What Is RAM Timing and Why Does It Matter?

Technically, it measures the latency between issuing the precharge command to idle (or close) one row and an activate command to open a different row. It's often identical to the second number. The same factors affect the latency of both operations.

1. Do RAM timings matter?
2. What is a good timing for RAM?
3. What do RAM timings do?
4. What's more important RAM speed or size?
5. Is 32GB RAM overkill?
6. Is 1600MHz RAM good?
7. Is 2400 Mhz RAM good?
8. Is 3000 Mhz RAM good?
9. Is higher Mhz RAM better?
10. Can I mix ram with different timings?
11. Do RAM timings matter for Ryzen?
12. How do I calculate RAM timings?

Do RAM timings matter?

While faster, lower latency RAM will indeed increase the technical performance of your computer, it works at such a fundamental level that it's almost impossible for us flesh-and-blood humans to actually appreciate the difference.

What is a good timing for RAM?

Your millage may vary depending on the word burst allowance being used in a transfer, so these are just basic timing numbers. CL 8/9 is pretty good timing for 1600 sticks, a bit faster than 11. And a good read on what DDR4 is all about with respect to DDR3 and future DRAM configurations...

What do RAM timings do?

Memory timings or RAM timings describe the timing information of a memory module. ... These parameters (as part of a larger whole) specify the clock latency of certain specific commands issued to a random access memory. Lower numbers imply a shorter wait between commands (as determined in clock cycles).

What's more important RAM speed or size?

More Ram matters more than the speed. ... Determining the benefit of RAM clock speeds depends very much on what CPU you're using. If it's a Ryzen, you'll see more benefits from high speed RAM than if it's an Intel chip. Generally faster RAM is better, but more than 3000 is frankly not worth the added cost.

Is 32GB RAM overkill?

The short answer, for the most part, is No, you don't need 32GB RAM. I have been editing 4k videos on my desktop computer with 16GB RAM and it just works fine. For other daily day stuff, even playing latest games on ULTRA settings doesn't use the entire 16GB RAM ever.

Is 1600MHz RAM good?

In general it is good enough and it actually is the fastest kind of memory supported on locked Intel motherboards before socket 1151. Though if you have a Z87/Z97 motherboard and unlocked K cpu, then getting memory faster than 1600MHz can be beneficial.

Is 2400 Mhz RAM good?

In the video below, you can see that 4000MHz memory can be up to around 30% faster in games than 2400MHz, though 3200-3600MHz is more often the “sweet spot” in terms of price-to-performance. ... Is 2400MHz (DDR4) RAM good enough for gaming in 2020–21? It's passable. For an intel system, it should be fine.

Is 3000 Mhz RAM good?

It's pretty normal. DDR4 3000mhz is usually the recommended speed/frequency. Boards may support 2933mhz so it can get downclocked (doesn't mean it isn't compatible though). And that's perfectly fine.

Is higher Mhz RAM better?

The more cycles your RAM can perform per second translates to how much data can be stored and read – making for smoother user experiences. There's usually a direct correlation between higher DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM and the clock cycles those modules accommodate.

Can I mix ram with different timings?

The timings and maybe even speed are different but the voltages are the same. ... When this is done you will have full access to not only the RAM timings but also the voltage requirements. Since both the old and new RAM are the same voltage simply manually hard setting the RAM timings to what ever is the slowest.

Do RAM timings matter for Ryzen?

Ryzen processors have historically proven more sensitive to RAM speed than their Intel Core counterparts, so we expect to see even greater performance gains from high frequency RAM on our AMD test bed. As in part one, in-game frame-rates are the primary focus here, with three CPU-heavy games tested.

How do I calculate RAM timings?

The equation is (1/(advertised frequency/2)) * timing in cycles = timing in seconds. For a DDR3-1600 kit, a CL of 9 translates to 11.25ns, actually slower than our previous example.