CL 2.0, is it worth it?

[Raidin]

I've heard a lot about how superior CL 2.0 is to 2.5, and that one should always buy 2.0 if the price difference is small.

After tweaking my PC for maximum performance, I began to wonder if my memory was possibly acting as a bottleneck, so I decided to change it. I was using 2 DIMMs, each was a 256MB CL 2.5 DDR333 (PC2700), running on the slow settings in the BIOS. I took them out and put in 1 DIMM of 512MB CL 2.0 DDR333, and changed the settings in the BIOS to their fastest (2-5-2 rather than 3-6-3). Also enabled the 1T command, which previously would cause instability with my CL 2.5 ram.

I thought I'd run another 3DMark03 benchmark just to see how things go and I got a measily 5 points extra on my score. Now I know I shouldn't expect a huge difference, but at what point does CL 2.0 really shine over 2.5? And is it really worth it?


Raidin

 

[madthumbs]

For DDR, it's not a noticeable difference. The CL rating is usually an indicator to overclockers that the ram can be ramped up beyond it's rating if switched to 2.5. In some cases I've seen, benchmarks were better at 2.5CL on DDR boards.

 

[JohnDeer]

Get CAS/CL 2.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AthlonXP]

Originally posted by: JohnDeer
Get CAS/CL 2.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memory manufacturers are attracting all the noobs with higher DDR speed with slower cas latencies. Don't be one of em.

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

Toms did benched it, less than five frames difference.

 

[Harabecw]

5 frame difference as in 20 and 25 or 200 and 205?

Also, test using 3dmark01, not 03.
03 doesn't give a hoot about your memory from my tests.

 

[Acanthus]

3dmark 03 doesnt give a crap about anything but graphics platform as far as i know.

Overclocking the core on my Ti4200 20mhz made more of a difference than going from 2.4ghz to 3.0ghz on my P4C, and timings didnt even change the score.

Edit: and to answer your question, CAS2.0 on ddr is 0-4% faster in 3D (depending on app)

 

[ElFenix]

makes a big difference in seti