DDR5 timings : lower CL vs faster MHz speed in real world gaming performances ?

[iAMJeffy]

Anyone have enough experience with ddr5 or know about if lower CL's are worth the premium price over higher CL and similar MHz speeds for real world gaming performances ? I'm deciding between these two sets of RAM and their respective price / performance:



Which one would you go for? I know the Corsair set will probably perform better but is it worth the almost 50% premium in price?

CPU is I7 13700kf and it's a Lenovo Intel Z790 based chipset mobo.



CL32 DDR5 6400 @ 144.99 CAD

CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CMK32GX5M2B6400C32 - Newegg.com

Buy CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CMK32GX5M2B6400C32 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

Vs



CL38 DDR5 6000 @ 99.99 CAD

Team T-Force Vulcan 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model FLBD532G6000HC38ADC01 - Newegg.com

Buy Team T-Force Vulcan 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model FLBD532G6000HC38ADC01 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

 

[anonpuffs]

Anyone have enough experience with ddr5 or know about if lower CL's are worth the premium price over higher CL and similar MHz speeds for real world gaming performances ? I'm deciding between these two sets of RAM and their respective price / performance:



Which one would you go for? I know the Corsair set will probably perform better but is it worth the almost 50% premium in price?



CL32 DDR5 6400 @ 144.99 CAD

CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CMK32GX5M2B6400C32 - Newegg.com

Buy CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CMK32GX5M2B6400C32 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

Vs



CL38 DDR5 6000 @ 99.99 CAD

Team T-Force Vulcan 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model FLBD532G6000HC38ADC01 - Newegg.com

Buy Team T-Force Vulcan 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model FLBD532G6000HC38ADC01 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

Timing and speed are both important. What CPU and motherboard are you using?

I would not use the CL38 6000 set.

 

[iAMJeffy]

Timing and speed are both important. What CPU and motherboard are you using?

I would not use the CL38 6000 set.

I7 13700kf and it's a Lenovo Intel Z790 based chipset mobo.

 

[anonpuffs]

I7 13700kf and it's a Lenovo Intel Z790 based chipset mobo.

I'm not familiar with Lenovo brand motherboards, are you interested in overclocking, or just plug-and-play/set-and-forget?

 

[iAMJeffy]

I'm not familiar with Lenovo brand motherboards, are you interested in overclocking, or just plug-and-play/set-and-forget?

Mildly interested. It's the Lenovo 8th gen Legion 7i. Apparently the vantage app it comes with can do some mild overclocks.

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 Review

Lenovo’s Legion 7i gaming desktop shows off superb performance, customizable RGB lighting, and cool aftermarket features like overclocking.

www.pcmag.com

 

[historia]

Go with a lower option, and use the money saved to buy a better cooler.

Jack it to 5.0Ghz and you're good to go.

 

[anonpuffs]

Mildly interested. It's the Lenovo 8th gen Legion 7i. Apparently the vantage app it comes with can do some mild overclocks.

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 Review

Lenovo’s Legion 7i gaming desktop shows off superb performance, customizable RGB lighting, and cool aftermarket features like overclocking.

www.pcmag.com

oh, it's a prebuilt. do you have it on hand? Without knowing what motherboard it comes with it's hard to tell you what parts will be compatible, but intel 13th gen scales very well with memory speed. max performance will be 6800-7200mhz DDR5, you could get something like this
newegg link

make sure it's a z790 and not a z690 board though because the 690s can't handle that kind of ddr5 speed.

If you're only mildly interested in overclocking just put the RAM sticks in and go into BIOS and enable XMP profiles, actual RAM overclocking is a pain in the ass and takes several days.

*edit* Also make sure you look up some guides to undervolting, intel is very power hungry and hot at stock, so you're going to want to undervolt the chip for less throttling/more peak performance.

 

[historia]

Not sure how RAM speeds even scale, I think unless you stress your CPU with high enough, the performance is 5% at best which not worth it imo, let's just say you playing at 1440p, barely any different.

I barely noticed anything different when I swapped 2133 stick sfor 3200 sticks, also have enabled XMP which is a crash prone, at least on Linux.

 

[anonpuffs]

Not sure how RAM speeds even scale, I think unless you stress your CPU with high enough, the performance is 5% at best which not worth it imo, let's just say you playing at 1440p, barely any different.

I barely noticed anything different when I swapped 2133 stick sfor 3200 sticks, also have enabled XMP which is a crash prone, at least on Linux.

depends on the task, for games it makes a difference because data is always streaming from RAM.

@iAMJeffy Google says your prebuilt's motherboard doesn't support fast memory so unless you're prepared to swap motherboards you're probably SoL

 

[anonpuffs]

link for posterity in case you do decide to swap motherboards for access to better RAM.

 

[historia]

depends on the task, for games it makes a difference because data is always streaming from RAM.

@iAMJeffy Google says your prebuilt's motherboard doesn't support fast memory so unless you're prepared to swap motherboards you're probably SoL

I don't think that motherboard's VRM is good enough to handle anything. It is a pre-built PC mobo.

XMP profile is notorious unstable, especially on cheapo RAMs set, even with my X470 Taichi it still can't handle it properly.

 

[anonpuffs]

I don't think that motherboard's VRM is good enough to handle anything. It is a pre-built PC mobo.

XMP profile is notorious unstable, especially on cheapo RAMs set, even with my X470 Taichi it still can't handle it properly.

yeah prebuilts suck, i saw a bunch of posts saying that the Lenovo prebuilt comes with 5600mhz rated DDR5 but the motherboard won't go above 4000. At that speed you're better off with DDR4 and you're probably down 15-20% performance from a 7200mhz or tuned 6000mhz set

 

[historia]

yeah prebuilts suck, i saw a bunch of posts saying that the Lenovo prebuilt comes with 5600mhz rated DDR5 but the motherboard won't go above 4000. At that speed you're better off with DDR4 and you're probably down 20-25% performance from a 7200mhz or tuned 6000mhz set

Better saw a rift on DDR4 stick for compatibility.

 

[JAHGamer]

This is like the worst place to ask this question lower CL is more important but its all very negligible

 

[iAMJeffy]

depends on the task, for games it makes a difference because data is always streaming from RAM.

@iAMJeffy Google says your prebuilt's motherboard doesn't support fast memory so unless you're prepared to swap motherboards you're probably SoL

Yeah Lenovo pushed out a bios update that fixed this.

I don't have the PC on hand yet. But someone purchased the DDR5 6400 and enabled XMP and it works fine at that speeds.

So I'm just really trying to figure out is the 6400 lower CL that much better than the 6000 MHz and worth the extra 50% premium price for gaming lol.

Like if it's the same or negligible might as well go with the cheaper set right ? Haha

Also I'm gaming at 1440p 165hz if that makes a diff. What I've been reading at 4k res, the ram speeds make more of a diff.

 

[anonpuffs]

Yeah Lenovo pushed out a bios update that fixed this.

I don't have the PC on hand yet. But someone purchased the DDR5 6400 and enabled XMP and it works fine at that speeds.

So I'm just really trying to figure out is the 6400 lower CL that much better than the 6000 MHz and worth the extra 50% premium price for gaming lol.

Like if it's the same or negligible might as well go with the cheaper set right ? Haha

Also I'm gaming at 1440p 165hz if that makes a diff. What I've been reading at 4k res, the ram speeds make more of a diff.

No just go with 6000, not worth 50% more.

 

[iAMJeffy]

No just go with 6000, not worth 50% more.

Well the set it comes with is a 16gb ddr5 5200. I'll test that first then do the team group ddr5 6000 and finally the lower CL32 6400 in my games and benchmarks to see the " real difference ".

 

[ethomaz]

For speed what matter is the speed of the VRAM (the GPU RAM)… the faster… better… that is why GDDR doesn’t even care about timing… and any overclock in VRAM gives you better results.

But for SystemRAM unless the speed difference is too big between the modules timing is what matter more here… RAM with lower CAS are better.

Another hint hint your motherboard have to be compatible with the RAM specs you want to use.

 

[Satoru]

For speed what matter is the speed of the VRAM (the GPU RAM)… the faster… better… that is why GDDR doesn’t even care about timing… and any overclock in VRAM gives you better results.

How to be confidently incorrect. First, GDDR memory and DDR memory are not the same, and serve different purposes. Saying GDDR memory doesn't care about timings as somehow a measurement of "DDR won't too" is just wrong. Second, PC games leverage system RAM.

So, timings do impact performance, more or less depending on the game. Below is a user example on Tarkov where the impact was massive.



This video shows a side by side comparison with timing changes

And here a full comparison with both ram speeds and timings. Again, timings alone improve performance, even at the same speed, in most games.

Now, based on the suggestions and since this is a one time purchase, i'd go with the faster ram that also has lower timings.
Mostly because of speed, but also due to the brand and the timings.

 

[ethomaz]

How to be confidently incorrect. First, GDDR memory and DDR memory are not the same, and serve different purposes. Saying GDDR memory doesn't care about timings as somehow a measurement of "DDR won't too" is just wrong. Second, PC games leverage system RAM.

So, timings do impact performance, more or less depending on the game. Below is a user example on Tarkov where the impact was massive.



This video shows a side by side comparison with timing changes

And here a full comparison with both ram speeds and timings. Again, timings alone improve performance, even at the same speed, in most games.

Now, based on the suggestions and since this is a one time purchase, i'd go with the faster ram that also has lower timings.
Mostly because of speed, but also due to the brand and the timings.

What? Did you read what I said?

VRAM doesn't care about timing when gaming (it matters is you use your GPU to run PC tasks)... so GDDR is made for that... raw speeds without care about timing.
And it is where you gain most in games... if you overclock your GDDR to high speeds it is where you see most gains in your games performance.

SystemRAM is more about how fast the response time is... so timing.... it where a DDR even with lower speeds can give you better performance because it is has better timing or lower CAS latency.
CAS latency here matter more than speed.
Unless the difference between speeds is too big a lower latency RAM will outperform a higher latency RAM.

And I will say again... overclocking your VRAM to better speeds will give you more for gaming than having less latency DDR for SystemRAM.
For games having SystemRAM with better or worst latency doesn't make that much difference.... you are looking at 1-2% max different that is imo imperceptible in your games.

We are talking about games... unless you change your GPU (or overclock it) the results in games will be very small just changing the DDR for higher speeds or better CAS latency.

It just not worth to care about that for games.
Just buy what your motherboard supports and you believe will be the best cost for you... going to expensive high CAS and Speeds DDR won't matter for games... and these RAM will cost near 2x what you could get with a lower specs that will delivery like 1-2% difference.

So is it worth to go with the highest speeds and CAS latency SystemRAM for games? No... you will be wasting money... unless you do others things (non-gaming) that required lower CAS or faster DDR it is not worth.

It is better to get that money and buy a better GPU (with faster VRAM/GDDR) that will give you a substantial performance increase.