How much do Intel Hardcore Gamers care about fast memory over Ryzen Gamers?

[TheDarkKnight]

I'm curious to know how much hardcore gamers care about having the fastest memory speeds on the Intel platform. Most people know by now (including myself) that the benefits of having faster memory speeds on Ryzen are more significant than having the fastest memory speeds, for 3D Games, on an Intel platform.

I'm assuming as facts that any hardcore gamer using an Intel platform is always going to be using a pretty powerful discrete graphics card which is the reason the faster/fastest memory speeds are not as desirable by hardcore gamers on Intel platforms.

I guess what puzzles me is how many fast memory kits are available for Intel's Z platforms (although it's changing these days) and if hardcore gamers really care all that much about it or is it for a different audience other than hardcore gamers?

 

[ozzy702]

I'm curious to know how much hardcore gamers care about having the fastest memory speeds on the Intel platform. Most people know by now (including myself) that the benefits of having faster memory speeds on Ryzen are more significant than having the fastest memory speeds, for 3D Games, on an Intel platform.

I'm assuming as facts that any hardcore gamer using an Intel platform is always going to be using a pretty powerful discrete graphics card which is the reason the faster/fastest memory speeds are not as desirable by hardcore gamers on Intel platforms.

I guess what puzzles me is how many fast memory kits are available for Intel's Z platforms (although it's changing these days) and if hardcore gamers really care all that much about it or is it for a different audience other than hardcore gamers?

Wut?

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's not that higher-spec RAM kits simply don't matter for Intel games using an unlocked CPU / chipset, they do. It's just that it matters a little less than Ryzen users.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

We are in full agreement then. We both said the same thing in different ways I think. They say, "Never Say Never" and I never did. OOps. Dammit!
I know that if we are talking about benefits for gamers then we have to talk about the specific games. Some, use the CPU a whole lot more than the graphics card I've heard. But the "majority" of games are going to benefit from the fast CPU and rely on the graphics card and it's faster effective memory speeds more than the fast speed of the system memory.

So, I was just curious what the ratio of games might be that were more reliant on the faster memory speeds and whether most people placed much significance on that area. Memory Speeds above, say 2400MHz. The MHz at which begins the point of diminishing returns.

 

[Shmee]

Some hardcore gamers will buy faster RAM, within reason, but also it may be people going for OC records, benchmarks, or have specific applications or use cases that need more memory bandwidth.

 

[DrMrLordX]

It's not that higher-spec RAM kits simply don't matter for Intel games using an unlocked CPU / chipset, they do. It's just that it matters a little less than Ryzen users.

Some hardcore gamers will buy faster RAM, within reason, but also it may be people going for OC records, benchmarks, or have specific applications or use cases that need more memory bandwidth.

On top of all that, Intel IMCs will support higher DDR4 speeds right now than AMD IMCs. You're lucky to get anything higher than DDR4-3600 on Pinnacle Ridge, and some can't manage even that. Plus anything over 16 GB and you will have headaches. Jury's still out on how well TR2 can handle DDR4. I suspect it'll be the same as Pinnacle Ridge, though.

All those DDR4-4600 kits and the like are aimed at Intel systems because Intel systems are the only ones that have a snowball's chance in hell of booting at those speeds. Ironically, that's a good way to kill the IMC on some Intel chips.

 

[DaveSimmons]

There isn't a "hardcore gamers standards organization" so I doubt there's a uniform answer. Also, you should distinguish between "care" and "should care."

I guess I'm a mediumcore gamer since I don't bother to overclock or run SLI, and I'm still using a 980ti with my 8700 non-K while I wait for real benchmarks on the 2080 and 2080 ti. For me, I'd rather have 100.00% stability than bragging rights. I want to enjoy playing games not spend hours fiddling just to win at benchmarks.

Edit: Ryzen owners do have more incentive to overclock, to make up tor the lower stock clocks and IPC.

 

[cfenton]

Also, you should distinguish between "care" and "should care."

I agree with this. Lots of people recommend buying high speed memory for Ryzen systems, but the actual benefit is, in the grand scheme of things, quite small. If you can get fast RAM for the same price as slower RAM, then go for it, but I don't think it makes sense to pay much more money for faster RAM for either platform. Unless, of course, you have some non-gaming use that benefits from faster RAM.

 

[Dasa2]

I'm not sure i'm a hard core gamer it's just a hobby and I don't really play competitive games.
In my mind RAM speed is just as important for Intel as AMD.
It doesn't scale as high per MHz but it sees large gains from having a lower final latency with improved bandwidth and the fact that Intel can OC RAM further than AMD makes up for the fact that it doesn't scale as well per MHz.

Overclocking my 3200c14 RAM to 3866c16 makes a bigger difference to performance in the games I play than overclocking the 6700K to 4.7GHz.
I enjoy tinkering with my system and for me the 30% increase to CPU performance vs a cheap rubbish kit is well worth it or ~10% over your basic 3200c16 kit.

https://www.overclock.net/forum/180...0c11-2133c9-ddr4-2133c15-3000c12-4000c17.html

In my mind building a Overclockable system for AMD or Intel is bad value without at least 3200c16 RAM preferably 3200c14 for b-die.