Memory Speed Questions

[nicedude80]

This is my motherboard: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118&_ga=1.139384819.1334124321.1422899118

It says it supports: DDR3 3200(OC)/3100(OC)

Does that mean I can pop two sticks of 3200 ram into it and it will work? Also, how does 3200 ram vs 1600 ram compare? Is there any performance gains? Also would 2 x 8gb be better then 4 x 4gb ram sticks in regards to performance?

 

[faalin]

what are you doing with your computer? Yes your board supports 3200Mhz ram so if you buy it, it will run it.

For gaming a lower CL# is better, speed doesn't matter.

If your editing/rendering or doing cad work, that sort of thing then a higher MHz is what you want and the CL# doenst really matter.

I would take a 1600Mhz CL7 over 3100Mhz CL12 for gaming any day. For gaming you want to be able to change ram direction very quickly which is what the lower CL# alows the ram to do. For CAD/Rending you want to push as much information through the ram as possible and thats what the higher MHz does.


As for 2x8gb vs 4x4gb go with 2x8GB. it takes a little bit of a load off the memory controller since it doesnt have to contend with 4 sticks, it also gives you the option to add 2 more sticks down the road if you need it instead of having to buy all new ram.

 

[Calculagator]

While the motherboard may support overclocking ram to that speed, it will be very difficult for you to find RAM/RAM controller that can actually OC that high without liquid nitrogen cooling. You can probably get 2400 MHz ram working without too much trouble.
You are unlikely to notice any performance gains moving beyond 1600 unless you are doing some serious number crunching. Most games won't receive any noticeable benefit.
Using two sticks makes things easier to set up and is more likely to be stable, but if things are working as they should, there is no performance difference between 2x8 and 4x4.

 

[Calculagator]

I would take a 1600Mhz CL7 over 3100Mhz CL12 for gaming any day. For gaming you want to be able to change ram direction very quickly which is what the lower CL# alows the ram to do.

While I don't disagree with your conclusion, I think you are off in the details. The CL number give the latency in number of cycles. 7 cycles of 1600 MHz RAM is 4.3 nanoseconds while 12 cycles of 3100 MHz RAM is 3.8 nanoseconds. In your example, even though the CL number is higher, the latency is actually lower. The 3100 MHz RAM would actually have better performance in both examples (not that it would matter).

 

[Pinhedd]

what are you doing with your computer? Yes your board supports 3200Mhz ram so if you buy it, it will run it.

For gaming a lower CL# is better, speed doesn't matter.

If your editing/rendering or doing cad work, that sort of thing then a higher MHz is what you want and the CL# doenst really matter.

I would take a 1600Mhz CL7 over 3100Mhz CL12 for gaming any day. For gaming you want to be able to change ram direction very quickly which is what the lower CL# alows the ram to do. For CAD/Rending you want to push as much information through the ram as possible and thats what the higher MHz does.


As for 2x8gb vs 4x4gb go with 2x8GB. it takes a little bit of a load off the memory controller since it doesnt have to contend with 4 sticks, it also gives you the option to add 2 more sticks down the road if you need it instead of having to buy all new ram.

Yes your board supports 3200Mhz ram so if you buy it, it will run it.

Not true. All that this means is that the motherboard firmware can configure the IMC at DDR3-3200. It does not mean that the IMC will be stable at that data rate or that the bit error rate won't go through the roof.

For gaming a lower CL# is better, speed doesn't matter.

If your editing/rendering or doing cad work, that sort of thing then a higher MHz is what you want and the CL# doenst really matter.

This is nonsense. Higher data rate memory is almost always more desirable from a performance perspective. However, it's harder on the memory controller. Most games are usually not terribly memory dependent anyway, but Crossfire/SLI configurations do benefit from the added bandwidth.

As for 2x8gb vs 4x4gb go with 2x8GB. it takes a little bit of a load off the memory controller since it doesnt have to contend with 4 sticks, it also gives you the option to add 2 more sticks down the road if you need it instead of having to buy all new ram.

Intel's IMC can track 32 open pages per channel, so the optimal configuration is four ranks. This is usually two dual-rank DIMMs per channel. Furthermore, higher density SDRAM ICs have a higher Trfc which means that the rank will be inaccessible due to refresh for a greater period of time. The probability of a prolonged cache miss due to refresh is much higher in a 2x8 configuration than it is in a 4x4 configuration. You're right that the use of higher density chips permits a greater installed capacity, but lower density chips allow for greater performance.