# What does this mean? (DDR3 2400(O.C)/2200(O.C)/2000(O.C)/1866)



## JassimH

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seldian*
> 
> Title pretty much says it all. I know it has to do with Mhz on the RAM, i get that. And its the frequencies the board can use. What i dont get is the Over Clocking. So is it saying this board can use 1866, and it can be over clocked to 2000 2200 or 2400?


The board will allow you to TRY frequencies which are higher than what your CPU's memory controller allows, hence the "Overclocking" since you are running it PAST the rated specifications for (slightly) more performance.

In the real world you will only get 1-2 extra fps but in benchmarks it can help quite a bit.

Note most memory controllers (IMCs [which are built into the CPU]) can do slightly more, but once you go up to 2400 and more it probably will not be stable, especially if you run lots of DIMMs.

Now for you to run "higher frequencies" your ram must also be able to do so. Most ram manufacturers have ram which is rated to do 2133 but only a few have more (such as 2400) and almost none have any ram rated for higher.

You can overclock most ram slightly by adding a little more voltage and running it higher specced and seeing if it is stable but you cannot usually do it much.

There are a few exceptions which can "overclock" WAY more than the rated timings/frequencies like THIS ram. I have it running at 1700mhz on 8-9-8-24 timings at 1.55v which is quite good for cheap ram.

Mentioning timings; they are the latencies or delays for "actions" in the ram (I do not want to get too complicated here but there is lots of reading which can be done on them), and there are four main ones. These can be changed to smaller numbers for (VERY SLIGHTLY) better performance but it is usually hard to change them much.

I sense I am starting to bore you.

By upgrading your ram you will not get much performance tbh but if you want to go right ahead.

There are two "main" things which affect the performance of ram, TIMINGS (latency) and FREQUENCY.

Frequency is the total amount of bandwidth which can be transferred. Latency is the timings for the communication (data transfer mainly but there are others) between the IMC and the RAM MODULES.

Also you might notice as frequencies increase, latencies do as-well, and this is because when frequencies increase there are more "cycles" within the same time period, and most ram/imcs cannot cope with ridiculously small timings, so the numbers look bigger, but they are still similar to lower frequency timings.

An example would be 1600mhz at 9-9-9-24, while 2133mhz at 10-11-10-28. They have similar timings, but the bandwidth is much greater on the 2133mhz ram. The 2133 ram will easily outperform the 1600mhz ram, but the total performance difference is very minuscule.

There are other timings to worry about which can make a difference, but these are almost impossible to change while keeping the ram stable.

Also note, sometimes the RAM will need more voltage to keep them stable. The normal for ddr3 is 1.5v (most ram is at this voltage) but they can range up to 1.65v while you can even find some as low as 1.35v. Now when you increase what the ram is rated for (an example being the samsung ram I own), to meet the larger power requirements it needs I had to bump it up to 1.55v to keep it working properly.

Some chipsets allow you to do this to the rams memory controller or the IMC (on the CPU), such as x79 chipsets. This can increase the possibility of an overclock.

Also note that if your cpu only supports dual channel ram, but you load up four dimms, you are stressing your memory controller more so it will be harder to achieve higher clocks (or overclocks) with more dimms attached.


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## Seldian

Interesting write indeed. So i should just get 1866, and even though it CAN be O.C. to 2000,2200,2400, the over all performance will be small. So just get 1866mhz and not mess with it?


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## JassimH

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seldian*
> 
> Interesting write indeed. So i should just get 1866, and even though it CAN be O.C. to 2000,2200,2400, the over all performance will be small. So just get 1866mhz and not mess with it?


Yea that'll be great!

But you most likely wont be able to overclock the ram too much. Only one or two companies sell ram which can run at higher performance.

Corsair ram barely overclocks (the gt ram can but it depends on the revision of the ram), gskill ram does slightly, the samsung I linked does overclock ridiculously..etc...

Show me the link to the ram you're getting. I'll try to find you better ram for cheaper.

I'll assume you want 8gb (4gbx2)?


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## Seldian

Was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233248. I would prefer black ram, simply because the mobo im looking at is black and orange. Though thats not a huge deciding factor for me.


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## stubass

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seldian*
> 
> Was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233248 I would prefer black ram, simply because the mobo im looking at is black and orange. Though thats not a huge deciding factor for me.


first off, becarful when you add a link that you dont include things like the period at the end









anyway, if you go with that RAM, just run it at 1866, really no need to put more stress on the IMC by overclocking it for little or no noticable real world gains..

if you do want to OC your ram these are what you should be looking at
http://www.overclock.net/t/1210482/amazon-samsung-2x4gb-low-voltage-ddr3-1600-kit-for-47-ocing-to-2400

BTW, what paltform are you on?


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## Seldian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *stubass*
> 
> BTW, what paltform are you on?


The computer im about to build will be 7


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## stubass

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seldian*
> 
> The computer im about to build will be 7


so sandy/ ivy bridge then? mobo model is what i meant sorry should have been more specific..

either on a sandy or ivy platform 1866 will be fine and no need to OC but as i said if you really want to OC look at those samsungs i linked they will OC better that those corsairs IMO


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## Mondrayish

@ Jassim

Let me try and get this...

So with regards to RAM, there is not much of an experiential performance difference between say for example:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9Q2-64GBZL

vs.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10Q2-64GBZL

vs.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11Q2-64GBZLD

vs.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-19200CL10Q2-64GBZHD

Reason I'm asking is because I'm in the middle of selecting my components for my new high end rig (my first time trying to assemble something top of the line and overclocking).

I do plan to overclock this rig but only for the intention of creating a better gaming experience. I understand that overclocking your CPU and GPU can have a direct effect on visual performance but this is not the case for RAM?

Then I read this article by Sean Webster:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1227803/how-to-set-up-and-utilize-ram-disks

So when looking at RAM in my case, the only thing I may want to consider to improve my Gaming experience is to buy higher capacity RAM kits and turn the excess RAM into RAM disk for faster loading times?

In a nutshell:
Overclock CPU --> Overclock GPU --> Get high capacity RAM kit --> Game on?

Apologies if this sounds noob... I feel just as stupid asking this as I do writing it.


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## Shmerrick

I have some nice 1600 g. skills at 1.35V. Anyway, to answer some the questions in here, to my understanding the performance gained by high frequency RAM is dependant upon its relationship to the chip and its chipset. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if a chip can only issue cycles at 1333 Mhz, increase in frequency of RAM becomes negligable as anything the chip frequency is wasted. I get confused at this point with bandwidth and frequency. Would appreciate if anyone could post some expert knowledge.


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## FRANCOGAMING

I got 8 gigs of gskill 1333 but I says 8 gigs 665.2 mhz ratio 3:10 I got srock fx extreme 4 I whanted to put best memory 32 gigs what do you sogest please help [email protected] thank you


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