1600 RAM vs 1866 RAM. What's the differnce?

[Eran Mayshar]

I'm a gamer and I like to play high end games. I'm thinking of adding 8GB to my PC and saw these two options for 8GB of ram. There is a $20 price difference between the two and I'm wondering why? A lot of the time I've found that things can be more expensive while offering little to no extra benefit in performance. I was hoping you lot could clear up any bits of miss-information I might have been given thus far and explain to me what benefits I'd notice while gaming between these two sets of ram.

The RAM sticks in question are as follows: G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-8GAO

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544

and: G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C9D-8GAB


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550

 

[SlitWeaver]

In gaming, the difference is a couple of frames per second at best. In other use cases, the higher speed might benefit you noticeably.

 

[Eran Mayshar]

I already have 2 X 2GB sticks of 1333 ram. Back in the day I could add 2 different speeds of ram on one PC and it worked fine. IF I had the 1600 Ram mentioned above to my existing set to create 12GB of ram, will that work?

 

[envy14tpe]

For $20 more it's not worth it. There is an improvement but not noticeable in gaming. If so, then 1 fps.

$73 for 1866:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31866c9d8gab

Might be worth it. I'd probably get it if I was in your situation.

 

[awesomedude911]

Not worth the money IM. Just buy the cheapest 1600 8gb.

With the APU from AMD they help the fps alot and with the new intel processors like the 4670k it helps only a little.
Only a few games are using more than 8gb on memory but if your going to play Crysis 3 maxed or star citzen you will want more than 8Gb.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#s=301600&Z=8192002&qq=1&sort=a10

 

[SlitWeaver]

You already have 1333MHz memory? Well if you add the 1600 or 1866,wither way, it's all going to run at 1333 (or not at all if you don't go into the BIOS and configure it most likely). A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. That greatly applies in the world of memory.

 

[Eran Mayshar]

Not worth the money IM. Just buy the cheapest 1600 8gb.

With the APU from AMD they help the fps alot and with the new intel processors like the 4670k it helps only a little.
Only a few games are using more than 8gb on memory but if your going to play Crysis 3 maxed or star citzen you will want more than 8Gb.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#s=301600&Z=8192002&qq=1&sort=a10

I've been told that if you have a good enough GPU and CPU Crysis 3 works fine on 4GB of ram. My understanding is that no game, if optimised right needs more than 4GB at the moment.

 

[envy14tpe]

8GB is definitely the sweet spot. Many games don't "need" 8GB RAM but they sure as hell love it.

 

[Eran Mayshar]

If I were to just buy another 2 X 2GB at 1333 (like my current RAM is) so that I had 4 X 2GB sticks at 1333 would that be better than having 2 X 4GB sticks at 1600?

 

[awesomedude911]

Its not going to make your computer instantly faster like how a new CPU or GPU. Right now ram is pricey.

I don't know if your system specs or what programs your going to be using. I don't know if its going to be worth your money either...

 

[awesomedude911]

RAM speed (1600Mhz) is just going to make programs load faster. If you don't have enough RAM it can make your computer run slower.

If your just playing TF2 then your fine, but if your going to be playing Crysis 3 or Battlefield then you might want 8Gbs of RAM.

 

[Tradesman1]

What mobo and CPU are you running, if an older CPU may not even run 1866, so that might just be a waste...For most CPUs and gaming 1600/9 is sufficient

 

[bryanl]

1600 is usually made from 1333 RAM chips, 1866 from 1333 or 1600 chips.