Does Using Faster Memory Really Make A Difference

[victor43]

Hello all.

My only question does it pay to get the fastest memory that your motherboard can support ? My board is a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3_v1.3 and it supports the following memory modules DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz. I don't do any gaming or AUTOCAD or Professional work but want a fast computer nevertheless. So my other question is should I invest in faster memory now or wait until the prices come down ? Is it not that the SATA drives I'm using are still the bottlenecks of the system ?

Thanks in advance

Victor

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

In normal usage like you'll be doing, no, nothing over 1600 is beneficial. Honestly, nothing over 1600 is beneficial in very much at all (not even gaming).

 

[victor43]

@DJDeCiBeL Thanks for the helpful reply.

 

[Pinhedd]

DJ nailed it. There are some noticeable gains from 1066 -> 1333 and from 1333 -> 1600 but beyond 1600 the gains are only noticeable if you're using a lot of PCIe bandwidth and/or doing some serious number crunching

 

[ko888]

Better off spending the money on an SSD.

 

[rwayne]

Your money would best be spent elsewhere. There are some differences but I don't think it is enough to truly appreciate.