Feature Memory Overclocking on Z390 Coffee Lake: What RAM Speed Do You Need?

[Jsimenhoff]

The secret to building an optimal computer system is the correct selection of its components. Careful selection not only ensures that all your components play nice together, but it also helps avoid bottlenecks that hinder performance and impact the user experience.

It goes without saying that memory is often one of the less-thought-about components. You could just purchase the most expensive memory kit, or the cheapest, but that's not always the best route. There are a plethora of memory kits on the market with different capacities, speeds, and timings. Choosing the right one can be a bit overwhelming for the first-time computer builder, or even for some of the more seasoned veterans.

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ZHIYE LIU @zhiyeliu

 

[gasaraki]

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I thought this was a question. Anyway I'l answer the heading. Intel systems are less sensitive to memory speed so 3200MHz is the good enough. Ryzen functions better with faster memory. 3200MHz should be the minimum for Ryzen.

 

[10tacle]

?

I thought this was a question. Anyway I'l answer the heading. Intel systems are less sensitive to memory speed so 3200MHz is the good enough. Ryzen functions better with faster memory. 3200MHz should be the minimum for Ryzen.

That may be true in some productivity apps that use hyperthreading and all cores, but it can't be the case, as with Intel, with gaming performance boost at resolutions >1080p. That's long been the case for gaming PCs in general no matter AMD or Intel. I always shook my head at guys who spent hundreds more on the fastest memory thinking it would yield similar results to spending hundreds more in a faster GPU.

In any event that would be an interesting test to see the performance improvement of gaming at 1080p between Intel and AMD chips at which realistic resolution we still see improvement in FPS with faster memory (let's face it, nobody games on a 720p monitor anymore with a modern PC). Of course the fact that Intel chips are faster than AMD chips in gaming at that resolution would need to be taken off the table and just a % improvement bar set across the board.

 

[TJ Hooker]

?

I thought this was a question. Anyway I'l answer the heading. Intel systems are less sensitive to memory speed so 3200MHz is the good enough. Ryzen functions better with faster memory. 3200MHz should be the minimum for Ryzen.

Did you miss the fact that this is an article? If you look at the benchmarks provided, RAM speed actually can make a significant difference in performance with an Intel platform in some cases.