What are the benefits of overclocking RAM?

[guymarshall]

I have an FX 8350 at 4.5GHz on a Dark Rock Pro 3 and I was wondering, does overclocking RAM improve performance in games? I am currently running my 16GB HyperX Fury RAM at 1600MHz and I am wondering if it would make my games run smoother or something if I overclocked it. My Strix 970 is overclocked to 1460MHz and 7700MHz if that helps.

Thanks in advance

 

[xBlaz3kx]

By understanding how ram works, you'll have smoother performance opening files and loading them. CPU will acess files eighter from HDD or RAM itself faster. Not just smoother graphics performance, even smoother CPU's calculations.

 

[almerac]

with an FX series processor you will get the best performance around DDR 1866 speeds with tight and stable timings and your HTT set to 2600.

in general FX processors gain more from tighter timings vs raw bandwidth (higher ram hertz) so if you cant hit much higher then 1600 your best bet is to just try and tighten timings as much as you can.

There is really very little to gain from overclocking ram other then bragging rights. It will not make games load faster, give you any noticeable FPS boost, reduce stutter est est.

In fact the only way to even see the difference is with benchmarks and otherwise you will just be consuming more power and shortening your hardware's lifetime.

Also know that no matter how fast your ram is, its limited by the HTT bus and as such you need to hit DDR 2166 or higher to saturate your HTT at 2600 mhz just fyi.

Most consumer DDR3 modules can tolerate 1.65v with decent airflow over the modules, but do check to see what your modules are rated for.

you will also want to go to overclock.net and look at their FX overclocking tutorials to understand the best ways to get OC'd ram stable with an FX processor (it can be a real pain).

the guy that posted above me doesn't know what hes talking about either. yes increasing your ram speed/tighter timings can lead to improved performance but even going from DDR 1600 to over DDR 4000 speeds will gain you single digit percents of improvement, which is some pretty abysmal scaling.

if your looking for more performance i would try overclocking your processor closer to 5ghz and getting a SSD. really once you go SSD you never go back.

 

[Tradesman1]

the guy that posted above me doesn't know what hes talking about either. yes increasing your ram speed/tighter timings can lead to improved performance but even going from DDR 1600 to over DDR 4000 speeds will gain you single digit percents of improvement, which is some pretty abysmal scaling.

_______________________________
Actually xBlaz3kx, is correct. Higher DRAM speeds can improve performance, especially in multi-tasking and data/memory intensive tasks, i.e. imaging, video work, VMs, etc. and contrary to your statements games today more and more are utilizing DRAM and showing double digit gains even in gaming, i.e. Fallout 4 as an example, would have to dig it out but the Toms did and article over a year ago showing double digit in some games back then. It's also not that hard to set up if you have the hardware to do so, I wrote an article on DDR3 comparing INtel to AMD about 9 months ago here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dram-benchmark-fluctuations,4080.html

 

[xBlaz3kx]

with an FX series processor you will get the best performance around DDR 1866 speeds with tight and stable timings and your HTT set to 2600.

in general FX processors gain more from tighter timings vs raw bandwidth (higher ram hertz) so if you cant hit much higher then 1600 your best bet is to just try and tighten timings as much as you can.

There is really very little to gain from overclocking ram other then bragging rights. It will not make games load faster, give you any noticeable FPS boost, reduce stutter est est.

In fact the only way to even see the difference is with benchmarks and otherwise you will just be consuming more power and shortening your hardware's lifetime.

Also know that no matter how fast your ram is, its limited by the HTT bus and as such you need to hit DDR 2166 or higher to saturate your HTT at 2600 mhz just fyi.

Most consumer DDR3 modules can tolerate 1.65v with decent airflow over the modules, but do check to see what your modules are rated for.

you will also want to go to overclock.net and look at their FX overclocking tutorials to understand the best ways to get OC'd ram stable with an FX processor (it can be a real pain).

the guy that posted above me doesn't know what hes talking about either. yes increasing your ram speed/tighter timings can lead to improved performance but even going from DDR 1600 to over DDR 4000 speeds will gain you single digit percents of improvement, which is some pretty abysmal scaling.

if your looking for more performance i would try overclocking your processor closer to 5ghz and getting a SSD. really once you go SSD you never go back.

Getting an SSD improves reading/writing files, accessing files faster FROM THE DISC, but you must know that it doesnt improve your calculation speed.When CPU need some files to operate with it loads them into the RAM and with higher speed it will have a faster access to them and load them into its Cache for further operations. Next time dont write dont write about something you dont know.

 

[almerac]

"_______________________________
Actually xBlaz3kx, is correct. Higher DRAM speeds can improve performance, especially in multi-tasking and data/memory intensive tasks, i.e. imaging, video work, VMs, etc. and contrary to your statements games today more and more are utilizing DRAM and showing double digit gains even in gaming, i.e. Fallout 4 as an example, would have to dig it out but the Toms did and article over a year ago showing double digit in some games back then. It's also not that hard to set up if you have the hardware to do so, I wrote an article on DDR3 comparing INtel to AMD about 9 months ago here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dram-benchmark-fluctuations,4080.html
[/quotemsg]"

he was asking concerning gaming and like i said and your review showed, you had to use benchmarks to even see a difference. and those numbers look nice and are great to have under the hood. but at the end of the day super fast ram does very little for gaming.

the single lonely task that an average user would see any appreciable gain is with file compression, but penny for penny a better processor will net better results vs enthusiast quality ram.

 

[Tradesman1]

I also mentioned games in my response, i.e. Fallout 4 (double digits, and the article last showing older games (believe they used 1600 vs 2133) showing double digit gains, you made the statement the difference between 1600 and 4000 will only show single digit, which is wrong. You also specifically stated faster DRAM would not give any noticeable FPS boost, which is also wrong and depends on the game.

As far as that goes, the comparison is also flawed unless trying to compare DDR 1600 vs DDR4 4000 as there is no DDR3 4000 and there is no DDR4 1600 and with the different architectures there is no real direct comparing DDR3 and DDR4.

If you wish to state "the guy that posted above me doesn't know what hes talking about either." (which is against forum rules to insult another member, by the way) you should make sure you know what you are talking about first.


The reference to may article was pointing out how easy it can be to set up high end sticks

 

[bmcelvan]

Can I jump in this thread or should I start a new one?

I have an Asus z170 sabertooth mark 1 board and going to get the i7-6700k. I also plan on getting an SSD for system but using HDD for all other storage.

(Trying to finish up my build once the i7-6700k comes down in price a little from the $100 overcharge everyone wants right now. Hoping by the end of the month...once that happens though I imagine DDR4 memory might go back up in price a little because everyone will need it so gonna grab it now).

I do a lot of video re-encoding with handbrake and may game in the future but not currently. I currently will use integrated graphics but if I game in the future will get a proper video card. All other applications are pretty basic. With this system, is there any reason (other than bragging rights) to get DDR4 in the 3000-3200 range (or higher) or will 2133/2400 perform nearly as well? Is there a point where there would be a noticeable difference.

In this situation would latency or Voltage make any real world difference as well (or just for bragging rights?) Corsair has some 2133 CAS Latency 10 and 12 sticks vs 14 or 15 for the higher MHz sticks. I'm assuming lower voltage will just be more stable, product will last longer?

thx

Ben

 

[Tradesman1]

Video work will benefit from faster DRAM and lower CAS is preferredd for ever so slightly better performance

 

[xBlaz3kx]

Lower latency means CPU's faster access to DRAM and is one of the most important factors in video rendering/encoding besides GPU's VRAM.

 

[bmcelvan]

Thanks for response...so save money and use a 14-16 CAS but going to the 3000-3200 versus 2133/2400 will make a noticeable difference?

One other question, will using a 4x4GB kit make any difference versus a 2x8gb kit of the same type of RAM?

 

[xBlaz3kx]

Hard to pick, but i'd go with lower lantency and 2400mhz RAM. It will, the load on each stick will be smaller because of the dual channeling, because your CPU will have 4 sticks and not 2, but can influence the CPU's load.

 

[bmcelvan]

Thanks...to clarify, the 4 sticks will perform better than the two sticks and will decrease load on the cpu? Or the 4 sticks will perform better but increase load on the cpu?
With 4 sticks, each set of 2 will BOTH be dual channeled? Versus just one set with only one dual channelling?

thx again

 

[xBlaz3kx]

Thanks...to clarify, the 4 sticks will perform better than the two sticks and will decrease load on the cpu? Or the 4 sticks will perform better but increase load on the cpu?
With 4 sticks, each set of 2 will BOTH be dual channeled? Versus just one set with only one dual channelling?

thx again

The stress on RAM will be smaller and a bit heavier on the CPU. Two dual-channels will be active if your motherboard supports that.

 

[Tradesman1]

2 Sticks is less stress stress on the MC (memory controller) than 4, and ever so slight better performance on a dual channel rig. Each stick of DRAM, by itself is a single 64bit device, however in dual channel mode ALL of the DRAM is seen as a single 128 bit device (like a big pool to draw from). More on DRAM, both FAQs and Fiction in my article (2 part) here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2741495/ddr3-faqs-fiction.html

 

[bmcelvan]

Awesome article and thanks for the response! Very helpful.

I do crazy multitasking like video encoding and music encoding concurrently in the background and while actively doing something else like image viewing, looking at webpages and using excel so it seems like high clock speeds would be good for me as well as just forking out the $$ for 32GB and probably not worrying about the cas as much

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds like a plan Let us know what you get and how you like them

 

[bmcelvan]

Got the 3200 15-15-35 32GB (2x16GB) TridentZ RAM. See following post about my issues with the RAM:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2989627/sabertooth-z170-overclocking-ram-cpu.html