CAS Latency question

[midget666]

Alright I am trying to decide what RAM kit to put into my new computer. But I am stuck between two kinds.

One set of RAM has these specs:
Frequency: 1600Mhz
CAS Latency: 9
Timings: 9-9-9-24

The other has these specs:
Frequency:1333Mhz
CAS Latency:7
Timings:7-7-7-21

I know that a lower CL is supposed to have better performance but a higher frequency will also have better performance. Say I was doing benchmarking. Which one would gain me performance in overall everything?

 

[jaquith]

Everything 'equal' {RAM IC, Cooling, Platform, Size, etc} the 1333 MHz CAS 7-7-7-21 is faster.

Explained, the 1333 CAS 7-7-7 can easily run 1600 CAS 8-8-8.

Generic Frequency vs Latency

 

[midget666]

Alright. Ty Ill get that one.

 

[jaquith]

Q - What platform?

 

[midget666]

I mean Sandy Bridge lol sorry im tired

 

[jaquith]

On the Sandy Bridge and for Gaming, I would look at 1600 MHz CAS 8/9 and 2X4GB Kits. My initial response was a generic answer, this is for the Sandy Bridge.

$115 Corsair 2X4GB 1600 CAS 8 CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233147
$99 Corsair 2X4GB 1600 CAS 9 CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

Until recently I and others were recommending G.SKILL Ripjaws X with SB, but I/we have been seeing 'bad batches' of the G.SKILL but good reports from the Corsair.

Sandy Bridge Frequency + CAS -> http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/1
Gaming 4GB vs 8GB+ http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778-8.html

Obviously, if you're getting more than 4GB then you'll need a 64-bit OS.

 

[midget666]

Yeah. One thing though. Im getting a 16 gb kit. 8 GB of It I will use as a RAM drive. so I have 8 gb left. with the 16 gb kits im looking at these. I really like the Gskill and it has CL7 but its 1333 Mhz whereas this Corsair vengeance kit is 1600 Mhz but CL9. which one will give me better performance. here are the links for the 2 kits
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347

that one is corsair

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231442

this one is gskill

Also like the G skill cause it looks sick

 

[jaquith]

I would go with the Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B. I KNOW the G.SKILL 1600 MHz CAS 9 and most of the G.SKILL 4X4GB kits to currently are a problem and worst when G.SKILL 2X4GB 1600 MHz kits {matching} are placed together - the 1600 combined kits 2x(2X4GB) are having problems running faster than 1333 MHz.

The past few weeks G.SKILL has been embarrassing themselves with bad stick(s) per set.

In the past I 'had' recommended G.SKILL, but not lately. Granted most of the 'bad' kits have been the 'Red' Sets and not necessarily the 'Blue' kits. In fact, most 2X4GB Kits that I had recommended were the seemingly unaffected 1600 CAS 8 F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM.

All I am doing is passing along information that I've seen and my cautions to you.

Q - Curiosity, what are your plans for the RAM Drive? Scratch Drive?

 

[midget666]

So will the corsair speed and CAS latency be competitive with the G. skill set?
I have a SSD but I want to mess around with the RAM disk capabilities. like using it for my temporary internet files for instance. That way I get a boost in security and performance.
Btw I really want the G skill set but if they have been coming out with bad batches and stuff. I will go with corsair

 

[jaquith]

RAM - The differences are so infinitesimally small it won't matter.

RAM Drive - unless you're BUYING RamDisk 11 Plus you'll end up with more problems than solutions. I keep my cache really small, minimum 50MB {i7 9XX Win 7 x64} and while a RAM Disk helps -- NO DOUBTS -- it ONLY helps once the page(s) are reloaded from cached.

IMO - Corsair RAM is very good and less problematic for the P67 - NOW. As I said the 'Blue' sets seem better -- maybe because they're more expensive and there's less of them out there. The P67 {Sandy Bridge} has for all intensive purposes a 'locked' IMC; NO 'BCLK' adjustments and hence most RAM performs close to one another.

RamDisk 11 Plus - http://www.superspeed.com/desktop/ramdisk.php
Another round of RAM testing - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-vengeance-crucial-ballistix-kingston-hyperX,2907-10.html

Comparing:
CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 1600 @ 1.50v 9-9-9-24
F3-12800CL7D-8GBXH 1600 @ 1.60v 7-8-7-24

The problems: running RAM outside of rated Voltage and Frequencies, set-up, etc - all create a BIASED environment. Also, if you run the test 10 times per set you'd end up with 10 different results and it'd be DUMB LUCK to have them match 1/5 times. Run ANY bench on your current rig you'll always have some variations.

1600 Rated Frequency Tests

 

[midget666]

So what would you suggest I do with an 8GB ram drive?

 

[jaquith]

About the best uses are Adobe scratch disk, rendering, and SQL batching, but I'm sure there are other uses.