Does Ram speed matter?

[bm23]

Is there a noticeable difference in ram speed, say. 1600 vs 1866 or 1333 vs 1600, assuming no OC?

 

[claptonman]

Between 1333 and 1600, I would say there is a difference, depending on your timings on the RAM, too. Between 1600 and 1866, I don't think many boards or processors use the extra speed all that well. Getting 1600 RAM with good timings is the best bet, in my opinion. (Better timings = lower. 8-8-8-24 is better than 9-10-9-27)

 

[Cromewell]

Between 1333 and 1600, I would say there is a difference, depending on your timings on the RAM, too. Between 1600 and 1866, I don't think many boards or processors use the extra speed all that well. Getting 1600 RAM with good timings is the best bet, in my opinion. (Better timings = lower. 8-8-8-24 is better than 9-10-9-27)

Technically, there's a difference between them all. Timings don't make that much difference anymore, most new CPUs are able to hide latency better and a 10 cycle CAS delay isn't exactly that long when you have 667000000 cycles available.

That said, overall, I'd say you likely wouldn't notice the difference unless you ran benchmarks.

 

[bm23]

Thanks for the replies guys :good: I was gona get 8gb of 1866, instead of 1600 since the price difference isn't a lot but since there's no noticeable difference in performance, no point wasting those 15 bucks then