Question Math-intensive apps like Folding@home or BOINC: Is faster RAM of any use?

[Piri1974]

Hello folks;

I have a question about the importance of RAM-speed for math-intensive applications like eg. Folding@Home.

We tend to think that faster RAM will always bring better performance. But is it really so simple?
If you have a 16-core cpu, I suppose it is.

But I have 2 much smaller CPUs laying around here: An Athlon 200GE (2-core, 4-thread) and an older AMD A8-9600 (4-core).
I would like to let them work for science and run Folding@home, or any other science app running on the BOINC client.

I still need to buy RAM and motherboards for those 2 CPUs.
The Athlon officially supports DDR4 2667, and the A8 supports DDR4 2400.
I know that there are faster DDR4 RAM modules like DDR4-3200.

But so:
If I buy DDR4-3200, will these chips be able to run this RAM at that speed, or will they just throttle it back to 2667 or 2400Mhz?
And will Folding@Home or other math-intensive software even get any profit from faster RAM? (with these Athlon and A8 cpus)
If the answer is no to even 1 of those 2 questions, then I don't need to bother and just buy cheaper DDR4 2400/2667Mhz modules.

I was thinking about buying 2 cheap A320 mobos for these CPUs too.
If anyone of you thinks that I would better invest in a B350 or B450 mobo for some reason, please let me know.


Thanks in advance for your advice.
Have a nice day;
Carl

 

[Ralston18]

Most likely throttle back unless some overclocking is possible/viable.

Key words "officially support".

Look at the recommended hardware spec's for Folding@Home.

Plus any ability to overclock on the existing mobos. And the A320's as well. Model numbers and versions are important.

Overall, performance will only be as fast as the slowest component....

Details matter. Here is a starter link that should be helpful:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/317...crucial-differences-in-every-am4-chipset.html

 

[Piri1974]

Thank you for the information!
I'm still wondering if these scientific projects like F@H are highly influenced by memory bandwidth or not.
Maybe I'll try to ask this question in the forums of F@H or World Community Grid...

Have a good day!
Carl