3200MHz vs 3600MHz DDR4 RAM, does it make a difference?

[captain420 3,099]

I'm planning for my next build, but had a question regarding the differences between these 2 types of memory. Is there any gain that I will see from 3600MHz DDR4 memory vs 3200MHz?

I plan on overclocking my i9-9900K or i9-10900k once that comes out. Going with 64GB ram.

[Pilot53 543]

6 minutes ago, captain420 said:

I'm planning for my next build, but had a question regarding the differences between these 2 types of memory. Is there any gain that I will see from 3600MHz DDR4 memory vs 3200MHz?

I plan on overclocking my i9-9900K or i9-10900k once that comes out. Going with 64GB ram.

It wont matter much, and if you get a decent motherboard (make sure you do for that 9900k) you probably will be able to overclock the 3200 to 3600 or better speeds anyway.  Try and keep it to 2 sticks of ram also.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Pilot53

[captain420 3,099]

Well the motherboard has 4 ram slots, so I plan on doing 8x16GB for a total of 64GB.

[Quasimodo 505]

If the CAS Latency is the same on both then the 3600mhz is faster. The higher the frequency and the lower the CAS latency the better. There is a formula to determine the response time and the lower that is the better. I don't recall it of the top of my head. It's definitely worth it to do a little research. There is a lot of marketing BS when it comes to DRAM

[Quasimodo 505]

5 minutes ago, captain420 said:

Well the motherboard has 4 ram slots, so I plan on doing 8x16GB for a total of 64GB

Why would you want 64gb of DRAM. 32GB is where its at and 16GB is fine for anything available now. If I had for slots I would be locking a 8GB modules. 8GB modules are better than 16GB modules. 4x8GB I would say in the way to go.

[Quasimodo 505]

Definitely need to do your home work when it comes DRAM. More so than any other components

Here is a nice selection of DDR4 4000 to peruse. Note they are all 4000Mhz but the CAS lentency ranges from 15 to 18. The price will be proportional to that.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007611 50008476 601349177 601203954 600083963 600521526 600531833 600566190&Order=PRICE

I'm not saying you should buy any of these but its a good place to start looking to inform yourself.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Quasimodo

[captain420 3,099]

Because I'm building this computer to last, I plan on keeping it for 8-10 yrs. That's what I thought when I built my last computer that 16GB was more than enough, but look at where we're at now.

I am trying to future proof it, so 64GB may seem like overkill now, but not later down the road.

[Pilot53 543]

You dont want to use all four ram slots with a 9900k if you can help it, it will hurt your overclock even with the best motherboards.   Why not just go with 2x16gb sticks and upgrade to 2x32gb sticks if you need 64 gigs down the line.  By the time 64gb is needed 2x32 sticks of ddr4 will be mainstream and significantly cheaper.  There's no such thing as future proof with pcs, don't fall into that trap!  Trust me, been there done that.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Pilot53

[Quasimodo 505]

I did my previous build with a 4 slot board Sabertooth Z87 in 2013. I put 2 x 4GB of GSkill DDR3 2400mhz CL9 in there which was blistering fast memory back then. About 4 year later I need to up my anti to 16gb. I found a set exactly the same as the set I had on fleebay. At a time when many in the FS community where thinking the same thing and where using the same memory. It was hard to find but I persisted and found what must have been at the time the only set available in the world. That system is still running great today 8 years later. I'll eat my hat if 64gb for gaming isn't still excessive in 10 years. And if it isn't do what I did. Take the advice of Pilot 53. It goods!

[lownslo 592]

1 hour ago, Quasimodo said:

There is a formula to determine the response time and the lower that is the better.

(CAS Latency x 2000) ÷ Speed will get close enough for our purposes.  Anything under 9ns is good.  Closer to 8ns is better.  All it takes is money.  

More info about choosing RAM here  There is no performance advantage to buying memory with pretty lights... the good stuff is nekked.

Greg

[Quasimodo 505]

1 minute ago, lownslo said:

(CAS Latency x 2000) ÷ Speed

That's the one! Yet more good advise but try finding fast memory without a pile of marketing BS and RGB. Good luck. If you really know what you are doing you can probably try to hunt down relatively inexpensive Samsung Modules that have a ton of overhead for overclocking and Overvolting but that's way above my pay grade.😭🤣

[Beardyman 604]

2 hours ago, captain420 said:

I am trying to future proof it, so 64GB

In computer world there is nothing like 'future proof'.

Simply after 4 years u will have old machine with a lots of RAM...

[Slayer 190]

Didn't see which sims your using but 64GB is recomended in Xplane if you use UHD mesh. Im wishing I had bought 64GB now...it will eat 32GB easy.

[captain420 3,099]

If it hadn't been for me "future proofing" my current PC, it surely wouldn't have lasted me this long, which is 8+ years running strong now. And I'm sure I would've need to replace it much sooner had I not invest the time and money in getting the best at the time. Yes I also use X-Plane and can benefit from 64GB of RAM.

So you don't recommend me to use all 4 slots, current mainstream gaming motherboards seem to mostly support a max of 64GB in 4x16GB configurations. I am not sure if current motherboards support 2x32GB RAM modules, if this is true than I guess the max I can have is 128GB installed? My current system is running 32GB max on 4x8GB sticks and I have no problems whatsoever.

Edited April 17, 2020 by captain420

[wiler 394]

I have 32GB of ram and a 1080ti w 11GB vram. Ive never seen my system ram go over 17gb used , ever with orthos ZL17/18 and max settings. Not sure if 64gb is necessary. I would say VRAM is much more important, its a bottle neck for me since system is using all 11gigs.