Tested difference of higher CL on same clock speed RAM?

cbalsill on 29/08/2020 - 14:26
Last edited 29/08/2020 - 17:53

Been trying (and failing) to find comparison info of gaming with RAM with different latency, AT THE SAME SPEED.
IE, 2400 C13 vs 2400 C18 or 3600 C14 vs 3600 C21. How much difference does it actually make? 2-3 frames? 10-15?

Everything I find comes up explaining difference of speed and latency and/or comparing EG 3200 C16 vs 3600 C18… Yeah, I get all that.
Does anyone have any experience or insight they could share?

Thing is, I'm looking to upgrade (on an i5-9400) and currently comparing two sets - 2x8GB @C16 vs 2x16GB @C19.
Of course the lower is objectively better than the higher - but to what degree?
I know I won't need 32GB now at all, but with 16GB as the new standard recently well hey, it future proofs it - 140% cost for 200% capacity seems good to me.
But if the CL19 does make a significant difference compared to the faster CL16 then I might reconsider…

ANSWER: negligible difference.

Computing

Comments

  • Cartman2530 on 29/08/2020 - 14:40
    +2

    Some CPU architectures show measurably better performance when high speed lower latency RAM is used. In AMD Ryzen for example, the infinity fabric in zen 2 has a relationship to the RAM speed and latency, and thus performance.

    So depending on what CPU you have, it may make a difference or not.

    • cbalsill on 29/08/2020 - 15:02

      Just grabbed the i5-9400 posted today. Am on a H370 board (read: capped at 2666) though.
      I had bought an i3-8100 in 2018 assuming Intel would allow more than just Coffee Lake on the 300 chipset in future…….
      Didn't want to spend much or to spend for new mobo, but did need an update after I got given a 2080 Ti 😃

      • Cartman2530 on 29/08/2020 - 17:34
        +1

        Since the board doesn't allow XMP, try and find the lowest CL 2666 RAM that you can, that's the best you can do unless you change motherboards.

        Think of CAS Latency (CL) in terms of how quickly that memory can be accessed when requested and RAM speed in as how quickly the data can be transferred. The lower the CL and faster the memory speed the better, but in the real world it won't have a massive effect on games.

        • cbalsill on 29/08/2020 - 17:56

          It does allow XMP with i5 and up but not on i3, and also only up to 2666 😊 I'll cop that though rather than the cost of new board+

    • cbalsill on 29/08/2020 - 17:53

      Perfect! thank you

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