what does 1866 mhz vs 1600 mhz in ram mean

[mkgz87]

building a desktop using an asus gryphon z87 motherboard and an intel core i5 processor. what would be the best type of memory to use? am looking at ddr3 1866 or ddr3 1600. want to start with 16gb and add another 16gb of ram later for a 32gb system total. am not a gamer. your thoughts please.

 

[aerocool]

There is no apreciable difference between speeds. I´m using Photoshop and 3D Studio (that uses more than 30GB of RAM) and I don´t notice any difference between 1333 and 2400 (my modules are 2400 but first time I build the PC were running at 1333). Now I´m running it at 2000 and have the same speed in my renders. Some aplications may be benefit of more ram speed, but don´t know any (mmm... maybe Winrar).

 

[Tradesman1]

1866 has a wider bandwidth, I'd look to 1866/9 minimum for Haswell (they like fast sticks:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell

 

[gigdog]

I am using x2x8gigx 2400 and I notice a big difference in the speed of my pc

 

[Tradesman1]

I am using x2x8gigx 2400 and I notice a big difference in the speed of my pc

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Oh yes, people look at BMs and have no idea, the BMs are running a single task and the DRAM is generally just a conduit for data, when you really USE your rig, the faster sticks really shine 😉