i7-4790K & the "Right" memory question

[N1125Y 22]

Hello all,

 

I see on the i7-4790K spec, that it will utilize DDR3-1333/1600, DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.5V, so does it make sense to use faster memory ???? 

Cheers

Yair

 

[lownslo 592]

From a performance perspective it always makes sense to use faster memory.  For test results see here:

Although his test involved Skylake/DDR4, the same holds true for any system/any memory... faster memory yields a faster system.  The real question is whether the consumer buying/building a new system wishes to spend the money on faster memory... a personal choice.

Greg

[ZLA Steve 377]

I run 1600mhz memory in xmp and am very happy. What will help is lower latency, but as DDR3 is slowly dying off, it may not be that easy to find or worth the increased price.

[Gridley 257]

You should be sure to check your motherboard maker's web site for a list of compatible memory.  To support the newest, you may need to update BIOS.

[N1125Y 22]

1 hour ago, Gridley said:

You should be sure to check your motherboard maker's web site for a list of compatible memory.  To support the newest, you may need to update BIOS.

..Let me refine my question:

My MB can handle and is compatible with faster memory, but Intel tells me that the 4790K will handle up to DDR3-1333/1600, DDR3L-1333/1600, so in respect to the CPU limitation does it make sense to you faster Memory ?

Reg.

 

Yair 

[Gridley 257]

17 minutes ago, N1125Y said:

..Let me refine my question:

My MB can handle and is compatible with faster memory, but Intel tells me that the 4790K will handle up to DDR3-1333/1600, DDR3L-1333/1600, so in respect to the CPU limitation does it make sense to you faster Memory ?

Reg.

 

Yair 

The CPU will access the RAM at 1600mhz, which is the max speed of its bus.  So faster memory will effectively be down-clocked to match the CPU's max of 1600mhz.  However, since you CPU is a "K", and one day you might want to overclock and potentially increase the FSB speed, faster RAM would be more "overclockable".  If you're never going to overclock, or have no plans on moving this RAM to a faster CPU, there's no need to buy faster RAM.  Most RAM is priced pretty similarly up to pretty high speeds, so there's no reason NOT to buy faster RAM if it's the same price (or cheaper), and it may run at the 1600 clock speed using lower power consumption...my personal rule of thumb is buy the fastest RAM that's affordable so it has the longest potential life span and can be reused if I upgrade. In practical terms, there's little or no observable difference at the speeds we're talking about here. 

HTH.

[N1125Y 22]

.. tnx Gridley ..make lot of sense and this is the answer I was expecting to get. I checked my Memory & it's DDR3 1866MHZ (PC3 14900) & I do intend to boost performance to about 4.5GHZ    

[ZLA Steve 377]

10 minutes ago, N1125Y said:

...I do intend to boost performance to about 4.5GHZ    

FYI, I run my DC comfortably at 4.7 and was able to bench this chip all the way to 4.9, so do know it will give you everything you ask and more. 

[N1125Y 22]

..perfect, I'll gradually try to boost performance, seems like the 4970K though getting "Old" still very capable :-) 

[ppo 67]

I got my 4790k up to 4.645 vy stable and memory is running at 2422mhz at cr=1 10-12-12-31

Couple that to a 1080ti and it runs well.

Cheers