Memory Speed

[Killerobe]

So I just built a new rig and to start I got one 4gb stick of DDR3 RAM at 1333 speed. My question is it worth it/will I see more than a number speed increase if I up the speed to 1600 or higher? I still can return the stick I have and pick up a different one ( <3 Microcenter). But if not I'm going to just pick up another stick and roll with 8 gig for now.

[Geist]

First things first, what kind of mobo and processor do you have and what programs will you use it for? From what I understand, there's 2 things you need to look at when looking at memory:speed and timings.

Speed is the 1333 or 1600 number, and is the most important on intel mobos, as that's what it uses the most. The idea right now is that you will only see notable difference up to 1600 and even then, it may be negligible depending on what your using the memory for.

Timings look like 4 numbers, commonly like this: 9 9 9 24. The lower the number, the better it is. You should look at this more than any other if your using an AMD mobo.

That's not to say speed and timings are importants to both mobos, but they utilize it differently.

So, to understand what to get, we need type of mobo and programs you will be using.

[Goku]

Just stick with the 1333Mhz. There really is not a major difference between 1333MHz verse even 2133MHz when it comes down to gaming. A memory bottleneck is not major in games.

[Killerobe]

To answer your question I'm running a Intel i7 2600k on a ASUS Z68 north bridge Mobo. Usually for gaming and sometimes video editing.

[Traak]

Have you ever overclocked anything on any computer system?

If you know how to overclock, then find a game demo, download FRAPS, and run the game demo, recording the frames per second.

Then tweak your settings, run it again. Etc.

Things you can change: CPU voltage, RAM voltage, CPU clock speed, RAM clock speed (memory bus) All four of the latency timings on the RAM, VPU clock speed, and I'm sure there is more, it's been a while since I did this.

Having done all you can, see if the framerates rise. If so, great. If not, well, you've done what you can.