw. Just trying to get best bang for buck
 
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Oh. Yeah I don't know what I don't know. Are you guys saying you can buy lower clocked RAM and overclock them to 3600 easy? I don't mind manual OC, it's just been a while and I don't know what I can tune or not.
Not all 3200 RAM can do 3600.

But Crucial Ballistix / E Die can.

If you're trying to gun for 4000mhz RAM, you will want to wait for the 3600 ballistix kits -- those can overclock better.

However, if you do some research/youtubing, memory speed above 3200 for Intels really do net you drastically diminishing returns for gaming especially at 4K where your bottleneck will be the GPU almost 100% of the time.
 
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If you dont need rgb
https://www.newegg.com/patriot-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820225142
Or the 4133s are always going on sale for $99. The 4133s(not sure if the 4000 does) have two xmp profiles 3600 and 4133 so compatibility is pretty easy. You can tighten the timings up very nicely being that they are b-die as well.

Wow that looks good and no I don't care about RGB for RAM. But isn't the timing bad at 19? Should I be concerened about that? Would it be better to downclock it to 3600 at better timings?
 
With 19-19-19 timings at 4000 I wouldn't mind betting that is using Samsung b die chips and could be tightened to 16-17-17 with 1.5v and maybe go up to 4133-4266 with a bit of luck.

The other options is a G.Skill 3200c14 kit $109 and OC it to ~4000-4266c16 1.5v.
The G.Skill sticks come with temperature sensors and when pushing 1.5v they can get a bit warm without decent airflow 45c+ which does reduce stability when overclocking.

At 4000c19 they would be about equal in latency to 3200c15 but you get the benefit of extra bandwidth.
 
Wow that looks good and no I don't care about RGB for RAM. But isn't the timing bad at 19? Should I be concerened about that? Would it be better to downclock it to 3600 at better timings?
For ddr4 4000 cas 19 isnt bad at all. Ive got the 4133 2x8gb set and had them running 19-19-19@4133 1.45v and 16-16-16 3600 1.35v in a couple of z390 mbs. Both the ddr4 4000 and 4133 modules are b-die so they should run tighter timings no problem at either speeds. I didnt test any more than those speeds as they are back up modules and just wanted to confirm they were b-die before i pulled them. Ill be picking up another set the next time i see them on sale. For b-die they are a sweet price.
 
For ddr4 4000 cas 19 isnt bad at all. Ive got the 4133 2x8gb set and had them running 19-19-19@4133 1.45v and 16-16-16 3600 1.35v in a couple of z390 mbs. Both the ddr4 4000 and 4133 modules are b-die so they should run tighter timings no problem at either speeds. I didnt test any more than those speeds as they are back up modules and just wanted to confirm they were b-die before i pulled them. Ill be picking up another set the next time i see them on sale. For b-die they are a sweet price.
With 19-19-19 timings at 4000 I wouldn't mind betting that is using Samsung b die chips and could be tightened to 16-17-17 with 1.5v and maybe go up to 4133-4266 with a bit of luck.

The other options is a G.Skill 3200c14 kit $109 and OC it to ~4000-4266c16 1.5v.
The G.Skill sticks come with temperature sensors and when pushing 1.5v they can get a bit warm without decent airflow 45c+ which does reduce stability when overclocking.

At 4000c19 they would be about equal in latency to 3200c15 but you get the benefit of extra bandwidth.
I'm confused, is it better to have lower timings or higher speed? I was set to pick up those 4Ghz ram but now both of you are making me think I'm supposed to drop my clock speed just so I cna get better timings? I am not interested in benchmarks. I'm intrested in getting all the fps i can get outta my games dasa hititnquitit
 
I try to balance timings, speed and voltage. It depends on your rig and what your shooting for. I still try to squeeze every last fps out of my system being that its primarily for gaming. So for me running a 9900kf @5.2 w/ 4x8gb ddr4 4000 @ c17 with 1.45v gives me the best balance between speed and timings. The gains in going with tighter timings with increased voltage arent worth it for me. Going with 3600 and tighter timings dont net me much more than higher aida64 scores tbh. Id have to run c14 or less with 1.55v+ to exceed what i run currently.
 
I try to balance timings, speed and voltage. It depends on your rig and what your shooting for. I still try to squeeze every last fps out of my system being that its primarily for gaming. So for me running a 9900kf @5.2 w/ 4x8gb ddr4 4000 @ c17 with 1.45v gives me the best balance between speed and timings. The gains in going with tighter timings with increased voltage arent worth it for me. Going with 3600 and tighter timings dont net me much more than higher aida64 scores tbh. Id have to run c14 or less with 1.55v+ to exceed what i run currently.
hititnquitit Those Patroit kits should then be able to run at 4Ghz with lower timings..? C17? I see some reviews with people lowering timings at 4Ghz
 
Im not running those patriots in my main rig. Ive got ddr4 4000 hyperx predators. The patriot 4133s ive got had no problems doing c19 at 4133 so the ddr4 4000 kit may hit c17 with added voltage and a solid mb/cpu but theres no guarantee. The difference between c17 and 19 is tiny so i wouldnt be disappointed if they fell a little short. Tbh i wouldnt worry too much about your timings until youve had time to test both stock timings and tightened timings. The fps difference is only going to be 4-5% at the most. The biggest benefit of getting high speed b-die memory is the freedom to run and test pretty much any combination of timings and speed you want until you find a sweetspot you like. For example you find that your mb or cpu wont run higher speeds stable you can clock down to 3600/3800 c14/16 with those patriots. Whereas with hynix or micron you likely wouldn't have as many options.
 
Those Patroit kits should then be able to run at 4Ghz with lower timings..? C17?
Yes.
They use the same Samsung b die chips as my 3200c14 kit.
With extra VDIMM they scale really nicely when overclocking.

As for extra FPS you will get a heap more when overclocking CPU\RAM at 720p but at 4k most games will be GPU bottlnecked even with a RTX3090\6900XT. This means that you will not see a change in average FPS from overclocking CPU\RAM in most games but you may see some improvements to minimum FPS in a few.
 
Im not running those patriots in my main rig. Ive got ddr4 4000 hyperx predators. The patriot 4133s ive got had no problems doing c19 at 4133 so the ddr4 4000 kit may hit c17 with added voltage and a solid mb/cpu but theres no guarantee. The difference between c17 and 19 is tiny so i wouldnt be disappointed if they fell a little short. Tbh i wouldnt worry too much about your timings until youve had time to test both stock timings and tightened timings. The fps difference is only going to be 4-5% at the most. The biggest benefit of getting high speed b-die memory is the freedom to run and test pretty much any combination of timings and speed you want until you find a sweetspot you like. For example you find that your mb or cpu wont run higher speeds stable you can clock down to 3600/3800 c14/16 with those patriots. Whereas with hynix or micron you likely wouldn't have as many options.
Yes.
They use the same Samsung b die chips as my 3200c14 kit.
With extra VDIMM they scale really nicely when overclocking.

As for extra FPS you will get a heap more when overclocking CPU\RAM at 720p but at 4k most games will be GPU bottlnecked even with a RTX3090\6900XT. This means that you will not see a change in average FPS from overclocking CPU\RAM in most games but you may see some improvements to minimum FPS in a few.
Are there any version of these RAM chips that are lower profile? dasa hititnquitit
 
Ripjaws V are a little lower than Trident Z
Both will be fine with NH-D15 provided the case allows you to lift the side fan a bit if not you can run it with one fan and use it elsewhere in the case.
AIO removes any height restriction but if overclocking with high V you may want to aim some airflow at your RAM\VRM.
 
Ripjaws V are a little lower than Trident Z
Both will be fine with NH-D15 provided the case allows you to lift the side fan a bit if not you can run it with one fan and use it elsewhere in the case.
AIO removes any height restriction but if overclocking with high V you may want to aim some airflow at your RAM\VRM.

I are the Ripjaws tweakable like the Patriots dasa hititnquitit

 
RAM speed by itself won't affect what kind of CPU overclock you will be getting.

Pick up a cheaper 3200 CAS 16 or a 3600 CAS 16-18 Kit and pocket the difference, 4000mhz memory won't improve performance by much over those kits, and will not justify the enormous price difference.

Also, do 32GB if you want to keep your machine longer. Some games can push 16GB already.

My personal pick would be the Crucial Ballistix 3200 or the 3600 kit.

Ballistix (crucial E-Die) is pretty much my go to as it's affordable, easy to buy, and you can get tight timings (nearly as good as b die IMO) with it.
 
I are the Ripjaws tweakable like the Patriots
3200c14 kits are yes. Maybe even a higher bin.
The G.Skill kits also come with a temperature sensor which is nice to have when overclocking.

What about these:
Higher VDIMM so a lower bin of chips.
They are also taller.
Viper RGB 45.4 mm
Trident Z: 44mm
Viper 42.6mm
Ripjaws V: 42mm
Flare X: 40mm <also good at 3200c14
 
3200c14 kits are yes. Maybe even a higher bin.
The G.Skill kits also come with a temperature sensor which is nice to have when overclocking.


Higher VDIMM so a lower bin of chips.
They are also taller.
Viper RGB 45.4 mm
Trident Z: 44mm
Viper 42.6mm
Ripjaws V: 42mm
Flare X: 40mm <also good at 3200c14
does that .5V make a big difference? dasa
 
.05v is usually enough for about another 200MHz or a drop in primary timings.
 
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