How important is RAM speed?

I had this RAM picked out and I kind of don't want to switch : RAM

but then I found a sweet 890gx mobo for a great price with all the features I want BUT it doesn't support 1600Hz RAM.. : MOBO

If RAM speed isnt that important then I wouldnt have a problem going to 1333Hz, besides I could O.C. my RAM if speed is in fact an issue right? the board says it supports 2000Hz(OC)

thanks for input!

p.s. a board doesn't have to say it's CF compatable to be able to do it right? just as long as it has the necessary PCIe slots right? i.e. the board I posted above.

i have this ram and its fine for me. only 800Mhz

anyone have an answer?

Check out my Motherboard. It's somewhat older, but it should support 1600mhz(non-OC) and cheaper.GhoX

I was told by someone on IGN pc forums that the RAM will downclock so it isn't an issue. can someone confirm this?

your mobo doesnt have SATA 6Gb/s or usb 3.0 :/ not to mention a few other features. This mobo I found is a perfect fit for what I'm doing with my pc

It will. You just need to change the respective settings manually in BIOS (DRAM ratio and voltage).

Ram speed is important because it determines your max overclock. For example I can only push my quad to 3.2ghz at 800mhz ram, if I had a higher speed I could push it more. The motherboard as well would play a large role in overclocking. However for everything else you wouldn't notice a differnce between lower and higher rams for regular use. Only the amount you have would make a difference.

RAM speed is one of the least significant things in most systems, but not all. For example- various benchmarks have proven that there is usually less than a 5% performance loss between using a Phenom II with DDR2-800 RAM, and DDR3-1333. Some CPUs are very memory bandwidth-hungry though.. like the Socket 1366 Core i7's.

Ram speed really only matters with overclocking with locked multipliers.
It has very little impact on your common applications and gaming.

The amount of ram is really what matters peformance wise. Anything over 2GB should be fine for most users.

RAM speed is one of the least significant things in most systems, but not all. For example- various benchmarks have proven that there is usually less than a 5% performance loss between using a Phenom II with DDR2-800 RAM, and DDR3-1333. Some CPUs are very memory bandwidth-hungry though.. like the Socket 1366 Core i7's.

hartsickdiscipl

Though interestingly in the case of i7s, they only support a max of 1066MHz RAM - you have to manually set it higher if you have better.

/amd thread hijack :P

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

RAM speed is one of the least significant things in most systems, but not all. For example- various benchmarks have proven that there is usually less than a 5% performance loss between using a Phenom II with DDR2-800 RAM, and DDR3-1333. Some CPUs are very memory bandwidth-hungry though.. like the Socket 1366 Core i7's.

LordRork

Though interestingly in the case of i7s, they only support a max of 1066MHz RAM - you have to manually set it higher if you have better.

/amd thread hijack :P

This is true, but the primary i7 line (socket 1366 variants) use triple-channel DDR3 instead of dual-channel, which more than makes up for the relatively low memory speeds.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html

3ds Max runs slightly faster on low latencyRAM (DDR3-1333) and on high speed memory. You want at least DDR3-1333 speed at quick timings here.

There is hardly any performance difference between fast and slower DDR3 memory when checking for viruses using AVG Anti-Virus.

The results of creating a PDF document out of a huge PowerPoint presentation vary quite a bit and reveal slight benefits with faster memory. The difference isn't really significant, though.

There is no real performance difference when working with large images using extensive filters in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Results are different when editing video using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. The difference between the slowest and the fastest memory setup is 6 seconds, which is quite a bit considering that we're talking about memory performance here. You'll probably get similar performance variance when going from one processor speedbin to another. High clock speed wins under Premiere, but quick timings have a positive impact, too.

Once again, there are noticeable differences between memory speeds, this time when using WinRAR to compress and archive files. The differences are significant, and WinRAR is clearly more sensitive to timing than clock speed changes.

The performance differences in converting audio into Apple's AAC format using iTunes is negligible.

There were no measurable differences when using LAME.

DivX transcoding runs slightly faster with higher-performance memory, but we found wide variance in the results, meaning that performance isn't very consistent.

Using Xvid provided another case of measurable benefit with faster memory.

Finally, there's little reason to pay for fast RAM if you use MainConcept on a regular basis.

The graphics performance in 3DMark Vantage improves with low latencymemory and with faster clock speeds. The benefits are small, though.

The CPUscore doesn't provide any helpful information.

Far Cry 2 is our first real-world 3D game in this review and proves that you can indeed generate higher gaming performance when using faster RAM. The DDR3-1600 settings were best.

GTA IV didn't return straightforward results.

Left 4 Dead is another example that shows how fast RAM speeds and timings do have benefits. Clearly, you should go for gold with this game title.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html

3ds Max runs slightly faster on low latencyRAM (DDR3-1333) and on high speed memory. You want at least DDR3-1333 speed at quick timings here.

There is hardly any performance difference between fast and slower DDR3 memory when checking for viruses using AVG Anti-Virus.

The results of creating a PDF document out of a huge PowerPoint presentation vary quite a bit and reveal slight benefits with faster memory. The difference isn't really significant, though.

There is no real performance difference when working with large images using extensive filters in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Results are different when editing video using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. The difference between the slowest and the fastest memory setup is 6 seconds, which is quite a bit considering that we're talking about memory performance here. You'll probably get similar performance variance when going from one processor speedbin to another. High clock speed wins under Premiere, but quick timings have a positive impact, too.

Once again, there are noticeable differences between memory speeds, this time when using WinRAR to compress and archive files. The differences are significant, and WinRAR is clearly more sensitive to timing than clock speed changes.

The performance differences in converting audio into Apple's AAC format using iTunes is negligible.

There were no measurable differences when using LAME.

DivX transcoding runs slightly faster with higher-performance memory, but we found wide variance in the results, meaning that performance isn't very consistent.

Using Xvid provided another case of measurable benefit with faster memory.

Finally, there's little reason to pay for fast RAM if you use MainConcept on a regular basis.

The graphics performance in 3DMark Vantage improves with low latencymemory and with faster clock speeds. The benefits are small, though.

The CPUscore doesn't provide any helpful information.

Far Cry 2 is our first real-world 3D game in this review and proves that you can indeed generate higher gaming performance when using faster RAM. The DDR3-1600 settings were best.

GTA IV didn't return straightforward results.

Left 4 Dead is another example that shows how fast RAM speeds and timings do have benefits. Clearly, you should go for gold with this game title.

kilerchese

hey thanks guy! good stuff right there! (I have tom's hardware bookmarked too, I feel dumb)

really now its not. its mostly the hd and other parts firedrakes

More ram at a slower speed is better then less ram at a faster speedDJ_Headshot

More RAM isn't going to help past 4GB. Practically EVERY game being made is still being made in x86. Meaning what exactly? They aren't going to be able to access anything past 4GB. The only use more than 4GB would have is if your using x64 applications, like Photoshop.

Just a comment on the benchmarks shown for gaming, look at the settings and the resolution...
Not too many people are going to be playing on medium-low settings at 1200x800.
Jack up the resolution to a normal +1600x1200 and high to max settings and the bottleneck will go right back onto the GPU, unless you are playing a handful of games, like Source Engine games, where the CPU also really matters.