Which RAM speed (new build) ?

[alexandrosgr]

Hi all,

I'm building a new PC and have decided on almost all parts. However, this process made me realize that I know nothing about RAM speed. I'm going for the ASUS Maximus VII Hero motherboard with a i7-4790k CPU. Should I go with 1600, 1833 or some other type of RAM for my game pc ?

Kind regards,

Alexandros

 

[gumbykid]

1600. Speed does not matter in gaming.

 

[alexandrosgr]

1600. Speed does not matter in gaming.

Thanks for the quick reply! Is there a specific brand I should be looking at or is it all the same?

 

[envy14tpe]

I'd grab 1866 CL 9 if you can find one that is a good price. Otherwise 1600 CL 9 is good enough.

Corsair and G. Skill are the most popular but others are decent too.

 

[Tradesman1]

With prices being what they are can often find 2133 and occasionally even 2400 for near the same price as good 1600 sticks. 1600/9 is considered entry level with your combo, I'd suggest at least 1866/ or 2133, might look at the GSkill Snipers, great sticks in the 2x4GB sets.. higher freqs are better in most computing, and even gain you a few FPS in gaming

 

[gumbykid]

They bring up good points. I'm not familiar with the pricing since last time I checked was a few months ago. I just know that speed itself will not dramatically change your gaming experience so it's not worth spending the extra money, in my opinion.

Gskill/Corsair are the main brands but almost any kind will do if you arent going to OC.

To give perspective, I run 1333 RAM and have no slow downs in games, it almost entirely depends on the rest of your build. FPS will be mainly be affected by your VRAM speed, not DRAM.

 

[Tradesman1]

The 4790K is native to 1600 DRAM (which is entry level) going to 1866 might be worth 3-5 FPS more and going to 2133 another 4 or so possibly

 

[gumbykid]

I was looking around and found this post http://www.overclock.net/t/1366657/ddr3-1600-vs-2133-is-there-a-difference-in-game

Which the OP tests 1600 vs 2133 RAM in multiple games. The results varied on each game, some only having a 1FPS difference and others not so much. He described that the biggest difference was in FC3, in which texture pop-ins existed at 1600 RAM but not 2133.

So I guess FPS do not change all that much, but in-game smoothness can differ between speeds.

 

[Tradesman1]

A couple of key comments in there:

"I simply don't recommend getting 1600 when the option for faster memory is there"

"Every single system wanted the fastest memory possible"

Which also goes along with, you will see the biggest differences in faster DRAM in things other than gaming, i.e. multi-tasking, imaging, video, VM, etc

 

[envy14tpe]

^ That's why I think 1866 CL9 is the sweet spot. Fast!

 

[Tradesman1]

Since Z87 was released I've looked at 1866/9 as the entry level, it's priced nominally the same as decent 2133 sets

 

[envy14tpe]

Prices change but here is a RAM comparison. Based on prices I'd get the 2133 CL9.