Noticeable effects of faster ram timings?

[Essence_of_War]

When I built my gaming/work rig in my dig, I didn't really know much about RAM. I have 16 GB of ddr3-1600 at 1.5V, but the timings are 11-11-11-30.

I have a little extra cash, is there a noticeable real world benefit to switching or adding RAM with lower voltages and 9-9-9-24 timings? There is a good deal for ballistix with these specs on newegg.

My typical uses are gaming, Physics simulations, matlab signal processing, and some video/audio encoding.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Xbitlabs has a nice little article on that:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ivy-bridge-ddr3.html

As you can read, high clocks are more important then tight timings. Timings don't matter as much as they used to... 🙂

 

[Soulkeeper]

Tight timings don't have as much effect as they had in previous years (pc133 ddr ddr2).
11-11-11-30 are relatively standard for most the ram on the market today.
It's worth noting that much of the "fast" ram shares the same chips as the slower stuff, so often you can overclock or tighten up the timings fairly easily (even without voltage increases most the time).

I wouldn't suggest spending more money if you already have memory.

Which model/brand do you have ?

 

[Essence_of_War]

Thanks for the article Insert!

Soulkeeper,

I have Corsair CMV16GX3M2A1600C11.

I think it's this model exactly.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I don't have experience with that particular mem, but it's likely quality stuff.
I've mostly played with mushkin, gskill, and samsung on my last builds.

I'd say trying to run it at 1866 speed might be worth a shot
and/or dropping the timings down a bit ie: 10-10-10-28

Just be carefull not to move too much at once, and verify stability with full memtest86+ passes before trying to boot your OS.
Worst case senario your system won't post and you'll have to clr cmos and start over.

btw those timings/mem in my sig are http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147096 11-11-11-28 1600 was it's stock settings.

 

[aigomorla]

faster ram speed > tighter timings once u get to a point.

example.. 11-11-11-32 ram will be noticibly slower then 8-8-8-21
if on the same speed.

However if the 11 timing ram is faster then the 8 timing... it will even out visually so u wont notice squat unless ur using a outdated benchmark software like superpi.


When overclocking i used to tell people u have to either get top raited memory, or top raited cpu.
Memory will be limited when overclocking a low ball cpu... and a high ball cpu, has unlocked potential so any ram works on them.