Question More RAM vs faster RAM?

[James Blonde]

I'm looking to build a new 13 gen system, and for the same of future proofing, I'm going to go Z790 / DDR5

Corsair are selling different sized kits of DDR 5 RAM. Question i've got - and lets pretend for the same of this question that I need a lot of RAM - what would be better? More RAM or faster RAM?

DOMINATOR® PLATINUM RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MHz C40 Memory Kit — Black

VENGEANCE® RGB 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 5600MHz C40 Memory Kit — Black

 

[USAFRet]

'Faster' does not make up for 'not enough'.

How much do you actually need?

 

[James Blonde]

Apparently I "need" around 63gb.... However I'm pretty sure if I had it, I'd "need" 96gb

and let me explain. Cities Skylines. Uses an absolute ton of memory if you've got it and you use mods. Doesn't need it all the time - seems to take most of it during load and then drop down once loaded. I'm sure I can better optimise the game, I'm sure I could do more with a page file (pretty sure I'm over 100Gb - can't remember) and I'm sure it's just using whats there and if it had less, it would somehow cope. but....

Also work with large photos in photoshop.

So the 64 on my current system is enough (i7 9700K, 64Gb RAM, RTX 3070Ti, couple of M2s, couple of SSDs, couple of large drives). but it's occasionally pushed. Maybe through poor user practise! But if I'm upgrading, I thought I'd ask....

It's weird that it's not that I play top tier games that are pushing my system - it's the simulation type games that the frame rates go through the floor - Cities Skylines, Transport Fever 2, etc. 12-20fps, and I don't think I've got a bad system!

 

[Lafong]

This is the first I've heard of 48 GB sticks of DDR 5.

I'd be a little antsy about that. Don't know if motherboards are necessarily OK with it. Maybe so.

 

[James Blonde]

This is the first I've heard of 48 GB sticks of DDR 5.

I'd be a little antsy about that. Don't know if motherboards are necessarily OK with it. Maybe so.

Yep, it struck me as unusual! I mean they wouldn't sell it if it didn't work (and it is Corsair!) but I've always thought / we've always been conditioned to think in terms on 4, 8, 16, 36, 64, etc. I do remember running 12Gb in one of my older systems because I just happened to have a spare DIMM and thought I'd try it.

 

[geofelt]

First rule is to buy enough ram capacity.
To check your current system, run your apps and look at task manager/resource monitor/memory tab/hard page fault column.
If you see any hard fault rate much above zero, you need more ram.

The benefit of lots of ram for apps like photoshop is that you can hold more if not all of the data in ram, avoiding the need to use work files.

Considering that 48gb is a relatively new option, which may have unexpected issues, I think I would bite the bullet and opt for 128gb up front.

 

[kerberos_20]

This is the first I've heard of 48 GB sticks of DDR 5.

I'd be a little antsy about that. Don't know if motherboards are necessarily OK with it. Maybe so.

its relatively new (around february), bios updates on intel should be already done to support it, amd still working on it