Question Is there a big difference between a 2666mhz and 3600mhz?

[Stealth3si]

I know higher speed number is always better but I want to know how much of a noticeable difference is there between 2666mhz ram and 3600mhz ram on an i9 9900k and Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra. I will be gaming and general productivity. FYI, the difference in price between the two "identical" sets I'm looking at getting is $150. One set is 18-18-18-43 1.20V while the other set is 18-22-22-42 1.35V. How much of a difference in performance speed would I be missing out in games and general productivity if I went with the cheaper set? Thank you for your help!

 

[geofelt]

Can you list the exact part numbers in question?
And, perhaps a link to where you will buy.

In the us, $150 will buy you a 32gb kit of 3600 speed ram.

To answer your question, ram speed on intel processors do not much impact actual performance on most apps.

 

[Stealth3si]

Can you list the exact part numbers in question?
And, perhaps a link to where you will buy.

In the us, $150 will buy you a 32gb kit of 3600 speed ram.

To answer your question, ram speed on intel processors do not much impact actual performance on most apps.

Sure thing.

The first set of 2666mhz is F4-2666C18D64GVK with timings of 18-18-18-43 1.20V and is actually from my cousin's friend who's willing to sell it to me for ab $150 less than the one on Amazom. The second set of 36000mhz is F4-3600C18Q-128GVK from Amazon with timings of 18-22-22-42 1.35V . Hope that helps!

I am looking to get 128gb.

So it's better to just get the cheaper one then?

 

[kanewolf]

Sure thing.

The first set of 2666mhz is F4-2666C18D64GVK with timings of 18-18-18-43 1.20V and is actually from my cousin's friend who's willing to sell it to me for ab $150 less than the one on Amazom. The second set of 36000mhz is F4-3600C18Q-128GVK from Amazon with timings of 18-22-22-42 1.35V . Hope that helps!

I am looking to get 128gb.

So it's better to just get the cheaper one then?

First, I would be concerned with buying random RAM, especially when you are trying to run 128GB with four DIMMs.
"My cousin's friend" vs new with a warranty. Not a difficult choice, IMO.

 

[geofelt]

No,... Whoa...
It looks like the 2666 speed ram is not from a single matched kit.
It is four separate 64gb sticks and even though they are the same part number, they are not matched. OEM builders will have an inventory of 64gb sticks and they slap the capacity the buyer needs into the build and hope that it will work.
Usually, it does, but not always.
Unfortunately, the buyer is left to figure out what is wrong.
You may note that the mfg dates are different, including April, Dec, and July.

If you need to run 128gb,you must buy a single matched kit.
This becomes more important when using 4 sticks.

Buy the second 128gb kit.

 

[Stealth3si]

No,... Whoa...
It looks like the 2666 speed ram is not from a single matched kit.
It is four separate 64gb sticks and even though they are the same part number, they are not matched. OEM builders will have an inventory of 64gb sticks and they slap the capacity the buyer needs into the build and hope that it will work.
Usually, it does, but not always.
Unfortunately, the buyer is left to figure out what is wrong.
You may note that the mfg dates are different, including April, Dec, and July.

Granted they are not matched. What could go wrong in case I take a chance to go this route? Like would I experience stutters, errors, lockups, memory leaks, etc?

If you need to run 128gb,you must buy a single matched kit.
This becomes more important when using 4 sticks.

Buy the second 128gb kit.

I found this pair of 64gb kit https://www.newegg.com/oloy-64gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820821212

I am really tempted to jump the gun on these bc relatively they are cheap and have decent performance. Say I buy two of them at once, realistically what are the chances of something bad happening?

 

[Lafong]

Say I buy two of them at once, realistically what are the chances of something bad happening?

"Bad"??

It's not going to harm your hardware or burst into flames.

Meaning disappointment because they don't run at hoped for speed...or maybe aren't even recognized?

If you "need" 128 rather than 64, I guess you'd be better off with "slow" 128 than "fast" 64....assuming the full 128 was at least recognized.

You could go ahead and buy two of those 2x32 kits in your link and test them and then hope to rely on Newegg's sometimes reliable return policy if unhappy.

Cost would be $308 for 128 gb.

How would you react if disappointed in performance and Newegg denies your return? Shrug your shoulders or rage for a month? How much would you pay to avoid that risk?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am looking to get 128gb.

What workload requires 128GB ram?

 

[geofelt]

What could go wrong??
Your rig may fail to boot.
It may not run at advertised ram speeds.
You may get occasional failures.
If it does not work out, you will get no official support.
Ram will have a lifetime warranty. If there is a failure on one stick, the whole kit gets returned for a RMA. Mixed kits will not be accepted.
You may not be able to return the ram.
Larger capacities, higher speeds, and using 4 ram slots all conspire to give you a warning to check ram compatibility.
Two places to check:
The motherboard ram qvl list will list many ram kits tha thave been tested and found to work:
https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...191113.pdf?v=59a14aedeb6fb60b046c406cbf01cf5c
Or, go to a ram vendor site and access their ram selection app.
Here is the one for corsair and your motherboard:

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/c/Cor_Products_Memory?type=motherboard&manufacturerSelection=Gigabyte&systemModelSelction=Z390%20Aorus%20Ultra&maxModule=8&minModule=1&maxCapacity=128&minCapacity=2&page=1&sort=price-desc&view=listView&filters=

Do not guess, pick the exact part number.

What is your app that requires 128gb?
Some will respond to faster ram.
Others simply need a large working space where specs are not that important.

 

[kanewolf]

What could go wrong??
Your rig may fail to boot.
It may not run at advertised ram speeds.
You may get occasional failures.

Even worse, data corruption. A prized picture corrupted. Your wedding video hosed. NOT GOOD.

 

[Stealth3si]

"Bad"??

It's not going to harm your hardware or burst into flames.

Meaning disappointment because they don't run at hoped for speed...or maybe aren't even recognized?

If you "need" 128 rather than 64, I guess you'd be better off with "slow" 128 than "fast" 64....assuming the full 128 was at least recognized.

You could go ahead and buy two of those 2x32 kits in your link and test them and then hope to rely on Newegg's sometimes reliable return policy if unhappy.

Cost would be $308 for 128 gb.

How would you react if disappointed in performance and Newegg denies your return? Shrug your shoulders or rage for a month? How much would you pay to avoid that risk?

Yea I get what you're saying, I took those risks into consideration before ab 3 years ago, I bought 2 of my G.skill 16gb matched kits separately from Newegg one year apart from each other, no issues so far. But since I'm not familiar with Oloy brand and having never bought 2 64gb kits before, hence my question.

What workload requires 128GB ram?

It's a game I'm playing using many mods so it uses a lot of memory.

What could go wrong??
Your rig may fail to boot.
It may not run at advertised ram speeds.
You may get occasional failures.
If it does not work out, you will get no official support.
Ram will have a lifetime warranty. If there is a failure on one stick, the whole kit gets returned for a RMA. Mixed kits will not be accepted.
You may not be able to return the ram.

Gotcha, I'm more concerned about the technical/performance issues happening than anything else. My cousin's friend accepts free returns for any reason, so no worries there.

Larger capacities, higher speeds, and using 4 ram slots all conspire to give you a warning to check ram compatibility.

Guess I will settle for 3200mhz then. but keep 128gb.

The motherboard ram qvl list will list many ram kits tha thave been tested and found to work:
https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...191113.pdf?v=59a14aedeb6fb60b046c406cbf01cf5c

Is this Gigabyte list from 2019? I can find no compatible Oloy part numbers in the list yet I find it strange that the part number for my ram I have now isn't on the list either and it works fine.

Or, go to a ram vendor site and access their ram selection app.
Here is the one for corsair and your motherboard:

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/c/Cor_Products_Memory?type=motherboard&manufacturerSelection=Gigabyte&systemModelSelction=Z390%20Aorus%20Ultra&maxModule=8&minModule=1&maxCapacity=128&minCapacity=2&page=1&sort=price-desc&view=listView&filters=

I went to Pangoly and found that my mobo and part number for the Oloy kit I posted earlier are indeed compatible. XLNT! But yea as long as two of those matched kits work perfectly I'll be a happy camper!

What is your app that requires 128gb?
Some will respond to faster ram.
Others simply need a large working space where specs are not that important.

It's a game I'm playing that uses many mods.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It's a game I'm playing using many mods so it uses a lot of memory.

There is no game, that can use this much ram.
Have you actually checked your ram usage?

 

[Stealth3si]

There is no game, that can use this much ram.
Have you actually checked your ram usage?

Yes.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can you show a screenshot from Task Manager - Performance/memory section,
when running this "game"?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

1. Oloy... no, just NO !!
2. New vs. used... concerned about performance & stability.... easy choice there IMHO !
3. Virtually ALL currently existing games are GPUlimited for the most part, and after that, somewhat CPU limited... Very, very few will have any issues with ram usage, unless of course you only have like 4 or 8GB....

Are you 100% certain that you are looking at "SYSTEM" memory (RAM) vs. "VIDEO " memory (VRAM) usage ?

 

[Karadjgne]

I run skyrim with 170 mods (downsized on this run-through from over 260 mods), everything from weather to lighting to cities to hdt-smp, all 4k/8k mods, and barely use 13Gb of ram.

My daughter runs all kinds of mods in minecraft, and hasn't topped 10Gb of ram yet.

There isn't a modded game (and that includes ones like FarCry with HD texture pack) that use even close to 32Gb of ram.

 

[Stealth3si]

Can you show a screenshot from Task Manager - Performance/memory section,
when running this "game"?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

No need to, as it turns out the game took around 48GB and other stuff took ab 20GB making the system usage to around 70GB and more than 64G of physical memory was in usage so I figured I might as well get 128GB..

 

[geofelt]

Be careful how you interpret task manager utilization.
Windows will keep unused code in ram in anticipation of instant reuse.
To see if you are now truly short of ram with 64gb, run the game and look at task manager/resource monitor/memory tab.
Look at the hard fault page rate.
I am betting it is near zero.
A hard fault happens when a needed page is not in ram and needs to be swapped in.
That is bad. The game stops until the fault is resolved. Having a ssd for windows makes this process some 40x faster.

 

[Stealth3si]

Be careful how you interpret task manager utilization.
Windows will keep unused code in ram in anticipation of instant reuse.
To see if you are now truly short of ram with 64gb, run the game and look at task manager/resource monitor/memory tab.
Look at the hard fault page rate.
I am betting it is near zero.
A hard fault happens when a needed page is not in ram and needs to be swapped in.
That is bad. The game stops until the fault is resolved. Having a ssd for windows makes this process some 40x faster.

yea it is, and I do have an ssd, before with 32 gb the game would stop when the memory limit was reached around 64gb and now with 128 gb it doesnt happen anymore.

 

[USAFRet]

Yea I get what you're saying, I took those risks into consideration before ab 3 years ago, I bought 2 of my G.skill 16gb matched kits separately from Newegg one year apart from each other, no issues so far.

Past performance is no guarantee of future success.

 

[geofelt]

Sounds like poor game code or poor mod coding.
Possibly there is a setting where you can limit the amount of ram to be used
I can't imagine that there are many buyers for a game that needs 128gb to run.

 

[Stealth3si]

Past performance is no guarantee of future success.

Well yea, anything can go wrong, no guarantees I was just wondering what are the odds against me if this is kind of attempt is common or uncommon.

Sounds like poor game code or poor mod coding.
Possibly there is a setting where you can limit the amount of ram to be used
I can't imagine that there are many buyers for a game that needs 128gb to run.

Perhaps it is just bad sloppy game coding, Its not the game needs 128 gb its that I need 128 gb for my personal usage.

 

[USAFRet]

Well yea, anything can go wrong, no guarantees I was just wondering what are the odds against me if this is kind of attempt is common or uncommon.

Mixing RAM is always a crapshoot.
There is no definable "percentage of success".

Perhaps it is just bad sloppy game coding, Its not the game needs 128 gb its that I need 128 gb for my personal usage.

The number of gamers who have a system with 128GB is likely under 1% worldwide.

 

[Stealth3si]

Mixing RAM is always a crapshoot.
There is no definable "percentage of success".

ig I'm lucky then coz I have no issues mixing ram

The number of gamers who have a system with 128GB is likely under 1% worldwide.

its prolly bc less than 1% are power users like myself

 

[USAFRet]

its prolly bc less than 1% are power users like myself

'power user' ?

OK, we'll go with that... 👌