Capacity vs. Speed Question

[phoenix009]

Hey, let's say I have 16GB of ram running at 2133.

Is it better to replace it with 32GB of ram running at 2133

OR

Is it better to replace it with 16GB of ram running at 3200?

 

[Autocrat]

So, 32GB is probably overkill unless you are doing high end content creation. and the difference between 2133 and 3200 is pretty negligible. There is a slight difference, but it is not really noticeable.

 

[phoenix009]

So, 32GB is probably overkill unless you are doing high end content creation. and the difference between 2133 and 3200 is pretty negligible. There is a slight difference, but it is not really noticeable.

I just used those numbers for capacity as an example. Let's say I used 8GB & 16GB instead.

Strictly based on performance, if one if overkill & the other is negligible, it's better to increase capacity than speed correct?

 

[Autocrat]

So, 32GB is probably overkill unless you are doing high end content creation. and the difference between 2133 and 3200 is pretty negligible. There is a slight difference, but it is not really noticeable.

I just used those numbers for capacity as an example. Let's say I used 8GB & 16GB instead.

Strictly based on performance, if one if overkill & the other is negligible, it's better to increase capacity than speed correct?

Generally yes, increasing capacity will increase performance, but it does get to a point of diminishing returns. Going from 2GB to 4GB will make a noticeable difference, as will going up to 8GB, but over that you will start to notice very minimal differences because its unlikely you are doing anything that actually utilizes the full capacity of the RAM.

 

[azaran]

It depends entirely on what you're doing. In general, capacity generally takes importance over speed. Speed will increase performance, but if you don't have enough capacity to run the program needed it won't matter how fast your stuff is.

If all you're doing is gaming, you'll realistically never see the difference in the speed between 2133 and 3200. So for gaming, look to see what your games need right now and what any future games may need. We're just now seeing gaming pushing in to the 16GB range for recommended specs but thats not the norm.

But 3D rendering, CAD, designing programs like that need both speed and capacity. If you had to choose one of the other, capacity would take preference. But speed can decrease rendering times, and if you're talking about a long project, even a few percentage points of performance can take hours out out a render.

 

[phoenix009]

Alright, let's say I want to do 1440p w an average FPS of 60 on current games. At the same time I run processes (internet browsers + some other software) that take up ~6GB of RAM.
I have an overclocked i5-6600k & a gtx 1080. What RAM capacity & speed would you recommend?

 

[azaran]

For an exact kit, it depends. Do yo have existing RAM already that you're adding to, or is this going to be the only RAM kit in the system? You're running an OC system, so what CPU cooler are you using? The cooler may have RAM height limitations.

I'd say for what you're doing, theres no point in an 8GB kit if you're buying all new RAM for the system. A 16GB (2x8GB) kit would probably be ideal so you're ready for the requirements games are starting to run with. A DDR4-3000 kit with CAS 15 seem to be the sweet spot for performance/cost.

 

[phoenix009]

I want to buy all new ram.

My CPU cooler can be found here, it has 53mm clearance: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1391-page3.html

Thing is, my motherboard ,Asus Z170-A, can do 64GB of RAM. My plan is to put only 16GB sticks in there so I can have a max of 64GB in the future.

Should I do two sticks of 16GB @ 2133 or two sticks @ 3000
Or do you recommend I do 2 sticks of 8 @ 2133 or 2 sticks of 8 @ 3000

It was mentioned that I will never see the difference between 2133 & 3200, so should I even bother with over 2133 or should I just save the money?

 

[azaran]

Oh you should be fine for any RAM kit with that cooler since it doesn't even overlap the RAM slots anyway. If you intend on maxing out that board, then I'd get a 32GB kit in there. You could go with a 2x8GB kit, and you would save money but you'll run in to matching problems if you want to go for that 64GB max. Realistically if you're only gaming (and including the 6GB overhead you're talking about with other programs) you wont likely use more than 32GB in this systems life span even with system requirements usual climbing need for more RAM. If you get 32GB now, you're done having to worry about it. If you get a 16GB kit now and upgrade to another 16GB kit later you're running in to two situations 1) You have to get matching kits, and depending on manufacturing differences you may end up with there being slight problems between the kits that can cause issues and 2) you put a bit more stress on the memory control and introduce a tiny bit of latency by using all 4 slots. If you budget allows, I'd say go for 32GB now and not worry about things unless you for some reason need that 64GB of RAM in there.

For a 32GB kits
2133/2400 (they're prices are oddly close so a lot of time 2400 costs less than 2133)
Kingston Fury
https://smile.amazon.com/Kingston-Technology-32-Internal-HX424C15FBK2/dp/B01D8U2AHO?ie=UTF8&tag=pcpapi-20

For 3000
Go for one of these kits. They're they same price but you have the option of black, red or white.
http://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/pGqbt6,3Mbkcf,Bgbkcf/

For 3200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232210&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

As for the speed differences. These kits all have a CAS 15 so the overall latency (the number you care about) for the DDR4-2400 kit is running at 12.5 nano seconds, the DDR4-3000 kit is 10ns and the DDR4-3200 kit is 9.38ns. Lower numbers being better. I've seen one article about gaining FPS due to higher RAM speeds, and it was only with a specific game, so this may be something that comes in to play with future games, it may not. In general, if you're not doing intensive tasks (CAD, rendering,etc) the only time you'll see performance differences due to RAM speeds is in benchmarks. It's up to you to decide if the $20 - $40 difference is worth it.