Question Memory To Match System

[Martin Lomax]

Im looking to upgrade my RAM as i am stuck with pretty poor RAM,

I am currently sitting on

i7 5820k @ 4.4 GHz
RTX 2080TI + Ocool Watercooler Block
500gb Samsung 840 SSD
8GB Micron DDR4 Ram


I am looking to upgrade to either 16gb or 32gb of DDR4 to not halt my new GPU's power, does anyone have any suggestions or even good links to prices in the UK for what I am looking for? Many thanks

 

[Eximo]

Quite a few to choose from. I suppose the question is what you actually want and what you want to be spending.

Do you want to match a specific color? RGB?

What is your CPU cooler? (low profile vs whatever height memory)

Were you wanting to have highly overclocked memory, or something you can just set with XMP and be done?

Might want to list your motherboard as well.

 

[Martin Lomax]

Quite a few to choose from. I suppose the question is what you actually want and what you want to be spending.

Do you want to match a specific color? RGB?

What is your CPU cooler? (low profile vs whatever height memory)

Were you wanting to have highly overclocked memory, or something you can just set with XMP and be done?

Might want to list your motherboard as well.

Hi,
My motherboard is a Asus X99-A
RGB would be nice however not essential.
CPU Cooler I am unsure of, I can get a picture off it if that may help? but i beleive its some form of corsair water cooler (Could be wrong)
I'd like to be able to set a XMP file as i am no good at overclocking i've just used ASUS software to get my CPU OC'ed, however, I'd like some pretty fast RAM

 

[Eximo]

Just knowing it is a water cooler helps. Shouldn't be any issue with tall memory.

Plenty of options:

RGB in white or black:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...b-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-f4-3200c16q-32gtzr

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-cmw32gx4m4c3200c16w

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...b-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-cmw32gx4m4c3200c16

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...2gb-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-hx432c16pb3ak432

Plain low profile in white or black:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...b-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-cmk32gx4m4b3200c16

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-cmk32gx4m4b3200c16w


You can certainly get faster memory, but price starts to rise hugely, and there is no guarantee higher overclocks will work without serious tinkering. 3200Mhz CAS16 should do just fine.

 

[Martin Lomax]

Thank you for going to that effort, Will this RAM be suitable? as its nearly £100 cheaper than other rams, I understand its a little slower, however, will i see a massive performance difference between 3200 and 3000?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B2Y6H1M?tag=22

 

[Eximo]

Not a huge difference overall, though you should be able to find 3000Mhz memory with CAS 15. But you have X99 and i7-5820k, your system supports quad channel memory. You should be going for four sticks, not two.

 

[Martin Lomax]

Not a huge difference overall, though you should be able to find 3000Mhz memory with CAS 15. But you have X99 and i7-5820k, your system supports quad channel memory. You should be going for four sticks, not two.

Thank you, I was unaware that it accepted quad channel memory, Im not even sure what that means, is their any benefit from having 4 ram sticks as opposed to 2? also is CAS 16 and CAS 15 a major difference? as the price is quite considerate

 

[Martin Lomax]

Thank you, I was unaware that it accepted quad channel memory, Im not even sure what that means, is their any benefit from having 4 ram sticks as opposed to 2? also is CAS 16 and CAS 15 a major difference? as the price is quite considerate

Would i be okay with 2 x 8gb, and then possibly getitng the exact same kit again to use for 2 x 8gb in quad? for 32gb if needed?

 

[Eximo]

In simple terms multi channel memory is a way to save memory write cycles. Each channel is treated as a memory bank and when the opportunity arises the same data can be written simultaneously to all of them, rather than having a cycle for each. In theory it would be 4 times faster, in practice this doesn't always happen, but it is an effective way to increase bandwidth.

Lower CAS latency (CL) is how quickly the memory can respond to commands. The lower it is the better, and means that data gets to the CPU that much faster. Not sure if I am 100% remembering correctly, but I believe that equates to clock cycles before the data in the memory will change after a command is issued. So at 3000Mhz (effective) that would make 1500Mhz at CAS 15, equates to a nice round 15 nanoseconds to respond. If you start adding up 15ns vs 16ns over time, you will end up with quite the difference. So it is a big deal in theory. In practice, it just makes the performance a little better.

It is recommended to buy memory in kits. They are binned and matched together for their rating. There is no guarantee two sets, even of the same model, will perform properly together.

I don't really see the need for 32GB of memory unless you do something other than gaming that requires that much. Some of the heavier games out now need about 11-12GB of memory. That is a system total. Having another 20GB on top of that will just sit idle under most circumstances. Unless you like to keep lots of programs running all the time.