Question How to know if RAM speed is bottlenecking my PC?

[GameDos]

Hi,

A while ago I got a set of 2x32 3200 C16 RAM sticks that from what I could tell have some potential for OCing (Micron 16Gbit Rev.B according Thaiphoon Burner), but I never bothered to do it.

My system is running a intel i9-12900k CPU, RTX 3090 GPU, and my games are stored on a 2TB seagate firecuda 530 gen 4 NVMe; the OS is on a 500GB samsung 980 pro M.2 NVMe. Is there a way to know if RAM speed is somehow creating a bottleneck for my gaming performance or the maximum possible PC performance?

If so, I could try OCing, otherwise it might just not be worth the effort.

 

[kanewolf]

Hi,

A while ago I got a set of 2x32 3200 C16 RAM sticks that from what I could tell have some potential for OCing (Micron 16Gbit Rev.B according Thaiphoon Burner), but I never bothered to do it.

My system is running a intel i9-12900k CPU, RTX 3090 GPU, and my games are stored on a 2TB seagate firecuda 530 gen 4 NVMe; the OS is on a 500GB samsung 980 pro M.2 NVMe. Is there a way to know if RAM speed is somehow creating a bottleneck for my gaming performance or the maximum possible PC performance?

If so, I could try OCing, otherwise it might just not be worth the effort.

Do you have the XMP profile enabled for your RAM. That is the simplest thing to maximize your RAM performance.
The other thing is to ensure you have the two DIMMs in the proper slots on your motherboard. Check your owner's manual for that info.

 

[SkyNetRising]

If so, I could try OCing, otherwise it might just not be worth the effort.

Check ram speed with cpu-z.
Show screenshots: cpu-z - memory and spd sections.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Overclocking ram past rated speed is probably not worth it.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Is there a way to know if RAM speed is somehow creating a bottleneck for my gaming performance or the maximum possible PC performance?

what sort of occurrence would lead you to believe that your memory is limiting the system's performance?

 

[GameDos]

Do you have the XMP profile enabled for your RAM. That is the simplest thing to maximize your RAM performance.
The other thing is to ensure you have the two DIMMs in the proper slots on your motherboard. Check your owner's manual for that info.

Isnt XMP profile just to make it run at the advertised config e.g 3200MHz cl 16 18 18 36 1.35V?

I am not totally new to this, I previously tried OCing to 3600 without changing any of the other settings, it would boot up but would crash every couple of days, so I just turned it back and didnt bother doing more work.

As for the slots, I know you cant use two slots next to each other. And iirc you need to leave the slot next to the CPU empty if using a 2-stick kit.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am not totally new to this, I previously tried OCing to 3600 without changing any of the other settings, it would boot up but would crash every couple of days, so I just turned it back and didnt bother doing more work.

There you have your answer.
Check, if it is working at proper rated speed and leave it be.

 

[GameDos]

Check ram speed with cpu-z.
Show screenshots: cpu-z - memory and spd sections.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Overclocking ram past rated speed is probably not worth it.

CPU-Z screenshot:

https://imgur.com/a/okiPlfY

View: https://imgur.com/a/okiPlfY

SPD section:

https://imgur.com/a/QnfZljU

View: https://imgur.com/a/QnfZljU


Also, people keep not answering my question. I didnt ask if it is worth it or not. That is a decision I will make once I know if RAM speed is my bottleneck.

 

[GameDos]

There you have your answer.
Check, if it is working at proper rated speed and leave it be.

Again, I am not asking for your input on whether to OC. If I want to OC, I will OC. I asked how can I test what my bottleneck is.

If you do not know how, please stop responding.

 

[GameDos]

what sort of occurrence would lead you to believe that your memory is limiting the system's performance?

Overall, when I got my PC, all the other parts where top of the line (RTX 3090, 12900k, even my SSDs) meanwhile my RAM even then was on the low end for gaming PCs (I had a 3600MHz kit but it was 32GBs only, I wanted more RAM space).

I have been having some issues with loading menus and items in one of the online games Ive been playing. Now obviously their servers play a role in that. But I found out other players simply arent having these issues. Someone suggested I might even have a virus (which isnt probable as Ive been having these issues from the day I got my PC). It cant be my internet connection as my gigabit ethernet connection is normally at 800+ megabits. So Im thinking maybe it is memory speed.

Also, I plan on upgrading my GPU to a 4090 within maybe half a year, and generally CPU is a pain to change. So if I can get a noticeable boost from higher RAM that is worth the effort.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

my RAM even then was on the low end for gaming PCs (I had a 3600MHz kit but it was 32GBs only, I wanted more RAM space)...
if I can get a noticeable boost from higher RAM that is worth the effort

2x 16GB is the max that any currently available game out there is going to ever need.
unless you have tons of other workload open at the same time, which would then limit your CPU's performance.
the 2x 32GB is way overkill in size for gaming.

and the difference between DDR4 3200 & 4000+ is usually negligible with an Intel CPU. they will normally function at their highest either way.
where benchmarking the system would show some increase in scores, most other common software won't see much benefit.
much lower timings than the current CL16 would offer more of an advantage, but even that is going to be hard to determine anywhere except also maybe the benchmark results.

the only way you would really see any beneficial increase RAM-wise would be to upgrade to a new platform motherboard and DDR5 memory.

I have been having some issues with loading menus and items in one of the online games Ive been playing

this would have nothing at all to do with memory.
more likely the game itself if there is only one instance where you see it.
maybe just reinstall the game and see if there's any noticeable difference.

 

[Zerk2012]

Overall, when I got my PC, all the other parts where top of the line (RTX 3090, 12900k, even my SSDs) meanwhile my RAM even then was on the low end for gaming PCs (I had a 3600MHz kit but it was 32GBs only, I wanted more RAM space).

I have been having some issues with loading menus and items in one of the online games Ive been playing. Now obviously their servers play a role in that. But I found out other players simply arent having these issues. Someone suggested I might even have a virus (which isnt probable as Ive been having these issues from the day I got my PC). It cant be my internet connection as my gigabit ethernet connection is normally at 800+ megabits. So Im thinking maybe it is memory speed.

Also, I plan on upgrading my GPU to a 4090 within maybe half a year, and generally CPU is a pain to change. So if I can get a noticeable boost from higher RAM that is worth the effort.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MevtzQpM5vQ

 

[GameDos]

2x 16GB is the max that any currently available game out there is going to ever need.
unless you have tons of other workload open at the same time, which would then limit your CPU's performance.
the 2x 32GB is way overkill in size for gaming.

I dont just game on this machine, I do some machine learning etc so I use the extra memory space.

this would have nothing at all to do with memory.
more likely the game itself if there is only one instance where you see it.
maybe just reinstall the game and see if there's any noticeable difference.

Other people on lower-end machines dont have this issue. And I only see it in this game because this is the only game Ive played recently and my most played game.

 

[SkyNetRising]

CPU-Z screenshot:
SPD section:

Also, people keep not answering my question. I didnt ask if it is worth it or not. That is a decision I will make once I know if RAM speed is my bottleneck.

tRC value seems to be too aggressive.
I'd increase it to match XMP profile 54 ->72
And try setting Command Rate to 1T.

Also check if DDR voltage is set properly to 1.35V.

 

[bill001g]

In general it likely will not make a noticeable difference.

So maybe try a simple test. Turn off the XMP which is going to be much larger change than you are ever going to get trying to go from 3200 to 3600 even if you could get it to work.

Since this is easy to do you should now be able to run some of your favorite programs. Key here is can you really tell even when you do not have a frame rate counter sitting on the screen. Almost nobody is going to be able to see 2 or 3 frame rate difference without the counter telling them.

Then again many people that go in and manually over clock stuff are doing it purely for the enjoyment of the process even if it really doesn't end up making much difference in their actual day to day usage.

Pretty much run memtest64+ from a boot USB. Let it run a couple passes. If everything is clean the machine will be stable in real world use. If not make small changes until you get the highest clock rate and the lowest latency that will pass all tests.

 

[kerberos_20]

Also, people keep not answering my question. I didnt ask if it is worth it or not. That is a decision I will make once I know if RAM speed is my bottleneck.

look at intel supported clock speed, if youre running above that, youre not having ram speed bottleneck

now is worth it to overclock your ram? maybe yes, maybe not, some apps prefer more ram bandwith, some prefer lower latencies and some doesnt really care...but in case of games, if you dont have CPU bottleneck, then RAM speed/timings doesnt matter, overclockin ram would just improve minimum FPS (0.1%/1% low fps), but if you get bottleneck from somewhere else (like shader compiling while moving around in games), then ram wont help, if you have CPU bottleneck, then it would improve max fps aswell..but as i said before, some games like ram OC, some doesnt care

but eitherway fps improvement is much smaller then from overclocking GPU VRAM

 

[thestryker]

To answer your question: yes DDR4 at 3200 CL16 will limit your performance with that CPU. You could try to get some 4000 CL18 (at least I believe this is still on the market) but you will likely have to tweak more settings wise and it still may not work (memory controllers are fun).

The simplest way to get better performance would have been to go with the DDR5 platform instead of DDR4.