Mulling over getting faster DDR3 memory

[mikeymikec]

PC spec:

i5-4690K stock
12GB DDR3-1600 (2x2GB, 2x4GB)
ASUS Z97 PRO GAMER
AMD R9 380X

The most system intensive stuff I do on it is gaming. Otherwise encryption for backups, compression (XZ algorithm), occasional DVD rip.

The most intensive games I sometimes play are Witcher 3, XCOM2 + expansions, StarCraft 2. My system handles these to my satisfaction. I probably will go for Cyberpunk 2077 when it comes out.

My thought about upgrading started from reading a memory choice thread, then I wondered whether W3 would benefit from faster RAM, browsed and found some stats suggesting it does for Ryzen and DDR4 but not by mind-blowing amounts.

One thing that really surprised me though is that I can't find any new modules faster than 1866MHz, just used ones on ebay. As I hope to get as much time as I can out of this rig, I'm thinking of swapping out my current RAM for 2x8GB modules and as fast as possible; I can see a couple of pairs of 2400MHz modules on ebay for example. I'll probably stick with Crucial HyperX as I know the modules aren't too tall for the processor heatsink I have installed.

Thoughts?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Don’t waste your time/money. Generally speaking faster memory doesn’t make that much of a difference for almost anything. Particularly with intel.
Adding more memory is likely a better idea however 16GB appears to be the current sweet spot.

 

[hojnikb]

Try to overclock and optimize timings. Other than that, it makes little sense to throw money at that. It's better to upgrade the cpu to a 4c8t

 

[MajinCry]

If it were Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition, you'd see a huge boost from faster RAM. Not so sure about the older Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. But since you don't play those, I don't think you're gunning for any notable offenders.

 

[southleft]

A few years ago I built a Core i5-4590 with 2 x 4GB DDR3-1600 on an ASRock Z97Extreme4 motherboard. When first installed, the memory defaults to 1333MHz. Decided not to enable XMP to boost the RAM up to 1600MHz.
I played 5 or 6 different shooter games and racing simulations for a few months, and was happy with the results using a GTX-1060 video card. For most games the framerate is displayed in the top left corner of my monitor.
The exact same RAM went on sale at Newegg and I bought another 2 x 4GB kit and installed it. There was no discernible effect on gaming. I mean, average frames-per-second don't mean much to me. It's the minimum fps that's important when you're in the thick of fighting hordes of enemies. After enabling 1600MHz via XMP in the BIOS I noticed two games had slightly better minimum fps in certain saved-game levels which I replayed. The improvement, however, was only 3 fps in one game and 4 fps in the other game, neither of which made things run any smoother.
Now, if the minimum fps was right on the threshold of being choppy/stuttery, then that small improvement could be very useful. On the other hand, I can always lower a couple of in-game detail settings and get a bigger improvement! For example, limiting or disabling motion-blur and setting shadows one level lower gives several extra fps improvement. (Who uses motion-blur, anyway?)
Having said that, when editing our occasional 1080p home videos, the process definitely feels snappier with the extra RAM and extra speed.

 

[jana519]

Jesus, you have a Z97 mobo and your 4690k is running at stock? What cooler do you have exactly?

The best bang for your buck upgrade is to get a Cooler Master Hyper 212 or similar 120mm air cooler for $20 and overclock to 4.4 or 4.5Ghz.

In terms of cost effectiveness, RAM is secondary to the CPU. Since you have 4 RAM slots, you definitely want to run 16GB RAM for faster apps like Chrome. Here again, you only need to spend $20. Dump the 2x2GB sticks and find a 2x4GB set to match your other 2x4GB sticks.

Also check to see if your RAM supports XMP for tighter timings.

 

[mikeymikec]

Jesus, you have a Z97 mobo and your 4690k is running at stock? What cooler do you have exactly?

When I built this rig, its predecessor had been having stability issues. As it wasn't a complete replacement, I took no chances with overclocking (which was just as well because the previous intermittent issues turned out to be a subtlely faulty graphics card, not the mainboard).

I feel like I need to turn in my geek card for this, but I don't remember for certain which HSF is installed. I know I had to pick one for a customer's build, then I'm pretty sure I wanted it in my own: Cooler Maser Hyper TX3i. However there were two variations of this HSF (I think one was called EVO), but knowing me, despite not being able to tell the difference (IIRC) between the two, I went for the one I knew. I can't find it in my records because I think I asked for it as a christmas present.

Because the old graphics card had been such a pain to pinpoint and it took several months of stability issues, I can't say I've ever been in the mood to risk instability since. I also like a quiet system

RAM capacity: not such a concern since I run Lubuntu as my main OS (Win10 for gaming). With a multitude of Firefox tabs open, Thunderbird, LibreOffice and Sunbird I'm using 3.5GB RAM. Even if I fire up a Win7 VM I'm still only using about 7GB RAM.

XMP: I think I already enabled that. I'll have a poke about in the BIOS soon to confirm.

 

[jana519]

Yeah that's a pretty cheapo cooler, and I bet your thermal paste is also old and not good quality. If I were you, I'd try bumping up the clockspeed by 200Ghz at a time. I wouldn't even touch the voltage with your current cooling, just leave that at stock.

If you decided to drop $20 on a Hyper 212, I bet you could get it to 4.4Ghz easy

 

[fire400]

if the board is older than 3 years, i wouldn't bother OC'ing at all, the BIOS config + circuitry configuration is probably very comfortable where its at for lifespan.

upgrade RAM, to 16gb or 32gb. or get ready for a new build with NVME gen3/gen4.