Spo0n

Hey all, I've searched for awhile on this issue and while I've seen plenty on timings vs clock speed, I haven't seen any on timings vs amount of ram overall. I currently have 4GB (4 x 1GB) of Ballistix running at 4-4-4-12 on Windows 7 64. I recently got a great deal on 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair XMS2 6400 that runs at 5-5-5-18 by default and I'm aware that if I swapped two sticks of Ballistix with the 2 sticks of XMS, I'd have to lower the timing to match. My question is, would I benefit more from having 6GB of total ram at 5-5-5-18, or should I stick with the 4GB at 4-4-4-12?

Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate it!

typoknig

First off, are you running a 64 bit OS? Secondly, do you run any applications that need more than 4GB of RAM to perform? Having more RAM will give you a higher THEORITICAL memory bandwidth, but you will most likely not recognize a performance increase, but you may benchmark better.

A while back I was reading about timings vs. frequency, and I found that most studies show that every drop in CL timings was equal to about 120MHz to 130MHz increase in RAM frequency as far as bandwidth goes.

Also, fill out your system specs so we know what you are working with. Welcome to OCN!

quaaark

Hmm. You probably won't see much difference from 4 to 6 GB of RAM in day to day usage.

However, with two sticks of RAM, you can run 2x2GB 5-5-5-18 in dual channel, which might outperform 1x4GB 4-4-4-12 and 6GB 5-5-5-18.

You should test each configuration yourself and find out.

PS: he's running W7 64

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E5x00 - Overclocking Thread

typoknig

Ahhh, I see that now, I must have been blind

Spo0n

Hm, yeah I suppose with some free time tomorrow I'll try out all three combinations and see what works best. Are there any particular benchmarking programs that could give me a definitive answer on what nets the best performance that you know of?

Thanks for the replies and the welcome! I have a feeling I'll be sticking around this place.

Also, I'll get on that sig.

typoknig

I like the Everest Memory Benchmark, it seems to work pretty well.

Homeless2

If you actually need 6gb of ram then it is worth it. If not then you'll see no benefit